Debbie Carrel is on her first trip in Alaska. However, Debbie’s trip has been different than the rest of the travelers. Because of scheduling conflicts, Debbie and two other arrived halfway through the trip. Though they missed half of the trip, they still had a great time. They may have found it a little hard to jump right into the mix of people, but everything turned out to be okay. And Debbie had an advantage coming in, having her daughter already here.

Q: What was it like to come into the project late?
A: Well, at first when Mr. Rosene asked me to be apart of the project, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do the whole three weeks. So, I told him I would come, but I could only do half, and it would be the last part of the trip. I was also worried that everyone would have bonded already, everyone knowing everyone really well. Then I would come in and maybe wouldn’t feel as much as part of the group. But it wasn’t that way at all, I came and everyone was so nice, kind and the adults really embraced somebody new and I was already familiar with a couple adults so that felt nice. I felt like I already knew a lot of you guys because my daughter, Meredith, is a year older and my son is a year younger. So you guys are right in the middle. Everyone was just really welcoming.

Q: So were you really close with your daughter before you came?
A: Yeah, I would say that we are close. We have a very close family and we do a lot of family vacations. We have a lot of family time at home. So yes, we are pretty close.

Q: Did this time help you discover more about her?
A: Yeah, it did. It was nice to see her interacting with her friends and people that she had just gotten to know. And I really felt like it was a good trip because we were both experiencing the same things here, but we were separate. Like we could go throughout the day and maybe not even really have much contact because she was in a different van, or just in another group going through the museum or seeing something else. So it was really nice. I felt like we were close together experiencing everything, but being apart at the same time. Personal space is very important. It was nice for her because there are people she wanted to hang out with here. I did want her to feel that she had to be with me all the time. That isn’t really what I wanted on this trip. I wanted to go through the experience so I would know what she was going through.

Q: So do you plan on coming back?
A: I don’t know, I would really like to. I think I really enjoyed everyone.

Q: If you come back, do you want to stay the whole three weeks?
A: I would. But I could see myself doing the three weeks further down the line. Right now, I just don’t know if it works out with our family for me to be gone the whole three weeks. So right now, with the age of my boys, I think this time works well for me.

Q: How old are your boys?
A: The older one is 12 and the younger is 11.

Q: So what was your favorite part overall?
A: Probably a couple of my favorite parts are the scenery. It was incredible. I love the mountains when they are near water. And then another of my favorite parts was just seeing everyone come together and feeling like I am a small part of a larger group and a larger project. I like to see people that maybe didn’t know each other really well in school or maybe had thought certain things about people and then discovered that they’re more alike than they thought they were and maybe coming with preconceived notions or having judgments about people and maybe breaking those down.

Q: So with that being your favorite part what would you say would least favorite part was, If you had one?
A: I don’t know, maybe if I had been here the whole time I’d have a least favorite part. I really can’t think of a downside right now. Maybe the outhouse, wait no, I have it. In the food van, it wasn’t a good place to change. So that was always a juggling to do. So you can’t change with all the wide open windows. Otherwise, I didn’t have a downside.