Eaglecrest Hike

Since today is Sunday and all the realtor offices were closed, we decided to get out and do something fun because the sun was shining and it was NOT raining! We slept in, got a late lunch and then hiked a ways up Eaglecrest. I went for a run this afternoon, and because it was the first time I've really worked out at all in about a month, my legs were jello about halfway up. Dustin gave me hell for a while for not making it to the top **edit: STILL giving me hell ;), but we plan on hiking it again in the next few days. That terrain is ridiculous, in a good way! I can't wait to strap in at the top of that ridge for the first time. 

Anyways, here are a few pics from our hike. I posted all of them under my Juneau album on Facebook if you want to see the rest. 

Adapting.

A few things I've learned since being in Juneau...

1. The housing market isn't playing around here. Places get scooped up seconds after they are listed, so the search continues. I literally refresh craigslist every 20 minutes. We could've already rented several places if it wasn't for Winter. All the good ones are 'no pets' :( But I can't leave my baby behind! I know we'll find the perfect place for us, it will just take time and work to find it.

2. Subaru has let me down since the navigation system apparently doesn't include Alaska. We went to the Subaru dealership here and asked if we could buy a disc, but no... no navigation disc for AK exists apparently. Now what used to be a map that kept me from getting lost is now a zoomed out view of the state of Alaska. Good thing Juneau is pretty easy to navigate, I really don't even need it here anyways.

3. No place in Juneau sells Rain Vodka, my favorite organic liquor! :( But the kick ass Alaskan beer (particularly the Raspberry Wheat and the Amber Ale) which is brewed locally here in Juneau has made up for it. p.s... can you mail vodka? lol Speaking of mailing liquids... I'm having a major Dr. Enuf withdrawal. Somebody's gonna have to send us some Dr. Enuf before we go crazy, and if you've never tried that stuff, you will be hooked.

4. I'm determined to get better on a skateboard. We checked out the skatepark here, which is covered so  it would be something to do on a rainy day, and there are plenty of those! It's a pretty chill skatepark, and the mini ramp looks super fun. I wish I had my skateboard here now.

All in all, Juneau is still pretty f'n amazing! It will be even better once we find a place to live so I can get all the crap out of the car (and our poor bikes can get out of the rain). Sequence, the local skate/snow shop, had a video premiere today. Now my snow itch is almost maxed out. I can't wait till I can slash some pow! Here's the teaser for the video we watched today:

Dinosaurs Will Die Team Video Teaser from Sean Genovese on Vimeo.

We've found a very cool beach area called Sunshine Cove that we want to camp at if we ever have a non-rainy couple of days. We've went through two tanks of gas just driving around and exploring. One thing about Juneau, even though it's only accessibly by sea or air and no roads lead out, it's just big enough that you don't feel 'confined'. It feels like two or three smaller towns all combined since it's divided up into different sections. As long as there's good snow, good people, and good beer, that's all we need! I really like it here and could see myself living here for quite a while.

Order of Rain, Coming Right Up!

Before we came here we knew it rained a lot. I mean, a LOT. It's rained pretty much ever since we arrived, but honestly, it's not that bad. I can't wait till all this rain turns to SNOW! We've been out and about, exploring different parts of Juneau, walking around the downtown area and the rain hasn't even phased us. Thanks to some good waterproof gear, we've stayed nice and dry. I did buy some rain boots today. Don't wanna ruin my fresh Nike's :) 

Oh, and it SNOWED on the mountain tops this evening :) Super excited to see that, even though it just looked like a dusting, they were white! Any amount of snow puts a smile on my face.

We've gone in a ton of shops downtown. We also found the most expensive Mexican restaurant ever. $5 for a taco, and $5 for a chip refill? NO thanks. All the restaurants we've been to downtown have been real tourist trappy though. Once we go away from downtown it gets back to normal. Today was the last day of cruise ships, so some of the restaurants downtown said the prices drop for the winter... thank goodness! I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time in the dt area because the vibe is super chill. 

The Mt. Roberts Tram was fun. It was the last day to ride it until next May, so we splurged and bought tickets. It was cool... we hiked around some trails at the top and watched a cool short movie on the Tlingit people, who are the REAL locals of Juneau. 

Some friends we made on the ferry invited us to go bowling tonight. I got two strikes in a row, which never ever happens haha. After bowling, we all went to this Russian food spot... can't remember the name of it since I could barely even pronounce it. Pretty damn good for just having two items on the menu, and cheap too! 

The house/apt search is still going. We've gotten a few leads that I'm gonna check on tomorrow. Even if it takes us a few weeks to find a place on Douglas Island, we'll tough it out since that's where we really want to be. Downtown is cool but the parking situation is kind of a pain. If we didn't have a car here, I'd totally go for the downtown area. 

These guys are EVERYWHERE. Saw this one snatch a fish... pretty cool.

Mt. Roberts Tram

We hiked up a trail and got a bit closer to the snow. 

Tree carving

View of downtown Juneau from the tram

That ship was huge... tourists were everywhere! Apparently
this was the last cruise ship of the season. 

Yes, it was raining on our hike... Guess we better
get used to that! 

Juneau So Far...

We are in love with Juneau already, and we haven't even been here a full 24 hours! After we got off the ferry at 4:30 in the morning we went straight and got a hotel room because we were exhausted. It's amazing how a good nap will make you feel a million times better! We finally got to meet our new boss/ski school director at Eaglecrest and she gave us a little tour of the lodge. We felt right at home and loved every inch of that place! The people we met were super nice and the mountains (which still had patches of snow at the top) were absolutely gorgeous! I can't freaking WAIT until I'm standing at the top of that mountain strapped in my board. 

After Eaglecrest, we drove around for a couple hours. Juneau is a lot bigger than we expected! Douglas Island, where we want to live, is beautiful. Now we just have to FIND a place to live. I'm not worried though, we'll end up with what we are looking for in the end. 

We also ate some hella good crab legs... well... three legs... three of the biggest freakin' crab legs I've ever seen in my life. The meat out of those three crab legs was twice as much as what you would get ordering a typical bucket of crab legs. See... here's proof!

The downtown area is super chill. I love the vibe there and can't wait to spend some more time in that area. There's a health food store that I want to check out... hopefully the organic stuff isn't terribly expensive! 

We drove up to Mendenhall Glacier and checked that place out. Oh my god how cool that place was. The glacier is breathtaking... so massive, but only a fraction of how big the Juneau Ice Field is... which is the home of about 40 large valley glaciers and over 100 smaller ones. It's hard to believe it retreats about 20 ft a year! It's kinda sad to think that in just 5 years with will be 100 ft further back than where it is now. We walked out to Nugget Falls, the massive waterfall that's beside the glacier. That water is cold cold cold! All that 'thousands of years' old ice isn't playing around! There are lots of trails around there that we want to hike soon... finding a hiking trail map is on our list of things to do tomorrow. 

On our way back to the Visitors Center, we came upon a strange situation... everyone was frozen still and the park rangers were taking action. A momma black bear had wandered right in front of the building and was walking down the sidewalk! There were tons of people there too. Everyone made a path so the two cubs could make their way to mom. The rangers told us all that as long as the cubs were calm and didn't cry, then everything would be fine. Apparently if one of the cubs even whimpered, the momma would've came out raging. Good thing they were used to people! That was a really cool experience. Definitely the closest I've ever been to a bear in the wild, especially a cub! 

Here are some pics from the glacier... and the bears! 

Hello, Beautiful Alaska

I'm so relieved that we made it all the way from Beech Mountain, NC to Juneau, AK with the car, us, and the cat all in one piece! The road trip was awesome and we saw some AMAZING places. The ferry ride was fun, other than a couple rough parts where I *almost* got seasick... not fully though! The whole ferry ride was gorgeous. Going through British Columbia, and visiting the little southeast Alaskan towns of Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Petersburg was priceless. The camping situations was fun. Dustin taped the tent down so well that I don't think Katrina could've budged it. The temp was comfortable so we didn't get cold at all on the whole ferry ride. I even wore my Chacos the entire trip so far, and will probably keep that up until I have to walk through snow (which will hopefully be SOON!)

Here are some pics from the ferry. We didn't get any shots of Petersburg because it was dark when we got there, and my phone was dead and the GoPro sucks at night. I wanted to get some footage of the ferry pulling up in Juneau, but we arrived at 4:30AM, which needless to say we were packing up and getting our stuff ready to drive off the boat. I'll have plenty of Juneau photos soon, I promise!

Dustin setting up the tent.

Beautiful

Pulling up to Ketchikan

Ketchikan

Wrangell... cute little island town.

Yup, it was raining.

Dinner with a view!

Wrangell Narrows... they call it that for a reason!

Wrangell Narrows