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May ended up being a pretty busy month with travel.  I already had an Alaska road trip planned for latter half of May, but an unexpected Employee of the Year Award at work earned me a free trip to the East coast to receive it in person by senior leadership at headquarters in Maryland.  The award ceremony was on the 15th and I had to leave on the 16th to be back in Juneau in time to fly out on the 18th for Anchorage, with some time to spare for repacking.  So as soon as I found out about the travel opportunity, I booked my flight out to DC for three days later, on May 3.  It was going to be a tough squeeze trying to see everyone in a week's time.  I have friends in Reston to see, a brother in Charlotte area, and a brother in Virginia Beach. 

Travel to DC from Juneau is an all day affair.  I catch the first flight out of Juneau to Seattle, and then an early afternoon flight to DC, which gets me there around ten at night.  By the time I got the rental car and made it to my first stop on the trip, Spa World, it was nearly midnight. 

Yes, I stayed at Spa World on my first night.  I was so looking forward to this place before I even got there.  I just really loved the idea of taking a bath right before going to bed, and getting one right after waking up.  Besides, I didn't want to bother any of my friends for a place to crash so late at night on a weekday.  The place isn't exactly designed for sleeping, but it is designed for relaxing.  There's a common area where people can rest on seats or on floor mats with wooden head rests.  A few had managed to sprawl across the seats and sofas.  I found a spot on the floor, with about 10 others doing the same.  I can't say I slept well though because the floor was hard.  The baths and saunas there are really nice though.  I can probably spend an entire day there - bathing, reading, sauna, napping, eating, relaxing, reading, bathing, etc.  I only had a few hours after waking up though, before I had to go meet couple of friends for lunch.

The first couple days there were spent meeting friends.  Then I had a 7 hour drive to my brother's house in in SC.  Luckily I had online training that week so I planned to work from his home all week.  It was a silly idea in retrospect though, because he had a 1 and 5 year old that wreaked havoc all the time.  Still, it was really good to spend that time with them.  On Friday, I drove another 6 hours to my other brother's house.  I only had couple nights there, but I got a chance to see their new house.  They upgraded to a larger house, so now I don't have to kick the kids out of their room when I visit. 

I drove up to Maryland on Sunday and met up with a friend who came to visit me.  We spent Monday meeting up with another friend, and visiting the zoo.  Tuesday was the award ceremony and Wednesday was my flight out. 

It was really nice getting that visit to see family and friends.  I had been so home sick, especially since I was having a rough winter.  I also got to enjoy lots of really good food, something I don't get much of in Juneau due to shortage of restaurants.  Then there was the sun and warm temperatures.  For the first time in a long time, I wasn't cold.  On the flip side, I recalled some of the reasons why I wanted to leave the East coast, like traffic.  Some days I really want to be back on the mainland, some days I am glad to be away from it.  I keep having this inner debate in my head about where I want to be more and it's driving me a little nuts.  I want to buy another house and put down roots somewhere but I just don't feel settled here in Juneau.  It's a bit of a shame because I really like my job here a lot.  Most likely though, we'll be heading back East in the near future.   

An Ex-Soldier at an NRA Banquet

Cartoon source: http://www.usdemocrazy.net/2010/12/01/gunning-for-schools/

Alaska has historically been a Republican State and is well-known to be extremely conservative when it comes to gun ownership.  Those in the lower 48 either thinks or jokes that the everyone in Alaska owns a gun.  Well, it doesn't seem to be far from the truth.  There is a lot of hunting opportunities in Alaska, and some enjoy it for the sport.  Then there seems to be the folks that have them because they are right-wing nuts.  As a liberal, I have been fortunate to have been sheltered from most conservative rhetorics, aside the occasional democrat-bashing or god-worshipping spam I receive from an acquaintance or a friend.  I try to overlook a person's political views in making friends, especially since I do disagree with some aspect of Democratic views, like excessive free handouts (i.e. welfare and unemployment).  My dislike with Republican politics stem mostly from their constant theme of trying to make the rich richer and trying to impose their religious views in deciding what's good for the nation.  I never really had an issue with their stance on guns though, since I stand in the middle on gun control.  Last night, however, my husband's experience at an NRA banquet only reaffirmed my view of Republican politics as self-serving and out of touch with rest of the nation.

My husband is an ex-soldier in the British Army.  He also currently works in an environment that requires him to carry a firearm.  As such, he has had a lot of experience with various types of weapons and has an interest in them.  Therefore, when a colleague invited him to an NRA Banquet evening, he was excited to go.  For whatever reason, we've had difficulty making many friends in Juneau, so I had hoped he would have an enjoyable evening out.  Well, he came home a lot sooner than I expected and told me the evening was more than disappointing.  Turns out he spent the entire night being picked on by rich old men for coming from an unarmed country (England) and not having had a "collection" of guns.  He managed to hold his own by emphasizing he had other priorities at this stage in life, yet he got the sense that some were offended at him putting the importance of guns down.  My husband is also somewhat of a conservationist, so he was quite irked by all the boasting of who killed what.  When asked how many animals he killed, my husband could only reply, "Can that number include humans?"  Everyone he spoke to assumed he had no knowledge or experience with guns, but the fact is my husband could probably outshoot 90% of the people there.  The evening got a little better with some support and backing from the friend who invited him, but there were other aspects of the event that left a bad taste in his mouth.

The most offending part of the night seemed to be the celebratory attitude they took towards guns.  They touted the Second Amendment and claim "gun = freedom".  The NRA chairman said firearms are "peacekeepers" and that they save lives.  At that point all my husband could think of were his squadmates that got their legs shredded by 50 caliber rounds and will never walk again, or of the mothers of his dead combat buddies.  My husband agrees that the Second Amendment is a mark of freedom and is something to be preserved.  However, he does not think that guns should be valued so much that people must make void and thoughtless comments to try and justify their use.  In my husband's words, "No gun is a peacemaker.  Anybody that has seen combat will tell you that a gun is a tool of death.  It is designed to kill, nothing more.  Must we hold celebratory events in order to brainwash gun owners into believing that guns are instruments of peace?"

Hike from Hell to Eagle Glacier

Eagle Glacier

I don't even know how to begin explaining our experience on the Eagle Glacier Trail. I wouldn't say it was horrible, though Brad may disagree. I was disappointed in some ways since the trip didn't quite turn out as expected. Yet, I was glad to have done it.

Start of the hike

The hike started off easy enough. I was a bit worried about the weight of my pack since I was not used to hiking with one. However, that did not seem to be an issue and my legs handled it fine.  We had also scouted the first couple miles of the trail a few weeks back and knew we wouldn't have much issues with at least that part of the trail. There was lots of snow on the ground still though, and I worried about what the conditions may hold for us later in the trail. We started on a pretty slow pace, stopping for photos and shouting for bears.  We left just before 1pm and expected to get there around 5ish. Well, it turned out that we only covered about 3 miles in that time and still had another 2.5 miles left to our cabin at Eagle Glacier. The snow and ice on the trail slowed us considerably, and there were other obstacles such as dodgy bridges, flooded trails, and fallen trees. The trail by everyone's standards is rated "difficult". There's no total elevation gain, but there is enough ups and downs to give you a good work out.

Brad falling thigh deep into snow

The last two miles of the hike to the cabin was absolute hell.  We'd walk for a long time and get very discouraged when we look at the GPS and saw we only covered a third of a mile. Friday the 13th indeed. There was more snow cover here and the recent warm weather made it soft.  We both kept falling knee and thigh deep into the snow. Snowshoes would have been really helpful for this part. Brad had it even worse, since he weighed a lot more than me and didn't have poles or cleats. I was a bit frustrated since I did warn him against taking unnecessary gear and encouraged him to take poles and cleats. However, I was also very concerned since he was really hurting. It is easy to twist an ankle or hurt your knees in these conditions. He had the additional danger of slipping on ice. I knew I could continue on, but he and I were unsure whether he could. What if he really did injure himself and physically couldn't go on? We joked at the possibility that we could end up on the show "I Shouldn't Be Alive." He pushed through his pain and kept going though. 

We eventually reached the cabin at about 8pm, seven hours after we started. The hike was not the most strenuous one I've done, but it was probably the most difficult. At the cabin we got a glimpse of the Eagle Glacier (above) just before the sun went down. At night the sky was clear and the stars were magnificient. I was hoping to see the aurora borealis but wasn't quite so lucky.

Eagle Glacier Cabin

Our original plan for our second day was to hike two miles to the Eagle Glacier and back. Well, after yesterday's ordeal, we knew it would be difficult getting there in these conditions. Plus, we needed to rest up our legs for the trek back the next day. I also wanted to see this waterfall that was supposedly only a quarter of a mile past the cabin. We couldn't find the trail to it though amongst all of the snow. So instead, we relaxed at the cabin and enjoyed the peace and quiet. No one showed up at the cabin that day, not that we expected anyone would be crazy enough to come out here and go back on a day hike. The only wildlife I saw were squirrels, but Brad claims he saw a wolf in the evening while outside peeing. Despite not being able to do what I wanted to do this day, I actually enjoyed just being at the cabin. I liked being there so much I'm considering booking another cabin somewhere. In a way I want to come to this same cabin again, but in the summer.

The next day we set off quite early at 0630. We had to get to Pet Nanny's by 3pm to pick-up Millie. We worried it might take us longer to get back with our tired legs, but we did a little better coming back. We were back by noon. It was a little easier to get back because we hit the hardest part of the trail first whilst we had the strength. Plus, we were able to trace back our footsteps (or holes) and avoided falling into the snow as much. Brad had also shed about 30lbs of food and water, which helped a lot. It was a tiring hike back but our spirits were much higher than the hike in. After about 3-miles walking, we ran into three women who were planning to hike out to the cabin in back in one day. One woman was unsure if they'd actually make it all the way out there, but the woman with a f'ing cup of coffee in her hand made it sound like this was a stroll in the park for her. There's a lot of fit people in Juneau who probably do these types of hikes all the time... but hiking with a cup of coffee?  I really would like to know if she made it there and back on that particular day.

Google Voice, Skype, and Wireless Carriers

I came to Juneau with a Verizon cell phone and service.  Although Verizon is not a carrier in Alaska, they are partnered with Alaska Communication Systems to provided extended service.  This means you can make calls, but other services were limited:

• You cannot use data service, including picture or video texting
• In-coming calls go to voicemail after 3 rings
• You cannot update your phone
• Backup assistant (for your contacts), and probably other applications, won't work
• You cannot activate a new phone with the same service

Unfortunately, I had just gotten a new contract right before moving so I was stuck for a while.  Initially I tried to get Verizon to resolve some of these issues, but this went nowhere and a lot of time was wasted.  After putting up with their crap service for about a year, my phone started physically falling apart at the hinges.  I tried to convince the customer service rep and his supervisor that they should let me out of my contract because I am not getting the same service as everyone else.  They wouldn't budge because as of 2 years ago or so, they no longer guarantee service outside of the original contract area.  That must have been in the fine print somewhere. 

I was pretty furious after the call and began looking into my options here in Alaska.  By now I didn't care if I had to pay $100 to terminate - I just wanted to get rid of Verizon.  I checked out all of the carriers located in Alaska - AT&T, ACS, and GCI.  At the end of the day though, I had no intention of getting into another contract with any wireless carrier.  I just wanted a no-contract, pre-paid phone service.  The downside to getting one of those was that I could not port my phone number to a pre-pay phone.  I wanted to avoid changing phone numbers

I started looking into other options - Skype and Google Voice.  Skype would have been the best choice since they had variety of call services and user friendly interfaces.  You could also buy phones designed to specifically work with Skype.  The downside is you could not port your # to Skype.  You could, however, port your number to Google Voice (GV).  GV is actually pretty feature rich for a free service.  It has just about all of the features I really needed, as well as the capability to forward my calls anywhere.  One thing that was not clear to me though was how to make calls using the computer, or how I would get a VOIP phone working with GV.  I eventually found out how to use Gmail to make calls from, but it was not a convenient way of making calls.  So here's the solution I came up with:
- Port cell number to Google Voice
- Cancel contract and service and complain to BBC to get termination fee waved (it worked)
- Get pre-paid AT&T cell phone and minutes for emergencies
- Get Skype-in number, subscription, and Skype phone for use while at home
- Forward my GV number to office, skype, and cell
- Use office phone or skype when possible to make calls
- I chose not to forward text messages to my cell, but texts sent to my GV number are sent to my Gmail.  I can easily reply to texts by replying to the e-mail.

The result of all of this is reachable practically everywhere on my old number except when I get no reception while hiking.  Since majority of the time I am at home or the office, my pre-paid cell usage is kept to a minimum.  I could potentially stretch the $25 pre-paid minutes to the max 90 days that it is valid for.  The Skype phone was a bit overpriced at $60-70ish, but I find it quite convenient to use it since I don't have to be logged on to the computer to use Skype.  One year's worth of Skype-in number and US service (unlimited calls) came out to about $60 with the promotions going on.  Assuming I use $25 in pre-paid cell services every 90 days, the first year average phone costs per month is about $20. 

This setup probably won't work for those who spend a lot of time outside of home and office, or those who are attached to their data service.  For me though, it works quite well and I am very happy not to be relying heavily on a wireless carrier service.

Winter Anchorage

A musher and his dogs take off for the start of Iditarod

Last weekend Brad and I went to Anchorage for a much needed time away from South East Alaska.  That Saturday was also the ceremonial start of the Iditarod dog sled race and we thought that would be a neat event to see.  In addition to Iditarod, we enjoyed a walk on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, some Fur Rondy events, moose sightings, and more.

Tony Knowles Coastal Trail

The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is a 11-mile stretch of paved trail running from downtown Anchorage South along the coast.  It is a multi-use trail and in the winter, cross-country skiing is very popular.  We saw runners and dog walkers too. We walked about a mile up to Westchester Lagoon, which is a great area for skating in winter. 

Westchester Lagoon is a skater's heaven in winter

Moose Sightings

Seeing moose wasn't exactly on our agenda, but we saw our first while walking along 4th Street in downtown.  Apparently they are fairly common in Anchorage and the surrounds.  We also saw a moose chilling in the snow right next to the coastal trail. 



Iditarod - The Last Great Race (History)

The Iditarod sled dog race was established in 1973 to save the dog sled culture and Alaskan Huskies.  Historically, dog sleds were used widely in transportation around Alaska, particularly in the Native villages. The Iditarod trail is a reconstruction of the freight route to Nome, and the mushers must travel from checkpoint to checkpoint as they did back then.
The race began this year with a ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage on March 3rd.  On the following day there is a restart in Willow.  The mushers and their dogs will travel to Nome, which is about 975 miles from Anchorage. 

There are several other dog sled races in Alaska, but Iditarod is probably the most popular one. Dog sled races are also held outside Alaska, including other countries, but Alaska remains the world mecca for dog sledding.

Iditarod - Ceremonial Start

Dogs waiting by their kennel

We only had a weekend in Anchorage, so we only caught the ceremonial start, which begins at 1000 on 4th and D.  We got to 4th Street right around 9 and realized we were behind the Start line.  We saw a few dogs and their mushers waiting next to their mobile kennels.  It wasn't quite what we expected.  We both thought there would be a frezy of dogs everywhere, but it was a bit more organized than that.  Each team of dogs were spread apart, and each dog in a team were usually separated from each other also.  After walking down the street some we ended up with a spot right behind the Start line along the fence.  We almost thought we had a great place to view the race from, until all of the VIPs who were allowed inside the fence started blocking the view.  We moved on past the Start line on 4th and eventually found a spot along the fence after pushing some kids away (just kidding - they were already leaving).  When the race started, each musher got an intro before taking off.  There were 66 racers total, and a team took off in intervals of two minutes.  This was also unexpected, as we thought all teams would take off at once.  If you think about it thought, that would probably just lead to a tangled mess of dogs and sleds. 

Excited doggies rearing to go

We watched several teams taking off before we started getting cold and deciding we had enough for time being.  Having our hotel nearby at the Westmark was pretty convenient since we could just pop in to warm up and rest when needed.  We went back out again to join the festivities and had a reindeer sausage for lunch (it was yummy). 

Fur Rondy

Fur Rondy is Alaska's annual winter festival that runs the week before Iditarod.  We were in town only for the last couple of days of it, so we didn't see much.  We saw the snow sculptures from the competition (and ice sculptures from a competition back in January).  Unfortunately some time has elapsed since they were first carved so the sculputres had all been weathered down a lot.  Probably the most interesting event we caught was the Running of the Reindeers.  This is Alaska's version of the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.  Runners here dress up in costumes though, which help make it more interesting.  Btw, our celebrity sighting of the day was Bristol Palin.

The women's heat taking off...

... and the reindeers running after them.

Japanese Restaurant

Aside from checking out the events and walking around town, we also did some dining and shopping.  There's a proper Simon's mall on 5th Street in downtown.  Although I went with a half-empty suitcase, I was a bit disappointed to realize there's really nothing I need from a 'mall'.  The clothes I wear these days aren't fashion items of any sorts.  For food, my favorite place to eat was Kumagoro's Japanese Restaurant on 4th Street.  You can't get decent Japanese food in Juneau, so I was really glad to find this place.  Their sushi was fresh and tasty, and they offered variety of other Japanese dishes.  I also had miso ramen one day and ice cream with red bean for desert.  Their prices aren't cheeap, but is comparable to other restaurants in town.  One sushi place I really disliked was Urban Sushi Spot.  They took 2 hours to deliver to our hotel around the block, and the sushi was tasteless and the rice was hard.

The Visitors Centers



There are two official visitors centers in downtown Anchorage, both right across from each other on 4th Street.  One is in a small log cabin (above) and only has a few brochures.  The other is in the Federal Building and requires going through security to get in, but well worth the visit.  They have much more information there and have a small exhibit on Alaska wildlife and culture.  They also show short films that give you some history of Alaska.  I saw one on Alaska's wildlife, the 1964 earthquake, the Klondike gold rush, and Denali. 

Looking forward to another visit...

This was just a short trip to get a taste of Anchorage in winter.  They received a near record-breaking amount of snow so it was pretty.  It was also interesting to walk around neighborhoods with a wall of snow about 3-4 feet high on either side of the sidewalks.  A lot of the main attractions surrounding Anchorage are best visited in the summer months though.  While there's not a whole lot else I'd care to see in Anchorage (perhaps except the Anchorage Museum), I do want to visit the towns, parks, and glaciers surrounding it.  I'm hoping to take a week out this summer to do a combined Anchorage/Denali/Fairbanks trip.  If anyone wants to join, let me know!

February Update

Glacier chunk on frozen Mendenhall Lake

Shortly after our Haines trip, my dad left Juneau.  I don't think he had too much fun since it rained everyday (literally) and he didn't really have anyone to talk to but me.  I'm glad we got to spend the couple months together though.  It would've been a very long winter without him. 

Soon after he left, my husband came back home after spending some time in England visiting family and volunteering with conservation groups.  He had just missed our last dump of snow, which was about 18".  It was pretty in the woods but messy on the roads for a while.  Now all of the snow has mostly melted, and the sun is out a lot more these days.  At the very least, it's not raining nearly as much as it used to. 

We had couple of windy days though and one happenned to be on a day I was supposed to fly out to Fairbanks.  The plan was to stay at the Chena Hot Springs to see the Aurora.  The flight ended up getting cancelled, which led to the entire trip being cancelled.  It was a bit of a bummer.  We have another trip planned in early March though, to Anchorage for the Iditarod ceremonial start.

The most unfortunate news of the year so far though is Millie's chip fracture, which requires surgery to fix.  She has been limping for sometime, and after seeing two morons, I finally got a conclusive diagnosis and a treatment plan from vet #3.  She is actually scheduled for surgery the weekend of our Anchorage trip, but fortunately we can board her at the animal hospital while we are away.  The surgeon is a visiting specialist, so it could be 3-6 months for another surgery opportunity if we missed this one.  Shortage of medical care for animals (and people), is one of the downsides of being in a remote place like Juneau.  I suppose there are places much more remote than here though.

Not much else to report as of the moment.  This long weekend will be spent relaxing, enjoying walks, perhaps snowboarding, and playing Skyrim.

Oh, btw, saw a Pygmy owl today on a walk.  Got about 5 feet from it!!!  I need to remember to start bringing my camera with me everywhere I go.  You never know what you will see.

Haines, AK

My dad wanted to ride the ferry while he was here, so I decided to take him to Haines.  I had never been there, and it was one of the shorter rides at 4.5 hours.  (Sitka is 4.5 hours too, but I had already been there.)  It was a morning ride, and the weather wasn't that great so the views were only ho-hum.  They also left the lounge lights off, so I couldn't do any reading unless I went to the cafeteria.  (Remind me to bring a head-lamp on my next ferry ride.)

Although the ferry ride was uneventful, Dad seemed to enjoy Haines a lot.  I had no idea what we would do there in the winter, but since we got lucky with the sunny weather, we drove up and down Alaska Highway every day.  We did it initially for the scenery (jagged snow-capped mountains all around) and eagles (it goes right through an eagle preserve), but we saw a moose on our first day so we just kept going back looking for more.  On our second day I blurted out that I wanted to see one crossing the road, and I wanted to see a bull moose (we saw a cow on the first day).  Probably not even 5 minutes later, we came up on a bull moose and a cow crossing the road!  I didn't bring my good camera so I didn't get great shots, but we were pretty stoked to see them.  We watched them for a bit and moved on.  On the last day, we though we had exhausted our luck with the moose, but on the way back we saw a cow and her calf crossing a river!  We again watched them for a bit before moving on.

Canadian border on Alaska Highway 7

One thing I did not realize was how close Haines was to the Canadian border (~44 miles).  Next time I'll have to bring a passport and health certificate for Millie so I can cross over.  I would like to do the Skagway-Whitehorse-Haines loop sometime.

Aside from the drive around, we did very little else.  The town itself was buried in about 3 feet of snow so we couldn't really find a good place to do much walking.  On the last day we did find a trail that supposedly goes to Chilkoot lake, but by then we had to go catch the ferry so we didn't go too far.  Probably better for poor Millie though, who now has a fractured elbow and is on forced rest. The view of the river along the trail is very nice though.  If I go back, I would like to see what is at the end of that trail.

The population of Haines is 1800 according to the 2000 census, but I wonder how many of them actually stick around for the winter.  There wasn't a whole lot going on.  We found only 3 restaurants in the whole town (one was near the Canadian border) and no stop lights.  While we got lucky with sunny weather, this could have easily turned into a disaster.  We could've been stuck hanging out in our motel for 3 days if weather was bad.  Definitely would recommend visiting in the summer for those who are coming from far away.