The epitome of futility

Have you ever had to do something that you knew was pointless?  Just pretend that you just spent $200 on fishing stuff.  You would have to go fishing right?  Forget the fact that it's too early for the fish to be running (maybe that's where I went wrong, I was by the river looking for swimming fish, not at the track looking for running fish), or that it's low tide so all the rivers around are just trickles, or even the fact that you don't really even have bait. You would have to go fishing right?  RIGHT?!

Good thing we are just pretending, otherwise a body could make his self look real dumb.

At least the beard looks good.  Tell me the beard looks good.

Behold Anchorage!

Since Jack was still up here naturally we had to go for a hike.  There is a hill they call Flat Top that is a nice easy hike that from the top you can see all of Anchorage.  You know how lots of big cities have smaller cities around them?  For instance you could say "Salt Lake" while actually referring to Holiday or Murray or Idaho Falls.  Anchorage is not like that.  Everything you see in the picture above is Anchorage.  We drove up to the trail head to start our wanderings.  One thing we really didn't expect was the snow.  

 

Seriously, who goes hiking mid May up a nice little hill and thinks to themselves, "hum, I should probably bring my crampons"?  Well we should have.  Nikes that you have had so long that what remains of the sole is a couple of holes and smooth rubber are not good footwear for uphill snow climbing.  They do make the return trip fun though! 

Except for all the slipping getting to the top wasn't too hard. It sure was a pretty view.

Since we only have "regular" cameras and not the Cannon XD 45679er our pictures aren't that of a celestial quality but right behind Jack's paws is Mount McKinley. You can kind of see it.  We could see it very well.

We had dinner plans so we had to get going.  Sliding down is much easier than sliding up.

Action Shot!

Isn't she bodacious!

Vee-sitors!

Kade made his way through the treacherous roads of Canadia and along for the ride came Jack. When they got here we left them to rest and went to church. Afterwords we figured we should go see come of Anchorage before Jack had to leave. So we headed over to the infamous "earthquake park". No, this isn't a park constantly ravaged by earthquakes for the tourists to enjoy. It is just well...not even much of a park. It is a parking lot, a information kiosk, and a cliff.



Here is that cliff I mentioned

and here is Kade and his acrobatics routine out over the cliff

Just a story

We had to say farewell to our beloved Juneau. There were many reasons why we were sad to leave and many why we were glad to leave. Juneau has to be this nations most beautiful capitol and one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. If it weren't for the rain, it would be my perfect place. It was a small town which I love. But business was slow there and then there was the rain. But we have to follow the reps. We got on our ferry at 7 in the morning to start a long, long day. They were playing Avatar in the movie lounge on the ferry but in the middle someone came over the ship's PA system to say that they had been seeing a bunch of humpback whales about a half mile ahead. I do like Avatar but I grabbed my "acalators" (that's Bridger-eese for binoculars) and went out onto the front of the boat. We didn't see anything for quite a while so Katy went back in but I was determined and guess what! I saw 2 whales. They came up and blew out a breath and then dove again flipping their tails up as they went under. Fantastic!
We made it to Haines, Alaska where we were getting off. An other extremely beautiful city and started our 16 hour drive. The trip through the little bit of Alaska was great but then we hit North Montana. If you think Wyoming is empty, you should take a drive through the Yukon. WOW! You know you are in a desolate place when someone can flip their car completely over on the side of the road and it takes a month for a wrecker to come get it. You know when you are driving and then there is a big drop in the road? It's one of those dips that makes your feet tingle and your stomach hover for a second up by your jugular vein. Well imagine that, but multiplied by 10 and then being constant for about 300 miles. Then add into the physical equation your head alternating bouncing off your own knees and the ceiling of the car. This is the Yukon driving experience.
Once we got back into Alaska the roads improved immensely. We saw caution signs for moose and caribou crossing the highway. I thought that it would be fun to see either or both to add to our Alaskan experience. We did see a moose running into the brush on the side of the highway. Then as it was starting to get dark- at 10:30!- a small heard of caribou ran out onto the highway right in front of me. Most people would see this as a bad thing, but I see it as positive for several reasons.
1. I got to see some wild caribou right up close.
2. I was able to check the new brake pads and calipers I put in just before we left. Working like a charm.
3. There was a bag of cookies sitting on top of all the stuff on our back seat and when I tested my new brake pads that bag became a projectile that would have killed that entire heard had the windshield not stopped it. I took this as a sign from God that I should have a cookie. I had 3 or 4 in fact. Let it not be said that Shea M Roberson doesn't respond to spiritual promptings.
4. I finally had that BM I'd been needing to have for a couple days.

And now we are here in Anchorage. It was weird getting back into "the city" after being in Juneau and then driving through nothingness for so long. But this should only add to the adventures.

Mendenhall Glacier Again

2 of the 4 posts thus far in Juneau have included the magnificent Mendenhall Glacier. I figured I'd keep up my average and add another. We decided to go on a hike where we could actually get to the glacier. I was not going to try to see any more wildlife because it would just destroy me to get my hopes up again. If you want to be happy in life, lower your expectations. I thought setting out to see ice that I knew was there was pretty darn realistic.
"We" started out being just us and another tech, but soon bloomed into the entire office. Good thing the sales reps in this office don't make me want to kill them, or I'd have to...kill them.

We started going over the river and through the woods...(wow it's been a long time since I have sung any nursery rhymes because it took me 4 tries to get that right. "Into the river and across the woods" really didn't sound right, but "across the river and into the woods" wasn't it either. Sheesh!)


Add a little bit of up the cliff action in there too and ta-da

a glacier