This Place We Live

Part of our long road trip in 2013-2014 was to visit friends and family, part of it was looking for the next place to live.  As such, we visited lots of people, and saw lots of good and bad places to live.  There were some stops where one night seemed way too long, and there were others that were very hard to leave.  Some of the fondness comes from the company, just ask our friends Dave and Judith, who several times after months as hosts have probably wondered if we were ever leaving.  Some of it comes from the great places our friends live.
The bottom line is no place is perfect, but even with it's issues and quirks, Sitka Alaska is a pretty special place.  When we came back to Sitka in October we we're offered a really sweet deal house-sitting until the end of the year.  The first couple pictures in this post show the view out the front windows, of the ocean and our own little volcano, Mount Edgecumbe.  You can't actually see Russia from here, but who the hell cares with views like this.

The other picture is looking across the lake at our new digs.  We moved in during the holidays and are finally settling in.  Lake out front, mountains out the back windows, still not too shabby.  Because Sitka is built at the oceans edge on the side of the mountains, there are not too many places you can live without a stunning view.  Be sure to click on the pictures to see the full screen version.
The other great thing about Sitka is it's sense of community.  There are lots of small groups with similar interests, lots of activities for families.  The holidays and festivals are big deals for many of the residents.  Even in the winter there is always something going on.

As an example I included a few pictures from Halloween, as most people know it is one of my favorite holidays.  You can see from the pictures that my enthusiasm has only grown now that I get to share the holiday with Madeline.  In Sitka they shut down the main street, and all the businesses give out candy as the kids trick-or-treat their way around downtown.
This makes sense in a community with regular sightings in town of 1000 lb. brown bears.  A small child with a bag of chocolate walking door to door in the dark seems an unnecessary temptation.
Speaking of bears, these folks have also found a fun and entertaining way to dispose of the jack-o-lanterns post holiday.  You may remember during our first stay in Sitka that Nicole worked for a facility that housed rescued brown bears, called Fortress of the Bears.  Turns out they have a little pre-hibernation party for the bears and the community just after Halloween.  Bring out your pumpkin, fill it with fruit, veggies and other treats, and then they fence off the bears while everyone goes in the enclosure and sets out their pumpkins.  The resulting mayhem watching the bears tear apart the pumpkins and eat the treats inside, watched from the safety of the catwalk above, is pretty entertaining.

Happy Holidays

Last minute Christmas tree and stockings

Veterinarian kit, complete with patient

Never a dull moment with us, even staying home for the holidays and not having visitors we still manage to make life difficult.  We are half way through a move, on Christmas.  We thought we might be in the new place in time, but my work schedule and the needs of a three year old conspired against us and it just didn't make sense to have things harder than they needed to be.  Most of our stuff is in our new apartment, but because clothes and food are still in the old place we decided to stay there to celebrate and use the upcoming weekend to move.  Anyway, some much requested pictures of Miss Madeline opening gifts and overall just being her cute self.  Thanks to my mom for the toys, clothes and books, and brother for the thoughtful gifts.  Thanks to Dave and Judith for the new boots.  Thanks to John and Rose for the Duplos. Thanks to Nicole's Aunt Pat for the polar bear and book.  Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and that all is well with you and your families.

Books, books, and more books

New Bogs boots, thanks Dave and Judith

One of many boxes of Duplos

Polar bear with book

Baraka

I'm just going to say it, Baraka no longer exists.  Legal ownership of our sailboat changed last week, and with it the name of the boat changed as well, so she is gone.  Bittersweet doesn't even come close.  It was the right move to pass her along to someone that would use her.  Sitting in the yard wasn't doing anyone any favors, her least of all.  But we had a lot of dreams wrapped up in that boat, so now comes the time to let go of those dreams and start formulating some new ones.  Instead of trying to describe my thoughts and feelings in words, I'm going to let our photos tell this story, this chapter in our lives.

Our first day together, bringing her home.

Puget Sound Cruising Club raft-ups

Great Friends

Old acquaintances at Goddard Hot Springs

Windy Bay

Milltown Sailing events

Squirrel Cove

Wonderful sailing companions

Family

Poulsbo 3rd of July festivities

Great sailing

The best mate

Packing for travel

New crew

Elfin Cove

Fjordlands fun

And the rain

And the snow

And the yard work

"Any port in a storm" port tasting

Christmas

Red Bluffs Bay

Impromptu gatherings

The best times

Dock life  in winter

It really doesn't get any better than this

Exploration in Tracy Arm

Family Visit

Several hints in my last post about family visiting, and then nothing for months.  I've been busy, and lazy, and overall just unmotivated to write.  I started to write a different post (which will be coming right after this one), and then remembered I should make good on my previous promises first.
Earlier this summer, my mom and brother decided to fly up and visit while we were still in Juneau.  We filled the time with the usual touristy things, went to the Mendenhall glacier, went out on a whale watch tour, rode the tram, went to the hatchery, visited the city museum, ate at all the decent restaurants, drove out the road to look at the wildlife.  The days were packed with activities beyond just chasing a toddler around.
Their timing was good for salmon watching, the fish ladder and holding pens at the hatchery were filled with salmon and it made for some great viewing.  we really took advantage of the tour company I was working for.  We tried to go on a beach safari trip that they offer, but unfortunately had mechanical issues and had to turn back.  We did get in a good whale watch trip, with lots of humpback activity including a mom and calf doing simultaneous breaching.  My brother and I also got to go on a hovercraft tour to a nearby glacier, a very interesting experience giving a different perspective on our surroundings.
Some of the highlights that are shown in the photos included a great show by the humpback whales on our tour (photo by my brother), an up close visit from a bear while we were taking pictures out the road, and a panoramic shot from the hovercraft trip.
Even though we had seen my family recently when we stopped in MN on our way to AK, it's always nice to have folks put in the effort to come see you, especially when you are a moving target like we are and tend to stop in pretty remote locations.

Moving (Again)

I started to write a blog post about my family coming to visit us here in Alaska, and realized I am way behind in blog posts and didn't ever write about our move West and North.

Another long few days on the road

As a quick summary of the pre-move happenings, the looming expiration of our rental lease in Maine happened to coincide with an alarming downturn in business for the company I was working for, so Nicole and I decided to explore other options by putting out feelers for a possible move back to Seattle.  The day after we made that decision I got a call from my old employer in Sitka, letting me know one of my old co-workers had passed away and asking if I wanted to come back to work there.

M is finally big enough
for her own seat on the plane

After a lot of talking between Nicole and myself and a lot of negotiating with the company, I accepted a summer position at their location in Juneau that would transition into a position in Sitka in the fall.  Unfortunately they needed me as soon as possible, and thus began another cross-country move with too little time to prep and travel.  Our moving scheme to get to Maine (not even a year earlier) had consisted of me driving across the country with a Uhaul trailer while Nicole and Madeline flew, visiting my family in MN along the way.  It worked out well so we decided to do the same in reverse this time, with the girls spending a few days with Nicole's family in Maine, flying to MN to spend a couple days with my family, then flying on to Seattle to visit friends before getting on the ferry together.

Summer fun with Seattle friends

The family visits were all nice, and our very short time in Seattle was busy with visits from friends.  When our time in Seattle was over, the truck and trailer were so stuffed with our worldly belongings that I ended up having to pack Nicole and Madeline in to their seats for the short drive up to Bellingham to catch the ferry.

Whale watching from our
cabin on the ferry

The next few days were quite enjoyable, letting someone else drive the boat while we relaxed, played with the other kids on the ferry, and watched the scenery roll by for a couple of exceptionally good weather days until we arrived in Alaska.
The apartment we were planning to move into in Juneau was still being built as we traveled from Maine, and the timing couldn't have been closer, as we stood outside the building the morning we got off the ferry waiting for the building inspector to sign off on the apartment so we could move in.

Play ground fun in Juneau

We had a day to move all of our stuff in before we got to celebrate Nicole's birthday, then a few days of unpacking, exploring Juneau, garage-saleing, and relaxing before I started my crazy summer work schedule.
For me, the next few weeks consisted of a lot of time spent at work.  For Nicole and Madeline the time was spent becoming acquainted with the libraries, playgrounds and parks in town.

M's first fish

A few weeks after we arrived was the kids fishing event in Juneau.  Several organizations work together to stock one of the local lakes in town with fish, then provide fishing poles and bait and let the kids loose for a day of fishing.  It was a pretty crazy event but Madeline managed to catch her first fish.

4th of July parade

A few weeks later was July 4th, and we lucked out that it fell on a Saturday, my only day off.  We planned to participate in as many of the events as we could, but having a toddler has pushed our chronic tardiness to new limits.  We got out of the apartment and headed downtown for the parade, but quickly realized we were already late, with no chance of finding parking anywhere close to the parade route.  Luckily there are two parades, one through downtown Juneau and a later one across the bridge in Douglas.  We opted to skip downtown and be early for the Douglas parade instead.  We played at the park, watched Madeline have fun in the bouncy house, ate cotton candy, and then headed up to find a spot for the parade.  Having a cute kid is definitely a plus for getting candy at a parade, so we made out quite well.  After the parade we found more junk food and spent more time in the bouncy house.

Ready, set, go

They had running races for the kids, and Madeline took second place for her age group, winning her fame and fortune (otherwise known as four dollars and her name in the paper).  After the race we checked out the sand castle contest and then decided we were all worn out and headed home.
Our next big event was my family coming to visit, but I'll save that for the next post.