Five for Friday: 5 Reasons to love living in rain country

In the past, I was never one of those people who wanted to moved to Seattle, nevermind Alaska. "Give me the sun or give me a tanning bed!" used to be my motto. And then I moved to Juneau...

Winter or something like it

First day at home (December 1st)

When we first returned home to Juneau after our wedding in Charleston (more on that very soon!), a seasonal change had clearly taken place in the time we’d been away. On December 1st it looked like this outside...

Five for Friday: 5 ways we cut travel expenses

Primitive camping while hiking on Santa Cruz Island, one of California's Channel Islands

In the spirit of wanting to post here on a more frequent basis, I'm adding a regular post called "Five for Friday", as a way to focus on specific travel-related topics and share some of our past travels in what I hope is a useful way. If you have any suggestions for what you'd like to hear about in future "fives", I'd love to hear them!

So, here are the top five ways we try to keep cash in our pockets when we're out seeing the world...

When the fireweed turns to cotton...

…summer will soon be forgotten. It’s a well-known saying in Southeast Alaska and for good reason, because even if it still feels like summer in lot of places in the U.S., it’s definitely autumn-like at home...

Wherever you go

Somehow, summer has managed to fly mostly by and it's been a month since I've written. And though I haven't blogged very much, it isn't for lack of thinking about it and for others gently and not-so-gently chiding me to get back to it (apologies... don't give up one me!).

Around here, the a variety of flowers have bloomed and faded, sunny days have interspersed with many rainy ones.

Hope floats in Southeast Alaska

The bird identification "Bible" in Southeast Alaska

I may be very tired after an early morning and a full day at work, but tonight when I started to do a Facebook status update I knew a sentence or two couldn't do justice to everything I want to say...

Feels like home to me

Sitka spruce sapling~ April 3, 2014

We've been back in Juneau for three months now, watching as the tail end of winter morphed into spring and, soon to be, summer. All around us, the plants and animals have heralded the constantly changing seasons and weather.

Like the bald eagles, for instance, have been competing for choice nesting space in the tall Sitka spruce trees right next to our cabin. They're so loud we can hear them inside, even with all the windows closed.

Sometimes, I'm pretty sure they're commenting on our dinner...

And I'm not sure whether it's truly been as varied in weather as it seems, or if I'm just noticing it all more given our new location in a tiny, rustic cabin right new to the ocean. But either way, it's been truly incredible to witness.

Canada geese and lupines on Eagle Beach ~ June 8, 2014

Inside the cabin, I've been doing a little nesting of my own. It's actually been really nice to be "home" after so much traveling during the winter. I bought this wooden spice rack off Etsy- it's from the 60s or 70s and the bottom is stamped "Japan". I had to modify it with longer wood screws so our spices would fit and am pretty happy with the end result and extra shelf space in our pantry now that the spices can hang out on the wall. Whether it's on a boat or land, in small spaces, every inch counts. And painting is happening this weekend, so more photos of our cozy space are soon to come, I promise!

In other news, I have a friend coming into town in just a few days (a college roommate, traveling all the way from Dallas, Texas!) and I'm excited to show her this awesome place I've called home for the last eight years. Being that this is Alaska, we don't get a lot of visitors. So when someone actually makes the commitment to get here, it's a lot of fun to plan some of the things we put off doing just because we live here.



Fortunately, our surroundings never let us forget just how spectacular Southeast Alaska truly is. I don't think I've ever taken so many sunset pictures in my entire life as I have in the past twelve weeks.



So, the silence on this blog hasn't been for lack of activity. In fact, since I last wrote I've landed not one, but two jobs (one full-time, the other part-time) and so "busy" has been the name of the game lately. But coming up, we'll be going on more local adventures and I hope to share those in a timely fashion. In the meantime, I may be substituting pictures for adequate words...

I hope you don't mind. ; )

Wildlife from my window

One of the things I love most about where we currently live is the view. Each morning, as soon as the sun rises over the mountains behind us, it bathes everything in warmth and light. That is, when it's sunny. But since it's already been that way for much of this spring, I'm hopeful summer might just follow suit. All weekend, daytime temps stayed in the upper 50s and low 60s and this week is expected to continue that way... fingers and not-freezing toes crossed!



Since my significant other has been waking up very early for work, I've been getting up when he does. It's actually surprisingly easy to wake up when the sun is already high in the sky (today's sunrise was at 4:54 a.m.; sunset is at 8:57 p.m.). So if it's only 7 in the morning, but looks like 9 or 10, what other choice is there but to take advantage of these gorgeous days while we have them?

I'm not the only one capitalizing on this extra burst of nature-inspired energy. All around us, the animals have emerged from their winter hiding places. Sitka Black-Tailed Deer have materialized from the trees in force (it appears that winter has been mostly good to them) to feast on new roadside vegetation. The deer have appeared in such numbers that I'm always on the lookout for these gangly-legged jaywalkers or gawking drivers who have pulled over. Black bears, skinny from winter hibernation, have also emerged to munch precious new shoots and skunk cabbage in the ditches. And everywhere, birds flit about like determined postal carriers, their beaks stuffed full of nesting material.

We have so many different kinds of birds near our house I'm constantly reminded that I have a long way to go in being able to identify them all. "That's a black and white-headed sea duck..." I find myself musing with chagrin.

This one, though, is definitely a kingfisher and lives up to its namesake.

Below the four northeast facing windows of our cabin, sea life has been abundant. One permanent neighbor is an elderly river otter who lives in a nearby cave in the rocks. Every day when the water is calm we can spot him if we look, white whiskers leading the way as he swims on what looks like a set path along the edge of shore.

But the other day when the water was particularly calm and clear, I spotted him taking a dip in the shallows and then disappearing into the trees on land.

A furry mink has also been a regular visitor, scurrying just below the cabin. It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen, almost catlike with impossibly fluffy-looking fur.




Here it is again- photo taken today- right below the window:

We regularly see Steller sea lions and harbor seals in the water below the cabin. And far off in the distance we can also spot humpback whales diving for fish- without binoculars we spot them by their exhalation, a plume of white against cobalt seas and spruce-covered mountains. At night, we've heard them breech, throwing their whole bodies out of the water and smacking the surface on the return like a sonic-boom. The sound is unmistakable, stopping us in our tracks as we make dinner or brush our teeth to look at each other and smile: we are not alone. Not even close.

One of my favorite places in Juneau

Very early this morning, after my boat captain headed to work in Auke Bay, I turned our trusty Subaru the other way on the two lane road we call a highway and drove towards one of the most peaceful places I could think of.

Eagle Beach State Recreation Area is located at Mile 27 on Juneau's Glacier Highway (that is, 27 miles north of downtown Juneau). Managed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, it includes two separate parking lots (one open year-round), pit toilets, and (currently) three cabins that can be rented overnight. Though we'd love to rent one of them sometime, easy access from the parking lot and high public demand means that weekends and summers are generally booked solid as soon as they become available six months in advance. And as much I consider myself a planner, it can be tough to commit to something so far out. I suppose we could be like other people and book anyway, knowing we might not make it, but we have yet to take that step. Instead, we tend to island camp in the summer (one of the pluses of having a boat), and hike to the more remote cabins in the winter.

But even for shorter visits, Eagle Beach is one of my favorite places in town... or to be more accurate, out of town.



The area's relatively flat landscape means that one can literally walk for miles along a mixture of paved trails, sand and pebble beaches, and silty mud next to the Eagle River.



The beach is abundant in bird life, including migrating Canada geese (seen today), and a variety of sea ducks.

As I skirted the banks of the river I tried to give the geese a wide berth, but was warned with frenzied squawking anyway. And to think they might have been old neighbors of mine from Minnesota, too...

The widely-fluctuating tides of our northern latitude (Latitude 58, to be exact) also mean that a flat and low-lying area like Eagle Beach is exposed in varying degrees, sometimes a sandy plain stretching far out to sea, sometimes with only barely enough sand next to the water to thrown down a blanket. And sometimes, in August during salmon spawning season, the beach is so strewn with fish carcasses you wouldn't want to anyway.



In addition to spawning fish, people have been stranded out on the beach's sandy shoals with surprising regularity, unaware that they are about to become captive to the rising tide that has swallowed their footprints behind them. We've seen them from the highway above, huddled together on a sandy spit waiting to be rescued by the park service. The ocean doesn't joke around.



Sometimes on a sunny summer weekend day, the parking lot is crowded and people are everywhere, though not by Lower 48 standards. Today, on a beautiful, warm, spring Thursday, I was literally the only person around for miles.





I padded towards the ocean until the sand became dark and wet, turning around only because I wore hiking shoes instead of boots. Then, I found a place to sit for a few minutes in a crescent of soft golden sand, basking as the wind danced through my hair and the strong Alaskan sunshine warmed my face.



So why was my morning spent here instead of at work? Because after just over a month of being back in town, I am still in the market for a new job. It's not something I like to brag about, but here it is, the obvious truth. And until last winter I had a really good job for nearly seven years that I quit voluntarily to pursue other things, to take a break, to travel, and to spend time with people I care about. Now I'm trying to get back in the game as planned, but it's not so easy when things don't seem to happen fast enough. It feels like a game of musical chairs. But I am trying to be patient and persistent.



Today begins the official start of the whale-watching tour season for cruise ship passengers stopping in Juneau. It's also been exactly eight years since I first moved up here to be a part of it. In some ways things have changed so much since then it feels like that was a lifetime ago. But when I look out the cerulean waters of Alaska's Inside Passage, the seas churning against a backdrop of the snow-capped Chilkat mountains, I remember what led me here. In those moments I can remember what it felt like to be that hopeful new college graduate who packed up at a moment's notice and took a chance on a summer job and a ferry ride that would change her life.




It hasn't always been easy, but I'm so glad I did.

Back in AK

Just over three weeks ago, under a drizzly overcast sky, we eased White Fang the Adventure Minivan off the ferry ramp and back onto Alaskan soil, or, the parking lot of the Auke Bay Ferry Terminal to be exact.

It felt more than a little surreal to be here after seeing and experiencing so much. But you know when something smells good and earthy and familiar? Yep, home.



Even though I really believe home is where your heart is and where your loved ones are, the tangible ingredients that remind me of "home" are definitely here too. Lots of little (and big) critters everywhere? Check. Clean air to breathe and water to drink? Check. Mountains AND ocean? Check, check. I could keep going but the list would get too long.

However, right away, I could also see AND feel it in my bones that winter wasn't quite over yet in the 58th latitude. But there wasn't much time to dwell on the weather (which incidentally cleared up the very next day and remained very clear and sunny for two weeks straight- hallelujah!), because we had work to do. Lots of it.

Obviously, moving is a ton of work. And we've been doing lots of it between packing up an apartment and putting our things in storage here, traveling cross-country- not once, but twice- and moving onto and off a sailboat. And returning to Juneau hasn't been as simple as just unpacking because we've moved into a new rental which is truly an authentic Alaskan cabin in every sense.

Built on bedrock and right next to the ocean, this little cabin has been here for at least forty years. I know that's not a long time by some standards like on the East Coast, but for Juneau it's practically a vintage structure.



The views have been incredible.



I mean really, pictures just don't do it justice.



But in full disclosure, our "bathroom" is an outhouse situation and in this way it's like camping, or, living on a boat. Happily though, right away my dear MacGyver-in-residence got hot water hooked up for us via an on-demand propane heater that he installed so we could take baths and wash dishes easily. He's pretty awesome like that.

So during these first few weeks back in town, I've been doing everything I can to make our new place comfy and liveable while S is back at work. I'm also on the job hunt (hopefully I can share more about that soon!).



Yep, the adventures are totally continuing. We never seem to do things the easy way, but at least I won't be short on stories at an advanced age. I can just hear my very old future self now, "Way back in 2014, your grandfather and I lived in a one-room cabin in Alaska right next to the ocean with no bathroom..."  And though I reserve my right to complain about this temporary lack of amenities from time to time, I can't help but smile at that the thought of that.

"After" photos of our new digs to come soon...