The AK Capitol City

On Saturday evening I realized that I didn't have any responsibilities through Labor Day weekend...so I threw a sleeping bag and some clothes in a backpack and convinced my Dad to do the same. We headed southeast Sunday morning with hopes of checking out the sights and surfing in Yakutat, Alaska. We had to stop in Juneau to climb aboard a smaller plane full of fisherman, only to deplane half an hour later. The plane had a serious mechanical issue which needed to be fixed, but first they needed to have a part shipped in from Washington. Dad and I decided that since while we were already in Juneau we might as well explore the area for our 1.5 day vacation, rather than spend a chunk of it burning daylight in the airport.

Juneau felt much more civilized and starkly contrasted our recent adventures in Nome and Kodiak. Fist of all, the rental car place was open, and the rental car employee told us "no smoking" in the car, rather than "no fish guts, blood, or animal hair", as we were told in Kodiak. Also, we camped in a designated camping area...not that I'm complaining. The drinking water from the pump and the view of the Mendenhall glacier from our campsite was quite nice!
We hiked above the glacier and got some pretty sweet views. It's difficult for me to do glaciers justice with my digital camera and photography skills, so in order to appreciate the magnitude of the glacier you may have to click on this photo to see the boats in between the seracs (ice towers).
As a side note, Dad is making a remarkable recovery after the cycling crash that occurred in May. Last week his doctor surprisingly announced that he could stop taking Coumadin (a blood thinner aka rat poison)...very exciting! His ribs and vertebrae have healed and he's working on regaining his lung function. He isn't wasting any time getting back to doing what he loves most. Saturday he went with Mom for his first road bike ride outdoors and then he joined me in the evening for his first single-track ride of the summer.The Shrine of St. Therese Chapel (built out of stones from the beach)In many ways I think the sights in Juneau are what people expect to find when they come to Alaska-- gigantic Sitka Spruce, beautiful glaciers, and a fair share of "liquid sunshine". There was also an abundance of bears and salmon.
And I mean real ones too!I found Dad's face on a Tlingit totem pole--the guy's a legend!


I feel super lucky to have been able to travel around the state this summer. I'm indebted to Mom for hooking us up with the free flights, for working and scooping feces for me at my house-sitting jobs (while I've been off adventuring or at glacier training camps), and for being a good sport about the whole deal! I think I owe her 67 million hours of manual labor.