Tracy Arm

Yesterday afternoon I took the Tracy Arm tour with Allen Marine. It was great! We saw one humpback whale on the way out. Not only did we see its fluke several times, we saw it breech, lunge feed, and slap the water with one of its pectoral fins. I was really excited, because I had never seen any of that before! Quite the show for one whale.

The trip out was with passengers from the Norwegian Sun. I boarded from the AJ dock in Juneau, through the Nor Sun itself and onto the Cape Aialik. Then the Nor Sun passengers embarked and the tour commenced. Once at Tracy Arm, we approached the Sawyer Glacier as close as was safe. There was a lot of ice in the immediate vicinity (as you can tell in the picture). The Nor Sun met us in the Tracy Arm passage to pick up their passengers, although they were unable to get as close as the Cape. After the passengers disembarked, I helped the boat crew clean a bit and then we had a relaxing trip back to Juneau.

The trip was very scenic, very gorgeous. Although it was a long trip, I am really glad that I went!

The only part of the trip that was not fun was that shortly after we left the Nor Sun in Tracy Arm, the Cape's generator went out and we ran on battery power all the way back to Juneau. Thank goodness we made it safely back. I certainly did not want to spend the night on board! So all the way back, we had no heat and I was freezing cold. I had four layers on, but it still wasn't enough, especially after spending a good amount of time out on the deck in the cold glacier air. But really, it is just one more Alaskan adventure, one more memory.

Kayaking

Today some friends and I went kayaking at the glacier. I haven't had as much time as I would like this summer to get out and do fun things outside, so it was really nice to be able to do that. My dad and I went a couple weeks ago, on an afternoon that was so hot I felt like I was in California! I was in shorts and a tank top and had my legs propped up on the top of the kayak while paddling so I could soak up the sun and maybe get a tan on my white Alaskan legs. Today was definitely not as hot as it has been lately! It was overcast, which was actually a nice break from the current heat wave.

We kayaked out towards the waterfall and passed through some huge icebergs that must have calved fairly recently. They are some of the bigger ones I have seen. The one in the picture seemed especially large when right next to it. There was one iceberg with rocks precariously perched on the top. We avoided getting too close to that one, because it looked like the ice underneath the rocks would give way or melt any day now!

I have been working some pretty long hours these days, which is a nice change from being unemployed. However, I am also quite tired all the time and without much energy to do the fun things I would like. I try to take advantage of my days off for adventures like kayaking, but most often I just relax and go garage saleing with my dad, do laundry, and sleep!

Rainbows and Promises

I couldn't help but take this picture. Juneau may be a hard place to live when raining, but here is an example of the beauty in the midst of it. 

A rainbow represents God's promise to us. A promise of a new covenant (thank goodness we are not under the law anymore!). A promise of faithfulness and eternity. A symbol of hope and fresh beginnings. In the midst of the storm and rain, there is still a promise for us. 

So several days of torrential downpour brought us the gorgeous weather we have this week. It is amazing! There is so much symbolism in that. What we may see as bad, seen in a different perspective, cannot help but bring good. So let us enjoy and store up the sunshine for when we need its memory to take us through the storms.

The Big 3-0

When I arrived at work early Monday morning, our lead rep greeted me at the door and told me to follow him outside to show me something. He asked me if I had seen someone's name tag over the side of the porch. (I should have caught on at this point but didn't!) He kept saying someone must have lost it and kept asking me if I saw it. I looked over the side and of course saw nothing. After a few minutes of this, we decided neither of us saw anything (he said maybe someone found it). So we walk back in the office and I see black streamers in the back room, but I still had not caught on. I walked into the back room to put my lunch in the fridge, and all my coworkers were there! They had this cake with purple and black flowers, all lit up with 30 candles. After singing to me, they encouraged me (a little too enthusastically) to blow the candles out. I attempted. But they were those crazy sparkler candles that won't blow out! So after a minute or so, everyone joined in. By this time, they were getting really close to being completely melted. We tried pulling them out by hand while still on fire and dousing them in water, but there wasn't much left to grab. So wet fingers did the trick. I don't think anyone ended up with burnt fingers, fortunately! The candle wax did drip all over the cake, and in the picture, you can see a nice big black smear from burnt frosting or something. It was great fun! (Oh, and I forgot to mention the purple balloons. Someone obviously knew my favorite color!)

Summer Sledding

Last Saturday a coworker and I took the tram to the top of Mt. Roberts. We hiked through the snow to the base of what looks like a sledding hill, atop which is a giant wooden cross. Typically there is a nice circuitous trail to the top, but that was invisible due to the snow coverage. We decided to hike straight to the top. It was not very far but was quite steep. Once we reached the cross, I knew there was only one way down. But there was no way I was going to do it. Instead, I tried walking down, but it was just too steep and I gave in (or rather fell on my rear) and slid all the way to the bottom! I was a little freaked out at first but it was such a rush! I would do it again, but next time I would wear snow pants, rain pants, or take a sled!

And Summer Begins

Mother's Day. Coffee and scones with mom. One-year since I graduated from college. (Woohoo!) Sunny. Gorgeous. What else can I say!

Today was an extremely long day and very exhausting. It feels like we didn't do much today, but I am so tired. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I have not worked this much in over 8 months! I am very happy with how today went, though, because I am finally getting used to the way things work. Nothing is second-nature or old hat yet, but things are making sense and going well.

I was working with a couple tours that were crazy busy (the ones when people first get off the ship), and also with a couple that were starting after the ship had been at dock for a couple hours. I enjoyed those, because I was able to interact more with the passengers. There was more time to chat and talk to them about where they were from and about Juneau. (They find out I am from Juneau and suddenly I know everything. hahah!)

My favorite ship so far is the Serenade of the Seas, which is a Royal Caribbean ship. It came in last week. It had a huge (HUGE) set of windows in one section, from top of the ship to bottom! I will have to try to take a picture of it next time it is in town. It is amazing! Tomorrow we have a Princess ship that I hear is pretty amazing, too. I better make sure to have my camera!

Training

This is me and Sarah Noelle, a new friend from Allen Marine training.  On Saturday the 2nd, we did our safety training.  I will not actually be working on a boat, but I participated in most of the boat training anyway.  Part of our safety training included practicing loading a life raft.  We loaded a 25-person life raft with 46 people!  It was quite an experience.

So far work has been mostly training.  Last Wednesday (April 29) we had our first cruise ship and yesterday we had our 2nd.  It has been fairly straightforward and fun.  Next Sunday we get our first 3 cruise ship day, and that's when things will start picking up!  

I have been spending as much time outdoors as possible and have been taking tons of pictures.  I am figuring out how to load my pictures from Picasa into a web album so hopefully will have more pictures easily available for you to view.