Misc shots on the inland passage, AK

I was on the ferry and way out in the inland passage and I would see boats or light houses. Here are some pictures.

evacuate the ship in open water

Since I was in the boat that went out relatively close to the beginning of the cruise season, we had an evacuation drill. The sounds were super loud and we were also told that it was not real. All the people who worked on the ship, except for essential personnel who were operating it, went to the boats and practiced lowering them. The boats did not touch the water but they took them down, and then put them back up. It went pretty well. I got to watch but ran into a problem when my batteries wore out. On this ship, you cannot go back to your vehicle unless it is in a port, so I did not have fresh batteries and did not get all of the exercise that I wanted.

I am not able to post daily because I am running out of time. I was in Seattle this past weekend and I am helping with yard stuff with my daughter and I have to go through my stuff and repack. I will be leaving for Nevada in a couple of days.

Father's day was great and hanging out with grandkids and kids is always a pleasure.

Evauation: I was able to call my daughter because we had cell phone coverage then and was able to leave a message that we had to evacuate the ship and hope I am able to call later. She was worried when she called but I knew that it was just a drill.

Kayaking in Seattle

I went to Seattle and kayaked on Lake Union. It is great to kayak right in the middle of a big city. I saw fishing boats, yachts, float planes flying in and out, house boat - great one, and all kinds of neighborhood festivals with bands playing as we kayaked by them. It did not rain either. One of my fellow kayakers got caught in the wind and went over. Great day!

Petersburg, AK

Petersburg was a night stop. The ferry got there at night, let off a few people and a few got on and we were on our way again.
We left Petersburg and went into the midnight sun. It never really got dark, dark in Alaska - the midnight sun is true. It got light about 4:30 in the morning.

Palin: Sarah was making noise about a joke by David Letterman. Letterman apologized and some Palin freaks made dumb comments outside the studio where Letterman does his show. If you looked, you find at least 10 jokes by other comedians but they did not upset Sarah. I think Sarah needed some attention so she made a lot of noise about this one particular incident. If you see Sarah: Ask her how much they have to pay for Todd's Snowmobiles and How much they pay for Arctic Cat clothes. (They get them at cost, I am very curious how much they saved from what you or I would pay.)

Sitka, AK

We stopped in Sitka and here are some pictures. Looks like a nice small town. I was not able to get off. They have 10 miles of roads in Sitka. I had one fellow from Sitka say, 'I wish we had a long road like you do in Juneau.' Roads are a source of jealousy in AK. There were no paved roads in the village where I was last year.

The coast guard is aa big employer in SE AK towns.

Midnight Sun

As I was on the ferry, I went out and took pictures at midnight. In Oregon it is quite different - dark by 10 PM. It looks like it is raining in Juneau.

Open Water

On the ferry from Alaska to Canada, I saw lots of open water. There are islands galore. Everywhere you look there are mountains and more mountains, accessible only by boat or sea plane. You see lots of trees and a mountain with a house down by the water.
I was hoping to see some bears waving at me but I didn't. Then it was pointed out that the water is salt water and bears will hang out at fresh water areas. That was a 'duh' moment. I knew that, it only makes sense.

I ust say that Juneau sure is a beautiful place. I feel blessed that I was able to be there for a yer. I am still not sure where I will be next year. I have been getting ideas with every stop I took in my trip back to oregon. We had sun for my first day back and that is always good.

Saw two grandkids yesterday and it sure is good to be around family.

The Alaskan Inland Passage, In Oregon

I am in Oregon - finally. 3 days and 2 nights on a ferry, 1500 miles driving from Prince Rupert to Portland and I finally made it. I stayed by Mt. Baker, WA one night and in the San Juan Islands another night. I had dinner in Seattle and checked out my old stomping grounds in Tacoma, WA. I drank A LOT of coffee during the trip. In Canada, at 3 AM, they confused battery acid for coffee - strong stuff. I could not have fallen asleep even if I wanted too after that stuff.

Seattle sure is a busy place. After Juneau, I have to get used to traffic and lots of people again.

It is now past midnight and I will unload the truck tomorrow! I get to drive my hybrid starting tomorrow.

AK Marine Highway - Juneau

The trip on the ferry was amazing - saw a whale jump. Saw porpoises, Eagles and various ports along the way. The weather was great generally. One day was cloudy.

I will put up pictures of the ship evacuation when I find it. it is hiding from me, interesting though. I met someone who filmed for 'Into the Wild' the Sean Penn movie about the guy who went to AK.

I spent Wed night in a cabin near the Canadian border (WA side) and it was awesome. Scott and Kim say hi. Ash and Brian - when are you going to visit? They were wondering.
It felt good to sleep on a futon after sleeping on the floor of a ship, which was also good.

Did I mention that the cabin would easily fit in Juneau. The trees are huge at the cabin and there is a stream right outside the door. It was just like being in Juneau as far as scenery goes.

I took the ferry to the San Juan's today, Thursday, and will spend the night here. I think I will head south tomorrow or Sat at the latest.

Great trip so far. I will be returning to Canada some time in the future to check out Whistler and the Frazier River valley. They are quite spectacular. The San Juan's are spectacular as well - what can I say, a slice of heaven. Remember: Any picture of this trip is actually about 100 times (maybe more) better in person.

The weather has been great except for one downpour in Vacouver, Canada. I think the rain was upset because I did not spend enough money there. I traveled 1000 miles in Canada in less than 24 hours. Next time, I will slow it down and check things out more. The truck is running great. People are interested in AK when they see the AK license plates.

Since I was on an island (Juneau) for a year, it is nice to drive open road again.

Did i mention that I am homeless this year? Looking for a handout. If you see me on the corner with my sign, give me a quarter please

homeless but happy

In Canada - 1200 miles to Portland

I am in Canada. Got on the ferry in Juneau Sunday 10:30 PM and just got off Tuesday at 6:30 PM, AK time.

Canada customs checked out my truck. A single guy with a loaded truck must be up to something. Do you have guns, alcohol (3 cases of AK beer) and do you have porn were the questions. I begged them to check my external hard drives so they could see.
(My hard drive crashed 3 times while in the village so I backup on external dries because I lost my great Emmonak Village pictures with the crashes.)

My truck was unloaded 1/2 and he then apologized. I repacked it a bit better but I filled up my 2 Gig chip with pictures and have to download them into my computer but I can't find my download thingy now. (I had it set right by the drivers seat before he took everything out.)

The ferry trip was great - lots of pictures to come in the future. I just put up Mendenhall Glacier pictures from winter. They are a lot better than the shots now because Mendenhall was loaded with tourists.

The ferry trip was beautiful! Met some great folks too. I slept on the floor on a sleeping bag. I am now heading to Glacier, WA to spend a night there and then to the San Juan Islands to spend a night and then to Tacoma, WA and then to Portland where two rug rats want to wrestle.

I stopped to eat and they had wi fi so i could get on to write this.

The weather has been great! No rain - I do not have to super tarp everything so I am happy.

We did have to evacuate the ship but more on that later. (Those sirens and whistles let you know that something big is happening.)

Ferry leaves in 6 hours

I will probably be offline for a couple of days or maybe longer. I get on the ferry tonight and get off the ferry Tues about noon in Canada. We have 80 degree weather and it is spectacular for sailing the inland passage. There is a slight chance of rain Monday but not severe.

The ferry people were saying that the last three years was super rainy and this is totally different than past years. We have 4 cruise ships in today and it is like Disneyland with all the people about. I went down the road to hang out on the beach but many in Juneau had the same idea and the place is packed.

So, I ended up at a bar with wifi to write this note. After I leave here, I will head out to Mendenhall Glacier one last time and then go get in line for the ferry.
Packing: I have a 3/4 ton truck with lots of room and I have a lot in it. It is funny, I pack better with a small vehicle. If I have lots of room then I fill it up.

I will take lots of pictures.

Bye

The picture is of an old mine shaft on Perseverence Trail.

Inside Passage Ferry Ride tonight!

I still have some cleaning to do at my apartment.

I get on the ferry tonight and travel to Prince Rupert BC. It is about a day and a half trip through wilderness areas. It is called the Inside Passage.

It is sunny and wonderful too! I just want to load up and go.

**Note: I will probably be offline for a while as I am traveling. I will be taking lots of pictures though so I will have lots of shots to put up when I do get back to a regular schedule.

I saw two bears today!

I leave tomorrow on the ferry. I have been packing and cleaning. It was 80 degrees and I decided to drive to the end of the road.
I saw two bears.
The first one: I was driving along and saw a bunch of bushes along the railing on the road. Then there was a black furry head among the bushes. I looked at it and it looked at me and then it hit me - That is a bear. I had the camera next to me but as soon as I went for the camera the bear was gone. It was a cub. On the way back, i walked over to where I saw the bear and I heard crashing of bushes as something was running off.

The second bear was about 5 miles towards Juneau. I was driving along and a grown black bear was along side the road eating skunk cabbage. i stopped the truck and I might have gotten a picture, The bear was pretty busy eating so he was not worried about a picture being taken. He was in the bushes so the picture might not be very good. I will check the picture later.

I still have some more cleaning and then I can load up and be gone tomorrow.

It was quite light out at 10 PM tonight.

When I left Emmonak last year, May 08, a big brown bear ran from the garbage dump to the airport to see me off. Here in Juneau, I had two black bears see me off. A bear seeing me off tradition continued this year. In Emo, we never saw bears so it was quite unusual. After the bear was seen, a call went out on the scanner and people showed up with guns to shoot the bear if it got near anyone. That bear got out of there fast though. The villagers have the right to shoot a bear that can harm a person.

Juneau - Last full day

I take off tomorrow, Sunday. I will miss Juneau. It is quite beautiful - especially with the 70 degrees and sunshine which we have had the last week. I do have the travel bug though and I am looking forward to getting on the road. The inside passage ferry trip is something I am looking forward to seeing. My plan is to just hang out on deck or sleep in the truck. I did not get a cabin. I felt if I got in a cabin, I would get tired, go to bed, fall asleep and miss first light. Sleeping in the truck almost guarantees that I will be awake when the sun comes up. I want to get a lot of pictures.

Next Year, no set plans yet. I told Juneau I might come back but we shall see. I have a camping trip with family in July and I will start looking at jobs then. I could make a good case for staying around Portland/Vancouver or Nevada or Juneau. Juneau would be easy because I enjoyed the school, kids and the winter had great snow, which I like. Then I think too: I could check out something new: East Coast, Hawaii or even a remote AK village. I will just have to sit back and wait a bit. There are a lot of new teachers looking for jobs and I want them to settle in and get jobs first. I feel very lucky to be able to sit out for a while if I so choose. I am still trying to decide where I want to retire too. I enjoy the being a long term tourist.

I am looking forward to seeing the kids and grandkids and nephews and nieces, family in general.

Today is cleaning day and tomorrow I pack up and leave. I still have a couple of hours at school to finish. When I get on the ferry, vacation begins.

Money's worth this week!

We have 4 to 6 cruise ships daily this week. WE HAVE SUNNY WEATHER AND IT IS 75 DEGREES.
The people on the cruise ships must be saying that Juneau and Alaska is heavenly. We have mountains surrounding us, glaciers, float planes, fishing boats, sail boats, clear water and good fishing. (The great fishing is 20 miles away at Hoonah.) People on cruise ships are thinking that Juneau is the best place in the world. Two weeks ago, we had rain and wind and the passengers on the cruise ships were throwing up because of the rocking motion of the ships caused by the wind and rain. The people this week will have rave reviews of the place.

Today my school had a field day and I was outside all day. I am normally tucked away in a small space with no windows. IT WAS AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS. I saw the kids of course and float planes taking off and landing, cruise ships, eagles flying around Gastineau Channel, Mountains totally surrounding Juneau with the snow melting, and 75 degrees with a mild wind. It was great. I did have a student hit his teacher so I had to walk him to his house to talk to his dad. His dad was out at the time so we walked back to the part and I made him sit and watch the kids play the activities for an hour. That little boy walked like a 100 year old man - slow, slow, slow - to his house. He was very relieved to see that his dad was not home.

Juneau is an amazing place on a sunny day. If you know of anyone on a cruise ship in SE Alaska this week - they will say glowing things.

70 degrees

What a beautiful week. It was 65 degrees yesterday, 70 today and warmer tomorrow. Too bad I am at school - paperwork and meetings are the norm for this week. Did I mention that the last week is tiring. Paperwork sure gets old.

Juneau is a very beautiful place when the sun shines. Juneau has 4 ships in today. We have bus loads of tourists driving by my school on the way to Sandy Beach. There is a good view of Juneau from Sandy Beach in Douglas.

5 more days and I will get on the ferry to Canada. I am looking forward to 2 days of quiet on the ferry and seeing the inland passage. Everyone talks about seeing the inland passage by ferry. The drive through Canada is supposed to be pretty spectacular too. Being in Juneau, I am kind of used to spectacular.

Juneau, Mendenhall Glacier, ice bergs

One picture is of downtown Juneau with a ship coming in to visit. We have had 3 to 5 ships per day this past week. That means lots of tourists around. The picture was taken up the hill by lots of housing. I hear driving up and down these hills with the snow and ice is exciting. We have a lot of dented up cars in Juneau - winter ice victims.

Mendenhall Glacier today had a lot of ice bergs floating away from the glacier. The wind blows them into the lake and eventually down the river. There are some big chunks of ice. The light blue areas are where they had been. I skied out to them just about a 5 or 6 weeks ago. It seems like it was such a short time ago now. It was at least 70 degrees today - beautiful!!!!!!!! I did 2 hikes. I at Mendenhall in the morning and Perseverence. I tried to hike up Mt. Juneau but the snow stopped me - that is straight up hill by the way. My legs are now telling me how stupid I was to try that up hill stunt.

I LEAVE ONE WEEK FROM TODAY! As I write this, 8:30 PM, on Sunday; a week from now, I will be in line to get on the ferry to Prince Rupert, BC. That is about a 2 day ferry trip. I will then drive 1200 miles through BC and then to Seattle and Portland. I have lots of work to do this week and then pack, etc. Makes me tired just thinking about it. I am excited to be on the road though. I am driving 'the beast,' a 99 Chev 3/4 ton truck. It only has 37,000 miles on it. It also has a crane - such a deal. if you have a large load of groceries - I have the crane to help lift them up. I am writing more because - video takes a log time to load onto the blog. As I am waiting for the video to upload - I am writing and writing more because it is still rendering.
It finished rendering - bye.

More Perseverence, leaving next Sunday

I have booked the slow boat out of Juneau. I take off Sunday 5/7/09 in the evening. I will get on a ferry and travel for about 2 days to Canada. I will get off and then drive around Canada a bit and then go to Northern Washington State to visit folks and head towards Portland, OR. I went for a hike this AM and it is a bit weird knowing that I am leaving Juneau. I drove for 10 min to get to my hike, can't do that in many places. I am excited to get on the road. I will miss a lot here.

Weather: 3 days of rain but they say we have 75 to 80 degree days starting Monday. My School has many outdoor activities so we are pleased to see good weather. We had Kindergarten Classes go to the beach, Outer Point, for Sea Week yesterday and it rained all day. The kids had a great time but they got soaked. The fifth graders hiked into Mendenhall Glacier and the 5th graders put lipstick on and kiss the glacier. They got rained on too. Kissing a glacier is a tradition for 5th graders.

Emmonak flooded, raining in Juneau, Bear

Emmonak: It flooded pretty bad. The two Emo stores were closed and water was even up to the school. A parent had to take his kids to school in a boat. The road to the airport is under water. The runway did not flood. All this means that my old apartment was flooded out. My apartment was one of the lowest places in Emo. Bad news: The sewage lagoon must have flooded as well because it is just behind the school. The dump is swamped as well because it at the same elevation as the road to the airport. They are worried that the road to the airport got washed away with the flooding. Palin surprised everyone by asking for disaster assistance for the villages.

In juneau,it started raining on Memorial day and has not stopped. I watched 3 ships leave yesterday when the rain was pounding and the wind was blowing. A lady a few days ago was saying that the ship was being blown by the winds and causing people to get sick.
She said throw up bags were being used a lot. Sounds like a fun vacation to me.

These pictures are of the top of a waterfall on Perseverence Trail. it is so quiet and peaceful there. I think Mountain Goats hang out at this spot during the winter, there are lots of pellets on the ground. It is a good watering hole and they could hide away from the massive amounts of snow on top of Mt. Juneau.

BLACK BEAR AT MENDENHALL: I pulled up and the bear was on the walkway by the visitor's center. Buses, with tourists, were just arriving and Forest Service personnel were yelling at the bear telling it to leave now. The bear went into the bushes growling and barking as he went. My camera was in the truck or I could have had some good pictures. The bear felt he was being mistreated.

Mendenhall Glacier - Global Warming

I was talking to a person who's family has lived here for many years. I was told 7 years ago that the big rock on the right was covered with glacial ice and not seen.

20 years ago, about 1/4 of mendenhall lake was glacial ice. That is quite a change, glad I got to see the glacier now and not 15 years down the road.

Perseverence, variety

There are many things to see on Perseverence Trail- great variety. I heard the baby bear about a mile from the video. The trail is changing so much each week. It is now light at about 4:30 AM and gets dark about 10:00 PM. We have had a lot of sun which makes the plants grow so fast. The snow is melting unbelievably fast. I have been hiking up to the snow line the past 3 weeks and this week, I went about a mile beyond where I was last week. I am going to Perseverence because Mendenhall Glacier is loaded with people. It is like Southern CA, ant like with people everywhere at Mendenhall. After a quiet winter of just locals, masses of people still takes getting used to. Perseverence is just quieter and less crowded. It is also only about 10 minutes from my house. It is uphill in so it is a good workout as well. I feel the need to be ready to bike or hike this summer, so I need to be in ok shape.

The Rock: There is a rock cropping on the stream where people pile rocks up and make designs. It is very close to where people pan for gold. I saw this writing on this stone and wonder if it was a real person. The caretakers of the museum see lots of beautiful designs.

I heard a baby bear crying for mom

I hiked Perseverence twice today and I heard a baby bear. I know there are at least 3 bears in the area, I saw them playing in s snowfield a week or so ago. I hiked past the mining museum, where 2 bears were seen last week, and went up the trail. On this trail last week, I had heard something moving in the bushes and making a lot of noise. I kept on moving. This week I was on the trail and down below was a whimper cry sound. I think it was a baby bear. It was down a gully and I was up on the trail so I felt totally safe.

70 degrees today - beautiful.

Emmonak Flooded Yesterday

But the focus late Saturday was on downriver villages of Emmonak and Alakanuk. Water rose rapidly in both communities Friday night, and villagers were bracing for more high water today. Emmonak has more than 700 residents, and Alakanuk has just over 600. State emergency management officials are monitoring the situation closely.

Many houses in the villages had several feet of river water around them Saturday night, but the water appeared to be going down, residents reported. Flooding is common in the region this time of year as the river breaks up, and many dwellings sit on pilings several feet above the tundra.

Utilities in Emmonak were still functioning, though earlier in the day water rose within 6 inches of the power plant, said city manager Martin B. Moore, Sr.

No one from either community had been evacuated, and the water levels were within the norm for spring flood conditions, said Ben Balk, a Weather Service hydrologist in Anchorage who was tracking the river's breakup. Moore said Emmonak opened a school building as a shelter in case the flooding worsened. As of 8 p.m. Saturday, only one family was using it.

The road to the Emmonak airport was underwater much of the day, but the runway, which is on higher ground, was clear. Passengers were being ferried by boat. In the rest of the village, people were still able to travel by truck or four-wheeler, Moore said.

http://www.adn.com/news/environment/flooding/story/806132.html

Emmonak sits in the midst of a fan-shaped delta about 10 miles from the sea. Many residents spent the day watching the river, where ice chunks the size of houses floated by. Children canoed through the streets. People get a charge out of break-up, Moore explained. They were busy checking their boats and thinking about summer.

Emmonak update - Ice Broke

Emmonak: the river ice broke yesterday afternoon and they are now having moderate to major flooding. I spoke to my friend in Emmonak and she said that water was all the way up to her house which is behind the school. The Emmonak stores are closed. She wasn’t sure if anyone had to evacuate from the low lying houses.

If water is behind the school, the water is probably in my old apartment. The houses that are behind the school are higher than where I used to live. Both stores are elevated so unless ice chunks cause problems, they might be ok. The sewage lagoon is behind the school, I hope water did not get into it.

Perseverence, snow and the museum

Here is more Perseverence. It shows the end of the trail and there was still snow last weekend. The trains are part of the Mining Museum up on Perseverence. Perseverence was also where the first road in Alaska happened to be. It was made to get to the gold which was found back in the hills. I stop at the snow because I was wearing tennis shoes. Many of the hikes around here have snow on them as you go up or along the trail.

This is the beginning of a 3 day weekend! I really feel that I needed the extra day to recharge my batteries. The job is tiring this time of year. 9 more days and my summer begins. I have nothing arranged for next year. I want to rest and think through the 09/10 year. I am back to maybe for Juneau. Living in the lower 48 has some big advantages. I will leave Juneau without a firm plan - that much I know.

Russian mission flooding - ice problems

Russian Mission has ice blocks destroying parts of the town tonight. The runway is flooded so no traffic. I heard on the local news that about 10 houses are flooded. A fuel tank for Russian Village is floating on the water. They closed it off so no fuel is leaking and tied it down. People in low areas have been moved to high areas until the mess is over. The town is running out of fuel oil and limited purchases to 5 gallons. Russion Village is upriver from my old village of Emmonak. In Emo, they have flown women near the end of pregnancy out of town because the Village could be isolated soon. I think planes are still flying in and out but that could change quickly. The airport and road to the airport are right next to the Yukon River.

Last year, Emmonak had a pretty good HS basketball team but got whipped bad by Russian Missioe. Emmonak was hoping to go to state - Russian Mission did.

Perseverence Trail 2

More Perseverence - Notice: Under the wooden trail is the flume with water that was seen in yesterdays post. Tht is water under the walkway - kind of old fashioned. I might also mention that this Perseverence trail is also a trail where Sarah Palin has been seen. (Not by me) There are actually many miles of trails that go into old mining areas and you can to to the top of Mt Juneau where the Mountain Goats hang out. Perseverence is only minutes up the hill from downtown Juneau. Bears hang out here also too. I almost went up to Perseverence after school but I dropped by the store and had to get stuff back to the refrigerator. This has been a tiring week at work! Is it Friday Yet?

Perseverence Trail

This is Perseverence Trail, which is just up the hill from downtown Juneau. It is an old mining area. I saw bears up here recently, they were playing in the snow. There are also Mountain Goats on top of the mountains here. You can hike up Mt. Juneau when the snow melts. Snow stopped me last week actually. There is a wood walkway which is about a mile and a half long - quite unique.


The water is the Juneau drinking water, thus the sign for dog owners. It is a beautiful area with a lot of great hiking. There is also a mining museum up the road a bit.

We had 70 degrees today. It was very hot and I was stuck inside.

Emmonak - flooding?

I have been told that teachers were told to get out of Emmonak because record flooding and ice pack damage may well cause lots of problems. School got out last Friday and only a couple of teachers are left in Emo. They were told to clear out of their houses and move to the school because of fear of flooding, ice pack damage. Upriver in Eagle, the water raised 4 feet in the matter of an hour. FYI: My apartment last year was about at bank level, one of the lowest places in town. I was right on the Yukon River. My old apartment was not lifted much. It was about a foot off the ground. The school is 5 feet off the ground and many community buildings are 3 feet off the ground.

In Eagle: The damage is severe. The same could happen to Emmonak. The people in the villages are worried. Gov Palin is more concerned about the CA Miss American pageant gal who spoke against same sex marriage. Palin is much less vocal about the villages and their flooding issues or starvation issues during the winter months.

Mendenhall Glacier - ice is gone!

The ice is gone. The bears are out and seen daily at Mendenhall. Bus loads of tourists are traveling to the Glacier. People who live around the Governor's mansion are upset because buses swarm around the governors mansion now. Before she ran for VP, it was not a popular attraction but everyone wants to see it now. The governor says she would like to put a sign up welcoming them. I will also note that she is NEVER there so she is not really impacted. In Juneau float planes are taking off a lot and Helicopters are all over the glacier too. Busy place. Juneau has narrow streets that go straight up hills, so buses are a big inconvenience in the downtown area.

Having massive amounts of tourists around takes some getting used to. It used to be so quiet around here. When the cruise ships come in, Juneau changes a lot and fast.

Homer, Alaska Story: The trumpeter swans are now in Homer. A family who live on a lake invited people over for breakfast to see the trumpeter swans as the people ate breakfast. It was a yearly tradition. This year, as they ate and watched, an eagle swooped down and killed a swan and ate it in front of the breakfast gatherers. The remaining swans took off and flew in a circle above just watching their bird friend being eaten. The people were not happy. Historical Note: In Homer: There was a lady who fed the eagles for 50 years. The eagles had easy access to food. The lady died last fall and it is now illegal to feed eagles in Homer. The eagles now have to search for food. This is the first year of the new law.
(There was a big fire ripping through rural Homer this past week. We have not had a lot of rain and vegetation dried out. A burn barrel got a fire going and the wind spread the fire. 700 acre fire that blew through containment lines. It is settling down now that the wind is subsiding.)

Juneau, next year

I was told by another teacher that she saw 2 big bears up trees recently.
Mendenhall Glacier is melting, which is to be expected. The Glacier itself looks far away when I stand at the shore and look at it. Quite different than in the wintertime when I oould ski in to it.

I am thinking about coming back to Juneau next year now. A lot of people have been encouraging me to come back and I was told I could have flexibility with my year. I know the kids, parents, staff and like the school. I also like the winter with easy access to the mountain. I told a couple of people that I was thinking about staying.
I will think it over this weekend as I am out looking for the bears in the trees that everyone is telling me about.

downtown Juneau, bears seen

Sunny again but rain is on the way. We are getting 3 cruise ships every day. Lots of float planes, lots of tour buses and lots of people walking in downtown Juneau. Such a change from 2 weeks ago. The last of the snow in the yard is melting. There is still a big patch of snow in the backyard: 20 feet long and 2 feet high. The grass is turning green fast.

Bears: I am told that a momma bear and two cubs are out and about. They are on the mountain behind my apartment. Another momma bear and cubs are by Auke Bay. One teacher was saying that she saw a big bear up a tree sleeping.

Float Planes, Cruise Ships and GREEN

Must be spring in Juneau. We had 2 days with 3 cruise ships which means lots of float plane activity. It is also getting green. Trees are starting to leaf out and the snow is melting. I did a hike this weekend which took me up to snow and had to turn back because I just had tennis shoes.

Spring has sprung. The ice dams which are flooding towns on the mid Yukon River are making a mess. Check out Anonymous Bloggers blog or Mudflats, for more information.