My Name is Teresa and this is my 5th season working for the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge. I work at The Princess Homestead, our employee housing located in Healy.

I lived right here in Healy, Alaska for 25 years……..yes year round. Its a great place to raise kids and enjoy a simple life from 90 degrees above zero to 60 degrees below zero.

In 2006 I got a wonderful opportunity to work here in employee housing as a front desk clerk. The following year I came back as the front desk supervisor. I must say if ever there was a job made just for me it is this one. I truely love each and every employee and love working for Princess.

Princess has been a very generous neighbor in our community. A few of the wonderful things that have happened for the residents of Healy includes holding a charity garage sale with all proceeds going to the local non profit for providing Christmas food boxes; providing cookies and milk for the opening day of school; holding the High School Prom in the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge lobby before the season even started. Princess has been there for Healy!

When my husband retired in 2008 , we chose to move to Wyoming and leave Alaska. But I have returned for the last 2 years to work again for Princess because of the employees and the company. What a great place to WORK!!

I worked at the Front Desk of the hotel and made friends from all over the world.  I gained valuable experience and training for my resume.  Every day off I was in the Park, hiking & exploring and finding my own adventures.  It was truly an amazing experience.  At the end of the summer, some of these new friends and I took advantage of the discounted cruise program available to seasonal employees, and did 3 cruises!  The first cruise was to Bermuda for 7 days and then the next 2 were back-to-back cruises from Ft. Lauderdale to Valparaiso, Chile.  After traveling through Peru and hiking at Macchu Picchu, I called home to get monetary assistance for a plane ticket back home (aka, I called the Bank of Mom) to make it just in time for Christmas. 

The next spring, after volunteering for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and working at a local ski resort, my mom prodded me that it was time to get a “real” job.  But I wasn’t ready to be working 40 hours a week in a cubicle for some job that didn’t excite me or offer interesting opportunities to see the world!  So I decided to go back to Alaska and work for a company that offers a great working environment, training and travel opportunities.  This is now my 10^th summer in Alaska and with Princess.  Never did I imagine that my fun summer job would turn into my “real” job—I guess you never know what’s going to happen when you spend a summer in Alaska working for Princess!