Photos from the Bay

On Saturday Dani and I went to Auke Bay with Ben to help him with a photo/video assignment for a friend. While we were out there he let me borrow his camera again to play with. There were a few bald eagles enjoying their high perches over the water, and they didn't seem to mind me playing the tourist.

The professional at work

Ben's assignment was to get footage of the bay and some grizzled fishermen/women for a video about halibut conservation in Southeast Alaska. While Dani and I aren't fishermen, we tried to look as grizzled as possible and seemed to pull it off. It was hard to keep a "devastated face," and Ben captured some pretty good bloopers. Check out the final trailer and the outtakes on his new website! He also posted on there some amazing long exposure photos taken that day and since. I hope someday to be as talented as he is!

Mendenhall Ice Caves

Dani and I needed our hiking fix this week, so we scrambled out to the glacier via West Glacier Trail on Wednesday. The route was pretty icy but our trekking poles were lifesavers. When we did this trail in May it was considerably warmer and although the ice was beautiful in the sun, the ice caves were smaller and we didn't feel like going too deep because of their unstable condition in the summer heat. The glacier is constantly changing and moving, so new ice structures form all the time. When we went out there this week we discovered that a small stream had burrowed a cavern into the glacier. The ceiling of ice was relatively thin, so the entire tunnel was illuminated by the sunlight above. While it's not wise to lounge around down there for extended periods of time, we were able to dart in and snap some pretty rad pictures.

Opening of the ice cave

Cirque formed by the glacier

Saturday morning my buddy Ben and I went back (we left at 4:30am so I could be back to work by 2). I've been wanting to learn more about photography, and Ben was kind enough to bring his equipment and let me borrow a camera to get some experience with something other than my camera phone. I learned a lot from him and we got some sweet photos! Most of the ones shown here are courtesy of the professional. This time we brought crampons, so before we went down into the cave we trekked around on top of the glacier as the sun rose. It was incredible!

Should I be on the cover of Nat Geo or what???

The blue tunnel seemed to stretch on forever

On Sunday we enjoyed dinner with our friends the Fields. It was great to be with them and spend some quality time with our furry buddy, Fynn. With our plane tickets purchased it's becoming more and more real that we won't live in Alaska forever, and Dani and I agree that the thing we'll miss the most is the friends we've made up here and our fantastic ward family.

Bad News and a Birthday

Well, Chris and I haven't been able to come up with a good way to put this, but here we go:

We're no longer hiking the Pacific Crest Trail this summer.

We've made this decision primarily because the Sierra Nevada mountains have gotten so much snow so far this year that we no longer have enough time to complete the trail in our window before returning to school late August. We're probably the only Americans who are lamenting that California is headed out of their multi-year drought - I mean why couldn't El Niño just wait one more year for us?! Not wanting to fail before we even started, we've decided not to section-hike by leaving the trail early and instead take the summer to move to a new city (to be determined in March when we hear back from nursing schools). We'll find jobs and continue to save up for our future. After all, we still have a lot of school ahead of us and tuition isn't cheap... and neither are kids (NOT a hint about being pregnant, remember, this is about the future).

We also realized that although thru-hiking the PCT has been a goal that we've looked forward to for the last year, we've looked forward to our dreams of school, a career, and being parents for our entire lives. While it's definitely not a one-or-the-other deal, forgoing the PCT this year will put us ahead for our "big life priorities." We haven't given up on our hike forever, but rather have come to a pivotal point where we've been able to admit to ourselves that although hiking it would be an incredible achievement, it doesn't do much to help us reach our eternal goals. For now the PCT will have to wait on the back-burner--still a dream--but taking second to the things that really matter. I think Dallin H. Oaks said it best when he said, "We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives."

Wednesday night we had a fun date night. Chris and I decided to go on a run together, and ended up running to the library. We meandered the library and both found some good books that we are excited to read. Nothing beats a free date of exercise and learning.

Chris got in a fight with the ice at the crosswalk

We also celebrated my birthday this week! I must be getting old because when Chris asked what I wanted the only thing I could think of was a bubble bath and time to relax. Working two jobs and 13+ hour days is starting to catch up with me, and I've definitely been feeling a lack of rest and well being lately. Luckily Chris pulled some strings and was able to grant my wish. Friday night we stayed in one of our favorite rooms at the B&B (what will we do when we move back to the lower 48 and no longer have a great connection for more than affordable get-away nights!) and you better believe I enjoyed every bit of that huge Jacuzzi tub and feather bed. On Saturday morning (my actual birthday) we met up with our friends Liz, Johnny, Camille, and Ben for breakfast. After breakfast we headed out to take some fun pictures. Liz and Ben both love photography and thought it would be a fun birthday gift to take pictures for me - they were right! I'm really not much of a model, but Chris makes me look good and it's fun to have some professional grade pictures together. Ben even designed a new top for our blog with one of the pictures he took and the lettering for "The Andrew Family" - we love it! Here's some fun pictures from my birthday for now, and more of our photo-shoot is to come as they finish editing the pictures.

Using the selfie-stick to capture the whole crew
L->R Liz, Chris, Me, Camille, Ben, Jonny

Ben set his camera up on the tripod and did some long exposure shots with the creek. They turned out pretty awesome!

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Living the Alaskan Dream

This week was surprisingly sunny--we almost had seven full days of clear skies! The last couple months have required adjusting to: while we get a limited 5-6 hours of daylight, most days it's extremely dim due to the clouds, fog, and angle of the sun. It's like someone just turned the fluorescent lights in the warehouse on but they still have to warm up. On the other hand this week it was energizing to have the sun out and not a cloud in sight.

You know you live in SE Alaska when a sunny day makes the front page...

We took this opportunity to get away from the city lights and watch for the auroras, and we weren't disappointed. After work one night the aurora forecast was a level 5, so we waited and watched near the Mendenhall Glacier. For hours all we could see were the stars and a faint green glow on the north horizon, but finally around 1:30am the lights began to dance. This wasn't our first time seeing Lady Aurora, but definitely the most spectacular! The green pillars seemed to flash and pulse, resemblant of neon lights in Las Vegas, except our message was "Viva La Juneau!"

Also this week while doing errands for work I spotted a coyote in a field hunting. I hurried to flip on my hazards and pull over, thinking it might be a wolf (one of my last "Alaskan Wildlife Bucketlist" creatures). While it was too small to be a wolf, it was neat to watch him hunt. He attracted the attention of other drivers and passers-by, and they all slowed down or stopped. You don't have to go out searching for wildlife in Alaska, the wildlife comes to you.

Alaskans Brake for Wildlife