It's a whale of a tail!

I've been solo-guiding tours since May 5 but Sunday was my first chance to get out on the water with my camera!  Now, I know what you're all thinking ("FINALLY!!!!!!"), and trust me, I feel the exact same way.  My shutter finger has been itching since I got up here. 

I was lucky enough to get to tag along on M/V Haarvendaam with Captain Liz.  Liz had a group of three guests going out with her and she's such a wealth of whale knowledge that I couldn't pass up the opportunity.  The weather was perfect for spotting animals - slightly overcast but not too hot, not too cold, and gorgeously flat water. 

Mendenhall Glacier

Sea Lion with salmon

Look at those beautiful blowholes!

Whale blows move between 200-300 mph!

Momma showing her calf how to dive

Sea Lion haul-out on Benjamin Island

The sea lion was thrashing his head around attempting to tear up the salmon he had caught and the gulls were all trying to catch any pieces that fell off.  We saw humpbacks several times but the mom, calf, and friend were by far the best part!  The baby was swimming all around and even showing tail!

All in all, it was a beautiful day to be on the water and I couldn't have enjoyed it more!  Hopefully I'll be able to bring my camera out more often and get y'all some even better photos!

Absense makes your heart grow fonder

For those of you that didn't know, the blog hasn't been updated recently due to the death of my old computer.  Thankfully, I am now in possession of a working computer and will get to uploading pictures as soon as humanly possible (most likely tomorrow since I'm not scheduled for work)! 

Besides the computer kerfuffle, life here in Juneau has been going delightfully well.  It's been unseasonably warm and dry, just long enough for us to get complacent - the last two days it rained and blew and was so chilly!  But Mother Nature decided to try to make up for it today; just gorgeous out again! 

Now who knows... maybe a hike tomorrow with pictures???

And so it begins...

So, I can't contain my excitement and therefore I won't drag out the suspense... I guided my first tour on Monday!!!!

I got to lead our 4-hour Juneau Highlights tour.  We go to the Alaskan Brewing Company, the Mendenhall Glacier, and the Shrine of St Therese.  Beautiful sights and lots of pretty scenery. 

Here's to hoping that I get to whale watch on Friday!!!

What a weekend!

This weekend was both super awesome and super exhausting!  But then again, those are some of the best kind. 

I was down in Eugene for a few days to be in a friend's wedding.  Sasha and Chris make a beautiful couple and I couldn't be more excited for them!  I wish them many many many years of happiness.  Also have to thank them, I found some great new friends in the other bridesmaids! 

On Sunday, I had a ridiculously early morning in order to be back in Juneau by 0930, in time for a bit more work training.  That was worth it though in the end; one of the captains hosted a potluck at her house and then we all traipsed out to False Outer Point on Douglas Island to watch the sunset and have a campfire.  And boy was it a stunning one! Good photos, good friends and, of course, great s'mores!  Captain Liz suggested that we try using Nutella instead of chocolate bars and it was absolutely glorious!  Needless to say, it was a fabulous evening.

Training Time!

Here's a quick update for y'all: yesterday was my first official day of training for work!  It was really nice to get to meet some of the people that I'll be working with; everyone seems really great and I'm thrilled to get know them more as the season gets underway.  The first cruise ship of the season arrives on May 1, and it's going to get really busy really fast.  Looking forward to getting underway!

On another note, Amanda and I got to take a tour of the NOAA lab here in Juneau today!  A family friend of her's works for NOAA and was able to take us there to look around.  It was incredible!  Really great facilities and some very intriguing research being done.  Amanda was absolutely enthralled and really really wants to work there.  I'm keeping my options open for now. :)

That's all for now.  I'll keep y'all informed as I get more settled into the routine.

Because everyone needs a beach day!

Yesterday, in order to celebrate our last day of our last weekend before work starts, we decided to head down to Sandy Beach.  It was super windy so we didn't make an afternoon of it, just went and cruised around down on the sand and got some good doses of vitamin D. 

We aren't sure but these looked like bear tracks to me.  Neat!

Perseverance Trail

Taking full advantage of the fantastic streak of nice weather we've been having, Amanda and I took off up into the mountains on Saturday for a hike along another of the "90 Short Walks in Juneau" .  Due to the fact that Juneau sits right at the base of  bunch of incredible mountains, there are some truly wonderful hikes within a few minutes drive of downtown, including the Perseverance Trail. 

The Perseverance Trail is located at the end of Basin Road, just past the trailhead for Mt Roberts.  This trail was actually Alaska's first road and was widened from a mule trail in order to create easier access to an area with about 5 gold mines.  What's really neat about this trail, besides the awesome scenery, is the abundance of ruins and artifacts that can be seen while hiking.  There's also a really neat mining museum which I intend to go explore on a future day off. 

Due to time constraints, we only got about 1.5 miles up the trail.  We had plans that evening and plan to go back and finish our hike some time this summer.  It was a beautiful day for it though, blue sky and puffy white clouds, light breeze and probably about 50 degrees.  It was great!