My mom decided that she was going to start coming up for the boy’s birthdays on an alternating basis - since she was here for Henry's last year, she booked a trip up here for Thomas’ birthday in May. We asked if she would mind coming a little bit early so Matt and I could take a short trip to Juneau and she agreed!
We ended up booking an early morning flight on Friday instead of Thursday night because it made sense at the time...? In retrospect, being able to sleep in on Friday would have been amazing. Instead, we got to Juneau super early and drove around aimlessly to check out the scenery. It is vastly different than Anchorage and I apparently missed the “it’s only sunny in Juneau 30% of the time” footnote.
Luckily, it was only slightly rainy, so we still got some nice views from Douglas Island. In the background you can see Mendenhall Glacier - just below the cloud cover. You might be able to tell from the water that it was super windy outside!
The beach was absolutely covered in barnacles and mussels. I have no idea what the tidal range is for this area, but it’s obviously at least a few feet! And I tried to be super careful to not step on any of them, but I have to admit I might have smushed a few. I am so sorry, dear Barnacles!
We ran into a coworker in town who gave us a few suggestions on places to eat and suggested that we go to the capitol building. It was definitely not high on my list of places to go, but we ended up walking right up to it and decided to check it out.
As a side note, Juneau has quite a bit of artwork, but this slightly threatening bear was my favorite. :)
And randomly - a replica of the Liberty Bell! I wonder how many Liberty Bell replicas there are scattered around the country? I've seen the real one once or twice, but I am quite certain I have also seen a replica somewhere...
Well, I took a break to look up Liberty Bell replicas online and apparently 55 replicas were commissioned in 1950 and they reside near every state capital. Now you know! Not so random, after all!
We walked in the Capitol Building and were met with the nicest security guard ever who told us all about the different floors, gave us a self guided tour pamphlet and told us to have fun. We ran into him later and he again made sure we were enjoying ourselves. Having never had the chance to tour a capitol building, it was actually pretty neat to walk around and see government in action!
Well sorta in action - the legislatures were on break until 4pm. It's nearing the end of a somewhat contentious session, so apparently a break was needed. But I was amazed how much information you could glean for what was going on just by the conversations people were having in the stairwells!
The next morning, we headed out to Mendenhall Glacier just outside of town to enjoy some time in nature. They had two paths from the parking lot to the main visitor's center - one along the road and one on boardwalks through the woods. Which one do you think we went with?? Nature walk!
There were a few trails to choose from, but I wanted the one that went down to the waterfall and had a view of the glacier. It was more of a walk than a true hike, but you couldn't beat the weather or the spectacular views!
There's Mendenhall! I was really hoping for a big chunk of ice to fall off, but no such luck. Oh well - it was still super pretty and impressive. :)
Matt wandered over to check out Nugget Falls while I was busy taking photos of the glacier. But don't worry, I wasn't going to forget about such a great photo opportunity as a waterfall!
As a side note - this is the only photo you can see the water color change in the lake (right at Matt's thigh level). Matt was asking me what I thought caused it and I told him I was pretty sure it was the fresh water from the falls mixing in to the glacial outwash. Even if I'm wrong, he seemed to buy it!
Waterfall fun! When I was packing my camera bag, I kept adding more lenses and then more gadgets and toys. But I was especially excited about my ND filters - I hadn't used them since I got one stuck on my lens in Valdez, so I was super careful not to screw them on so tight this time...
Anyhow - I managed to get the settings adjusted so I could leave the shutter open for a full second. It may not sound like a lot, but it really did make the waterfall look completely different. So soft and flowy!
I even did a zoomed in to see how smooth I could get the water. I love the way it cascades over the rock in the center of the frame. It just seems so surreal.
Meanwhile, Matt is patiently waiting for his wife to stop being such a photo nerd and finish taking photos. He's such a good sport! :)
Of course, he was entertaining himself by scouring the beach for footprints and managed to find this rather large track. Those claw marks look suspiciously like bear claws...! I may have talked super loud on the trek back to the car after finding that.
We decided to head north to the End of the Road (which is only ~40 miles north of Juneau), but I wanted to stop at a Catholic Shrine that one of my friends at work had told me about: The Shrine of St Therese. The actual chapel is out on this narrow spit of land and looked very pretty in the photos on-line. On the walk across the spit, all you can see is a narrow path leading into the trees.
The entrance into the trees was marked by these pillars of rock.
The chapel hiding in the trees of Shrine Island. It was a fairly small chapel, but it was just as beautiful in person as it had looked online. Plus my best friend, Theresa, is a Catholic, so the fact it was the Shrine of St. Therese made me like it even more.
There were markers scattered in a big ring around the chapel each telling part of the story of Jesus' crucifixion (this one is Resurrection since you can't read it). I don't know all of the icons or rituals of the Catholic church, but walking around and looking at the carvings on each of the sculptures still felt very meditative. It certainly didn't hurt to have such a breath-taking view behind the serene grounds of the chapel.
How can you not feel calm, peaceful and happy when you are out in nature looking at such awesome views? Juneau is a completely different environment from Anchorage and getting away to the small town for a weekend was a nice break from the recent hustle of life back home.
Plus it didn't hurt to have some Matt & Jen time! Sometimes we get so wrapped up in work, kids and all of our hobbies that we don't take enough time to just enjoy each other. After 12 years of marriage, I still love heading out for a road trip with this guy. Driving around listening to all of our favorite songs with no destination? Perfect! Hiking to a waterfall or glacier? Anytime! Eating way too much food and passing out for a nap after lunch? We should do it more!
Which is why I saved this photo for last, even though it was from earlier in the trip. I took the tripod to get a photo of us and the remote just would not work in the bright light. So I ended up running from the camera to the photo spot. On the last attempt, Matt held out his arms and told me to jump! And I absolutely love how this photo turned out. We both have real smiles because it felt so silly, but sometimes a little bit of silly is what you need.
I had a blast hanging out with you, Matt! Can't wait to do it again! :)