Wailin' Palin, and the treasures of yore.

ON LAST WEEK'S EPISODE:

When we last left our protagonist, Andrew had just been recouperating from a several day trek cross country by Greyhound. Where, as it so happened, he lost nearly every item he'd accumulated on his epic quest for the freedom of mankind. Or some such....

The times were tough in the subsequent days, weeks, and DARE I SAY MONTHS? It had been go go go, "let's figure out how to do A B AND C" and chock full of glorious wonderment. Now when one of Andrew's sheer fidgetiness comes off of that kind of experience, you can sincerely liken it to post-stardom depression. Gone were the times of late-night train hopping to some place he'd never heard of before catching a glance of it on a rotating board. Gone were people that would cock their head to side in curiousity as they spoke, only to sidle up to him to practice their english on him.

Hibernating in the void of times past was a creature ready to pounce upon the chance to take on the unfinished business with The Ukraine. He would be called upon much later. All living beings need their rest before the hunt.

ITCHY FEET:

Some time passed as Andrew looked to residency in Portland. Many a job opportunity presented themselves. Ultimately, he took work in Alaska, where luckily enough, he is able to work himself up a stake AND live off the fat o' the lan'. Or maybe the scenery just rules and the wildlife makes everything A-Okay. Being able to work a bit and travel a bit is quite the perk as well.

Now, so as not to reveal his place of work and put his way of life in jeopardy on this grande ol' place of internettery, Andrew retains the right to divulge the least amount of info about the work he actually
does, and instead focus on that which he does for recreation in south eastern Alaska.

"Yo yo yo" says I, Andrew, who is choosing to speak in third person no longer. "What up my carbon based lifeforms? How your four chambered hearts be pumping?"

Civil pleasantries aside, I'm sure you all are just freaking awesome, n'est pas? So lets get down to brass tacks. I shot off to Juneau in early June. In June? Oooooooooh!!!!!!! ...... Speaking of weak puns,
some of you may have noticed I had been throwing up Facebook statuses suggesting my whereabouts. Some were as follows:

"Wait'll we get our Haines on you"
"Juneau you didn't!"
"Skagway? More like Shagway, amirite?"
"Easy as Kake."
"Glenn Miller is my homie."

I will sincerely continue this trend in the future.

SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA:

Anyhow, early June I made it there, and as it would happen, the skies were quite virginal. Untouched by the puffery of precipitation, and in the high to mid 70s. A very promising start, as marvelous mountain range to glorious glacier left a twinkle of a first impression that follows me nearly two months later. The weather has come and gone, and yet, I can still imagine the mountain ranges and hidden peaks behind the shrouds of the typical southeastern Alaskan weather in times since.

Between calving glaciers, sunsets that quite literally last for hours, and a first hand experience with a black bear absolutely no further than 30 feet from an inflateable raft I was being shuttled around in,
I can safely say my expectations in both flora and fauna have been exceeded.

OH HOLY CRAP! WHALES ARE DOING THE CRAZY!

To further this point, we shall take our minds to nearly a week before my return to Evergreen State. Right after dinner, I was alerted to the fact that we had a pod of humpback whales twenty feet away. And while humpbacks in of themselves don't bring the same excitement after so many encounters, something about the event gave a twinge of hope.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, a gigantic circle of bubbles formed around the area the whales had been feeding. All at once, 7 or 8 of them emerged and tail dove. The simultaneousness of their dive was impressive enough, and it wasn't until later on, that I was informed that I had only seen the preamble to an even greater show.

This bizarre feeding behavior would be known to me as bubble net feeding. As far as I know, it's a humpback only phenomenon, and not seen frequently by passerbys. In a nutshell, one humpback circles a school of fish, blowing bubbles like crazy. This disorients the fish. I can recall one fish telling me afterwards, "I was disoriented." So you can rest assured that I am not making this up. Now, when all the fish are suitablely dazed, another whale makes THE TRUMPETING CALL. When the other whales in
the pod hear this, they ascend through the swirling mass of bubbles all in one harmonious death lunge. From the surface, where I, and most other humans witness this from, see 7-9 whales blasting through the water's surface tension in unison... forming a teepee of whale bodies and fish entrails.

Minus the entrails part, which I added for your visual, this was how it all went down. And it most definitely took the ONE spot in The Klondike Calamity... essentially a list of my favorite things I've seen thusfar in our northernmost state.

THERE'S MORE?

The side missions I took during this whole spiel added that extra zest that I love ever so. Skagway and Haines are homes to The Sockeye Cycle Co., which has rented me the ability to encounter near death experiences atop sheer cliffs at high speeds. Having never mountain biked before coming to Alaska, I probably should have taken it slower. But yanno....

Lastly, Mount Rogers in Juneau is worth the Gondola ride. That is, if you can somehow obtain a discount, or if you climb the 2.5 mile Mt. Rogers Trail to the top. I'd prefer the reverse. Gondola ride to the top, and
running at ferocious speeds down the mountain while narrating the experience to my camera. Hilarity almost ensues.

WHERE AM I TODAY?

With all of that nearly behind me, I've taken a break, and took a short trip to Colorado this last weekend. From there I flew into Dublin, Ireland. I shall be here a night or so before trekkin' on and informing you all on the comings and goings here.

Welcome to another bout with Euro, hosted by Andrew. We ride again.

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