Real Housewives: Juneau? :)

Today, while Brian was sitting in new-hire orientation meetings, I got to enjoy the beautiful day for both of us.  Instead of unpacking the last few boxes or reading my Alaska drivers handbook to prep for my drivers test, I opted for a hike out in the sunshine!

Thanks to the recommendation of one of the local outdoor store reps, I headed toward the "West Glacier Trail", which was gorgeous.  It offered some great views (of the west side) of the Mendenhall Glacier, which is just a short drive away.

I hope you enjoy these views as much as I did today.  They just kept getting better and better the further along I went.

Tried to get a shot of this blue-bird looking bird...love them :)

Some fellow hikers from CA took this for me.

A little rope left to assist hikers up the rock...worked like a charm!

I thought this tree looked like it had a face and two arms sticking out...do you see it?  :)

a view at the lake level

Gastineau Guiding: Tour of Juneau

Thanks to Kevin & Tracey, and their generous gift to us, we got to enjoy a guided tour of Juneau this past Sunday.  Through Gastineau Guiding, we took a 4-hour tour of downtown, Douglas Island (where we live), Rainforest Trail, and the local salmon hatchery.  It was awesome!  

Our guide was a woman named Brenda who is a retired fish biologist who has lived in Juneau for 30 years and loves it.  We were joined by a tourist couple from OshKosh, Wisconsin, and the four of us had a great time together.    

After driving around downtown and seeing some historical buildings, we drove across the bridge to Douglas Island and our first stop was "Pocket Park", to enjoy a view of downtown from the island side.

We went on to see the sandy beach that is on the south side of Douglas Island, and then drove back toward the north side (where we live) and parked at a boat dock to enjoy this view of Mendenhall Glacier.  Brenda got married at this boat dock 12 years ago, too :)

Then we drove toward the Rainforest Trail and walked an easy loop and listened to Brenda share her knowledge of the local plants.  Main rule we learned: blue is ok to eat, red is not.  There are tons of blueberries around here!

At the middle of the loop, we stopped by the water to enjoy the view....

That ridge out there is Admiralty Island, otherwise known as "Fortress of Bears" - evidently tons of bears live there and you can take a helicopter ride and watch them as a touristy thing to do.  

 Back through the rainforest for the second half of the loop:

After the rainforest trail, we headed to the local salmon hatchery.  This was my favorite part of the tour, probably because I went in knowing nothing about salmon.  It's fascinating stuff!

During "salmon season" all kinds of salmon swim "home" back to this hatchery.  This is because before they are released, they "imprint" fresh water surroundings on them, so as soon as they smell the fresh water, they'll know exactly where to come back to.  

 They swim up this "ladder", upstream, to a holding area.

They're jumpy little buggers!

The worker is sticking a plunger into the water to scare the fish away from where he's plunging, to consolidate them all to that one side of the divider.  They wanted to get them all into the same area, so they could pick some out and make that tank less crowded.  They basically push them around, so to speak.

Here's the holding area

They get corralled into these three aisles: pink salmon, king salmon, and chum salmon

Then they get sent up chute where they're eventually divided by gender

Then the lady fish get sliced and thousands of eggs pour out into buckets, and the boy fish get squeezed and their spermies (aka "milt") go into the bucket too....voila.  Manufactured fish love.

And then come the babies!

Lots of them!

The whole process was super interesting to learn about, and I still don't even totally understand all of it. But it was cool!  We got to go behind the scenes and see where they do all the slicing and holding of the eggs and fish throughout their development.

Also inside the hatchery is this cool fish tank full of all kinds of exotic fish that are found in nearby waters.

Thanks for that amazing introduction to our new town, Kevin & Tracey.  We loved it!

Hiking up Mt. Juneau

We've learned pretty quickly that when it's nice outside in Juneau, you take advantage of it!  This past Saturday is was forecasted to be a clear day, so we decided to hike up Mt. Juneau.  We had gone up partway the previous Wednesday (it also wasn't raining then) and had to turn around to make a dinner date with our landlord.  On Saturday we wanted to go all the way to the top!

The start of the trail is called "Perseverance Trail"

 It struck me how quickly we were in a setting that felt like we were hours outside of town.  Literally, in minutes, you're surrounded by wilderness.  I think it was less than a ten minute drive from our house before we're on this trailhead.

A little history lesson, talking about how this trail was the first road in Alaska.  I also learned that Juneau is actually named after a man named Joe Juneau.

 Here are some more shots of this gorgeous hike:

We got to cross three waterfalls like these.

The higher we got, the more the fog began to clear and reveal these beautiful views.

Almost to the summit!

This lady is a veterinarian and has lived in Juneau for 10 years.  She grew up in Cleveland, OH and went to Ohio State for vet school...small world!  She was a total hiking enthusiast and said that's why she lives here.  She's been here 10 years and still hasn't done and seen all there is here.  She also happened to be incredibly buff!

A shot of one of those monstrous cruise ships

That's Juneau from way up high...I think the elevation was 3700 or 3800 feet.

The guy who took this picture was a lanky runner, wearing Vibrams, and no water bottle.  He passed us on his way down and we said, "Wow, you made good time!"  He responded: "That's what happens when you're thirsty!" :)

Back at the trailhead, you can see all those vehicles and bikes....proof that people like to get out when it's nice!

It took us three hours up and two hours down, and the climb down was so steep that my quads were shaky and very sore the next day.  Brian seemed fine, though...which is why I call him my little mountain goat! :)