"Everywhere I turn, all the beauty just keeps shaking me"

Although it is still July, summer here seems to have already begun it's slow, premature retreat from the land. Our warmest summer weather is apparently behind us, and even that seemed fleeting, as we were graced with 70 degree temperatures for about two weeks in the middle of June. A cool chill, the same cold that greeted us one early morning in April when we arrived here, has now returned, creeping into our bones and the rooms of the house. The violet fireweed has bloomed, marking the end of the rainbow of wildflowers that have lined Juneau's roads for the past couple of months. The leaves of the maple tree in our yard are beginning to fade into a dusty orange hue, and we find them, fallen in the grass, one by one. Brambles and Devil's Club, which were once covered in little flowers, are now speckled with clumps of dark crimson berries. These are all subtle signs that our summer here is brief; Alaskan summers must be enjoyed to their fullest before fall pushes the dwarfed season aside with a slow-motion punch in the shoulder.

I must be biased, because if you ask me, Alaska is stuck in Spring, like a record waiting to be flipped to side B. I've never missed a hot, sticky, suffocating summer in New Mexico. I've never worn a fleece jacket in July, let alone jeans. It really feels like Alaska missed the summer memo and forgot to turn it's thermostat up.

So, despite the lack of pretty much everything I once associated with summer in NM, we've still been having fun.
Most of the gold found in Alaska was discovered around Juneau, and a lot of it was placer gold, gold deposited in the beds of rivers. There is no doubt a huge amount of gold still in Alaska, and the world for that matter. Gold panning is pretty popular here, so we thought we would give it a try. We bought plastic gold panning pans last week, and haphazardly attempted to pan for gold one evening at the mouth of Eagle River. We forgot a shovel, and didn't have the right gloves, so our hands froze instantly and it was almost impossible to scoop up a decent amount of riverbed gravel with the plastic pans alone. The trip still managed to b worthwhile though, because it was a spectacular evening, with the sun casting golden tones on the land, and the clouds reflecting in the water.






A Sea Lion splashed around at the mouth of Eagle River right after we gave up for the night.






Skipping stones.


Fireweed and the Chilkats.







Steph's dad and his girlfriend are visiting right now, and it's been a fun but busy few days! there's so much to do and so many places to go here that it is hard to compress it all into a short timespan. Regardless, we've been having a good time, and I'm glad Steph was able to take a couple of days off work to spend some quality time with her daddio.

The salmon are spawning, and we went to the mouth of Salmon River twice to see them and take pictures. Those will be in the next post, which will be up in a day or two (hopefully!).

Time flies!

Time flies when you're having fun, this is a fact.

It was fantastic having my sister here for ten days. I missed her ridiculously, and although we chatted on the phone and Skype, it's not like actually being together laughing, reminiscing and generally being awesome.

I waited nervously at the airport on Friday night, pacing back and fourth among a crowd of other people also waiting for loved ones to come through the door. I hardly recognized her when she walked in because of her long hair, and burst into tears when we hugged.

I was so excited to show her Juneau, and it started the second we left the airport parking lot. As usual, the town was under a thick blanket of white clouds as we passed the parked bush planes, wetlands, and eagles. I pointed them all out, and I'm sure she was too exhausted from her day of flying to really see any of it.

We actually did most of the activities on my list, and ate at most of the eateries. In the evenings we watched movies, and I introduced my new addiction to the show 'Glee' to Kelli and Steph. We ended up renting and watching most of the 1st season in a couple of days!

Here are shots from our walk on the Rainforest Trail, a short, winding trail that spits you out on a rocky beach.




Steph and Devil's Club














We saw a cute little porcupine in a tree on the beach. It's astounding how close these little guys let humans get. I guess if my back was dull of spines I'd let predators get pretty close, too.





Of course we went to the Mendenhall Glacier, a couple of times, actually. Kelli went by herself almost every day that I had to work, drawing and entertaining the hoards of tourists that file off of busses every day. I read somewhere that the Mendenhall Glacier was one of the most visited sites in Alaska, thanks to cruise ships. It's definitely a stunning place, and Kelli said it was her favorite part of the trip.






Ack, crooked horizon!

My favorite part of her visit was our trip out the road, to our new favorite beach. When we first got to the spot, we hooted and hollered into the woods before trekking down the muddy hill to the beach. I clutched the bear spray tightly, ready to spray whatever popped out of the bushes in a millisecond. After our close call last time, we were slightly paranoid. After we stumbled out of the woods, we heard the now familiar sound of a whale surfacing, blowing a spray of mist into the air with a WHOOSH. In the distance, right in front of our private beach, were two humpback whales making their way across the horizon. So perfect!
We roasted cheddarwursts over the open fire and had hotdogs, followed by smores. After eating, we spotted a few Sea Lions making their way across the water in front of us. We gasped, took our shoes off, and waded into the icy water to say hello. We squealed as we inched our way out, farther and farther until the water was up to our hips. We then splashed and clapped, gaining the attention of the curious animals so that they stopped and lingered a few yards away, watching us cautiously with their big black eyes. We played with them for a few minutes until we became too cold to stay in the water.




The drive.
















Kelli picking Salmonberries in our "backyard"


These are some of the daisies we planted. They only bloom when it's sunny out, and when they do, it's like mind-blowing beauty!

One afternoon, Kelli and I took a long walk through the neighborhood, up to a wooden walking path called "Flume Trail", back down Basin Rd., into downtown, through the cemetery, and back to the house. It's a great loop that takes about 2 hours to complete, and you get to see so much of the heart of Juneau.


The trail, which is more of a walking path, wraps around the base of Mt. Juneau.






Totem pole in front of the Governor's Mansion.

On Sunday, Kelli's last day here, we walked to the big waterfall at the glacier, Nugget Falls.


The first part involved traversing a slick strip of exposed rock that had been polished by glacial ice. I'm SHOCKED that none of us slipped down it on our butts.


Xtratuf :)













It was really a good time, and I think she had a nice, relaxing vacation. I wish my mom and stepdad were able to make it this summer as well, but my mom really wants to see the aurora, so i'm hoping I can get them out here in the winter or early spring when they typically occur. The hardest part of moving isn't the actual move, the settling in, the job hunting, the lack of friends, rainy weather, or any of that. The hardest part, for me at least, has been being away from the people who love me unconditionally and who I love a tremendous amount as well.

I am going back to New Mexico for Christmas. Originally, I was planning on going for Thanksgiving. But after looking at my school schedule, and thinking about how much the holiday and the traditions that go along with it mean to my family, I realized that it just made more sense for me to be with them for the holidays. I can't wait!

Now that Kelli is gone, Steph and I have sworn off sugary foods and eating out. I've been doing my running program consistently, and even went out in the POURING rain this afternoon so that I would stay on track. I'm still searching for that supposed "runner's high", but we are planning a trip for early 2011 and I'll be damned if i'm not in shape enough to wear a bathing suit.

Work is going well. Last week my boss called me in to her office and told me that she feels like "my talents are being wasted" on the work I am currently doing. I must agree... I think can handle a little more than pulling staples for 7 hours a day. I know it sounds like am exaggerating, but that is really what I do. I have a big fancy staple puller, and at the end of the day I wipe my neat pile of staples from my desk and toss them in my garbage can. I am always careful to toss them in so that when the janitor looks in my trashcan, he can see my pile of staples and hopefully realize that his job is a lot better than mine.

But back to the conversation with my boss! She told me abut a position that was opening up in the IT department in early September.. it would be part time as well but would pay 4 FOUR dollars more than what I am earning now. My job duties would include some light website maintenance, installing software on people's computers around the office and teaching them how to use it, answering silly computer-illiterate questions, like "where did this file go?" "oh, you dragged it into this other file.." and so on. The guy who would be my supervisor apparently noticed how easily I worked my ancient fossil of a computer and thought I would be a good candidate for the job! So I had a preliminary discussion with him the other day, and he talked about the job and how flexible it would be, and how there is a huge opportunity for me to learn lots of geektastic IT-related stuff. So, provided they don't suddenly change their minds and decide to hire someone outside between now and the end of August, it looks like I won't be pulling staples for much longer :D

I promise I won't neglect you again, little blog, but it is 10 PM and my eyelids weigh about 50 lbs. right now so I must cut it short.

Kelli!!

My sister is here!

We've been having fun tooling around town, enjoying 4th of July festivities and my long weekend. The town's been under a blanket of thick clouds for the past few days, but that should be letting up mid-week, giving us enough time to still hike and enjoy a couple sunsets and bonfires out the road!


I'll update more later on in the week!