It's about time for another Juneau post, and this is going to be a long one laden with beautiful pictures for you to be jealous of. (And maybe some ideas of things to do if you ever make your way to the last frontier).
So one of the best perks of my job is the opportunity to go on lots of the local tours. I mentioned at the beginning of the summer that we got to go on the zipline and to the Glacier Gardens. Unfortunately I had left my phone on the bus and don't have any pictures of those. But it was a fun break into the touristy side of Juneau.
Another work trip was to the State Museum. I'm a bit of a nerd and really enjoy history and culture, so I loved the chance to learn all about Alaskan history just after the museum was renovated and reopened. There's a big population of Tlingit natives out here, so there was a lot of stuff about them in the museum. There was also stuff about the gold rush, the oil pipeline, and Alaska becoming a state. I had fun.
Soldier and I started our rounds with a trip up the Mount Roberts Tramway. It's 1800 feet up to the top of Mount Roberts with beautiful views of Juneau from the top.
Unfortunately I wasn't dressed for hiking, and Soldier isn't big on heights, so we didn't do a whole lot up there. But I enjoyed the view.
Around mid-summer, Soldier and I finally had a day off together. We adulted first thing in the morning and got new passports. As we were leaving the post office I got a call from my boss telling us to head downtown right away. We were able to get on a seaplane tour going out to Taku Lodge. It was awesome to take off from the channel, and we flew by 5 glaciers. The lodge is nestled in an inlet and you can only get there (I'm relatively sure) by boat or seaplane. I was really excited and surprised to find that the Lodge has ties to our home town. The ride was a bit bumpy, but we had a really good time. AND! I finally saw my first bear! He likes to eat the blueberries and check out the salmon cooking at the lodge.
When we got back to the dock, there was a text from my boss that we had a thumbs up to go whale watching with her and another coworker. Soldier and I had enough time to run home and change before meeting up with them to go to the boat. Not gonna lie, I didn't take pictures on that trip because I was more focused on hanging out with them. We did see some humpbacks, but it's honestly more exciting to see them in our little skiff. They seem so much bigger.
Flash forward to a couple of nights ago, I got another chance to go whale watching with colleagues. (Meanwhile, Soldier was out catching us a 42 pound halibut. My freezer is now completely stuffed with fish. Literally. There's no more room for anything else.) This trip was a little different because we saw orcas. I WAS SO EXCITED. And it was so cool...there were a couple of pods that just kept surfacing next to the boat, almost going right along with us.
This past Sunday we got to go on board one of the cruise ships. It was neat, we got a tour and had dinner. I've never been on a cruise, but I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy it. I told one of my coworkers that I'd spend the entire time with my sunglasses on looking down at everyone and not smiling, like I'm super important.
Today was a huge treat. I was at work, not feeling great, just counting down the minutes till I could get out of the cold and wind. Towards the end of my shift, one of the helicopter tours was about to head to base with only one person, some others just hadn't shown up. The dock reps knew I'd wanted to do this tour to the all but pushed me into the bus. So before I knew it, I was strapped into the helicopter on my way to dogsled on top of the glacier.
It was windy today, so I kind of started to understand why Soldier calls them flying death machines. He also calls them helio-chop-chops, which I like a lot better. And it's fun to say.
It was cool to see Juneau from that perspective. I also loved seeing the puppies...and actual puppies, only 3 weeks old! A lot of the dogs at the camp have or will run in the Iditarod, and they would start barking and strain on the harnesses every time we stopped.
Doing all this stuff is one of the reasons I wanted a job like this. It's been so worth it to get out and experience so many different adventures in such a beautiful location. There aren't many places in the world where you could do all this.
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