Summering in Alaska

The city awakens

My next Around the World book is going to take a while (it's long with small print) so I thought I'd update you all on life here in Juneau. 
Guys. It's like a completely different place. I've lived almost solely in northern areas where things change drastically in the spring, but not like this. In the downtown area, stores close in the winter so they're all opened back up, people are out and about, cruise ships are here almost every day (Soldier said this is the last day for the summer that there isn't a ship), tours have started up, there are boats and planes going by all the time...and I have a prime view of all of it. 

Let's start with...the boat. A few of the guys at Soldier's work have a skiff, and he got a share in it. I'm not a super fan, partly because it's a lot of work, partly because it's small and doesn't feel stable and the ocean is big and has lots of creatures in it. However. It does mean fresh crab and adventures. For example, I dropped my phone in the ocean while preparing for a boat ride. This was not ideal. 
I was holding the boat at the dock while Soldier parked the car and it just slipped out of my pocket. The water was murky and it disappeared before I could even reach for it. I was pissed and couldn't even get excited at the little seal heads popping up as we passed. I take much better care of my phone now. 
But this week, we went on an adventure that turned out much better. We went to an area that had super clear water, so we could see down to the bottom and we saw a bunch of crabs chilling in the sunshine (the weather has been gorgeous the past few days). We sat on the beach with a picnic and went to check the crab pots again, when we saw some chuffing not too far away (that's when the whales spout). We went a little closer...and I saw my first whale ever! A couple of times we saw the fin and tail...it was amazing. I was so excited. 

The other day I went out with work to check out all the places our tours go. It was really cool. There are a lot of neat hidden places in Juneau. We ended with ziplining, which is pretty awesome in the mountains. 
The weather is supposed to turn back to normal (not great) tomorrow, so I've been soaking up the sun. I even went to the beach a couple of days ago! 

Lastly, I've been trying to get rid of my winter hibernation weight. Whyyyy is it sooo haaard?! And I've been procrastinating the working out by writing this. I'm trying Insanity today. We'll see if I make it through. 

Seriously, if any of you get the chance to visit Juneau, do it. It's amazeballs. Remind me to never say that again.