2/8 We found Caitlyn! Well, actually she found us at the airport! A quick stop to show my mom, Dorleen, the Mendenhall glacier, and Caitlyn is on the phone ordering lunch for us. Multitasking at its best!
2/9 While Caitlyn went to work, I went for a morning run down to Sandy Beach. It was so beautiful, I ran back home and got my mom and drove her back down so she could see how amazing the scenery is!
Juneau has some extreme tides. We were never home at high and low tides, but here are some in between pictures.
Same rock in both pictures.
Mom and I hanging out at the Mendenhall glacier.
We drove to North Douglas Island.
We watched a bunch of Sea Lions basking in the sun.
That was pretty dang cool!
Caitlyn made me exercise! Notice I still had my coat on. Not as tough as that Alaskan Caitlyn!
2/10 Caitlyn took me on a trail run this morning. Running at sea level is great! Running in Alaska and seeing the beautiful scenery is great!
Running along the frozen beach, along the Gastineau Channel was AMAZING!
While Caitlyn went to work, Mom and I went to a session.
Caitlyn works for the House, and suggested we go to a certain session that was guaranteed to get a little heated.
We got introduced by Caitlyn's representative, and the session did not disappoint.
We also checked out the SOB (State Office Building), and the museum.
2/11 It's Saturday, so we got to play with Caitlyn all day! First thing was to go to the visitors center at the Glacier. We watched the movie, saw all the displays, and then Caitlyn and I decided to hike to the glacier to see the ice caves!
Nice and dry and comfortable....time to change that!
We had this great idea that we should run to the glacier. Mendenhall Lake was totally frozen (we think), so it was considerably shorter than how you usually have to go to see the caves.
Yes, we were frozen!
These next two pictures were taken a week apart, and yes, it is the same red headband in both pictures. Notice the black arrow. The glacier had calved during the week. the dark blue behind my head (I'm in the gray coat) is where the ice had broken off.
Knowing that this really does break off, made me just a little hesitant to go under the glacier into the caves. Lets hope it doesn't do that while we are under the glacier.
I got over it, and we headed in!
The opening to the caves.
May not be the smartest decision of my life, but definitely one of the coolest!
In the ceiling of the caves are the rocks and debris the glacier collects as it comes down. At any time the boulders can fall from the ceiling. It's quite the adrenaline rush being in there!
We didn't die!
Yoga Cailtyn.
Time to head back to the visitors center to get Dorleen.
Nugget Falls in the background. We were too tired to hike over to the falls, and not quite sure how thick the ice was there.
We got drenched! But my awesome coat kept me warm and dry, well, except for my Levis.
Thank you park rangers for tending my mom! They were great!
More sight seeing, and a stroll through the shops in downtown Juneau
That evening we had tickets to the Symphony. It was really good. My favorite part was when they had a slide show going of the sights in Juneau, with patriotic music playing. It was awesome!
2/12 Because Alaska is so close to Russia, tlinsisted that we eat this Russian food. Can't remember the name of it, Cailtyn, please put it in the comments. Thank you.
After church, we headed out to the shrine. I love it out there.
Next up, Amalga Harbor. Yep, in February, there is a Christmas tree floating in the harbor.
That's Kira in the blue coat. She is Caitlyn's friend who also lives in Juneau. Thanks for hanging out with us Kira!
Who goes to Alaska in February and has ice cream? We do!
And I got a cool "selfie stick" while I was there too!
We even got to play some volleyball! Remember Ranger lady from the visitors center? She knew of some really good volleyball going on in town, so we had to check it out!
Thanks for a great trip Caitlyn and Dorleen!
