eagles, and whales, and bears, oh my.

I didn't realize it has been over two weeks since I last updated. My apologies. The weeks are already flying by. I don't keep track of the days here. I still find myself thinking it's April when it's over halfway through the month of May. I'm staying busy. Mostly with work, but outside of work too. I had my first four tour day on Tuesday. It was a long 12 hour day, but the sun was shining the whole time. I came home, ate a grilled chicken sandwich, watched LOST, and was passed out by 9pm. The sun hadn't even set yet, so I just pulled my blanket over my head and didn't open my eyes until 7am the next morning. I hardly need to set my alarm anymore. I haven't been able to sleep past 7am since I've been here. A combination between the early Alaska sunrise and my previous 6 months opening a coffee shop each morning. Already the sun is rising around 4am and setting at 10pm. My roommate Deborah and I went on a hike the other night around 8pm and didn't even need headlights. So great.

Last year I lived on Douglas Island which is separated from Juneau by the Gastineau Channel. I have seen more bears in just the last few weeks living in downtown Juneau than I did all last summer. They are only brown bears. Harmless for the most part, but still...not something I'm used to yet. I see them on my runs and even had an unfortunate encounter with one the other day on my back porch. I caught him roaming through all my trash and spreading the mess throughout neighbor's yards. He literally tore through 4 garbage bags and left a trail of trash up the street. Don't leave ANY food in your garbage. Lesson learned the hard way. Our trash is currently piling up in the corner of our kitchen until our landlord purchases us some bear-proof trashcans. It doesn't help that we have missed trash day the last two weeks. It's just so hard to remember at 5am on Monday mornings...

Deborah and I have had the bath house (side note: our home was labeled that last summer by the boys that lived here because of the sauna that's downstairs) to ourselves the last two weeks, but we just picked up 3 of our new housemates this afternoon. My roommate, the final 6th member of our home, gets here on Sunday. It's going to be great having more girls around. Up until now I have been the only girl guide at work. Not that it bothers me at all, but being around all boys, all day, all month... I'm excited to get some quality girl time in. My roommates are so great. I'm stoked about the living arrangements this summer. There was an interesting mix of people in my home last year. I feel I'm much more compatible with all my housemates this time around.

What is nice about the cruise ship schedules this year is that we practically have zero ships in every other Friday, which means a guaranteed morning/day off. So, Thursday nights we plan on using to rent cabins to hike to for the night. I missed out on the one last night, but last week a group of us hiked to Blue Mussel Cabin. About a 3 mile hike "out the road." It was easy, mostly flat. BEAUTIFUL sunset on the beach that night. It felt so refreshing to be out there. Back in Alaska. Being outside. Hiking. Camping. Campfire. Mountains. Whales. Eagles. Good friends. It was a great night. We hiked back early that morning because a few of us worked that afternoon. Even ran into some wild horses on the hike back. First time I had ever seen horses in Juneau.

One wonderful perk of working any tourism company in Juneau is that we get to take complimentary tours of the other excursions. Last summer I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do, but I would like to go on more tours throughout the summer in my free time. Saryl (who works on the docks) and I went on a dog mushing tour the other day. I had done the dog sledding tour multiple times in the past but didn't know what to expect for this one. Last time I went dog sledding we took a helicopter to the top of the glacier where we rode on sleds behind the dogs on snow. On this tour we were actually on a sort of wheeled cart riding through the mud. That's how they train the dogs and help gain their strength during the off season. My favorite part of those tours is playing with the puppies afterward. So cute, but so stinky.

I have so much to look forward to over the next coming months. Last summer was phenomenal. Nothing will ever compare to that. However, this summer is going to be full of new memories with new people. It's not going to be the same by any means, but still just as great, if not better. I can't wait.