Ten Adventures in Ten Days.....
10. Sitting next to my brother, Khaled, on the monopolized Alaskan Airline's seats, we nestle into the cushions securely fastened and look at each other with the same expressions on our faces-- "wow, we're moving to Alaska together". And so we nod, shake our heads (mine still looks more similar to the Indian bobble) and sink deeper into the seats. As if to truly start our journey with positive steps in the right direction, we open the Alaska Airline's magazine to see HabasH pHotograpHy's quite famous brown bear chosen as one of the top ten pictures out of 1,200 submitted!! Go brother!!
9. Fresh into the wetness that was Juneau on the evening that we landed, we were welcomed back by my brother's friend, Jeff. Spoiled with great hospitality, Jeff fed us an amazing apple venison burger that I still think about two weeks after eating it. Talk about delicious!
8. My first full day in Juneau was better than any of the ten days that I previously had spent here last summer during my visit. But what awaited me in the evening, was the first spectacular sunset- vibrant orange and pink hues cascading across the sky to cover icy waters and majestic snow topped mountains. The Mendenhall glacier across the bay is holding onto this crystal clear blue ice as if to keep the color inside forever, allowing it to be the center of its being, its existence, like our blood is to our bodies.
7. On my second full day in Juneau, we walk into the "Candy Mountain" (the house that my brother is living in) and are introduced to Bucket of Honey, a two person band from Seattle. Not only that, but Bucket of Honey is dressed in a matching black/gold Adidas jumpsuits- oh yeah!! This amazing duo is a great combo of light sweet melodies and guitar soul. We heard them play and sing after a BBQ- great acoustic spontaneity!
6. After three days of training with the big brother boss man, I am deemed prepared to get thrown to the wolves. I start workin' the booth- oh yeahhhhhh!! And with just a few hours under my belt, I sell $978 USD ticket for 2 people to go dog sledding on a glacier. Gonna make it rain this summer!
5. Long days standing behind the booth can make the legs need some stretching- so a hike to cure the tight body it is! Mt Robert's trail is a beautiful 2.5 mile hike up the mountain that hovers over downtown Juneau. Straight from the houses of downtown up to a gorgeous view that shows off Gastineau Channel, Douglas island, and if you're lucky great views of the Chillkat mountains. Enjoy the celebratory picture from the top cuz we took the tram down!
4. Whale watching fam trip- so all the peeps who sell the tours have the chance to go on one for free with great Alaskan beer and pizza. And thank the lord, because the sun was shining this day. Now in the past, I have had very little luck sighting whales.... at all. Yup two whale watches and nothing. So you can imagine my nervousness that I would bring back luck onto the other 20 or so people on the boat. However, to my delightful surprise we saw great views of whales exhaling, showing off their dorsal fins, and tails. Splendid, I tell ya.
4. Last night was the latest sunset I've seen since Juneau, at the great hour of 22h00. This can only be even more amazing as you nestle onto a couch on couch beach while watching a pair of whales "spy hopping". Yes, yet again, you read correctly. We sat on a couch on the beach, a bonfire to our right, overlooking the bay and making faces with whales. Spy hopping is when a whale pops out its head from the water, and continues to do that several times. Stunning... yet again. Alaska keeps it comin!
3. Now I tend to tell people that I'm not a romantic sunset gazing kind of person, but I think Alaska is quickly changing this. One of the most magical nights thus far, my beautiful friend Andrea and I decide to take a spontaneous drive to the end of the road... literally the end of the road! (You can only come to Juneau by air or by boat, there are no roads to get here!) And on that drive, we had wonderful girl talks as we crept closer and closer to the all majestic Chillkat mountains,which included sightings of both a killer and a humpback whale! Stunning beauty that makes me speechless and with a friend, whom I can talk to all day long! Lucky me.
2. Mendenhall Glacier Tour/ Helicopter Ride!! First time ever in a helicopter and I got to ride shotgun baby! It was a small helicopter, with the clearest windows you could imagine-- it felt like riding on an enclosed magical carpet ride over the mountains and landing peacefully on the icy glacier. Though I'm more partial to heat and sand, the crystal clear glacial ice, crevices and water were just as romantic. Even if you go solo. So I made friends with an EMT on the glacier, who quickly became my personal photographer. Watch me to walk on water and sip the extra deliciousness of the freshest water on Earth. Salut!
1. High Flight Float Plane Ride over Juneau Ice field!! This is on my record the clearest day in Juneau history. Not a cloud in the Arctic sky, mountains in the 100% visibility distance and the chance to take a float plane ride as a perk of the job- count me in! Again flyin solo, I get the last seat available on the plane and soar the skies over one of the largest ice fields left on the planet. And because it is the clearest day on record, the pilot takes us the special route that not many people see- the High Flight. We were 40 miles from BC, Canada and I swear I could almost see Russia also! ;-) Now that I've been on such an amazing sky journey, this will not be a hard sell on the docks.
And to just think... I have 4 more months here!!! Stay tuned for more adventures :-D
10. Sitting next to my brother, Khaled, on the monopolized Alaskan Airline's seats, we nestle into the cushions securely fastened and look at each other with the same expressions on our faces-- "wow, we're moving to Alaska together". And so we nod, shake our heads (mine still looks more similar to the Indian bobble) and sink deeper into the seats. As if to truly start our journey with positive steps in the right direction, we open the Alaska Airline's magazine to see HabasH pHotograpHy's quite famous brown bear chosen as one of the top ten pictures out of 1,200 submitted!! Go brother!!
9. Fresh into the wetness that was Juneau on the evening that we landed, we were welcomed back by my brother's friend, Jeff. Spoiled with great hospitality, Jeff fed us an amazing apple venison burger that I still think about two weeks after eating it. Talk about delicious!
8. My first full day in Juneau was better than any of the ten days that I previously had spent here last summer during my visit. But what awaited me in the evening, was the first spectacular sunset- vibrant orange and pink hues cascading across the sky to cover icy waters and majestic snow topped mountains. The Mendenhall glacier across the bay is holding onto this crystal clear blue ice as if to keep the color inside forever, allowing it to be the center of its being, its existence, like our blood is to our bodies.
7. On my second full day in Juneau, we walk into the "Candy Mountain" (the house that my brother is living in) and are introduced to Bucket of Honey, a two person band from Seattle. Not only that, but Bucket of Honey is dressed in a matching black/gold Adidas jumpsuits- oh yeah!! This amazing duo is a great combo of light sweet melodies and guitar soul. We heard them play and sing after a BBQ- great acoustic spontaneity!
Check them out!! http://bucketofhoney.blogspot.com/
6. After three days of training with the big brother boss man, I am deemed prepared to get thrown to the wolves. I start workin' the booth- oh yeahhhhhh!! And with just a few hours under my belt, I sell $978 USD ticket for 2 people to go dog sledding on a glacier. Gonna make it rain this summer!
5. Long days standing behind the booth can make the legs need some stretching- so a hike to cure the tight body it is! Mt Robert's trail is a beautiful 2.5 mile hike up the mountain that hovers over downtown Juneau. Straight from the houses of downtown up to a gorgeous view that shows off Gastineau Channel, Douglas island, and if you're lucky great views of the Chillkat mountains. Enjoy the celebratory picture from the top cuz we took the tram down!
4. Whale watching fam trip- so all the peeps who sell the tours have the chance to go on one for free with great Alaskan beer and pizza. And thank the lord, because the sun was shining this day. Now in the past, I have had very little luck sighting whales.... at all. Yup two whale watches and nothing. So you can imagine my nervousness that I would bring back luck onto the other 20 or so people on the boat. However, to my delightful surprise we saw great views of whales exhaling, showing off their dorsal fins, and tails. Splendid, I tell ya.
4. Last night was the latest sunset I've seen since Juneau, at the great hour of 22h00. This can only be even more amazing as you nestle onto a couch on couch beach while watching a pair of whales "spy hopping". Yes, yet again, you read correctly. We sat on a couch on the beach, a bonfire to our right, overlooking the bay and making faces with whales. Spy hopping is when a whale pops out its head from the water, and continues to do that several times. Stunning... yet again. Alaska keeps it comin!
3. Now I tend to tell people that I'm not a romantic sunset gazing kind of person, but I think Alaska is quickly changing this. One of the most magical nights thus far, my beautiful friend Andrea and I decide to take a spontaneous drive to the end of the road... literally the end of the road! (You can only come to Juneau by air or by boat, there are no roads to get here!) And on that drive, we had wonderful girl talks as we crept closer and closer to the all majestic Chillkat mountains,which included sightings of both a killer and a humpback whale! Stunning beauty that makes me speechless and with a friend, whom I can talk to all day long! Lucky me.
2. Mendenhall Glacier Tour/ Helicopter Ride!! First time ever in a helicopter and I got to ride shotgun baby! It was a small helicopter, with the clearest windows you could imagine-- it felt like riding on an enclosed magical carpet ride over the mountains and landing peacefully on the icy glacier. Though I'm more partial to heat and sand, the crystal clear glacial ice, crevices and water were just as romantic. Even if you go solo. So I made friends with an EMT on the glacier, who quickly became my personal photographer. Watch me to walk on water and sip the extra deliciousness of the freshest water on Earth. Salut!
1. High Flight Float Plane Ride over Juneau Ice field!! This is on my record the clearest day in Juneau history. Not a cloud in the Arctic sky, mountains in the 100% visibility distance and the chance to take a float plane ride as a perk of the job- count me in! Again flyin solo, I get the last seat available on the plane and soar the skies over one of the largest ice fields left on the planet. And because it is the clearest day on record, the pilot takes us the special route that not many people see- the High Flight. We were 40 miles from BC, Canada and I swear I could almost see Russia also! ;-) Now that I've been on such an amazing sky journey, this will not be a hard sell on the docks.
And to just think... I have 4 more months here!!! Stay tuned for more adventures :-D
No comments:
Post a Comment