Well I’ve been here in Alaska for a week now and I’ve enjoyed every minute. It has been so much fun spending time with Laurie and seeing the part of the country she has been living in for the last year. It is absolutely beautiful here and I’m struck anew by the awesome majesty and splendor of the Creator each time I venture outside. Mere pictures cannot compare to the glory of trees, the magnificence of the snow covered mountains, or the beauty of Mendenhall Lake, smooth as glass in the early morning. I knew Juneau was beautiful, but I wasn’t prepared to have my breath taken away looking at the horizon from the top of a mountain. In short: I love it here!
Here are a few things I’ve noticed about Juneau and a small (at least smaller than Riverside) town:
1. Traffic consists of seven cars on the road at one time
2. People actually make eye contact with you and say hello here
3. The road goes through parking lots
4. You can’t see the air you’re breathing
5. Where Riverside’s freeways are decorated with graffiti or, on occasion, wall art, Juneau roads are adorned with waterfalls and lined with trees
6. Folks here’s don’t know what a flyover is and are mystified by the thought of an octopus of freeway overpasses
7. Folks don’t buy much meat here… they hunt for it (and have the antlers or heads to prove it)
8. Drinking hot chocolate in the middle of May because it’s cold outside is fantastic
9. Juneau summers are like Riverside winters – hallelujah it’s not hot here!
10. And some total strangers feel like friends the minute you meet them
I’ve defiantly done things here that I never thought I’d do. I ate moose. I kissed a glacier, but more on that later, and I’ve seen it light outside at 10:30 at night. That was bizarre. I’ve only seen it dark here once and that was only because we stayed up to watch a movie. I went outside at 12:30 in the morning just to see what the dark in Juneau looked like. Let me tell you – it’s dark. I couldn’t see the backyard. There were a few lights from other houses, but other than that it was pitch black. Alas there was a cloud cover so we couldn’t see the stars but it was pretty neat nonetheless. I never imagined I’d have to lock up my garbage. Yup, here they have latches on the trash barrels and then they lock the barrels in a tinny compartment to keep the bears form getting into it. Crazy I know.
Now, about this glacier business. Laurie and I are pretty level headed and have a fairly good hold on common sense, but last Friday we did something rather stupid but incredibly fun. Mama, stop reading here. I went to work with Laurie on Friday and a co-worker of hers suggested that we hike out to the glacier. Great! Sounds like fun. She told us about a trail that is harder, but shorter with “only a little rocky area you have to climb up.” No problem right, little rocky area, no sweat. So the two of us got back to her apartment and packed up the backpack. Water, check. Juice for lows, check. Lifesavers, check. Chocolate, CHECK. Cameras, check. Food, naw, we won’t be that long (let the stupidity begin).
We made it to the trail, checked the bulletin board just to make sure there were no recent bear sightings, said a quick pray that the Good Lord would keep any hungry bears away from us and set off. The trail was beautiful. It was green, cool and crisp. Rather than hearing the sounds of the freeways in the distance our ears were tickled with the sounds of the birds and the river. We meet a group of kids returning from their fieldtrip to the glacier jumping down the trail on their way back to the bus. With grins as big as open sky they reported with pride that they had kissed the glacier. Apparently that’s the thing to do here in Juneau.
After about half an hour of walking we found the trail that Laurie’s co-worker had told us about. As we went along, the trail got increasingly difficult. Clearly this trail wasn’t well traveled because the overgrowth made it impossible to walk upright in parts. But did that stop us, no sir. Undeterred we continued on. Crossing rivers proved to be a mite bit challenging. My sister just tromped through the river in her ExtraTuf boots but me other the other hand did not have the luxury of rubber boots, only a pair of running shoes. Cautiously, I hoped from one stone to the next. Blisters as a result of hiking in wet shoes did not sound appealing to me. At one point the trail became a nearly straight down rocky drop. This must be the part Laurie’s co-worker was taking about (insert sarcastic laugh here). Slowly we worked our way down and continued on our way.
Eventually we ran out of trail and still hadn’t found the glacier (Hmmm… no trail, red flag right? Well if it was the two Hubbard sisters ignored it completely). Instead we found the side of a cliff. Correction, that must be the rocky part Laurie’s friend was talking about, we decided. Half way up we decided to take a break and called Mama and Daddy to tell them we were on the side of a mountain, brilliant I know. Gathering our strength once again we made our way up the cliff convinced that the glacier would be on the other side. It wasn’t. Instead there was another cliff. Too determined to go back, we set off again walking farther and farther away from the trail. Did I mention we didn’t have the brains to mark our trail? But someone else had, but we didn’t figure that out until we were on our way back. Whoever they were, we love them!
To make a long story short… well shorter, we made it to he top of the second cliff only to be greeted with another one. “Only a little rocky area you have to climb up.” Ha! I must say, the view from the top of the mountain was spectacular. I won’t even try to describe it because words cannot do it justice. The picture at the beginning of this blog will have to suffice. All I can say is how mighty and glorious is our God! We finally made it to the glacier where is was about 20 degrees cooler with the wind bouncing off the glacier putting the temperature around 40 something. We were both so hot from climbing that we welcomed the cool. We both kissed the glacier, and crouched in the ice caves. As I was taking Laurie’s picture the glacier began to move slightly. I’ve never seen my sister move so fast!
We decided to walk along the edge of the river on the way back. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as the trip to the glacier for which we were extremely grateful. Unfortunately for me, one of the last streams we crossed, I slipped of my steppingstone and landed in the water. So much for keeping my shoes dry. After three hours and fifteen minutes, a few close calls with cliffs and long drops, two tired, sweaty, hungry, wet, and laughing sisters beamed as the car came into sight. It felt so good to sit down! We have affectionately named our hike the Hike of Insanity. Probably not one of our brightest ideas but it was a lot of fun. Okay Mama, you can read again.
Well that’s all from Alaska for now. I have so many more stories, but those must wait until I get back to Riverside. May the Good Lord bless and keep you all!
