We started training at Grandma's Feather Bed on Monday. We had three days of training with Jeremy (who was actually a friend of mine from when I was up here the first time), and then were on our own from Thursday on. We do everything in the restaurant for dinner shy of cooking and dishes, and we also run the front desk. Right now they have us working Monday-Saturday 2pm-10pm. Once they get a few more employees trained we are hoping to work just 5 days a week, at least through the summer, so we can get in some good backpacking and camping trips. For now we're focusing on the positive - overtime hours equates to more money.
On Tuesday we were able to move out of the hotel room and into our apartment. It's really nice! We loved our basement apartment in Logan, but this apartment is great because it's a lot newer, and we love being on the second story and having all the light from the big windows. Our first night there we couldn't help but laugh at how large our room was compared to our last apartment. Our new bedroom alone could have fit our last bedroom, bathroom, and hallway storage closet combined! Though they had quickly cleaned the apartment before we moved in, I convinced Chris to put in some good time really deep cleaning the place with me. It's one thing to make some messes of your own, but I really just can't handle living in dirt - especially when you don't know where the dirt came from. We're hoping (ok I'm hoping) to get to the store soon to print off a few pictures to decorate the place and make it feel more homey. We'll be here at least eight months, so I think it's well worth the investment to fully transform the apartment into a home. And bonus: we were thrilled to see that our apartment has a washer and dryer! It's really nice to be able to do laundry at our own convenience.
Unfortunately we don't have a car right now, but we have been doing just fine getting around on foot. Our lives are blessed with many tender mercies and things have just had a way of working out. We aren't too worried about it, but we are trying to track down some bikes. Luckily our apartment is less than a five minute walk away from work.
Now for the ADVENTURES!
We wake up each morning and ask ourselves "how much can we get done before 2pm?", and honestly we aren't doing a half bad job at getting a lot done....
We went on a run to Mendenhall Glacier and hiked the East Glacier Trail.
We had grown close to one of the guests at the B&B as he stayed with us a few nights on business. He knew we were new to town and didn't have a car so he asked us if we wanted to go out and adventure with him his last morning in town. Of course we said yes! He drove us out to the Shrine of St. Therese.
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| Merciful Love Labyrinth |
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| The shore at low tide |
After exploring around the island that the shrine was on we hiked to Nugget Falls near Mendenhall Glacier.
Another morning we hiked up Mount Roberts in the Tongass National Forest (the largest temperate rainforest in the world). At the top we had a chance to check out the visitors center and were told that if we spent $10 each we could ride the tram down for free. Well that was enough motivation for us to buy some fresh fish caught from the ocean below and enjoy a delicious lunch with a view!
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| Tram overlooking Tongass Nat'l Forest and Gastineau Channel |
On Saturday a coworker covered the beginning of our shift so we were able to go on the Tracy Arm tour that went from 7:30am-6pm. Amazing! (Not pictured because the wildlife was just too quick and our phones ran out of battery on the way back to Juneau: whales, sea lions lounging on icebergs, and soaring eagles).
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Sunday evening we were invited to dinner by a couple from the ward and then went out to a beach for a bonfire. It was a beautiful private beach with an alcove of giant pine trees and the coolest part was hearing whales spout out water in the ocean we were overlooking.
Needless to say we're loving everything about Juneau!
Remember to pray and remember to play,
Mr. & Mrs. Andrew
