Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Lots of mothers go on cruise ships for Mother's Day! We had 3 Ships in Juneau today and it was sunny! Downtown Juneau was packed with tourists - weird. It is so strange to see the sleepy town turn into a Disney type location. It is 7:30 PM and the ships are still here. They usually leave about 5 or 6 PM. The tourist stores were still open at 7 PM, when I drove by to check it out.

I read where one ship in AK had a swine flu case but they let the people off the ships so it was not one of these ships or they feel the case was contained on board. The eagles have left it seems. I went to where the eagles were last week but they were gone. I wonder if they do not like all the people. I drove out to the glacier and bus loads of people were checking out Mendenhall Glacier - weird.

I got used to having things quiet and not many people during the winter months.

Sping at Mendenhall

Every day it seems more and more like spring. Mendenhall Lake is getting water on it and the ice is not totally solid anymore. It seems like a long time ago that I was able to ski up to the glacier. The Glacier is looking like a tourist spot now. We now have buses of people checking the glacier out. After a winter of just locals, having tourists wandering around is different, even weird. Juneau just seems quite different when cruise ships show up.

Grass is turning green and trees are starting to leaf out - spring is here. It is light until 10 PM. The warm weather is causing problems for towns along the Yukon River. Quick melting has caused the break up of ice which has gone into a village or two and ripped apart villages.

Mendenhall Glacier

I know a person who skied into Mendenhall Glacier last weekend. I might try it but not go on the lake. I just missed the duck that was on the water. Just imagine a duck washing himself there in the water.
Raining in Juneau since the Cruise Ships started coming into Juneau. Steady drizzle for 4 days.

The ships are in

We are getting 1 cruise ship a day now. It is kind of interesting. The tourist shops open as the ship is docking. Saturday, a ship came in at 11:00 AM and the shops opened at 10:45 AM. Yesterday, the ship came in at 8:00 AM and the shops were opening at 7:45 AM. Yesterday's ship left at 3:00 PM and many of the shops were closed at 4:00 PM when I checked it out. Weather - As soon as the ships came in this week, the rain started. It is unreal considering we had such nice weather for over a week before the daily ships started.

Rainy day here in Juneau, how many ships will drop by today?

Tiring Week

The last two weeks have been tiring. I even took a day off sick. I think I have allergies instead of a cold. Allergy medicine takes care of the symptoms but I still feel like less than good. My students have been a bit crazy the past week too. I have had staff out which made things weird as well. The sun is shining but I am too tired to enjoy it. I am doing the end of year scramble, like all teachers. Today, my students were finally settling down somewhat. It could be a hard end if the kids are wired up all the way to the end.

Rain but 60 degrees

The snow in my yard is almost gone. A neighbor with more mountain shade has 3 feet left. He is shoveling snow into the street to get rid of it. This sunny weather followed by rain melted 2 feet of snow in the front year. There is still 2 feet of snow in parts of the back yard though.

What amazing weather we had last week. The eagles in the video are a bit small. I think they are young ones. The like to fly around together and hang out in certain trees.

74 degrees

Juneau set a record of 74 degrees yesterday. I went cross country skiing up at the ski area - beautiful. The picture of snow is at the end of the road, about 30 miles out of Juneau. They plowed the road 2 weeks ago but at the end, there is still snow.
There are people who want to make the road go to Skagway. The road would go by a mine and the miners want the road. The road would be under constant avalanche danger and falling rocks is what I was told. We now have ferries that take people to Skagway.

There are people with bumper stickers which read, More Roads? MOVE SOUTH!

Spring is here!

I will be able to get signs of spring this weekend. With the 60+ weather, plants are popping through the ground and buds are showing on the trees. Spring is here. The snow on the mountains is melting fast.

Juneau is beautiful on sunny days.

cold

We have super sunny weather and temps are 60+ and I get a cold. It might also be an allergy. It just does not seem right. I would take today off but I have a meeting which I cannot miss and we have been operating short on staff for two weeks. I couldn't help but think, is it swine flu?

Sure is beautiful weather though.

Solitude

Here are pictures of the Eagle Beach Area. In Alaska, you can easily find a place with not many people around by just going a few miles down the road. In Juneau, you can only go 30 miles on the road because the road ends at a camping/fishing/boat launch area.

Sun and 55 degrees again

Too bad I am inside but it sure is beautiful outside. The playground at my school is about half snowless. The snow melted this past weekend. We still have about a foot of snow on the half shaded by the mountain. Snow is taking its time to melt.

The Eagle is at Eagle Beach.

Mishmash of pictures

I gave away my camera and was given my daughter's camera and it takes video. I have a video on here, I think. the video is either Eaglecrest Ski area or Mendenhall Glacier.

The pictures are either: Eaglecrest Ski Area, Eagle Beach, Mendenhall glacier or the end of the road. We had a sunny and 55 degree day. Totally beautiful. I went cross country skiing on ice and a little snowboarding. It is sure a lot more work to do when you do not have a ski lift to take you up the hill. I thought about camping at the end of the road but when I woke up and saw the rain Saturday, I was glad I did not camp.
Have a good Monday!

Eagle Beach

I drove to the end of the road to Eagle Beach and saw lots of Eagles. I had two days of inservice and I was allowed to take off and finish up paperwork, which was a tremendous help - got a lot done. I have 3 new students and had to figure out plans for a successful end of year. I have a couple of students who are having difficulty and adding 3 new kids complicates life. Got a lot done and I am thinking positively about the end of the year.

the sun is out until about 9 PM and Eagle Beach has the Eagles. I almost got one flying but missed by a little. I had an eagle fly above my truck with an enormous wing span. There are some big eagles at Eagle Beach.

The end of the road: Just before I went to Vegas, I tried to get to Eagle beach but it had 4 feet of snow. The road has been plowed and I was able to drive to just fine. Great trip. Juneau/Douglas are in the shadow of the mountains so it gets dark earlier but at the end of the road, it stays light until 9 PM. We are getting 5 minutes more of daylight each day. That is about 30 more daylight per week.

50 degrees - amazing!

The snow is melting fast. We only have 2 feet left where I live in Douglas. There is much less in Juneau. The water is showing itself more on more on Mendenhall Lake.
The streams are starting to flow. It is spring. The birds are chirping.

Mendenhall Glacier looks so far away now. 2 weeks ago, I could cross country ski in to it but no more! Spring is in the air. The weather forecast is for 50 degrees this weekend. I have about 6 weeks left in Juneau.

Juneau Folk Festival 2009

Last week was Alaska Folk Festival Week in Juneau, AK.

Google:

Juneau Folk Festival 2009 (It is on You Tube)

You will get a flavor of what it is like. The whole town is abuzz with Folk Music. I did not attend because I was trying to rest up from Vegas. The Folk Fest is the last little small town gig before the ships start coming in and Juneau transforms into tourist city.

First Ship came and went

Juneau is back in the tourism business. The first ship came yesterday morning, people checked out the city during the day and the ship left last night. The ship is at the beginning of a world tour. The tourist shops that had been closed all winter were open and the streets were filled with 2000 tourists. Juneau is a totally different place with the ships in town. The regular cruise ships start April 29. The we get up to 5 ships per day.

I did not get any pictures of the ship or downtown. Juneau does look much different now that it is being dressed up for the tourist season. The pebbles are being swept up and tourist stores are opening.

Juneau is getting ready for ships!

The pictures are of Mendenhall Glacier yesterday. There has been some rain so the new snow is gone.

Juneau is changing daily. The town is going from the sleepy little town of 30,000 to the tourist town with up to 10,000 tourists per day. The parking lot where I had parked is now off limits and will be a walking place for tourists.

Cross country skiing to the Glacier is done!

I finally made it to Mendenhall Glacier Friday evening and it is not skiable any longer.
There is water along the edges. I have tons of photos from the frozen months.

I wish I had my camera as I was flying from Seattle to Ketchikan to Sitka and then to Juneau. I saw some great views but my camera was stowed away, The sun was shining and everything.

Snow is melting fast

The snow is melting fast in Juneau. It is looking like spring. Across the channel in Douglas, we still have snow. There is still over 2 feet of snow in my yard. The school has over 2 feet of snow too. It is melting but the afternoon shadow from the mountain slows the melt. We have had sunshine, which is good.

It is light at 5:30 am and light until 8 PM now.

On the bottom picture, there is a huge rock which can be seen. That rock is about as big as a Volkswagen. These pictures are at mendenhall Glacier before I went to Vegas.

Back in Juneau

I was at the airport at 7 AM and landed 8:30 PM AK time. It was light outside the whole way and there were breaks in the clouds so I saw a lot of Alaska. I had to go to KetchiKan and Sitka before Juneau. I wish I had my camera with me because I could have gotten some great shots.

Back to work in an hour. I had almost no internet when in Vegas. I was not paying the crazy prices they wanted. Every now and again I found an open line but not very often and it faded as fast as it opened up. Have a good day.

Ash is married!

My youngest is now married. All three daughters and their families were there and it was quite fun. (At least they tell me I had fun.) We had 86 people at the wedding. It took place at the Flamingo Pool in Las Vegas. It is official - all three daughters are now married. Ash is the blond. It was great hanging out with people and meeting the new family members and my grandkids.

Vegas

I am in Las Vegas because my daughter gets married Friday. I have been here 24 hours and spend a total of 4 dollars gambling. It is 65 to 70 degrees, lots warmer than Juneau. I have been to the airport about 5 times picking people up and taking them to their hotels, etc.

Vegas

I fly off to Vegas today. I walk my daughter down the aisle Friday evening. I was getting my class ready for the sub and I was told of a new student which is supposed to start today. I feel a bit guilty at being gone when this new fellow is starting out but that is the way the ball bounces. I set up a very tentative program for him and will meet him next Tuesday when I return.

I am hoping to see some sunshine, we had cloudy skies all day in Juneau.

drizzle all day

The rain has started and it is melting the snow in Juneau very well. If it continues, we will have grass and ground in a week when I return. In Douglas, still lots of snow piled up but it is melting too. Went to the Glacier and still snow on the lake.

Snowed all morning, rain aft

We had snow in the morning while I cross countried into Mendenhall Glacier. The conditions were excellent. It froze hard and we had about 2 inches of new snow over the ice. The sun was trying to come through but not quite. The snow on Mendenhall is melting so we are seeing more ice and rocks. There are huge rocks picked up by the glacier. I took over 500 pictures and filled my memory card before I made it to the ice caves. I am thinking my days on Mendenhall lake are coming to an end so shoot pictures when I can. I was also the only one on the lake so I had undisturbed snow. I explored more area than normal because the conditions were so good.

That blue glow from inside the ice was glowing. It is pretty amazing to see. It is like there is a light inside which glows blue. Very unique.

I also went down the ski slope a couple of runs. I got there in the afternoon so there were some pretty good lines. Just took 2 runs and left. I was reminded not to break a leg before the wedding on Friday.

4 inches of new snow

We got 4 inches of new snow last night, guess I will go hit the ski resort today. I also hope to cross country into Mendenhall Glacier. I have also committed to bowling in a money raiser for Big Brothers and Big Sisters - free pizza and beer. I fly to Vegas on Tuesday and my daughter gets married on Friday. I am getting a bit nervous actually if I were to be honest.

The pictures are of Mendenhall Glacier - the lake is still snow and ice.

Sunshine

We have had 2 days of sunshine! Pretty amazing! It even got up to 37 degrees today. The snow is slowly melting, very slowly though. I am in Douglas across from Juneau. Juneau gets afternoon sun and the snow is melting faster. In Douglas, we are next to a mountain and trees and they block the afternoon sun from reaching the snow. So, we do not get the warmth to melt the snow that they get across the Channel.

More pictures of the Mendenhall Glacier. One of these days the snow will turn into water.

snow in June

I was talking to a parent yesterday and she said she will be shoveling snow in June like last year. She explained that the snow falls off her roof and into the yard. The snow is piled from the ground to the roof after this weekend. Last year, she was shoveling the snow from her yard into the street so she could grow some flowers and see grass. She said there is more snow this year.

The pictures are of mendenhall Glacier and frozen Mendenhall Lake.

Snow all day again

Things had iced up this morning, so we had below freezing temperatures. It finally got above freezing about 10 AM and the water started dripping a bit. It snowed all day long. I think we got about 2 inches in total. It seemed about 37 degrees about 1 PM, so it did get warm compared to what we have gotten used to.

The pictures are of Mendenhall Glacier. The lake is frozen over.