Bears, Boats and the First Snow

This week our busy schedules were interlaced with some fun surprises. As Chris was running an errand one evening he saw a pair of eyes on the side of the road. Once he realized it was a bear he pulled over so he could get a better look at his furry friend attempting to hop the fence. Going full tourist mode he was snapping pictures when a taxi pulled over with its hazards on. The driver got out and kindly asked Chris if he could help with anything, and when he realized Chris was just taking pictures of a bear he indicated that Chris must not be from around here. It doesn't matter that we've lived here since May and wear our Southeast sneakers, we still can't fool the locals. We're just too amazed at all the beauty around us to look like the regular Juneau folk!

Some of the high quality shots Chris took for you. 

This bear has x-ray vision. Superbear maybe? 

Saturday was a blast as we had the opportunity to get out on the ocean. A kind man and his sweet wife come to the B&B often for dinner, and they offered to take us out fishing. When our schedules finally aligned it was too late in the season for salmon, but we went out anyways and had a blast. We loved hearing stories from his past and getting to know him better. (After we got home Chris and I were mulling over how many friends we've made here who are our parents age and older. Look at us - adulting so hard!). He taught Chris all about his sonar and GPS gadgets, and even let him captain the ship for a while. As we were headed back to the bay a light snow started to fall.

We loved how beautiful the B&B looked in the first snowfall. Winter is finally hitting Alaska, and we know we're in for all sorts of new adventures as the days continually get shorter and the snow piles higher. 

When we left our apartment for church on Sunday, we noticed a dumpster across the parking lot that had been knocked over and garbage strewn everywhere. It turns out a bear had wandered over during the night and found a tasty pre-hibernation meal left by the bakery. All the trashcans and dumpsters in Juneau have bear-proof locks, but some people are evidently a little casual in securing the lids.

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Thunder Mountain

Chris and I had a real treat this week when our managers found out with only 24 hour notice that an inspector was coming to the Bed and Breakfast. One of the rooms had a bathroom fan that broke a few days prior, and they didn't have time to fix it before the inspection. Our boss was worried that if the inspector went in that room and saw the broken fan it would reflect negatively on the property so he called Chris up and asked if we would be willing to spend a night in the room and check out late the next day to make sure the room was occupied during the time in which the inspection would take place. Of course spending a free night in a quaint B&B room with a large featherbed and jacuzzi tub and huge hot breakfast made to order is quite the favor to be asked of young married couple, but he's the one who pays us so we obliged and took one for team.

Our large adventure this week was hiking up Thunder Mountain and having a great camp-out on top. As we were hiking up through the layers of the mountain we were seeing continual reminders that fall is upon us. There are plants that are browning and clearly dying, and others that make the mountain seem covered in flames with the bright yellow, orange, and red leaves. The highlight of the trip was probably all the mountain goats we saw, both during the evening and the next morning. For those of you who don't know Chris is part mountain goat and has been told ever since he was 12 years old that his ability to get around on mountains eerily nonhuman. (If you don't believe me, go hike a mountain with him, you'll see what I mean soon enough.) His favorite animal has always been mountain goats, but this is the first time he's ever seen them up close out in the wild. Needless to say no kid was ever more excited to see Santa than Chris was to see these furry friends. We also saw a ton of bear tracks, but to tell you the truth I wasn't too bummed when we never saw the culprit, this wasn't the kind of place where I would want an encounter.

The trail was only a little more than 2 miles to the top of the mountain, and it ascended almost completely through the rainforest until the last couple hundred feet to the peak. When we reached the top just before dusk (we started late in the day after Chris did homework), we were rewarded with a view of the setting sun over the city in the valley, and the towering snowy mountain peaks behind us.

There were signs of goats aplenty on the way up.

At the top overlooking Douglas Island and the channel.

You can't tell from the picture, but it was biting cold out by this time.
Here's Chris cooking me a hot dinner while I stay huddled in the warm tent.
I sure love him.

Chris saw this one from a distance and crept up on her.

"These goats and I were both surprised when I almost ran into them." -Chris

"It's never a bad day waking up to this. Beautiful wife in the beautiful mountains." -Chris

At the summit! 2900 ft.

Handstands at the top. It's a thing.

Just a little one.

Contemplating the Heintzleman ridge... do we have time before work?

Already seeing snow on the mountains.

Chris is still stoked about the mountain goats.

We had a neat opportunity on Saturday when Chris had a friend who contacted him about a chance to help some elders in the MTC. As a part of their training, some missionaries are starting to Skype members living in the areas they are called to in order to ask questions, but also to practice giving a lesson. Chris and I were both able to sign up as volunteers and Skype with two sets of missionaries. It was fun to see the excitement in these young men's eyes as they are preparing to go forth with the work of the Lord. It made us think of both Joseph and Hannah who are out serving, and reminded us how thankful we are to already have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Skype lesson with the elders.

Speaking of bear encounters, a coworker gave us a can of bear spray a few weeks back when he moved back down to Idaho to go to school. Though we've never had a need to use it (before or after receiving it), it does give us a peace of mind we didn't know we were missing while out exploring in the wilderness. And speaking of a peace of mind - Grandpa Andrew this is specifically for you! - Chris and I also bit the bullet and bought a personal locator beacon from ACR. This GPS-enabled beacon has only one function: S.O.S. Extend the antenna, press the help button for 1 second, and your location is transmitted to a satellite (same ones used by the US government and military) and then to the nearest search and rescue facility within three minutes. The unit continues to send a signal and blink a strobe light for over 24 hours. Grandpa Andrew carries one of these in his airplane, and after speaking with him we realized he was right when he pointed out that although these small devices are pricey, the worth of our lives is far greater than anything we could spend on a PLB. Though we hope we never have to use it, we recognize that our lifestyle puts us in many situations often where if something went wrong, this device could be the difference between life and death. Anyways, we hope this is the best couple-hundred-dollars we carry around with us that we'll never actually use. And now you all know that we're getting soft and are starting to think more about consequences in life, and though it's not slowing us down any, it is keeping us more safe in all those "what-if" scenarios. 

Our healthy eating is going well - we are keeping each other accountable and that is huge. One night I had a dream about doughnuts. Chris and I were walking down the road and every single building was a different doughnut shop: Dunkin' Doughnuts, Krispy Kreme, Johnny O's, Daylight Doughnuts, Breeze In. etc, So obviously when I woke up that's the only thing I wanted, though I'm sure I would have settled for a cupcake if Chris would have compromised, however he kept me going strong and I overcame that sneaking temptation - #husbandpoints.

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Bear Redemption

First things first, Chris finally got his redemption of capturing pictures of a bear in the wild! Our weekly glacier went from wonderful to amazing when we saw a beautiful cinnamon-colored black bear that the locals have named Nicki walking around. We were able to watch her for about 45 minutes as she walked around, caught a salmon and ate it for dinner, and then finally scampered off deeper into the woods.

Nicki hunting in Steep Creek

My favorite view of the night.

We used Wednesday to get in a large-mile day of hiking. The Treadwell Ditch Trail on Douglas Island isn't very well maintained once you get a few miles out, but it was a good trail to just knock out miles. It's a level path that follows an old ditch that was used as a flume for a mine back in the day. It's nicknamed "Juneau's Best Training Trail" because of it's length and little elevation change. We hiked 22 miles in one day, and that doesn't even include the walk to the trailhead from the bus stop! It was nice to be able to set up our tent that night, and we have to admit how much we've missed camping. On Thursday we only had about 5 miles back to our bus stop, and though we could feel the miles we put in the day prior, we also couldn't stop our minds from dreaming of the PCT. We know it's going to be hard - but we also think we can do it. And we are excited for the opportunity to try. 

Devil's Club - don't touch!

I look great in candid pictures - I just wanted to drink, but Chris wanted a photo at our turn-around-spot for the day.

Our route - Chris thinks you guys like looking at maps.

On Saturday, we went on a day date to downtown. We decided it was time to splurge a little and buy ourselves a locally-caught-fresh king crab's leg meal. And it was delicious! It was fun cracking open the shell and finding the fresh meat inside. This life by the ocean is pretty fun.

Can you imagine the size of this crab?!

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

A Whale Watching, Gold Panning, Bear Viewing Alaskan Week

We had an awesome week full of fun and adventures, so let me just start by promising you that we actually do hold full-time jobs and Chris really is taking an online class. With that being said let me tell you about our whale watching, gold panning, bear viewing Alaskan week.

On Wednesday, our ever-blessed day off, our good friend Captain Ben helped us to get on a three hour whale watching tour. Wow. We tried to take pictures to show to you all, but it really is impossible to catch the majesty of these enormous creatures. Pictures just can't do it justice.

"Thar she blows!"

Called "flukes," this part of the tail is what you see when the whale dives.

Sea lions on the beach.

When Saturday rolled around we had the unique opportunity to go gold panning! A couple weeks back the senior missionary couple from the Juneau Singles Branch, Elder and Sister Sunderland, came in for dinner at the restaurant. They were so fun to talk to that they actually invited us to go gold panning with them on their P-day. This is a fun hobby of Elder Sunderland and we loved spending the day with him (his wife had flown down to be with their daughter) and learning from both him and a prospector who was by the creek when we got there. Though we were at it for a couple hours we only found a few tiny gold flecks that would add up to maybe a dollar once they are processed and any other minerals are removed. In fact, the flecks are so small you can hardly see them in the picture - but trust us, they are there! We didn't strike it rich, but we sure had a lot of fun.

After church on Sunday we went on a nice evening walk around the local college campus. We heard there was a giant totem pole there and we really wanted to find it. When we found it we were really amazed by not only the size, but also all the detail. It would take a lot of skill to carve something like that, and it is unfortunately a dying art.

Once we found our totem pole we headed out to the glacier to find some bears! Rumor has it you are most likely to see a bear in the evening - right when we work every night. We spent over an hour walking some simple trails and waiting for our epic bear sighting. We just knew we would see a mother bear scooping up salmon from the creek as her cubs wrestled in the long grass. But we had no such luck. We gave up and went closer to the glacier to enjoy the view. When we were walking back on the paved pathway to our car we saw a park ranger whistling and hitting his leg as if trying to get a dog to back off. We continued to walk forward and all of a sudden a bear comes strolling out of the grass to our side and walks right in front of us less than ten feet away! Taken aback it took a moment for Chris to grab out his phone and get a picture. If you take a look at Chris's great pictures (remembering he's the one who normally takes all the amazingly beautiful pictures on our blog) I think you can safely assume he was a little more frozen in one spot and startled then he would like to admit. Last week when he wrote the blogpost he was begging for a close up bear encounter, and when he got one, well, you can take a look at the pictures yourself to see how great he was at capturing this proud Alaskan moment...

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Alaskans-Andrew