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.
Headed to Shaman, across the land bridge.
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.
Along the trail with a large root ball from a fallen tree.
The view from one side of the island.
Show and tell at the beach!
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!
And this was one of the smaller sea stars!
Sea stars, urchins and sea cucumber.
Beautiful sun star.
Hieroglyphics on rock.
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.
Family photo with Shaman Island.
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.
Time to decorate!
Since Garrett was almost two, we've always topped the tree with the little Santa hat he wore on his first Christmas.
Each year we buy a new ornament that represents special memories. We did a lot of hiking and camping this past year. Thanks, REI, for the perfect ornament!
Aunt Hanna and Uncle Mike sent a whole Advent Village - a wonderful new addition to our Christmas decorations.
Escaping the Fog
Lightning struck twice for us in the form of another sunny weekend last weekend. On Saturday, we headed out the road to soak up the sun on a sandy beach. What we failed to do was check the tides, so after about an hour after we got there, we lost the beach. What you see here is Garrett’s search for higher ground.
On Sunday we had a huge adventure: taking five boys between the ages of nine years old and five months for a hike on Herbert Glacier Trail. Check out the fun pictures of the “Peanut Butter and Jelly Gang.”
The Long Drive to Haines
Guess you never know if you have wireless at your hotel until you check! Today while Garrett and I were exploring the hotel we found what looked like a wirless antenna just outside our room… so here we are, able to share some of our trip with you from Haines!
We’re into our first full day here in Haines after what turned out to be a rather long ferry ride with an unexpected inspection by the Coast Guard while docked in Juneau. We probably could have driven here just as fast.
We heard Haines had a great playground for kids, and we weren’t disappointed. Garrett explored and climbed and swang and slid…and posed for a few pictures too. We also attended the first Farmer’s Market of the year and had a bonfire dinner on the beach, complete with sockeye salmon caught this morning…”deeeLIcious.”
Select Haines photos to see a few shots taken so far during the trip.
I Love the Sun
There’s nothing like a warm, sandy beach and a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich! After a week or so of rain, the sun has returned to Juneau, and we’re not missing a minute of it. Tonight’s adventure included climbing rocks, throwing rocks, sitting on rocks and probably eating rocks (actually, more sand than anything else). Dave was sad to miss this outing, but we were pleased to bring him home a Hot Bite shake to celebrate his success in painting the outside of the house. It looks terrific!
A Day Without Rain
Someone told me recently that we’ve had 29 days of rain. So when we heard Saturday was supposed to be nice, we wasted no time heading to the beach. With a picnic lunch and some sand buckets and shovels in the back of the truck, we made our way out the road to a beautiful spot. What do you do on an Alaskan beach? While we did dip our feet in the water (brrr…), we mostly threw rocks and did some beach combing. We saw a dozen sea lions and one, solitary humpback whale. And we soaked up a bunch of sun!
A Day Without Rain
Someone told me recently that we’ve had 29 days of rain. So when we heard Saturday was supposed to be nice, we wasted no time heading to the beach. With a picnic lunch and some sand buckets and shovels in the back of the truck, we made our way out the road to a beautiful spot. What do you do on an Alaskan beach? While we did dip our feet in the water (brrr…), we mostly threw rocks and did some beach combing. We saw a dozen sea lions and one, solitary humpback whale. And we soaked up a bunch of sun!
Beach Walk
On Sunday we headed out the road, in the direction of sunshine. We found Eagle Beach deserted – of both people and water. The tide was so low we could barely see the water from the parking lot. So we headed out over rocks and mud and sand dunes. Garrett made “tracks” with his feet and any number of sticks he found along the way. There was virtually no wind…only warm sunshine.
Garrett rescued a snail in a pretty shell, stranded at the top of a sand dune, delivering it to a nearby tide pool. Afterwards we celebrated the marvelous day with an equally marvelous Hot Bite shake. When reflecting on the day, I asked Garrett if he had fun. He said “I have fun again soon, Mom?”
Morning at the Beach
Say Cheese
This morning Garrett and I took Cedar for a walk on the beach at Auke Rec. We had a wonderful time while allowing Lori to clean up before our guest arrived at Noon.Cedar was a bit annoying with her barking as Garrett threw rocks in the ocean but who can blame her. For a short video clip see Garrett’s video section in his Garage.
The photo above was taken where Grandma Klein had her photo taken several years ago when the downed tree had a great carving on it, which is no longer visible due to someone carving it out. If you’d like this photo for printing here’s a 6X4 version for printing… enjoy!
