There's a reason it's called Jumbo...

It's been a while, and I've truly been meaning to write about my weekend. However, since I am so late in writing this blog, that "weekend" was about two weeks ago! I'm recovered now, and actually set some time aside to write.

It all started Friday night. I got home from work, was exhausted, and really looking forward to eating some simple dinner and then going to my room to watch a movie. I had just finished dinner, taken a shower, and was crawling into bed when my friend Crystal called asking me what I was doing. She said that she and Amy were going to go out to the Boy Scout camp and hike around. Even though I was exhausted, just had a shower, and really looking forward to that movie, I said I would go. So here it's 7pm and we're just starting out on a hike...let the adventures begin...

We get way out the road to the trail. Oh man, was it beautiful!! There was a thick forest of trees, the river right beside it, and a little island thing on the other side of the river. There was a huge tree that fell down on the island that cast some shadows. Me: "Look! There's a bear!" Amy: "There's no bear over there." Me: "Yes there is! Look!!!" Crystal: "That's just the shadow of the tree. There's no bear." Me: "Oh yeah. I see it now. Just kidding!" Amy: "Wait, there really is a bear over there!" Me: freaking out a litlle..."No there's not! It's just a shadow!" duh! Amy: "No, really, there's a bear over there!" Crystal: "I see it! Oh look! It's fishing!" Me: "I don't want to look." But I look anyways. Just then, this bear (yes, it was there!) picked up a salmon out of the river and began to eat it! It was pretty cool. But I was still freaking out.

We continue walking, making loud noises so that the bears wouldn't come to us. We got to a beautiful clearing and there were meadows everywhere. The sun was beginning to set, the mountains in the background, and the ocean right in front of us. As we kept walking, there was a stench about us. It was bad. As we kept walking, we saw the reason: there were so many dead fish, laying there, rotting!!!! I don't know how they got on land - I probably don't want to know - but there they were, dead and rotting. Well, here's a picture of that...



We hung around for a while, and then decided it was time to go back to the car. Crystal: "See Laurie, there are not many bears around here..." As she is saying this, I look to my right, and about 50 feet away, this bear pokes its head up out of the grass and just looks at us. Me; really freaking out at this point..."YOU MEAN LIKE THAT ONE RIGHT THERE?!?!?!!" Crystal: "Yeah! Oh, he's cute! Get your camera out!" Me: "WE ARE NOT STOPPING FOR A PHOTO OP!!! THAT IS A BIG BEAR, IT IS CLOSE TO US, AND WE ARE LEAVING NOW!" Amy: "He's eating, he's happy." Me: "I don't care. We're leaving now." Crystal got my camera, started taking pictures, but they didn't come out. As we're walking back to the car under the forest of trees, we are talking and laughing (me - I'm still scared to death that there are more bears around). We get so close to the car, and I hear something in the bushes right next to me. I look over, and Crystal puts her hand on my back and says, "Just keep walking." Two things I notice at this point: 1. She is not letting me look at what it was = not good. 2. She is talking louder than usual = not good. We get back to the car, and I say, "That wasn't a small animal. What was it?" Crystal says, "It was about a 1 year old bear." Amy: "We didn't want to tell you cause then you'd really freak out." So, all this to say, I was standing 4 feet away from a little bear!!!! Oh man. Then Crystal tells me that the Boy Scout trail is known for the bears. Not cool.

Here are some more pictures from that trip:





So the following day, some co-workers and I decide we're going to hike Mt. Jumbo. I'm thinking, it's a decent hike - the hike book says it's a "most intense" hike, and the round trip should take around 10 hours. So we get our water bottles, juice, lunch, home-made granola bars (thanks Jenn!) and start the trail around 11 am.

The trailhead is in between two houses - no joke. There's this little sign that says it's the trailhead. Welcome to Juneau...So we begin the hike, and it's a little steep in places, but overall not bad at all. I'm thinking, yeah! I can do this! 10 hours of this - no sweat. Soon we get to this amazing waterfall with a little bridge. So peaceful! We're all still pretty happy at this point. As we keep on walking, we come to what we fondly named the Stairs of Death.




Once you get past the stairs of death, you get to the board walk. The boardwalk is at a steady incline, but nothing too unbearable. It goes through this meadow. It reminded me of the Lord of the Rings, in the Marshes. There was this quicksand type stuff everywhere, beautiful flowers, and grasses and small trees. Beautiful! So we hike through the marshes and get to the trees. Now the fun starts...




I kid you not, this was the trail - for about 2/3 of the trip! Intense hiking all the way up! My friend and I kept saying, "K. I think I can see the top! Almost there!" We get to the "top" and see that no, there is another mountain. Oh man. This went on for about 4 hours or so.



When we broke timberline, we kept thinking, "There is a big rocky stump up there. We can't possibly be going that far up. There's no way!" Oh yes, let me tell you, that is in fact the top, and yes, you hike to the top. And what an amazing view it was:






I was in awe of God's artwork! Simply amazing.

So after being up there for a while, we started the crazy hike down. I always think that going up is so hard to do, but it is going down that kills! It took us a little over two hours to get off that dumb mountain! Well, when you have trails like this, you'd understand why:




When we got to the bottom, we could hardly move. We staggered into a pizza place, sat down, and none of us were very chatty - we were so tired! Let me tell you, for the next week, I could hardly move! My legs hurt so bad! But what an amazing experience! Lesson learned: When a mountain is called Mt. Jumbo, it's called Mt. Jumbo for a reason!



I miss you all!
Blessings!

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy!

I never thought I'd actually enjoy fishing. I mean, seriously. Who likes sitting on a boat for hours, with a piece of string in the water, waiting for the CHANCE to actually catch a fish? Why would anyone do this when there are mountains to climb or planes to jump out of, hikes to go on, people to meet for coffee? I don't get it. Let me rephrase that...I didn't get it.

Then I went fishing for the first time in my life in the wide open ocean on Sunday! No, it wasn't "Deadliest Catch" style, but it was crazy. I actually have a licence and everything! So Amy and I get on the boat with Dick (captain) and wait for the rest of his family to get there. We start up the boat to get it warmed up. Pretty soon, there is white smoke/steam coming from the back of the boat. Dick looks at the boat, the engine, etc, and can't find anything wrong, but decides to turn off the boat until his family gets there. And we wait...And wait...And I'm thinking, "The waiting has begun even before we get in the ocean!"

So the family gets to the boat after some time waiting. Dick goes to turn on the boat and it doesn't start. No good. All the lights and radio and GPS things work, but the engine won't start. (Sound familiar? I think this problem follows me...) After dinking around with a few things in the engine compartment, there is still no engine starting. So, they decide to use the little engine that goes on the back of the boat - the reserve engine - instead. That one works just fine, but it can't make the boat go fast and it's much more difficult to steer. But hey, we're going fishing, and nothing can stop us!

We leave the harbor, and immediately cast the lines. I've never done that, and it was quite entertaining to learn the "fishing jargon". They baited the hooks (I wasn't about to get smelly right away...) and we were off...at about 2mph. We trolled our way towards a few islands around Juneau with not one fish biting. This was going to be a LONG day...

Then, we started to see some eagles flying around and diving down toward the water. It was very cool! Then Nicole (one of the family) yelled, "WHALES!!!!" Way off in the distance, there were lots of spouts going off, and we could see the backs and tails of many Humpbacks. Very cool. Immediately, Nicole and I became much more interested in the whales way off in the distance than the fishing going on right below us. Nicole begged her dad to get closer to the whales (at 2 mph, mind you). So we trolled toward the whales. We realized that they were feeding - I have yet to see bubble feeding up close, but from far away, it looked very cool! We followed the whales (at 2 mph) for a while, and then they left. But in their place was a small pod of porpoises! They were pretty cool to see too. Nothing like what they have at Sea World, but very cool to see in their natural environment.

Still no fish. It's been about four hours, and we've seen some beautiful islands, whales, eagles, fish, and are just enjoying the sea breeze. I'm up top of the boat when Dick yells, "Laurie! You've got one!" I tell him that he can reel it in, but he says I have to do it. So I hurry down the ladder, grab the reel, and start reeling. I have no idea what I'm doing and have about four different people trying to explain to me what I should be doing. Pretty funny. The fish gets so close we can almost net him, and his gills rip and he gets away. It was fine - it was only a pink - and I can say I've reeled a fish! It was pretty intense! I then began to think that fishing is kinda like working in an emergency room: it's hours of nothing to do followed by minutes of intense, fast-work to do! Pretty fun.

So we continue to troll around islands (I learned a lot about the islands and the ocean on this trip!) and saw a few seals, more eagles and whales, and just enjoyed the time on the water. About three hours after my near-catch, Dick yells out, "Amy, you better get down here!" So Amy, being the experienced fisherman she is, goes down and proceeds to reel and net a pink salmon! It was very cool to see the entire process all together.

All in all, it was a very fun day! I think I enjoy fishing! At least, I enjoy going out on the boat and relaxing on the water...

Hope you are all doing well! Love you and miss you!

4th of July Pics - Scroll Down for the Blog...

Life in a Northern Town...

Yes, another song. While this is probably not the best song to give a glimpse of life in a small town, it's one I like. So bear with me...

The 4th of July. At home, it's not really that big of a deal. You may barbeque, may swim, probably will get a sunburn, and maybe watch Rubidoux burn. You may even wear red, white, and blue. But it's certainly not as big as, say, Christmas or Easter or Thanksgiving. At least not in my family. There's nothing wrong with that! Everyone who knows me well knows how much I don't like fireworks. I don't like the heat or the sun, so staying inside is just fine with me! But we forget, don't we. We forget the reasoning behind the 4th. On facebook, some friends put quotes about the 4th and freedom up. I was blown away:

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." ~Erma Bombeck

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood." ~ John Adams 1765 Thank you to all our troops who sacrifice all of the above to ensure freedom. Happy 4th of July! Let freedom ring!

The 4th of July is the biggest holiday here in Juneau. Maybe it's because it's the only holiday that has a CHANCE of decent weather - no snow or rain...Well, the no snow is a guarentee...People go all out. Cars are decorated, families match in their red, white, and blue outfits that they can only wear this time of year, and barbecues are going everywhere!!!

The festivities started July 3. In Juneau around this time of year, it doesn't get completely dark. So, to set off fireworks, they wait until midnight on the 3rd (I guess that's technically the 4th...). So we went to Amy's aunt and uncle's house for hotdogs and to hang out until it was time for the fireworks. We had a great time. Then the fireworks. They shoot off the fireworks off a barge in the middle of the channel here in Juneau. There's mountains all around, so the boom echos through the mountains. The fireworks weren't anything to write home about, but the way cool part of it was the echo. I wish you were here to experience that with me!

Then, we had the 4th of July parade. It was similar to the one last year, with the floats and the bands. They had one alum high school band that was so fun. They were all playing, trying to keep in step, and taped a piece of yellow duct tape to their skirt/shorts/pants so they were all "matching". And, there were bagpipers! That was my favorite! It was great. Again, people in the parade stopped along the route to say hi to people along the sidelines. Welcome to small town! Everyone comes to this parade. There's serious street closure downtown and families come out early in the morning for a prime spot. It's very fun. As we walked back to the car, we walked through the old graveyard downtown. It was very interesting, and VERY old. We found the graves of Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris - two of the founders of Juneau! I put the pictures in the blog above this one, so hopefully this isn't too confusing...

Amy and I then went to her house and made shish-kabobs. We make mean shish-kabobs, let me tell you! We both got sunburned (yes, we get sunburned in Alaska too...) and were so tired. We watched a movie and then went to bed. Getting up for church the next day was tough, but even that was good.

I'm so glad for freedom. We are so blessed, and we don't even think about it! I truly hope your 4th was safe, enjoyable, and memorable. You are loved and missed!

Blessings!

Real Life Revised...

I've done three blogs in about two weeks...needless to say, there's been a lot of life changes happening. It's been crazy here, but I think it's good. Only time will tell. I just have to trust (and we all know how much I love to trust...)

The house thing is the same! This is a good thing. I have three of the four roommates staying fairly consistently at the house. It still seems really strange to me to think that someone is paying for rent, and then doesn't stay at the place they are paying for. Does this make sense to anyone else or am I on my own in this?

The weather has gone back to "Juneau weather". That means it thinks it's sunny, but there's enough cloud cover to not quite need the sunglasses, and then it rains. Actually it sprinkles, but if you're from SoCal, it rains! But it's not consistent. I rains for about five minutes, quits for ten, rains again for ten, quits for an hour, you get the point. I must say: when Juneau doesn't get rain in a while, the people here get pretty grumpy! They need the rain! I find that I miss it too. I love hanging out in the rain!

I was supposed to start my supervisor position today. Instead, I went to group therapy with my girls and let them know that I was resigning from JYS. They were not happy with me, and cried a little. I tried to explain that I truly do care for them and that I am not quitting because of anything any of them had done, but that it was something that I needed to do for myself. I also told them that I would be checking up on them, and wanted to come by weekly to play games with them and read a book or something. We'll see if I'm a friend or foe tomorrow...

So, I quit my job because I got a new job! I'll still be in Juneau, but working for JAMHI (Juneau Alliance for Mental Health Inc). It is working with adults with psych problems - depression, schizophrenia, psychosis, dual personalities, etc. I'll be a case manager over there, working on treatment plans, getting them to and from appointments, teaching them how to function, etc. Should be interesting and a challenge! If you have more questions, please call me and ask! There's too much to write in a blog...

More changes! This week, I've really been praying and asking God to give me wisdom, endurance, and understanding for all these crazy things in my life. Then, on the radio, a song came up (yes, another song!) Third Day's, "Take It All". Recently I've been struggling with the reality that people are expecting too much of me. I can't be everything to everyone, and it's feeling like that is what is happening. I am so tired of trying so hard. I am tired of people assuming that since I am a "strong" person, I can handle a great deal of things at once. I can, but sometimes (in the midst of life changes...) it's too much. And then I think and wonder how much of this I bring on myself. How much of it is my own expectations of myself? Like I said, it's been a struggle. All that to say, this has been my theme song for the past few days...



Love you and miss you all!
Blessings!

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace (How sweet the sound)
That sav'd a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev'd;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ'd!

Thro' many dangers, toils and snare,
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall profess, within the vail,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call'd me here below,
Will be for ever mine.

I think I've known this song my entire life. I can't remember a time I haven't known this song. When I was young, I remember really didn't like this song: it was too old, the melody was the same, it was LONG, and I didn't really understand the words. I used to cringe when the music people at church started to play this song. When I had to learn it on the piano for piano lessons, I think I practiced this song the least. I really hated this song!

I watched the movie this morning for the second time. What an incredible testimony! Both for William Wilberforce and for John Newton. They changed lives and changed history! Their honesty and determination changed lives and made them better. I want to be like them. I want the endurance and the honesty and the will to change lives like they did.

I could sit here and pick apart the verses of this song. They are so true; so solid; so deep; so beautiful. I look back and realize that my hating this song really did nothing for me. All the times that I missed out on singing with those that have gone before me: "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me!" But as I sing them now, I stand in amazement of God's grace. His love, His grace, is what has saved me. I am not worthy, but I am so thankful. As John Newton said in the movie, "I am a great sinner, and God is a great Savior." Save me.

If you haven't seen the movie, I highly encourage you to! Especially to the end. At the very end of the movie, there is a beautiful version of the song. I can't find it on youtube, so you'll have to watch the movie yourself. It's pretty incredible!

I'll update you more on life in a later post. For now, rest in His grace. It's pretty amazing...

Blessings!

Real Life

Vacation has officially ended.  Real life has started once again.  So sad...

Linda left on Monday.  It was very sad to see her go!  I didn't like it one bit!  We had tons of fun, and she helped me move (yet again!)  Next time, I'm going to help her move up here!  Wouldn't that be so great!  

Like I said, Linda moved me all in.  I have a new house, new roommates, and a whole new adventure waiting for me.  This house has a full front and backyard - so good!  I mowed and worked on the front lawn yesterday.  Four nasty, itchy bug bites and a sunburn later, I decided that morning is the best time to work on the yard.  It's actually been really warm here the past few days!  I've been really surprised!  The people here in Juneau are starting to get cranky because there hasn't been rain in almost a week!  Everyone has tans - it's pretty funny!

Work is ok.  I recently got promoted to supervisor, which is a new adventure too!  I start in two weeks.  I'm nervous, because there is still so much that I don't know.  But, it will be experience and a new adventure.

I've decided that I can't ease into things.  I can't make just one change at a time in my life - it's all or nothing!  I did it last year: graduated, new house, new job, new roommate, new state all in one month.  This year: new house, three new roommates, new position, new friends all in one month!  Won't it be interesting to see what happens next year?!  

I miss you all!  Hope all is well with you! 

Blessings,

Laurie