Only in Alaska?

So where can you one see cool little sandpipers?

On a sand beach?

Surrounded by mountains?

With a view of a Glacier?

Well, on Eagle Beach in Juneau is one place that I am aware of.  Can it only be done in Juneau?  Not sure but it is truly amazing....

How many shades of green are there...?

A few images from another hike that we took this week.

Our discussion during this hike was, "How many shades of green do you think are really out there?

P.S.  If you look at the mountains in the background surrounded by the clouds, it was actually snowing up there.

Waterfalls of Alaska....

Well after 13.5 hours of work today I only have a few minutes to update the blog so here goes....

Yes, Gwen is actually up here.....

How close am I really to that object...?

As I stated yesterday we would discuss the perspective in Alaska.  This is a picture of Nugget Falls flowing into Mendenhall Lake at the base of Mendenhall Glacier.  I am on the West Mendenhall trail one of the many hikes that we have taken.  This trail will take us up to Mendenhall Glacier and some ice caves later this summer.  We are about 1.25 miles from the falls and about 500 feet above the falls.

This next image is from directly in front of the falls.  I am using my small (28-135) lens and probably at 28.

This next image if from the side of the falls again with my small lens again.  You can see Mendenhall Glacier in the back ground.  This falls is about 377 feet tall and about 100 feet wide.  With out a recognizable item that is close by it is hard to get the true perspective of the falls.  You can try to make a determination with the surrounding trees but not knowing the actual size of the trees then again it is hard to make a good guess how large the falls really are....

Now, once you put people next to the falls, you can see the true massive size of the falls.  That is how it is here in Alaska.  Without a good reference point, it is really hard to tell the true size of a mountain, cliff, rock or waterfall.

Tomorrow we will show you a few of the other waterfalls that we have wandered past in our travels.

The hiking has begun.....

Today we were driving back from a hike along the shore and we actually drove through a snow storm....

The other day we hiked a trail that would take us up the west side of Mendenhall Glacier.

On the way up we came across just a little wildlife....

a grouse....

a porcupine....

and a mountain goat.

It is amazing when you are hiking above the animals that are supposed to be at the top of  the mountains.  The thing that is tough to get your brain wrapped around is the perspective.

When you look at the top image of the glacier and the image just above with Nugget waterfall, it is hard to tell the actual size of what you are looking at.  That is what we will discuss tomorrow...

Back In Alaska...... again!

So we are back in Alaska for the second time.  We left Tucson AZ, visited Santa Fe, NM; Manhattan, KS; Silver Lake, KS; Rochester, MN; Box Elder, SD, Great Falls, MN; Canmore AB; Prince George, BC; New Hazelton, BC; Prince Rupert, BC.

Then by Alaska Marine Ferry to Ketchikan, AK; Wrangell, Petersburg, AK, Sitka, AK and finally Juneau, AK.

It took us about 12 days to find a place to stay on Easy Street.  It has taken us about the same to get internet hooked up... and it is still not available...hopefully soon.  People keep telling us, "You are in Juneau Alaska, you need to lower your expectations." I think it is more a "lack of competition" that we have seen in many isolated places.

That being said, we are amazed with the surrounding area.  We have been to all four corners of Juneau:  Echo Bay to the northeast, Thane to the southeast, Treadwell to the southwest and North Douglas / Peterson Creek to the North West.  We have also tried the beginning of a few trails but have been contained to the lower elevations due to the snow pack.  Lately, that has been melting and giving us many, many fast moving streams, waterfalls and avalanches so we need to stay out of those areas for now.  We have actually heard what sounds like thunder, and then look up to see huge avalanches!  We have not been anywhere underneath them, thankfully.

The ships are starting to arrive.  Slowly, but we are getting accustomed to working with them and the guests that they bring.  Our schedule is varied; from early mornings to late in the evenings.  We work when the ships come in.

Gwen and I both have been able to take a whale watching tour, but due to our work schedule we had to do it on separate evenings.  I have a clear evening and was able to see a pod of Orca whales.

On Gwen's trip it rained the whole evening. (She did get to see Orcas and a Humpback whale and some sea lions though)

 "That is what it does here in Juneau.....  It rains." We are getting used to doing everything in a very wet environment.

So we have been back from Alaska for about a month, and what have we been up to...?

We have done two Alaska Presentations...

We have moved our motor coach from summer storage at our friends in Silver Lake to Manhattan Kansas (with the boys for a few weeks) and then to Altamont, Kansas. Each time we have moved the coach it has been in the rain. Our first move included the aid of a large tow truck as we found out that a motor coach does not do well in the mud. We also found out that as you move you need to be consistently checking each area of the coach. While slowing down and turning right into a small town, Altoona, Kansas we lost our basement slide out the driver side of the coach. By the time we were able to get back to the place that we lost the slide there were two folks who had already stopped and were helping to pick up the debris. Later a young man stopped to help and when talking realized he had graduated from Holton High School while we were there.  The only real issue was the tote that had all of our old pictures.  It was shattered and looked like it had snowed with our pictures in the ditch. This was one of the first pictures that Gwen found under the slide.....

Along with a few of the others that we found.....

Were they really that small at one time...?

We are getting comfortable in Altamont as well as with the Coach and starting to learn all the appliances, workings and quirks of the unit.

View from our front windows.......

We were to start at Amazon.com on Monday (9-17-12) but due some office issues at Amazon we did not start with Orientation till Thursday (9-20-12) and Friday (9-21-12). That is when we found that our schedule will be 5:30 PM till 4:00 AM Wednesday through Saturday. But hey, we get three days off and we can stay in contact with our boys when we get off work as they seem to be up that late on Friday and Saturday nights anyway..... 

We are in the Stow department. After items are delivered to the Amazon receiving department we then stow the items in the bins for the pickers to retrieve and fill their orders.

Next issue;
"What?  Gwen gets a dishwasher...."