Winter Is Coming....

Next weekend will mark the end of the summer, and I'm actually looking forward to the upcoming winter.  Don't get me wrong, it can be miserable here with the rain and the darkness.  I don't enjoy driving in snow or shoveling it either.  However, there's something peaceful about the winter here.  Maybe because all the tourists and fair weather residents are gone.  Also, this summer was quite disappointing with the frequent rains.  I made it out on a few hikes, but only to one new trail.  I didn't even make it out fishing like I had planned to.  Oh well.  At least I have a few trips coming up this fall - starting with a trip to Skagway (or Whitehorse) over Labor Day weekend, Maui in October, and home for Thanksgiving.  I always like change in seasons.  Too bad there are only two here as far as I'm concerned.

Peterson Lake Trail

I've been a bit of a slacker lately, getting way too engrossed in Skryim.  This past Sunday though, I finally got off my butt for a decent hike up Peterson Lake Trail with Matt.  The trail, which starts at mile 24 on Egan, is 4.3 miles each way with a 700 feet elevation gain, so it's not too easy and not too strenuous.  However, the trail is not that well maintained so navigating around muddy spots and walking over protruding roots made it much more difficult than it should've been.  The fact that it was a bit of a rainy day didn't help.  Sometime I wonder why I put myself through a hike like that.  I could've been home on the comfy couch in my dry warm home getting many hours of game time in.  Actually, I was really glad to get out and get some fresh air even if I was wet and muddy by the time I was done. 

At the end of Peterson Lake Trail is (tah dah) Peterson Lake.  There is also a newly renovated US Forest Service cabin that can be rented out for $35 a night. 

Seattle

With the July 4th holiday being smack in the middle of the week, I managed to make a five day weekend for a much needed get away. I flew to Seattle since I had couple of friends there (Sue & Jaime) I wanted to see, and it turned out to be a great few days. I did some sightseeing around Seattle, but also got introduced to Season 1 DVD of Game of Thrones. Can't wait for the Season 2 DVD to come out. Sue's husband, Mike, was also into Skyrim, and I got a few pointers on him that I've been trying out since getting back.  Sue also took me to lots of great restaurants.  To top it all off, it was sunny everyday and a pleasant 70 degrees :)

As for the sightseeing, here's what I did:

Mt. Rainier National Park

Sue had to work & was preggo but Mike and I drove down for the day to Mt. Rainier.  We initially planned to do some hikes around Paradise, but seems the snow is lingering longer this year so they were all snow covered.  So much for seeing wildflowers :S  We did a short walk around the area, and then moved onto Box Canyon, which was a very short walk to a cool overlook of a canyon.  Much recommended spot.  We kept on and did another walk to Silver falls, and then onto White River campground.  Here we hoped to do another walk but ran out of time before having to get back to Seattle for dinner. 


Japanese Garden

I've been missing Japan a lot lately, so I decided to get my fix at the Japanese Garden in the Washington Park Arboretum.  We got there first thing when it openned, so it was a nice peaceful stroll through the gardens.  Few other people were there, and couple kids feeding the koi and turtles.  More people were visiting by the time we left.  It was a short visit, but it will have to do until I get an opportunity to visit Japan again.

Harbor Tour

After the Japanese Garden I met up with an old Coastie friend, Jaime, for lunch and afternoon.  It was such a gorgeous day I thought it would be great to spend some time on the water, so we hopped on an hour long harbor cruise.  It was a bit more like a tour, since the narrator gave a nice history and overview of Seattle.  We also saw the two Coast Guard icebreakers Polar Star and Healy.

Aquarium

If you don't have time to take advantage of the City Pass, the Aquarium and Harbor cruise combo pack for $35 is a good deal.  Turns out my friend's Microsoft Passport card got me a better deal though.  Both, the harbor tour departure and aquarium are near the new ferris wheel in downtown. 

Even though it was a Friday, everyone was in town and the aquarium was a little packed.  It was still nice seeing all the fishies and other marine animals.  I especially enjoyed watching the otters, who just happenned to be feeding when we got there. 

Where the Hell is Matt? 2012 Video

I first came across Matt's original video six years ago and thought it was cool. He made another video few years after that, but I think I like his 2012 version a bit better:

Tracy Arm Fjord Cruise

One of the most recommended day cruise out of Juneau is a cruise through Tracy Arm Fjords.  I've been wanting to go since last year, but finally was organized enough to book before a weekend when I knew the weather was going to be good.  There are couple of operators that do the cruise, but DeAnna and I went with Adventure Bound.  We took the boat Captain Cook, which sat about 50 folks.  The trip is all day long, departing at 8am and returning at 6pm.  It took about 2 hours to get through Gastineau Channel and Stephen's Passage, and another 2 hours through Tracy Arm Fjord to Sawyer Glacier.  If you think the ride through the channel is pretty, the ride through the fjord is even better.  The scenery is very beautiful and waterfalls are everywhere.  The boat also slows for any wildlife sightings, icebergs, and also gives passengers close up views of some of the larger waterfalls.  The boat also stayed at the Sawyer Glacier a long time waiting for some calving. We saw some small ones but no huge ones.  We had a pretty good views of wildlife on this trip, too.  First we saw a brown bear, then a lot of harbor seals near the glacier, and then some whales on our way back to Juneau.  I highly recommend this trip, but only on good weather days.  It'd be a bit of a shame if you had to sit in the cabin most of the cruise because of poor weather.  You'd also miss out on the beautiful views of the fjord, which is the main purpose of going on this trip. 

Top 10 Stupid Tourist Questions

Alaska is a popular tourist destination and Juneau gets its fair share of them.  On any given day in the summer, there are two to six cruise ships bringing about 5,000 tourists each.  My husband interacts heavily with these tourists on a daily basis as it is his job to provide security in downtown.  He often tells me stories from his work.  Some can be as mundane as "I had to keep tourists from trying to get too close to a bear to take photos."  Often though, they are quite funny... in a sad way.  He once told me of a guy who came off the cruise ship huffing and puffling whilst clutching his heart that asked, "Sir, how high are we?  I can feel we are quite high up."  Um... look around you... we're at sea level.  I've asked my fair share of dumb questions in my lifetime, but some of the questions that these tourists ask are amongst dumbest of the dumb.  Here's the top ten list of dumb Alaska tourist questions, as well as my husband's response to them below in italic.

10. "Where can I find igloos?"

Down the road and to the left.

9. "Really?! There are bears in Juneau?!"

Uh, yeah...
8. "Where are all the eskimos?"

Sounds like the tour guide sold you a duff deal, sir. The true eskimos are much further north. You have to be careful about calling native americans "eskimos" here, because they don't take kindly to it.

7. "What is that white stuff on top of the mountain?"

Shaving foam. We have a terrible shaving foam shortage in Alaska, that's why you'll see many of us roughing it with big beards. Every year, the helicopter's will dump us our years supply and that's all we get for the season. We just have to make do.

6. "Where abouts in Australia are you from?"

I'm British.

5. "How often do you guys wash the glacier?"

About once a week. The convicts help with it. If you go down there on a Sunday afternoon you'll see all the prisoners in orange shirts with their vacuums and mops. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
4. "What do you do with the igloos over the Summer? Don't they melt?"

They go into cold storage. Down the road there you'll see Taku Smokeries, it looks like a big warehouse. Behind that building are the igloos.

3. "How do I open this trash bin?"

You stick your hand under the handle and lift the lid. What's that? - No, nothing inside will bite you.

2. "Do the mountains stay there all year 'round?"

Yes, ma'am. There's no escape for them around here.

1. "What is the glacier powered by?"

A complex refrigeration unit. I couldn't even begin to tell you how complex it is.


Honorable mentions

"Do you live around here?"

No, this uniform is just for fancy dress. I'm going to a costume party.

"Somebody's pet bear is running around behind the shops!"

Nobody has pet bears in Juneau. That's a wild bear.

West Glacier Trail

Looking down on Mendenhall Glacier from top of West Glacier Trail

Brad and I did the West Glacier hike again yesterday and found it a bit more difficult than when we did it last year.  The trail itself is considered a difficult hike, gaining 1300 feet over 3.4 miles.  This year, though, there were several downed trees you had to navigate around, and the trails were more muddy and slippery due to all of the rain we've been getting this year.  There was also bit of water crossing that I don't remember doing last year.  The view up top is wonderful and worth the hike, but it's not one I'd casually do on a regular basis. 

The Spring in Juneau this year has been unusually wet and cold.  The temperatures have been hovering in the mid-50's mostly, with rain almost every day.  This means there aren't as many flowers in bloom, trails are extremely muddy, and snow from the winter are taking longer to melt.  It's a bit of a disappointment since we were looking forward to a nice summer, but what can you do?  I hope that we will get an unusually dry fall to make up for it, though I'm not counting on it.