Moving

As some of y'all already know, I'm no longer in AK. It breaks my heart to say that, but I've made the decision to move on to other interesting, exciting, and mentally demanding pursuits, known more commonly as the PhD.

I'm down in Utah now, that the University of Utah, where I'll spend the next three years hacking away at a dissertation in hopes of coming out on the other side with a few more letters behind my name. (And a better understanding of how and why outdoor recreation is a critical social force for the world we live in).

It would seem odd to chronicle these PhD adventures here, so I'm moving to rachelsphd.wordpress.com. If you're interested in keeping track of the victories, hair pulling disasters, and very late nights that come with PhD world, you can find my ramblings (and occasional insights) there.

Cheers!

Rachel

Winging to the Vet

Sadly, Sig had a much more adventerous day than either Duane or I did. The Vet in Juneau has this great service where they meet pets at the airport so that the owners don't have to pay airfare to fly over with their pets. (Only in AK!) So, I put Sig on a plane earlier this afternoon for his solo vet trip. He needs and updated health certificate so we can travel with him into Canada next month, and also needed an update on all of his shots.

As much as I would have loved to have a few hours to go over to Juneau, I don't think he really enjoyed the experience. He doesn't like being carried around in his crate for one, and second, I doubt that any dog enjoys getting shots. However, the vet did report that he is a very healthy pup and she also mentioned that he was very well behaved and was "precious". If only he was such a charmer for us too!

Now he's home, and sulking around the house as if he is trying to figure out what he did wrong to be sent away today by himself. I'm trying not to spoil him on the whole, but I think today I'm going to be unable to resist the urge to give him an extra rawhide. I know, I'm terrible.

Rain Comes Down

Yesterday we woke up to what feels like our first full blown rainy day of the season. I honestly can't remember the last time we had rain that lasted all day. There were a bunch of us that were joking about how great the summer has been adn how we love that we can't even remember when it last rained this hard. Here in town we badly needed it though. Most of our roads are gravel and the dust form the road was started to geting all over everything. Plus most of us aren't used to having to water our gardens.

I think the rain was refreshing for alot of us. There is a certain mentality around rainforest towns, that when you get a spot of nice weather you have to head outside and take advantage of it. It's engrained into our conciousnesses up here. So naturally we have all been outside alot lately, and there have been a few projects around the house that have gone by the wayside due to excessive sunshine. It was nice to get some time to catch up on them while we were hiding from the mist outside.

I think today I'm going to pretend that it is still raining and go home and hunker down under a blanket with a book and some tea.

Changing Tides

Part of working in a seasonal field means, that around the middle of the season, we all start looking ahead to the next one, to make plans for the move, the change in roles, the change in offerings, etc.

For me, there are going to be some bigger changes this fall than just moving back to Utah. A little while back I was offered a position in the PhD program at the University of Utah as well as a teachign assistantship in the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism department. My time with AMG has been interesting, and I've learned alot, but I know that this opportunity with the U of U is something that I've wanted for years, and saying no to it now would just be ridiculous.

Duane and I will be getting on a ferry out of Juneau to head south for the fall on August 13th, which means we only have a month left in Gustavus. As much as I'm really excited abut stepping into this new role, I am also starting to realize that there are a great many things that I love about my life now that I have to let go.

I love living in Gustavus. Life here isn't necessarily easy, but it's wonderful. Living in a place with such a strong sense of community has been fabulous, and just serves to remind me once again how important to me living in a place with a sense of community is. I've also loved the people I work with here in town, the challenges that come with having a small staff, and the sense that you get from the tourism industry here that we are all in this together, especially this season.

I konw I'm not going to be ready to leave Gustavus, and Alaska, in a month, but it'll be time to look ahead to new things.

Mellow

Things have been pretty mellow around here lately, which honestly, I’m quite enjoying. I’ve been trying to track my hours in the office to make sure that I’m getting some time away from the desk and outside enjoying being in Alaska.

The weather has cooled off a bit, and we’re back into our typical cool and overcast skies. I think this weather is more my speed, I was starting to worry that I might actually melt in all the heat. One of the guides here, Matt, and I were talking about how we can’t believe that it’s already past the 4th of July. Where did summer go?! It can be truly amazing how you can have the best intentions in the world to do so many things, and they all just don’t quite happen. Duane and I were really hoping to get up to Haines and Skagway at some point, and spend more time in Juneau, but with both of us working the rest of the summer is filling up fast.

On a completely different note: wish I had a camera right now, Sigurd is passed out on the floor and has his limbs splayed like he’s a bearskin rug on the floor, and he looks like he just collapsed there. I think I should take him for a walk down to the beach, but I don’t have the heart to wake him up yet. Puppies: such sweet things when they are sleeping, such little terrors when they are awake.

That’s all the news from here!

Land of Whales, Bears, and Eagles

Is anyone out there getting tired of hearing about all the whales? I hope not.

I went out to guide again today, which was fabulous. The forecast was calling for 80 and sunny, so I knew it was going to be a great day to spend on the water. I even charged up the camera battery so I would be ready (and then forgot the camera in the car, oops!)

Regardless, we started off with a great sunny morning. I had 4 guests with me, who were all super fun, and excited about the day to come. Right away from when we launched the kayaks and started paddling east from the Chicken Ranch we saw whales, and they were in really close to shore! One of my guests, Jordie, joked that paddling along this way was like running the "whale gauntlet". We ended up having to stop and wait quite often, because the whales were so close to shore that we couldn't get around them.

We finally got through, saw a bunch of eagles at "Eagle Rock" and then headed over to Pt. Adolphus proper to see what might be going on. The whales were pretty quiet during lunch, but we got back on the water and the crew decided at random to paddle back west.

Just as we flipped our boats around to start paddling back west the whales started going nuts! There was a pod of about 6-10 of them traveling west, so we stayed close to the shore and just waited. They were all diving and circling for something and then out of nowhere one of the whales came rocketing out of the water for a full breech! This was then followed by 5 or 6 more full breeches by the other whales and lots of pectoral fin slapping and fluke slapping. The rest of the crew got great pictures (I just enjoyed the show).

When the whales calmed down (about 40 minutes later) we headed back toward the pick up spot. On the way there the "whale gauntlet" was back in full swing, and just when we got past all the whales and I thought I had found a beach to land on, there was a brown bear hanging out on the shore munching on the tide line. Another great photo op. After the bear we paddled a bit more west to give him his space and the next good stretch of beach revealed 2 bald eagles and a juvinile sitting on a piece of drift wood. We floated right past them. Go figure, camera is still in the car. ah!

I guess this means that I'll have to start gluing my camera to the back of my hand on trip days. :)

Rainforest Fires

I know, it seems like a complete oxymoron, but indeed, we had a wildfire in Gustavus yesterday. I was spending most of the day in my office, and therefore was generally oblivious to what was going on around me, until Duane called my cell and told me he needed me to bring his work gloves and water to the fire station. I asked him why and the answer I got was: “uh… because there’s a fire?”. Ok, I should have been able to figure out what was going on, but I think considering that we live in one of the wettest places in the world this was a fair question.

When I showed up at the fire station, Justin asked if I was available for the afternoon to help out, so I sent Duane off to the fire site and I went home to grab carhartts and work boots.

Most of the fire was contained around 6 or 7 last night, but it’s still smoldering a bit out there. A bunch of us in the community are taking ½ day shifts to sit out at the fire site and monitor for any flare ups. Don’t get me wrong, we’re all loving the 70 degree and sunny weather, but we’re going to need a bit of rain here soon to make sure this thing is really dead.

Woah Whales!

It looked like it was going to be a pretty typical day this morning. I got up early, took Sig out for a walk, and then grabbed my paddling gear to head down to the dock.

Every once in a while I get to get out of the office and head out on the water with some guests here in Gustavus to go and do some kayaking in and around Pt. Adolphus. It's a fabulous place to be paddling (see June 23rd), and it means that I get to spend a whole day ignoring my cell phone and email and just enjoy being outside with great people.

Today's trip was very cool for two reasons. First, the family that I had out to day was from Wenham, MA! (The tiny town in MA where Gordon College is). They even brought their "Nick's Roastbeef" sticker to Gustavus! We had a great time out on the water talking about all our favorite Wenham places.

The best part of the day though came after lunch. We had stopped out in the middle of the stright to eat and watch some feeding whales that were a bit off from us, but they all dove down deep so we had turned our backs. Then out of nowhere we heard this very loud blow right next to the boat and we all went runnng over to see a whale surface no more than 40 feet off our boat. The captain and I knew that the pod was bigger than one whale so we kept the engines off so that we wouldn't risk running into any of the other ones and then the rest of the pod surfaced, probaby between 8-12 whales, that were close enough that if I had lept off of the boat I could have landed on their backs. Then as quickly as they appeared, they also all took a deep dive and headed back down into the deeps to find fish.

This was definately the coolest thing I've seen all summer, hands down.

We're Back!

Duane and I spent the last few days having some time to ourselves exploring Glacier Bay. I’ve been paddling in here so many times, it seemed only natural that we spent some time up there together so I could show Duane some of my favorite spots in Glacier Bay.

We paddled into the park on Friday night and camped just a few miles north of the Beardslee cut. The next day we had intentions of paddling all the way up to Garforth Island, but about mid morning we were haulted by a severe amount of wind (about 20 knots, seas around 3 feet). We decided to tough it out and stay on the water because we were paddling in a stable double boat, but it still slowed us way down. We ended up staying at Sturgess Island instead, which is one of my favorite campsites in Glacier Bay. We had a wonderful evening hanging out on the beach and watching the colors change over both the east and west arms of the bay.

Sunday we had intentions of making it all the way up to the McBride Glacier to camp that evening, but after being slowed down the day before we decided to stop short at Goose Cove to make sure that we had enough time to get back down the next day to make our pick up. The native people who lived in Glacier Bay (the Tlingit) say that Goose Cove is one of the places that the Krustica lives. The Krustica is a Tlingit shape shifter that lives between life and death. Those who travel in Glacier Bay say that when you sleep in Goose Cove you tend to have bizarre and abstract dreams because of this shape shifter. Neither of us really remember dreaming, but who knows.

Monday morning we got up early to start heading back south on the tide currents that were ebbing south out of the bay. We made it across the bay just in time before the winds started blowing out of the south, right in our faces, again. We did manage to make it down to SeBree Island to camp before our pickup the next day.

The pickup the next day was a breeze, thought getting picked up is always kind of a kick. All the passengers on the boat treat kayakers they are picking up like they are a part of the wildlife. Everyone comes out on the decks to take pictures of you and then the whole day on the boat everyone wants to ask you questions about how people go camping in such a cold and wet place. However, the day tour boat that does the kayaker drop off and pick-ups can be a great end to the trip. It means that the last day of our little “mini vacation” we get to just sit on the boat, drinking lots of cocoa and tea, and watch all the tide water glaciers of the west arm of Glacier Bay as we cruise along.

We got home tonight and the pup seems to have grown up another inch or so and was very excited to see us.

Swing baby Swing

One of the realities we deal with living in costal AK is the phenomal tide swings. Glacier Bay, Alaksa is home to the 3rd largest tide swing in the world, and the 2nd largest in Alaska. On a typical day these swings are anywhere from 12 to 18 vertical feet. (This means that our floating town dock will rise and lower by that height twice a day).

Today however, we are having the largest swing we'll probably see all summer. The Low tide this morning was a -4.4 and this afternoon it will be coming up to 15.5. This means our total swing will be 20.9 vertical feet. To serve as a comparison here are some tide swings for today for other US Cities:

Savannah, GA- 8 ft

Boston, MA- 11 ft

Seattle, WA- 13 ft

I took some pictures too! Here's the Gustavus town dock at low tide:

And here's the dock at High tide later in the afternoon:

Naturally, Duane, Sig and I went down to the beach to do some exploring, and Sig had a fantastic time chasing ravens and looking for clams. We also are watching the progress on our new town dock! I'll update with pictures, but for now here's the sign from the ground breaking.

Skies Break Open

I'll be honest, I was dreading today when I woke up this morning. It was raining again, (which is typical for this part of AK, but rare for this season) and I was headed out the door to go and guide a trip at Pt. Adolphus. Now, I do love being out at Adolphus, the whales out there are wonderful, and the sea lions are very entertaining, but I really wasn't in the mood to trying to convince people that beingout in the cold rain all day really was the most entertaining thing they could have done today.

As soon as we got over to Pt Adolphus though the skies totally broke open and it turned out to be a beautiful day! We had a whole group of sea lions that followed us around for a while and then we saw so many whales! One pair of the humpbacks got a bit closer to us than I was really ok with, but so it goes! We also saw a humpback breech 8 times in a row!

It's another one of those days that makes me fall even harder for Alaska!

Return of the Rain

It's been absolutely amazing how beautiful May and June have been up here in AK. Typically you can expect South East Alaska to be cold and wet most days, and having the weeks just puctuated with the occasional day of sunshine. However, in the last 6 weeks or so I've had to water my plants almost daily just to keep them from drying out.

Today however, I woke up to the ever so familiar sound of drizzle on the roof of the house. Sig and I went for a walk in the rain this morning and now I'm nustled down in the quiet office catching up after last week's chaos.

Gotta go prep for a day trip tomorrow. Let's hope we get some more of those sunny skies!

I'm afraid of June

Wow, I'm not being very good about this. Let's see, since the last post my brother has come and gone, my dad was here for a visit, Sig has shot up like a weed and chaos has erupted at the Gustavus office.

I knew that June was going to be crazy, but didn't think that crazy was going to be this crazy. For the last few weeks I've been running boat transfers, chasing squirrels out of the office, having staff coming and going, and the trip schedule has been completely stacked. One of the staff here joked that I should paint "Rachel's Taxi Service" on the side of the company van, because I've spent so much time just shuttling people around lately.

In other news: The ground breaking for the new Gustavus Dock is tomorrow! Everyone around town is pretty excited that part of the state stimulus money is coming here so that we can get a new dock. Ours is really old and is so small that we can't be on the state ferry system. A new dock will mean that it's going to be so much easier to get too and from Gustavus. Plus all the workers coming to town are just going to help bump the economy a bit in our small town here.

Ok, thats all for now, hoepfully more soon!

Satellite!

YAY! We're offically online with satellite internet at the Gustavus office! I feel like I'm able to work at the speed of light!

Sigurd

Pete and I came to the library to catch up on some higher speed internet for a bit, which means I can upload pictures!

This is Sigurd. Mostly known as Sig, but also commonly refered to as "small one", "monster", "little man" and "sig pig". He keeps me pretty busy during the day, because he is in serious chew phase and wants to eat everything he can get his little teeth on. We've discovered that he has two modes, he's either asleep or he turns into a total wild child (this is known as "wombat mode" in our house, even though he acts more like a tazmanian devil.). We tell ourselves he's going to grow out of this and calm down, but who knows. 

Today he is 3 months old, and he's growing like a weed. I think he looks like he has bat ears, but Duane disagrees. 

I'll post pictures of our house as soon!

Family Time

Greetings from Gusto! For a very small and quiet town things have been super busy. We had our first trip go out of the Gustavus base of AMG this weekend which kept me pretty busy. The students and staff arrived on Thursday evening, and then all day Friday I was working with the staff to get them prepped for their trip. Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to another deepwater rescue training class and then Monday was their food pack day. So there went my weekend. As much as I would have enjoyed some rest this weekend, it was pretty nice to have people around for a few days and keep things interesting.

Then on Monday my brother, Peter, arrived in Gustavus. He’s going to be staying with us here in town for a few weeks, just spending some time relaxing and seeing Alaska. It’s been fantastic to have him around the last few days, and I’m hoping we can get some good paddling adventures in around Gustavus while he’s here. 

Sunny Days

Today was one of those days you really appreciate in southeast Alaska, even if you have spent just a little time here. This part of Alaska is enveloped in the Tongass National Forest, which is also a rainforest. The Tongass is the world's driest rainforest, but a rainforest none the less. 

Summers like 2008 remind us how truely wet it can get here. Between May 1 and Sept 15, 2008 (the typical summer season) Haines, AK saw 5 days where there was no rain. 5 days! So the fact that Gustavus, AK, only about 50 miles away as the crow flies, has pretty much been sunny since May started is really a blessing. I decided to take every opportunity I could to spend time outside today, because I know the rainy season will come eventually and then I'll be tired of being stuck inside. 

Life in Gustavus, when there aren't trips packing in or out, or students mulling about, can be pretty mellow. I enjoy days like today for that reason. I was able to get up with Duane at 7a, make breakfast, answer some emails, take Sig for a walk, check off some of the to-do list, etc (all in flannel pants and a hoodie!)

In other news today, I was able to get some seeds in the ground today (mostly salad mixes, they seem to do the best up here). Let's hope I can keep Sig and the moose out of the garden for the season!

In Gustavus!

Ok, I've been bad, I know, but somehow in all the chaos of transitioning I've completely lost the blog. 

Update from the last few weeks:

 

April 29th: Duane and the Puppy arrived in Juneau! We had a great day together exploring the city and playing with the pooch. We've decided to name him Sigurd, or "Sig" for short. Sigurd Olsen is Duane and I's favorite author, so it only seemed natural that our norwegian dog should inherit his norwegian name. 

April 30th: The three of us jumped on a plane over to Gustavus from Juneau. We were lucky enough to have a high ceiling to fly over on, so Duane got to see all the snow capped mountains of AK for the first time from a small plane. 

May 1st to May 4th- We spent the days getting moved into the house, picking up the car from the barge, and both of us getting started with our jobs in Gustavus. 

May 5th- Sig and I took off for Haines. I had to go and teach a 3 day Kayaking Rescue skills clinic for the new staff in Haines, and Sig came with me to meet the crew in Haines. 

May 6th-8th- Rescue Training in Haines. Most of it was done in Pool Sessions, which I am really grateful for. Teaching rescues to new paddlers in cold water can be really challenging. The new staff made the best of the warm water in the pool and then we had our test out session in the ocean on Friday with the help of some dry suits. 

May 9th- Charter flight back to Gustavus. Both Sig and i were very excited to see Duane again and get back to our house. I must have been really exhausted because I slept for almost 16 hours or so when I got home. 

My camera is broken, so getting new pictures up is a bit challenging, but I'll try to get some pictures of the house and pup up soon!

Waking up to Snow

I woke up early this yesterday hoping that I was going to be able to get a run in before heading into the office, but sadly, it was sleeting outside, so I decided against getting soaked to the bone in 40 degree weather. This my friends, is spring in Alaska. However, we did have 3 absolutely beautiful days in Haines before this, so I can't complain. We've finally lost all the snow off the beaches, and there are just little piles left all over town.

I can't believe the month has flown by so quickly. I leave Haines a week from yesterday to go meet up with Duane in Juneau for a few days before we both head to Gustavus for the summer. I feel like arriving in Gustavus will be when the good times of the summer can really get started. However, I did just find out today that I'll be coming back to Haines on May 6,7, & 8 to run the kayak guide training for Haines. At least its only a few days, and I'll have time to get moved into Gustavus, and get settled at the Gustavus HQ.

This morning though was beautiful again. The sun is back out and we're all loving that the temperatures are starting to come back up. (Highs this week are in the low 50s.) I also received these pretty things on my desk

 this week from that lovely man who will be joining me in Gustavus next week. Thanks baby!

The View from my Office

I was struck today by how lucky I am to be looking at this view out my window from my office everyday. Gosh I love Haines. 

Changing Seasons

The rain broke for a short while today, so I decided to go for a run down along the water. As I ran along Beach Road I couldn't help but notice that the mountain tops across the fjord where peaking out of the coulds, and I was struck with how amazingly beautiful this place is. The more I thought about it, I feel like my whole life has been spent diving myself into wilder and wilder places, until I ended up living in Alaska, in the last frontier. It's almost been as if there was a blessing laid on me many years ago that I was destined to seek the wilder places in the world, and to come to know what makes wildness beautiful, and how live and love can be stemmed from what seems to be just rugged chaos. 

For those who have spent time in these wild places you know what I mean, and you know that there are unnumberable lessons that come from just being there. One of them is that you become so dependent on the weather and the season that your body and soul can feel when they start to change. This feeling comes even before russling leaves, or grey skies, or even the change in the wind. There is a change in the air that is completely untangible to those who haven't learned how to look for it. 

I got that feeling today, not about the land so much as about my time in and on it. What happens when the wilderness stops being wild? What happens when the place that has been foreign to any person becomes home? I don'the think  this answer can be the same for everyone. For me, I know that there is something sturring in my world, something that sends me from one proverbial wilderness to another, creeping closer and closer to the very edges of myself. 

I can feel the winds sturing, and there is another wilderness on the horizon, but I guess I'll have to wait for the rain to fall before I know where or what it is.

Good Friday

It's been a pretty typical week in Haines, so not much new to write about. It's fun to be here this year when all the gears are just starting to turn. Most of the time I roll into town in May when everything is already cranking at full speed, but this year, I'm here early enough to see Haines while its still a bit quiet. 

Town these days is still cold, rainy, and at times almost errily quiet, but for me there is a certain amount of peace in that. I've been able to slow down a bit, take a deep breath and enjoy being in Haines before the chaos of the summer begins. 

Last night marked the opening of the Fireweed Resturant in town, which is located right next to our old offices. So last night a bunch of us walked down there after work to have the first pizza of the season. (and yes, Aunt Kathie, it was fantastic!) It was great to see people from all over Haines turn out for the season opener. 

18 Days until Duane gets to Juneau, and I couldn't be more excited. We'll have the whole summer together, with me working for AMG and he'll be working for Glacier Bay National Park. 

Not much other news for now, but the sun did peak out for a bit today, so here's a picture of our new offices in Haines. I'll try to get out and get some pictures of town as soon as the clouds break open for a few minutes!

Just another Monday

Monday in the office, and all was pretty much standard for a day in the Haines office. I went in knowing that I had reviews of some curriculum that needed to get done this week, and sooner than later, but somehow between the phone ringing and emails piling into my box, I didn't even touch my to-do list for the day until close to 2pm

I woke up this morning and saw the clouds hanging out just above all the roof tops, typical Haines. However, over the course of the day things cleared up pretty significantly and it turned into quite the bluebird day!

A bunch of the newer staff are starting to roll into town this week, and in an effort to get them oriented to life in Haines and AK in general, the other full-timers and I took them to dinner and a few games of pool. I think the crew is still going strong out there, but I have a conference call at 9am central (6 am Alaskan time) so I'm trying to wind down for the evening. 

In other Haines news, the Fireweed (my favorite Haines eatery) opens on Thursday for dinner, so it's already in my calendar to be in attendence to order up one of Lisa's wonderful pizzas for the first time this season. 

Still Snowing

I know I've always joked about living in eternal winter, but now I think it might actually be true. I woke up this morning, expecting to step out of my room into another brisk and clear day in Haines, but instead there was already 3" of snow of the front door step, and it hasn't stopped snowing all day. 

However, Mosey's (one of my favorite Haines eateries) is open and I've already managed to get in two Halibut burritos this week. It's little things like Mosey's fish burrito that make Haines a wonderful place. 

Tomorrow is my first day off in town, and I was hoping to hit up some of the hiking trails around town, but it looks like they are all still going to be covered in more snow than my trail runners can handle. It looks like the agenda instead is going to include sleeping in, checking out the Mountain Market and getting a little bit of laundry done. (Exciting I know!)

Today is the one week mark since I left Salt Lake City, and it feels so much longer and shorter than that at the same time. It's hard to leave a place once you feel like you've finally built a home and a community there. I miss SLC, but at the same time am so glad to know that I'll be going back to a place where I feel so at home. 

In Haines

It's nice to be back in a town so familiar. I arrived in Haines via ferry from Juneau on Wednesday afternoon and have been cranking away at work ever since. We bought a Motel in town and are busy moving all of our offices and warehouses into this new and larger space. It kind of feels like we work in a real office now!

I'm in town a month earlier than I've ever been, and its kind of remarkable to see town so snowy and quiet. The stores are all still on their winter hours and most of our summer staff won't be rolling in here until the middle of May. I am thankful for the quiet evenings though to just walk on the beach or sit on my sofa and read a book. 

I am however beginging to remember how expensive everything is up here, and how hard it is to get the little things that can make you really happy. Case in point: I found this pen down in Utah that I absoltely love, but they don't sell them anywhere in Haines (no suprise there). So I am left with the option of ordering pens from OfficeMax and paying for shipping on pens, or I can cling despirately to this one until the ink runs out and then switch to boring bics until I get back down to the lower 48. I know, its just a pen, but Jen is having the same problem with her favorite shampoo, and the closest Trader Joes to me is in Portland (or maybe Seattle). On the plus side, I can have really fantastic Alaskan Salmon every morning for breakfast!

Just another day in Haines. 

Flukes

I decided to sit up on the front deck today, with my head feeling a bit clearer, to watch the water and the land pass around me while losing myself in the book I’m reading right now. It might have just been luck, but I’m convinced that it’s something more, that I looked up from the pages just in time to see a whale off the port side of the boat toss its fluke (tail) in the air. For those that travel in locations with whales, this is a blessed event. Often we see them surface, or see a blow of air and water off in the distance, but fluking is something special, and truly a sight to behold.

The start of a whale fluking starts with a larger than normal arch of his back, that when you’ve spent enough time around whales you can recognize and you start to get excited about what is coming next. As the arch rounds into the water the whale reveals its beautiful fluke.

I was getting the feeling during this voyage north that I was early. I felt as if I had somehow jumped the gun on the rhythm of life with the land and was heading into a place that wasn’t ready for me or for what my part would be in it. I come to Alaska to paddle, to show people how alive and beautiful this marine environment truly is. Yet, there is still snow at sea level and I can’t help but think that the bays are still clogged with ice.

Yet the whales are here. The whales spend their winters calving and nursing their young off the warm coasts of Hawaii and only come up to the chilly Alaskan waters in the summers to feed. At the end of march I would have expected them to only be about as far north as Seattle or Vancouver, but here they are, in the waters between Kake and Juneau, diving to the depths getting a head start on their summer feeding.

I was going to take this as an omen that summer was coming, but then it started snowing. So instead I’m choosing to take this as an omen that I’m not early at all, I’m right on time, the whale said so. 

Tonight I'm in Juneau, AK. I tried to go for a stroll and check out some of the local shops, but everything closed at 5. I guess before tourist season really kicks into gear there isn't much reason to stay open any later. Hopefully on my next swing through town the skies will be less snowy and we can get out and see Juneau in all its capital glory. 

Ferry Boats

Ok, so I count Grey’s Anatomy as one of my guilty pleasures, though I guess with its popularity I shouldn’t be so shameful of it. Anyway, on last week’s episode Meredith tells the chief of surgery that Derek needs his “ferry boats” scrub cap to operate on Izzy. She says it’s his lucky cap as he loves ferry boats, and I can see why.

This is my third trip up to spend the season in Alaska, and I can’t believe I’m even saying that. This year however, I am forgoing the popular Alcan Highway, for the Alaska Marine Highway instead. I had a few reasons for this change of itinerary, the least of which being I was just tired of driving the Alcan. Don’t get me wrong, the Alaskan Highway (known to most of its travelers as the Alcan) is absolutely beautiful, and an experience in of itself. Yet taking the time to do it again by myself seemed unnecessary. Also, this year Duane and I will be going to Gustavus, Alaska, and not Haines. There are no roads to Gustavus, so driving directly there is not an option. Instead the boat must be barged there from Juneau. There aren’t any roads to Juneau either (the state capital), the only way in and out of the city is by water, hence the ferry system. So I’m on route from Prince Rupert, BC (where ferry tickets are much cheaper than if you decide to ride up from Bellingham, WA) to Juneau, AK. There the loyal Subaru will wait for 3.5 weeks while I go to Haines to get some work done at our main office there. 

On the Road Again

I guess it’s time for an update, as this blog is about living in Alaska and I am currently en route up north. I left two days ago from Salt Lake City to drive up to Prince Rupert, BC where I will board the ferry to Juneau. The drive was tiringly predictable. It was dark for most of Utah, Montana was mostly flat, and the border crossing was crowded.

To top it all off I was coming down with a wicked head and chest cold and said a tearful good bye to Duane since he won’t be able to join me up north until the beginning of May. Not the best conditions to start a long drive. C’est la vive!

I did make the best of it though and explore some new places on the way north. Previous journeys have found me staying in and enjoying Jasper, AB. I’ve spent enough time now in that town to have a favorite restaurant and bakery, but it was just too far for this trip north, so I stopped in Canmore instead. Canmore is just shy of Banff, AB and sadly all I really saw of it was the main drag that reminded me of well, every other ski town in America (ahem, Canada). Still, it was quaint and welcoming and served up a great cup of tea before starting off on the second leg of the drive.

Day 2 started off fairly familiar with the “Ice Fields Parkway” between Lake Louise and Jasper. Only this time it came with new challenges: darkness and snow. It was a slow drive over the mountains, but it yielded a fantastic sunrise. From Jasper I changed course and headed due west instead of my usual northward drive. All new roads from here on out into Prince George and on to Prince Rupert, and they were great, at least what I can remember of them. I think I lost most of the day to the daze of cold medicine and just staring at the road. Oops.

Staying in Prince Rupert, BC tonight. Honestly this town is more run down than I was expecting. The outside of my hotel looks like something out of a gloomy horror movie but inside was very bright and cheery. There was also a very large burned down building right on main street that had not yet been cleared. I wondered why this town was so run down, but then I guess the only reason that anyone would drive all the way out here would be to jump on the ferry. Prince Rupert is a port town, with only one road in and out and the next biggest city, Prince George, is some 650km away. As for the gloom, I’m going to blame the Tylenol PM and the misting Northwestern rain for that impression, and not Prince Rupert itself.