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Goats, Garnets & Garrett

Word spreads fast in Juneau about any number of things, and recently word got out that there were mountain goats roaming the lower part of Mounts Bullard and McGinnis. With the sun high and warm in the sky, it was an easy decision to head to the glacier after school today.

The Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center area has a lot to offer. While the center itself is still closed, you can hang out at the pavillion (always a favorite spot – Dave and I got married there), walk down to the beach, out to photo point, around any number of trails or hike out to Nugget Falls – the closest spot to view goats IF they are on the mountain. Garrett and I opted for the hike.

There are lots of things to do out at Nugget Falls. You can visit the waterfall, build sand castles, chuck rocks in the lake, take pictures, scramble around on boulders, and search for garnets. The sandy and gravely areas out near the waterfall are full of itsy-bitsy versions of these gemstones. I always come home with a pocket-full that we add to Garrett’s ongoing collection.

Did we see goats? Did we see goats! At first, we just saw one massive mountain goat, sunning itself on a rock above Nugget Falls. It was so big it looked fake. As we wandered back to the parking lot, we ran into someone who said that yesterday there were four goats above the falls. So I turned around and looked, and with my binoculars I spotted two big goats and one little one. Then I happened to scan left along the glacier side of Mt. Bullard. At the same time Garrett yelled, “I see five more!” And sure enough, five more goats were making their way down the precarious mountainside, headed toward the falls. It was very cool.

Enjoy the pics! And if you’re in Juneau, you should head out to the glacier. Spread the word!

 

 

Shaman Island

On Sunday, I crossed something off my “bucket list.” We three Klein’s hiked to Shaman Island.

Shaman Island is a very small island off the northern end of Douglas Island, which lies across the channel from Juneau (the mainland). You can reach Shaman by boat or a cold swim. Or, you can hike out via a land bridge that is exposed only during very low tides. There was a -4.5 tide on Sunday morning.

What a spectacular morning! Calm winds, blue seas and not a cloud in the sky. We drove about a 1/2 hour from our house to the end of North Douglas, hiked a snow-free Outer Point trail to the beach and then on out to Shaman. We were in good company…somewhere between 40 and 60 other folks got themselves up early to experience the low tide. Many were digging for clams and a good handful were just out to wander around, much like we were.

I think we saw the biggest sea stars ever, scattered in the tidal zone, along with urchins, eels and anemones. Garrett got to see his first sun stars outside of an aquarium. We saw four big ones at the lowest tide mark along the land bridge. Garrett discovered a large sea cucumber under a rock – by far the biggest and most colorful one we’ve ever found. And just as we left the beach to head back into the woods and hike to the truck, we discovered a rock with faint hieroglyphics!

It may seem silly to have something so accessible on the bucket list. But, I was recently reminded that life is unexpected and fragile. It’s also beautiful and full of opportunity. In fact, that’s a great way to describe Sunday morning: beautiful and full of opportunity. I suppose every day can look that way if we have the eyes to see it.

A Magical Alaska Moment

Today, Garrett and I were reminiscing about something that happened to us about a year ago. It’s such a delightful little story, I thought I would share.

As you know, we love living near the ocean. Every once in awhile, we trade in a beach walk for a walk on the docks. Certain times a year provide certain types of entertainment, both in the water and along the docks. And the thing about the harbor near where we live is that there are almost always harbor seals around.

So this particular day about a year ago was much like today – cold and gray. Not long after we stepped onto the dock a harbor seal popped up out of the water not even 20 feet out from us. Harbor seals are curious creatures, and this one sniffed the air between us, watching us with its big black eyes. “Hi there!” Garrett piped up. It slid back into the water.

We walked a few more paces, talking excitedly about how close the seal was when it popped up again, exactly parallel from us, not 20 feet out. “Well hello again,” Garrett said with delight. We chatted at it for a bit before it sank into the water. The process repeated itself again, and we marveled at how funny and curious this seal was. Finally, Garrett said (and I’m not making this up), “You got any friends? Go find them and bring them here.”

At this point we came across a working boat moored along the dock. Working boats are entertaining – there’s lots of buoys and nets and gear to look at and talk about. As we slowly made our way to the bow, we heard a soft exhale of air and sure enough, there was our seal again, this time only about 10 feet away. Before we could greet it, a volley of soft exhales reached our ears and dark heads began popping up all over the place. In addition to our new friend, there were 12 more seals in the water out in front of us. I know because they stayed up long enough for me to count them…twice.

Our new friend was the last to sink back into the water. Did I imagine the knowing look in it’s eyes? We walked all the way down to the end of the dock and back without a single visit from any of the seals. They seemed to have vanished. Curious creatures. And a wonderful memory.

Off the Groom

For the first time this winter season, Garrett and Dave went downhill skiing last Saturday. It was one of those picture perfect days, and the guys returned from the mountain happy and exhausted.

Dave: We went into the West Bowl today.

Me: Great! (I can barely stand up cross country skiing, so this meant nothing to me).

Dave, lightly: You know, off the groom.

Me: Wait a minute, you took our son back-country skiing today??!!

Dave, not looking me in the eye: I wouldn’t call it back-country skiing.

Me: Just how do you define “off the groom??”

With his back to me, he chuckled. “Check out the pictures we got,” he replied. He knows how to distract me with shiny, pretty things.

It’s not like they went where no man has gone before. But when I heard him sharing details of their traverse across the West Bowl with a friend, I had to plug my ears and sing “La la la!” I have to remind myself that they had a great time and no one got hurt. A friend made a really good point today – at least Garrett went with his dad, who was able to show him how to do something like this safely. “Won’t be long now before he’s up there by himself, trying this stuff,” she warned. So very, very true. And they did get some mighty great pictures!

 

Saturday Creek Cabin

Last year, Dave and I rented remote cabins in Juneau to celebrate our birthdays. Garrett wanted in on that action, so we rented the Saturday Creek Cabin for an overnight this week to celebrate his 8th birthday.

Saturday Creek Cabin is a fairly new public use cabin located at Eagle Beach State Recreation Area about 15 miles from our home. You can drive to this cabin, which is perfect for a birthday in February. The cabin has a main floor area with a large table, a “kitchen” cabinet and sleeping platform along the back wall that easily sleeps four. There’s a beautiful upper loft that easily sleeps 6-8. The cabin is fueled by an oil stove, which gave Dave a little bit of trouble, but once fired up kept us toasty warm and dry.

The cabin sits right on the banks of Saturday Creek, which separates Eagle Beach from the Boy Scout Beach trail. We got there at high tide, which pushed the river up very high and proved to be entertaining. The river was filled with big ice chunks, river otters and seals. Garrett declared us “adventurers!” and we spent most of the daylight hours playing along the river.

The biggest adventure we had was dinner. Dave made homemade tortilla soup at the house, and after warming it for dinner at the cabin, accidentally spilled the entire pot of soup. The dogs enjoyed it and were an immense help in cleaning up (it wasn’t as if I had packed the truck with cleaning supplies). Thankfully, the soup was a last minute add-on to the main meal, and we had enough food for the evening.

While we humans had a lot of fun, I think that our old girls really enjoyed our little outing. Cedar and Autumn are both 11+ now, and cannot hike to the remote cabins with us any longer. This was a grand adventure for them, and they nap contentedly at my feet as I put together this summary. Dave, on the other hand, is making another batch of homemade tortilla soup!

 

What??? It’s still winter!

Taking a vacation in the heart of winter is such a blessing. But returning to the cold, dark, snow is a bit of a shock to the system. Especially when there are still several months of winter left. Note to self: vacation in late February/early March next time.

We’ve gotten about two feet (or more) of snow in the last week. This after a wicked cold snap of temperatures at 25 below zero with wind chill. I’m not complaining  – we could be Valdez or Cordova – two Alaskan communities struggling with record breaking, life threatening snow fall this winter. Check out some pictures from Cordova at this link: http://www.adn.com/2012/01/09/2254598/reader-photos-cordova-snow.html#id=2258123&view=large_view

And check out some of our pictures from recent outdoor adventures, back at home.

The Very Best of San Diego

We Klein’s recently returned from nine wonderful days in San Diego. I’m not a big fan of traveling during the holidays, but we took advantage of holiday closures from work and school and got the heck out of dodge after Christmas. We missed our pets and friends (but not the weather) while we were away from Juneau. But the vacation was long overdue and pretty darn terrific.

The great part about traveling during the holidays is that other people are too. We were so fortunate that our visit to San Diego overlapped with some far-flung friends and family. Dave’s brother Mike came down from San Francisco, and we all stayed with my mother-in-law, June. Dave’s childhood friend, Steve, his wife Julie Ann, and their two children, Nate (10) and Jenna (8) overlapped one day with us, and we enjoyed a fantastic evening together. Dave’s aunt Jeannette and her friend Chuck were visiting from Arizona, and Dave’s cousin Teresa hosted a wonderful family reunion brunch, spanning four generations! And after 9 long years we reconnected with the Thornton family. Dave and Daryl have been friends since high school. The last time our two families got together it was just the four of us – pre-kids! We were so happy to meet their three amazing children, Miya (7), Olivia (5) and John (3). Of course, we spent lots of time visiting Great Grandma Helen. She lives with Dave’s Uncle Dean and Dean’s wife, Sue. We were blessed to have so much quality time with family and friends.

You all know the saying, “when in Rome….” While in San Diego, we took advantage of so many things that the city and surrounding areas offer. Garrett got to see his first IMAX film after exploring some of Balboa Park. We got a little shopping in. Along with thousands of others, we rang in the New Year in Legoland. We went to the beach twice, witnessing “big surf” days with 15-18 foot swells. We visited SeaWorld for the first time. And Dave and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary a little early, enjoying a walking wine tasting tour in La Jolla.

We asked Garrett what his favorite parts of the trip were and without hesitation, he said, “everything!” We teased him that he was taking the easy way out of answering, but when he turned the question on us, we couldn’t pull out favorites either. Because everything was a favorite! Overall, it was a solid, excellent family vacation.

I’ve decided that I like starting the new year with a vacation. I think we may have found a new Klein family tradition? Reality set in with the 6 am alarm clock this morning. Dave said he spent his first day at work peeking at our trip pictures. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do. Click here for more pictures of the trip.

Happy New Year! I hope 2012 is filled with special memories for you as well.

Jump! Jump!

Since kindergarten, Garrett has participated in a jump roping program at his elementary school. This, along with soccer and drawing, is one of his passions. And he’s pretty good at it, so sayeth the biased mother. This year he became a “helper” to the coaches, and his goal next year is to try out for the city team (Juneau Jumpers).  At the end of each term, the Auke Bay Ropers have a performance for families and friends. Here are a couple of shots of Garrett at this year’s performance.

Christmas Preparations

The day we were scheduled to decorate the house, I had the stomach flu. Undeterred, Garrett went to Dave and kindly asked, “Dad, would you mind helping me get the tree down and setting it up?” How could Dave resist? So they did – they hauled in the tree and the decorations, put the tree together and carefully placed the ornaments around it (most of them at Garrett’s eye-level). It was the loveliest end to a miserable day! Here are some pictures to share.

November Book Review

Time flies when life is underway. Here we are, mid December, for the November book review.

I managed to read only two books in November. The first was an 800+ epic novel about the demise of mankind. The Passage, by Justin Cronin, was recommended to me by two friends who read very different things. So that piqued my interest.

If you’ve ever read The Road, by Cormac McCarthy you’ll understand when I say that I loved and hated The Passage in equal measure. Sometime in the not too distant future (2015, maybe?),  a military experiment on humans goes awry (to say the least), and a dozen “virals” (basically, vampires) spread across the country, either killing people or transforming them. Flash forward about 100 years to a colony of descendants of people who survived the initial onslaught, making a life the best way they know how, wondering if there’s any way to take back what they once had.

I think the author is very clever in the use of the word “virals.” We are all sensitized to this word. Viral, virus, infections, antidotes – we live with this language in our daily life, and some general fear of what might happen if there was some sort of a “viral outbreak” that could not be contained. This book is less about the vampires and more about what life is like because of the viral outbreak. A clever way to induce a little anxiety and fear in real time.

And, one of the main characters is a young girl about the age of six. As the mother of a seven year old, this triggered anxiety on a number of levels. This was one of those books where I thought, “maybe I should put it down…” but was then so sucked in that I couldn’t.

The Passage is the first in a trilogy of books. The second, called The Twelve, will come out in 2012. It takes you back to the initial days, weeks, months and years after the outbreak. I’m sure I will read it with as much interest and dread as I read the first one.

My only other book in November was The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke. Talk about a change of pace. This work of children’s fiction is about a group of orphaned children who band together in Venice, to make a life the best way they can. The are led by a young man who calls himself the “thief lord”, who is much more than he makes himself out to be. They are chased by a detective who becomes their protector, and fall into an adventure that leads them to a much different and better life.

I have always enjoyed Cornelia Funke’s books. Dragon Rider is one of the best books ever – read it to your children, or have them read it if you haven’t already. And I loved the Inkheart series. But The Thief Lord didn’t hold the same power or magic as those other works. The characters were sweet, but the plot was fairly predictable.

On a related note, a friend introduced me to goodreads.com, and online book management system you can use not only to track what you’re reading, but also see what friends are reading (invite them to join!) and get recommendations of books similar to ones that you’ve liked. I’ve used shelfari.com for years, but have switched over to goodreads.com because of the recommendations piece. When I rate a book that I’ve read, it gives me recommendations for similar books. Check it out! And if you join, invite me to be your friend.

Happy reading to you over the holidays. Keep in touch: lori@alaskafamily.net.

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