Tuesday, May 16, 2017

A Little Further North

Wow... it has been a long time since we have posted anything. We apologize if any of you were worried about our well being, or just worried that we had quit our nomadic lifestyle and settled down into full-time jobs. Both are scary thoughts, but please know that we are doing great and don't have any plans to plant roots anytime soon. Since we last spoke; Julia has finished her assignment in Federal Way, we moved the majority of our possessions back into a storage unit, and we are now one week into her new gig in Juneau, Alaska. The journey over the past 3 months to get where we are today was pretty darn fun, so if you don't mind, I am going to tell you about it with some carefully selected words and pictures. 

At the end of February, we stayed at a cabin near Mt Rainier with some old and new Seattle friends. One day was spent snowshoeing at Paradise in the National Park. 


The day after my 39th birthday, Julia and I ran 15 kilometers during the Shamrock Run, and survived. It hurt to walk for a few days after but otherwise I felt pretty good about my performance.  


One of Julia's many birthday gifts for me was a dinner cruise around the Seattle lakes. The food was disappointing but the views were cool. The boat cruised by the incredible Bill Gates house on Lake Washington and then downtown at night. 


One of Julia's coworkers (Tony) invited us to go digging for Razor Clams one Saturday morning near the end of March. We drove out to Moclips beach during low tide and Tony taught us the proper technique. Here are the basic steps: You walk around looking for little indentations in the sand, then tap the ground lightly with your tube, if the indentations bubbles then the clam is there and is fleeing deeper into the sand, now you work the tube into the sand at a slight angle away from the water, then put your thumb over a hole to create suction while you pull the sand and hopefully the clam out and onto the beach (repeat as necessary), finally you pick up your prize and add it to your bag. We got lucky with good weather and both caught our limit for a total of 30 clams. The de-shelling process is a little tedious but all-in-all it was a fun time.  


The Sunday after the clamming, we made a trip down to Portland and enjoyed a wedding shower for Julia hosted by Tarah. I hung out in the basement with Lucas and helped prepare some food and played video games. It was a great event and Julia appreciated all of the friends who showed up and showered her with gifts. 


For our last full weekend in the Seattle area, Julia rearranged her schedule to get 4-days off and we planned a little trip. The first stop was Port Angeles and Olympic National Park. The road was closed to Hurricane Ridge due to extremely high winds, so we settled for some hiking around Lake Crescent and seeing Marymere Falls while rain fell from the sky. 

Our next stop was the beach town of La Push, WA where we stayed in a room at Quileute Oceanside Resort. There was a huge wind storm moving up the coast from Oregon and we felt the brunt of it which you can see in the picture below. This was taken after a short hike to Second Beach where the wind was howling and painfully blowing sand into our faces, and we loved it. Back at our room for the night, the power was out and thus the heater didn't work. The ladies in the office told us to use the gas stove for warmth and so we stood next to some lit burners until we felt the room was filled with enough harmful gases. 

The final stop on our trip was Victoria, BC. During our 2 nights, we enjoyed some really good seafood and fairly good weather. On the day we took a local bus up to Butchart Gardens (see photo below), we had blue sky and sun, but spring is not the best time to visit since not all is in bloom yet. Other sites like Fisherman's Wharf and just walking around the bay were still fun, and the restaurant/bar options are tough to beat.  

When Julia's Federal Way work assignment ended in April, we loaded our belongings back into a small moving truck and drove them down to Portland. We had 2 weeks in our home city to take care of some business and play a couple holes of golf before heading off on our next adventure. The Juneau gig came about thanks to one of Julia's PT friends. They told her about a clinic that was looking for a little help and fired off an email. Luckily, all of the fine details were figured out and all we had left to do was get there. 

The getting there part began on May 2 with new tires on a car loaded to the top with those things we can't live without for 3 months; clothes, disc golf discs, camping gear, baking ingredients, spices, TV, computer, and other small miscellaneous items. The first 2 days of travel had us weave our way north along 2 lane highways through British Columbia. The 3rd and 4th days were when the real excitement happened. We rarely saw other cars and the roads were often unmarked. Numerous black bears were seen as well as a moose, caribou, bald eagle, and a canadian lynx. Passing by many frozen lakes and small unfrozen towns, the road took us through the Yukon where we stayed the night in Watson Lake. Not much to note about this town, other than the Signpost Forest which is a collection of signs from all around the world people have added to posts in a city park. Some signs are homemade and others appear to be stolen government property. Either way it is fun to see place names we know. 




The final road day brought us back to the USA and into Skagway, Alaska via the White Pass. Easily the most scenic stretch, surrounded by snow and mountains. 

The tiny town of Skagway is known as the gateway to the gold rush of the 1890s in the Yukon. Prospectors came from all over the world by boat to make the nearly impossible trek up to Dawson City. Many died or went broke. The saddest part is that by the time most of them actually made it to the gold area, the rush was over and the good stuff was gone. We spent 2 nights there because it was scenic, but mostly because the ferry to Juneau didn't leave until Sunday. Saturday was a sunny clear day, so we hiked around Yakutania Point (see pic below) and Smugglers Bay. The gold rush museum in town is also interesting with many old photos and information about the struggle of those looking to strike it rich. It is also notable that we ate some good seafood at the Skagway Fish Company and played a little disc golf at at a course in town that uses empty beer kegs in-place of baskets. 


The ferry to Juneau was a 6.5 hr ride, mostly because it stops in Haines to pick up more cars and people. The big boat rolled south along the Ckilkat Mtn Range with views of glaciers and the occasional whale or dolphin jumping out of the water. We arrived at our temporary home around 9:30pm and were met by our gracious host Jim. For most of the 3 months we will be here, we will be staying in an apartment above the detached garage of the father of the clinic director Julia is working for. It is an amazing location right on the water, on the north side of Douglas Island, with sweeping views of the bay and snow capped mountains as the backdrop. Half of our time spent at home, we just look out the windows for whales or at the stunning scenery. We are very lucky, here is a picture of our view:

For those who don't know (like us a month ago), Juneau is the capital of Alaska and only accessible by boat or plane. The town is mostly set north to south along the water's edge with mountains to the east. A few small valleys carve the hills offering more land to build on, most notably the one created by Mendenhall Glacier, which is one of their most popular sights. This time of year, cruise ships arrive almost nonstop. We have seen as many as 6 gigantic floating cities docked near the downtown area, making the streets impassable. Numerous tour companies, gift shops, and jewelers line the main drag waiting for these one day visitors. Douglas Island is connected to downtown by a bridge over the Gastineau Channel, with the bulk of its residents living on the eastern side. In the middle of the island are a few minor mountains and the areas only ski resort.   

As I mentioned earlier, we have been here for a week. Julia's work has been a little easier so far as they let her get used to things, but she expects her 4-day work week to soon be packed. Waking up early has been made only slightly less difficult by the amount of daylight at 5:30 AM. I sleep in a little longer and try to get outside when the sun is shinning. I tried out the disc golf course in town one morning after driving Julia into work. It was an exhausting and challenging layout, mostly through a thick forest and up and down the side of of a hill. One day while home, I walked about a 1/2 mile further down the road to where there is a boat ramp and unobstructed views all the way to Mendenhall Glacier. I sat on a rock for awhile staring at the glacier and reading a book when I heard a whale breach about 200ft in front of me and blow mist into the air. I excitedly ran along the shore in the direction it was swimming and got to watch it briefly rise up a couple more times. At that moment (did I mention bald eagles were flying around) I felt the experience was pure Alaska. (The image below shows the glacier and an eagle flying above)

As for the experiences Julia and I have had together; there are a couple trails here on Douglas Island we have strolled. One rainy day we drove out to see the massive Mendenhall Glacier up close. Yesterday we took advantage of the beautiful sunshine with a walk and lunch amongst the cruise ship tourists downtown along with a hike around Point Bridget State park at the end of the road that goes north (both pictures below). The hikes higher up in elevation will have to wait a few weeks until the snow melts a bit more. We are compiling a list of things to do in the area and will hopefully cross something off each weekend.     

In summation: Juneau (and Alaska as a whole) is even more picturesque than we thought and we feel extremely lucky for the opportunity we have been given. We will continue to post pictures on Facebook for those of you who check that thing and try to update this blog with more stories of our adventures in the "Last Frontier".