Lindsay has added her thoughts....they are in italics.
I woke up to my phone ringing in my pocket. Missed called from Brent. 6 am. Obviously doesn’t know the time zone differences. I called him back and chatted with him for a bit while laying in my sleeping bag. I fell back asleep until like 8 than decided to go take a shower while Lindsay slept a bit longer. Not only was our host Corrina friendly, she also kept impressive facilities. IE very clean “homey” showers and bathrooms. Best shower I’ve had in 2 weeks. I got dressed and headed out into the sunny day. Beautiful weather. Lindsay got up and showered. I got some of our stuff ready and then decided to dry my hair. Too lazy to walk back to the office and bathrooms, I plugged my hair dryer into our campsite electricity post. Standing in the forest, blow drying my hair with Allie’s little hot pink hair dryer, must have been a sight. Lindsay returned, and we packed up everything. A little after 10 am, we headed for the Mendenhall Glacier, not too far from the campsite.
*I full heartedly agree if you are ever in Juneau Alaska and are camping I highly recommend Spruce Meadows RV. She was the hostest with the moistest. She told me about all the good trails, tours, and sights, and what things were rip offs. Showed me everything on the map and even called our ferry to see if it was delayed and recommended dinning options and Tracy’s King Crab Shack was on the top of her list which we had already read was great.
Lindsay made some phone calls. Mostly to the Central Violations Bureau, in attempts to contest our tickets from South Dakota via the phone. Not that I’m one to argue with authority, but come on, $150 for a harmless crime, *crime?I say fun and living life* and then you take 45 minutes to write us tickets and you can’t even get the car’s color right, the state in which the car is registered in right, or even write down my entire license number. Obviously incompetent. And not friendly either. She got the run around and left a message. We will see.
We got some snacks packed and our water bottles filled and headed towards the glacier. There is something fascinating about glaciers, even though in actuality, it’s just a big piece of ice. Granted that big piece of ice formed millions or thousands of years ago, and places a central role in the tides, due to the increasing meltage of glaciers in recent years. Still, regardless of the science, its quite the sight. The ice turns this blue color… an aqua blue. And then there’s parts of it that are a darker blue. When it crumbles, it doesn’t look like ice at all, but snow cubes instead. We hiked towards it, trying to get the best glimpse of it as possible. I wanted nothing more than to put my foot on the glacier, but there was no glacier access. Most glaciers are only accessible by helicopter. Not in the budget. Instead, we found a piece of glacier that had broken off, and floated towards the shore, used a stick, and picked it up. Later we found one I could stand on. Check it off the list…standing on a glacier. Or former piece of a glacier. Once a glacier, always a glacier, I always say. There was all these icebergs floating in the water and they too were an aqua blue color. Next to the glacier was Nugget Falls, but there was absolutely nothing “nugget” about this waterfall. It was enormous, starting near the very top of the mountain and very wide. Standing next to it, I felt miniature, and also damp, since it was misting and spraying.
We enjoyed the view for a bit, but decided we wanted a better look. * I really wanted to get B to that glacier that’s been pretty much on the top of her list and she’s been going along with all my disires so I really wanted to get her there* The other trail was closed, due to trail maintenance. Seriously the only common thread in EVERY PLACE we’ve been to,*I am almost certain there isn’t a road that hasn’t had construction on it and if I never see a flagger again it will be to soon SERIOUSLY, but even with that we are hardcore travelers I think actually “we rock” you all know it* is road construction. Everywhere. Some of it we get escorted through by a “pilot vehicle”, some goes on for miles and is pothole city, a lot of it in the Yukon employs women, it closed our route in Montana, gave us dirt roads in Alaska, but everywhere, construction. Even at the national park and state park. So Lindsay decided we were going to blaze our own trail. We wanted to get to the top of the mountain, where the waterfall is fed from, and perhaps even towards the glacier. We found some rocks on the side of the mountain that seemed to create a rugged path to the top. Wrong. We climbed these dry rocks until they overlapped with the rainforest type shrubbery. We found ourselves on slippery muddy rocks, hanging onto trees and limbs to prevent ourselves from falling. Lindsay did her standard protector role and held my hand when there was no place to grab onto, to make sure I was safely attached to the land. * I’m pretty sure she knows it but I can’t live without her so I will always do my best to keep her safe and I admit I regretted trying to go up when we started going down because I didn’t want anything to happen to her* We climbed for about 12 minutes before we got to a dead end. I suggested we abort, not much of a quitter, but there seemed to be no path and I didn’t want to get into a dangerous situation. Lindsay explored a little further, and agreed. Kind of a disappointment, since now we were dirty, tired, and had gotten nowhere. The mountain air made me think deeply, and I considered how much of life was like this trail. The view from the ground may have been as beautiful as it gets…waterfalls, glaciers..but we still weren’t satisfied. So we chose the path less traveled and tried to find something better. The path was a dead end… got us nowhere, except tired, frustrated, and dirty. * I enjoyed the challenge and forged farther than B and I was so close but it felt good to be out there or up there challenging myself and pushing myself. I haven’t been doing that much lately and for a long time and you know me nature is key and what better to challenge me. She won that round mother nature but she gave me a good run* At times I wondered why we had decided to leave the perfectly good trail. And sometimes, it was scary when there wasn’t a firm foundation. While some trees looked like they would support you, they were in fact rotten. But luckily enough, I had a true friend to hold my hand and make sure I got through. Isn’t that what life is? Full of shaky foundations, rough paths, getting tired, getting frustrated, all in the search of something more. I don’t know, maybe that’s an overly ambitious analogy…but my friends will tell you I’m famous for my analogies. Anyway, we reached the bottom safely and headed back to the trailhead. After a little more exploring and Lindsay adventuring on another path * yet again deciding to take the path less traveled and got myself a little stuck in some thick brush and a little lost but I FOUND MY WAY BACK!* while I loaded up on fruit snacks in the car, we were off. Our ferry was supposed to depart at 7:30 pm so we had to be there at 5:30 to check in…. so we decided to head out towards Eagle beach to see the ocean. We found a picnic area so we ventured around, in the wildflowers * I could of layed in that field of purple lupines forever starring at the sky watching eagles listening to the ocean and knowing I was in the shadow of mountains, pretty spectacular* and on this big tree that had been uprooted and has since become sort of driftwood. We lounged around for a bit, enjoying the mountains and the oceanview. We continued on to find a more rocky beach… and Lindsay went to explore while I called the ferry. Corrina, our campground host, had mentioned thinking there was some kind of delay on the ferry so I wanted to make sure. Turns out there had been a power outage in BC and therefore our ferry had been pushed back…our 7:30 pm departure had been moved back until 3:15 am. Typical. * I told B from the start a plan is great but things happen and we may just have to go with the flow, but in that aspect we are very different in those respects shes structured and scheduled I’m following wildlife around, collecting rocks and flowers and thinking wow this moss is cool! So go figure. But all I’ve heard for the last couple of months (which btw you aren’t suppose to say to a person suffering from depression :P) is everything happens for a reason and I want this to be what it’s suppose to be and enjoy the ride*More time in Alaska I suppose. I told Lindsay, and we both decided to just lounge at the beach for a while since we had acquired more time. I found a big rock that looked like it was made of lava and perched myself on it while Lindsay went in search of an elusive sea otter that had been taunting her.* for the record it was a sea lion and he really was taunting me playing a game with me, a form of tag if you will, and at one point he even popped his head out of the water and I swear he was laughing at me. I followed him back and forth on this rock beach hoping I could get a good picture but he had me looking like a fool and I think he enjoyed it*. I fell asleep for a few minutes under the warm sun on the rock until the horseflies wouldn’t leave me alone. They were of the biting variety and beyond pesky. We just hung out for a while, enjoying the beach, each on our own rock, until the flies got to be too annoying.
We had decided to venture into town for a bit. We got some gelato, sat on the coffee house couch, and then decided to venture on to the otherside of downtown. We drove until the road literally ended, and got out to explore the beach. The tide had gone down significantly so we just walked around the land that used to be underwater. *June happens to be the month that there is the largest tidal exchanges in the tune of almost 21ft of difference*Kelp was everywhere, and Lindsay told me if you stepped on it, it sounded like bubble wrap. That was enough to have me hopping around the beach, smashing the kelp like popping bubble wrap. Yep, I’m 22. Spending too much time with Lindsay. *yeah I probably shouldn’t have let her in on the little kelp secret* She was a trooper though and carried me on her back so I wouldn’t have to get my feet wet when crossing the tide pools. *Anything for the little sister I always wanted, she was a trooper too agreeing to explore it with me because she knows how I love tidepools (don’t act surprised) and I wanted to find sea glass some of the only good things about littering*
We decide to head back to the beach we had been at before. It was more scenic in my opinion. We headed back down this windy two lane road, where Lindsay got blantly flicked off by some Subaru *you have to say it with emphasis…SUBARUUUU as my second mon does that’s you Tammie!* for apparently following too closely. Which she wasn’t doing. And then minutes later, he zoomed around the car in front of him, in a no passing zone. A little bi-polar don’t you think? We continued towards the beach, but of course, a Wal-mart stop on the way. I needed a new straightener since mine had decided not to work and I refuse to have poofy hair for the next 3 weeks…even if we were camping.*I swear sometimes I wonder how we get along…jk. Besides her hair hasn’t been poofy she’s gorgeous all the time* We also needed some fruit and some pasta sauce. We had decided to make tortellini on the campfire at the picnic area we had been at previously. We wandered around Wal-Mart for a bit, got more ice and a few groceries and headed back to the beach.*She forgot to mention more souvenirs and non essential things but it is what it is, turns out Juneau wal-mart has a large souvenir section at great value prices HAHAHA* After acquiring our new groceries, we decided the car was in major need of reorganization. We decided to downsize the cooler to the smaller one we had, since the big cooler dominated the entire backseat. After removing everything in the car, and repacking, we finally felt organized. * NO MORE CLIMBING ON TOP OF MY CAR. I packed too much stuff that we haven’t even used but how was I suppose to know I’ve never been camping and we were gonna be in like every climate and terrain possible I just wanted to be prepared. Turns out you can be too prepared although the trip isn’t over yet so maybe I shouldn’t make assumptions so early. But on the up side we have made progress on the snacks!*
I started dinner while Linds finished packing up the car. Then I ventured out to the ocean to take pictures of our first Alaskan sunset. The sun goes down for like 2 hours. The tide had gone down significantly… I was able to walk at least ¼ of a mile out passed where the tide had been this afternoon. The tree we had sat on was now surrounded by some sort of sea grass. I kept walking and walking until I found water. The sunset was majestic… the sun lit up all the snow capped mountains. I even saw an eagle perched on a log in the water…don’t worry, I got a picture for Lindsay. *See we know each other, that’s my girl ;)*After a while, I heard Lindsay screaming my name. I guess I had vanished from her line of sight and she began to worry. *I was screaming forever and I couldn’t see her and I got TERRIFIED (I get it now moms). I had gotten this gourmet meal ready on a little propane stove and left over hot coals from some previous picnickers and didn’t want a bear to come because of the smell and didn’t want it to be cold and I couldn’t see her and she never answered back. I really thought SHIT something happened to Brittany our parents are gonna kill me for not keeping her safe, my heart was pounding and I started running out there and didn’t see her, didn’t see her for what felt like forever and then she finally appeared and I hunched over and took a sigh of relief. I wanted to kick her ass she scared me!* So I ran back. Tables were turned, she’s worried, and I’m off taking pictures of birds. I got back to the picnic table and devoured our most fancy campfire meal…tortellini, corn, and potatoes. What a meal. We had to vacate the picnic area by 11 pm, since that’s when the park closed and we didn’t want any further trouble with park police. We dropped off our garbage in the cans, went to the bathroom in portapotties with no lights, and headed towards the harbor.
We didn’t have to check in until 1:15, but we got there at 11:15 and lounged in the car. At around 12:15 I went in to check in, got our place in line, and we moved the car. We both napped for a while before the ferry people woke us up, and we got on the boat. First to board this time. We found the recliner lounge, which was less cosy then our previous boat (this boat must be older), and laid out our sleeping bags with the rest of the people already sleeping. We both got comfortable (it’s amazing how we can sleep anywhere now) and probably would’ve fallen asleep easily if it wasn’t for a troop of softball girls who came in loudy and didn’t notice all the people sleeping or trying to. I fell asleep eventually and slept pretty well considered it was like sleeping at the airport. *They kept kicking my feet and didn’t even have the common courtesy to whisper, come on parents teach your kids some manors. And mom just because I belch and toot in the comfort of family and friends doesn’t mean I don’t have manors. I just means I like to act like a child and think it’s funny. Like the “Come and go” gas stations we’ve passed and I can’t help but to think how domb are you to name something that? People always have their mind in the gutter and my maturity shows through when I say I can’t handle even saying the name of that gas station. I’m 27 I can joke about that stuff too if I have to listen to my parents purposely try and gross me out and get increasingly more immature and inappropriate in their “old age”. Also my baby girl was gonna get a good little rest parked safely in front where she should be because she’s awesome..yes I’m talking about my car. She’s kicking ass and tacking names let me tell ya, shoot she was on top of the world got to ride over a river and go on a cruise on the big sea.*
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