Day 7: Juneau
Juneau was our next port of call. I was both afraid and excited for this day and the adventures we had planned. For the morning we booked a bike tour and in the late afternoon sea kayaking. You may not know this about me, bicycles terrify me. Before Juneau it had been over a decade since I last road one (it was a 5km ride with my Aunt Sharon and I cried, not a weeping or wailing but eyes watering and shaking which makes balancing hard). Before that I was in high school and I had two bad falls both related to going down steep gravel hills too fast.
I agreed to do the bike tour for three reasons 1) I love my Sister. I enjoy spending time with her and this is what she wanted to do 2) We were both overcoming our fears. Sister dislikes heights and had gone ziplining with me the day before so this was my turn to face my fear and 3) the promised reward of kayaking at the end of the day.
It was getting easier even as I was getting sore. I even laughed at one point and didn't ride the breaks the whole time. I also made it up a hill (with a small break because my had was cramping). I was starting to see why people might enjoy biking.
The next stop was by a creek that salmon travel up. I saw one king salmon and learned there are five times of salmon. I do not think I can name them all without googles help, but I will try: chum, sockeye, pink, king, ...and I forgot the last. We also had a bald eagle fly past us. You can sort of see him in the picture below. The fourth stop was at the coastline where we could see the glacier. The group picture above is from that break. Our last stop was at the waterfall.
After the creek we had a smaller decent and then it was a beautiful ride along the coast line. I was tired and feeling out of shape. I knew I would be feeling the ride the next day (which is very true, Juneau was three days ago and I am still sore) but I was starting to have fun. There were times my thoughts weren't just about staying on the bike and not dying. In fact I began to thinking about sermon ideas.
Oh, and we road the tram. I didn't pay attention to how high we went it was just fun and a beautiful view.
We only took a few minutes to look around at the top before heading back down. We needed to be at our dock by 3:50 for the next excursion. There was a nature center, walking trails, a theatre playing a 30 minute documentary, a restaurant, and a gift store.
Our boat is the one of the far left, it was a 20 to 30 minute walk from town to our dock. There was also a shuttle that cost $5.00 for an all-day pass. We chose to walk. We made it to the dock out of breath but on time only to discover that the kayaking had been cancelled due to high winds and safety reasons. I didn't realize how much I had been looking to the kayaking and whale watching till it wasn't going to happen. And I totally get why it couldn't happen, I was just sad. Sister was tried and a bit relieved. We went back to the room. After a bit I decided I wanted to see more of Juneau and so I went back. I am glad I did. I saw some more shops, picked up a gifts, ended up having a conversation about Jesus with one of the clerks at a jewelry store (one that he started after he asked what I did for a living and I said I was a pastor. He wanted to know about Romans, and books to read, and thoughts on different teachers, it was a good talk), took the tram again, talked to these crabs, and enjoyed homemade blueberry. So not the adventure I had hoped for but still a great day.
Oh, and while I was coming down the tram it had started pouring. I was not looking forward to the hike back to the boat. I had exactly 30 min to get there and I was sure the low visibility would slow me down. I had no desire to be late and miss the ships departure. Just as I was starting out I heard the call for the shuttle. I asked how much and they said for me free. It was a blessing. I made it back to the boat with plenty of time.
I want to end with a story from Ketchikan and the zipline course. We were crossing the sky-bridge and some thirty to forty feet below us there was a rustle of leaves. It was a bear sighting. We waited to see if the bear would appear. All I saw was a black bear bum. The bear lead our guide, Martin, to start a joke, "Why are berries called berries?" Someone asked if he was going to say "because bears eat them?" Then Martin apologized saying that he was going trying to make a bear pun but didn't know what to do with it. And I said, "yeah, that would have been un-bear-able" :)
I agreed to do the bike tour for three reasons 1) I love my Sister. I enjoy spending time with her and this is what she wanted to do 2) We were both overcoming our fears. Sister dislikes heights and had gone ziplining with me the day before so this was my turn to face my fear and 3) the promised reward of kayaking at the end of the day.
We had no trouble finding our group. There were a number from the cruise. The tour drove us to the top of a mountain and then set us up with our gear. I tested out my bike. It was...nerve raking. I did a "loop" to practice. Only when it came to turning I would stop and walk my bike around the turn. I have never really got how to use the grip breaks. The last time I felt comfortable on a bike was in grade five with my one-speed, pedal backwards to break bike (do they make those for adults?) Ivan the van driver offered for me to ride in the van back down the mountain. I was happy for the option but agreed to try till the first stop, I think it was a half mile or a mile away. Things started rough, I was very wobbly and very very slow. A snail could have passed me. One one else from the group was in sight but Ivan was faithfully driving behind me making sure I was okay.
During the ride we had four or five stops. The first was a bog about a half mile into the journey. We got a short rest and a talk about the ecosystem. On the way there I kept freaking out and then reminding myself it wasn't that far and "you can do this." When the group was about to resume Ivan said it would only take a second to put my bike on the rack but it was up to me. I agreed to keep going.
They next stop was almost two miles later and in the midst of the rain forest. The ride to get there was a much steeper decent. I cried twice and actually screamed once. I am glad I was so slow because no one heard me, Ivan might have but he never said anything. It was hard but I was finally getting a handle on the breaking.
At this stop the talk was about the trees and plants, also the different edible plants. Did you know if you boil skunk weed five times it is quite nice and stops whatever causes the negative reaction you would have if you ate it without boiling it five times. It makes me wonder, who kept trying to eat the plant that made them sick and how did they discover that it takes boiling it five times to be edible. We also got to try a few berries. I had some blueberries, watermelon berry (the red one), and a salmon berry (the one that looks like a salmon coloured raspberry.) Again I was offered a chance to back out, it would be a three mile ride to the next stop but I was now committed.
The next stop was by a creek that salmon travel up. I saw one king salmon and learned there are five times of salmon. I do not think I can name them all without googles help, but I will try: chum, sockeye, pink, king, ...and I forgot the last. We also had a bald eagle fly past us. You can sort of see him in the picture below. The fourth stop was at the coastline where we could see the glacier. The group picture above is from that break. Our last stop was at the waterfall.
This is us at the end of the ride, in out bike hats :) I was so happy. I couldn't have done it without Sister and Ivan.
After the bike tour Sister and I had lunch at Tracy's Crab Shack. We tried king crab legs. It was Sister's first taste of crab; her thoughts were "they were fun, they were long, and they weren't too bad." I love seafood so it was a fun experience, expensive, but yummy.
We had time before our next excursion to explore the town and collect all our freebies from the jewelry store. The area we were in was fun to explore. We found this directional sign post and Sister determined that the arrow for Toronto was actually pointing in the wrong direction.
Our boat is the one of the far left, it was a 20 to 30 minute walk from town to our dock. There was also a shuttle that cost $5.00 for an all-day pass. We chose to walk. We made it to the dock out of breath but on time only to discover that the kayaking had been cancelled due to high winds and safety reasons. I didn't realize how much I had been looking to the kayaking and whale watching till it wasn't going to happen. And I totally get why it couldn't happen, I was just sad. Sister was tried and a bit relieved. We went back to the room. After a bit I decided I wanted to see more of Juneau and so I went back. I am glad I did. I saw some more shops, picked up a gifts, ended up having a conversation about Jesus with one of the clerks at a jewelry store (one that he started after he asked what I did for a living and I said I was a pastor. He wanted to know about Romans, and books to read, and thoughts on different teachers, it was a good talk), took the tram again, talked to these crabs, and enjoyed homemade blueberry. So not the adventure I had hoped for but still a great day.
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