Juneau = Alaskan Family

On June 15 we were ready to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. After a couple of years of talking about it we were able to realize Grammy Gayle's dream of getting her kids and their families, and her of course, to Alaska. We were excited and couldn't wait to meet up with the crew. That meet up would occur in the Seattle airport where would be together for the last leg to Juneau.

It was certainly a long trip and we didn't arrive until after dark, which is saying a lot for Alaska in June. However, we then had the opportunity to wake up to this gorgeous view off the deck of our rental for the week. The pictures don't do it justice, and this one doesn't show all of the bald eagles that flocked to this beach and marina every day.

To get our bearings we decided to take a drive to downtown Juneau, ultimately making our way to Douglas Island for a mini-hike/walk along Sandy Beach. Needless to say there were numerous photo opportunities.

And yes, we have now moved past the stage where Sarah can see clearly over Callie's head in pictures like this. And when life gives new obstacles you either get frustrated, lean into them, or lean to the right of them.

So here is the whole crew for the Juneau part of the trip. Zac and Brandi's itinerary had them staying a few days longer after we were going to be heading to Anchorage. So we were ready to make the most of our time together.

Okay, so the main reason why we started in Juneau and wanted even to go to Douglas Island is because this is where Sarah's Great Aunt Sally has lived for the past 60+ years. Sally and her husband Kenny had quite a few businesses. One of their ventures included liquor stores and delis. It became a game to spot one of these businesses so we could stop and take a picture. And since we needed some supplies anyway, it didn't hurt to support family by buying some beer.

After our mini-hike we stopped downtown to grab some lunch. Lucky for us there was a great outdoor food court which had top notch fish tacos and even some great savory crepes for the girls. Everyone enjoyed their meal and therefore was fortified for more exploring.

Although we didn't get the timing right, this is one of the coolest fountains that we have ever seen. The water sprays to make it look like the whale is breaching. We tried to hold our pose to get the big shot, but as you can imagine you can only hold it for so long, especially when a stranger is taking the picture.

Grammy Gayle's first cousin Margie served as our incredible hostess and tour guide during out time in Juneau. She coordinated tickets for us to go on the tram to the top of Mt. Roberts. Right off the tram were two Native artists who had been commissioned to carve a couple of totem poles for the area. They were both extremely talented as well as friendly, and both Reese and Margie were engaged with all they were doing.

You can take a retired teacher out of the classroom, but you can't take the teaching out of her system. In the hike we did on Mt. Roberts, Margie was a wealth of knowledge and constantly pointed out animals and plants to Callie and Reese. The rest of us learned a thing or two as well.

You might not know it, but Juneau is in the midst of a rainforest, so everything is green and your pretty much guaranteed to get rain every day. In fact, the first four days of our trip we only saw glimmers of sunlight here and there. And yet it was still an incredibly beautiful place to be.

It seemed only fitting to get a picture of Grammy Gayle and her two kids. And this trip definitely meant a lot to Grammy. She had first visited all of her cousins up here when she was a teenager, and her last trip with her mom was to Alaska as well. And now she was able to share this place with Sarah and Zac and their families.

We had to put in a picture from the tram heading down from Mt. Roberts to give a sense of the size of things. Mt. Roberts is literally in downtown Juneau and goes straight up. In the lower right of this picture you can see one of the cruise ships docked in the harbor. At any given time there could be four large cruise ships docked in Juneau. Downtown gets flooded with tourists. Therefore, Margie made sure that many of our outings were either off the beaten path or occurred when the tourists were typically still on the boats.

One of the coolest activities that we did while we were in Juneau was a family picnic at a state park north of downtown. The guest of honor was definitely Great Aunt Sally, pictured here with Grammy. It was so wonderful to spend time with her. She has an amazing disposition and the smile on her face never left.

We had a sizable crew and it was great to meet them all. They all brought some tasty food, and Margie led us in a rousing, and surprising, rendition of God Bless America in place of grace. Later we found out that this is a typical gathering spot for all the families on the 4th of July. In any case, we had such a great time and it was an absolutely gorgeous setting. And yes, it rained a bit, but we tried to act just like the locals and didn't let it stop the fun.

We didn't stay away from all of the tourist traps, though. One night Grammy looked after the girls so that we could join Zac and Brandi for a drink or two at the Red Dog Saloon. The place was packed and the entertainer provided a great deal of humor and harmony. But like clockwork, the place emptied out in a flash when everyone had to be back on their cruise ship for departure. It was quite a sight to see.

Another group adventure we had was a private whale watching trip out of Auke Bay. Although we didn't have a great deal of success in the whale spotting department, we did see some cool sea lions and just enjoyed the time on the water looking at the beautiful mountains all around us. However, we couldn't really tell how far they went up since there was always a layer of clouds obscuring the full view.

June 18, which marked our 14th wedding anniversary, happened to fall within our time in Juneau. So we decided to take a hike, and Reese was willing to join us. The goal was to take a trail that would allow us to see the Mendenhall Glacier from the side opposite where the state park view is. It was an adventure, which means that we didn't get the view we wanted but we had a lot of fun. Reese provided some excitement by falling in a creek on the latter part of the hike which meant she had to go for about a mile in soaking wet jeans. Good things she's a trooper.

The next day Margie and Sally took us to the local salmon hatchery. It had a mini-aquarium inside, and none of us can resist a good touch tank. The hatchery is a substantial operation, and it was fun to see how it all works, even though we were early in the spawning season so the action was not as happening as it would be later in the summer.

However we were able to get another family picture, and this one is another keeper. We really can't say enough how much we appreciated the way that Margie took care of us while we were in town. Her generosity will always be remembered.

This sign was in the Devil's Club Brewing Co. in downtown Juneau and provided one of the funnier moments of the trip. While Grammy was hanging out with Margie and Sally, the rest of us decided to go downtown to have a beer and a snack. Now this is not the girls first time in a brewery, so they were ready with a pack of cards to entertain themselves. They had only been playing for a minute when one of the staff came over with an apologetic look on his face. We thought they were too young to be there, but apparently the problem was the cards. That's right, no card playing in the brewery. From what we understand, this is a statewide law. Either way, it was a first for us.

Because we just needed to take in more beauty we took a drive up to the arboretum. Although it had beautiful flowers and plants, we gravitated toward the coast line to go bouldering. Everywhere you looked was a breathtaking view. You can only imagine that Sarah was going picture crazy.

Now we offer up the latest in our series of pictures titled, John looks pensive in natural settings. You can see that Callie is trying to get the hang of it, but she is still a novice. This kind of thinking takes practice.

The next stop on the tour was St. Terese's shrine, where the marmots were prolific and relatively unafraid. In fact, many times they seemed to be posing for our pictures. The marmots certainly entertained the girls while the rest of us yet again marveled in the beauty that surrounded us.

We had to include this picture for several reasons. First, that evening we went to watch the Thibodeau softball team play. And even on a frigid night we support family. We were pretty taken though with the setting. First of all, the field was all dirt because they can't keep the grass. Second, if you look past the outfield you can see the Mendenhall Glacier in the distance. Caroline, another one of Grammy's cousins, recommended that after the game would be a great time to hike near the glacier and possibly see a bear. We'll give you one guess as to who among the four of us was definitely into that idea. The good news is that she got her wish to go on the hike. The bad news was that we did not see a bear. Of course, bad news is relative in this instance.

Here is a closer view of the Mendenhall Glacier on our last day in Juneau. This happened to be the only sunny day of our visit, and OMG, it was incredible. The mountains do have tops and it's possible to walk around Juneau without a raincoat.

It was hard to believe, but our six days in Juneau had come to and end and it was time to leave. We packed our bags, went to the airport to catcher our evening flight, and welcomed the sight of an extremely short security line. Then the TSA folks got to Sarah's carry-on suitcase full of food and the fun began. Long story short, the whole bag had to be unpacked while Sarah had to reassure one of the agents that the graham cracker box was so heavy because it also had chocolate inside for s'mores. A lot of explaining, swabbing for bomb residue, and fortunately a lot of smiles and laughter later, we made it through. Next stop, Anchorage. And looking out the window during the flight, it was pretty much this view on repeat for four hours. Alaska is enormous.