Seattle and Alaska: Visit home to the Pacific Northwest

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"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir

A little over two weeks ago, I couldn't stop staring at my coffee mug with the above John Muir quote on it. It was true -- the mountains had been calling for a long time and about two weeks ago, I finally got to see them again. On Saturday July 12th, I hopped on a plane out of Chicago and flew to Seattle to meet up with my mom and two older sisters. I hadn't seen my family since Christmas and was so excited to start my July vacation by spending some time with them. Due to plane delays, I arrived shortly after my sister who was flying in from Sacramento and was greeted by my family at baggage claim. From there, we hit the interstate and the short drive over to our hotel, The La Quinta. After freshening up a bit, my two sisters and I headed downtown and ended up at a nice little restaurant near Pike Place Market with an outside deck that was lit up with lights. The weather was gorgeous in Seattle...no rain, 80 degrees, and partly cloudy skies.

The weather held out the next day as I had breakfast with my bar buddy, Shannon, before we headed off to the Mariners game at Safeco Field. My aunt had scored us great seats and a VIP parking pass so we could park right next to the stadium. It was extremely hot sitting in the sun, but we all had a blast sitting right behind the Mariners dugout and laughing at me when I got my foot stuck in a stadium seat trying to hop into a different row. Fun times 😊 Unfortunately, the Mariners lost to the A's, but it was still fun watching them. After the game, we explored Pike Place Market a little and then met up with another of my former Alaska friends, Les, who was in town with his wife and baby. We had a blast catching up and having some beers at a local sports bar next to the space needle. Shortly later, we went back to the hotel and then made a quick run out to get supplies for the next days adventure.

On Monday, we were up and out of the hotel by 6a.m. and caught the Victoria Clipper on Pier 69 headed to the San Juan Islands. We played cards, drank mimosas, and kept an eye out for whales on the 4-hour ferry ride to the islands. We pulled into Friday Harbor around 11:30a.m. and went to Susie's Mopeds to pick up our white Geo Tracker we rented to explore the island. After a quick lunch, we headed to the south part of the island near American camp to see one of the lighthouses and look for a good place to go tidepooling. No luck so we headed towards Lime Kiln Point State Park, a popular place for seeing orcas. One the way, I looked over in the water and saw two giant black dorsal fins break the water and yelled, "Orca." We quickly stopped and sure enough, there was one of the three resident orca pods swimming not far off shore. One person said it was the L pod which is the biggest of the three. We stayed for awhile before moving down to the park and going tide-pooling in the many crevices along the rocky beach. It was a lot of fun touching the anemones, sea starts, hermit crabs, urchins, etc...Not long after, we returned to Friday Harbor to turn in the car, did some shopping, and grabbed some ice cream before heading back on the boat to Seattle. It was pretty choppy on the water on the way back so I tried sleeping as much as possible, but do remember passing this large island full of blue herons, eagles, and marine shorebirds. That night, we grabbed some dinner at the Crab Shack on one of the piers about a mile from 69 and then headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, I went and worked out with Arica who had gotten in the night before and was eager to see Seattle. We had breakfast with the family shortly after before saying goodbye to middle sister (April) who was flying out that morning. Once we were all ready, my mom, oldest sister (Mandi), Arica, and I headed downtown on another gorgeous sunny day to see Pike Place Market again. After some exploring and taste testing, we ended up at the Athenian for lunch which is where a scene of Sleepless in Seattle was filmed and I had the best fish tacos. Then Arica and I took off and went exploring and walked over to the Space Needle. It was a couple hours before we could go up, but it was a gorgeous view on such a sunny day. Mom and Mandi came to meet us and we all wandered back to the car and had dinner together at the Spaghetti Factory. Then it was mostly packing and talking as Arica and I had a 6a.m. flight out the next day to Alaska.

4a.m. came very early the next morning as I pried myself out of bed and took a quick shower before a sad goodbye to my mom and sister and a shuttle ride over to the airport. We had no trouble getting through security and getting some coffee before catching our plane. I slept as much as I could, but Arica and I were both really excited to see Juneau. Right when we landed, my friend and former co-worker Lisa was there to greet us. Our first stop -- the Flying Squirrel to get some coffee. After dropping off our luggage and saying hi to Lisa's animals, we headed out the road to show Arica the sights. At Amalga Harbor, the pink salmon were jumping like crazy and we saw a bunch of tidepool creatures near our feet including sea stars and a giant rose anemone. We passed the Shrine which we were saving for when we had more time. Next, we headed to Eagle beach where the giant rock I used to sit on was gone...crumbled up by the waves. Then we were at sunshine cove where the whales some times come in to scratch their bellies on the rocks. Then to the end of the road which has been extended by 4 miles and still looks as pretty as ever. Arica even found a giant crab carapace. Then we headed downtown for lunch at The Hangar which is my favorite restaurant in town since you can see all of the cruise-ships. Next was some shopping before a stop out at the Mendenhall Glacier which has receded so much in the 3 years since I had been to Juneau. We took it easy that night and just spent time with Lisa's family enjoying relaxing on the deck.

The next morning, everyone went to work so Arica and I hopped in the PT Cruiser and went out to the Shrine which I knew she would love. It was a gorgeous, but chilly morning as we went in the chapel and Arica said a prayer. Then we went down on the rocks, found some tidepool sculpin and a lot more sea stars, and watched the salmon jump some more as the bald eagles were perched on the rocks. Next, we swung by housing and went to Safeway to grab lunch with Jasmin. Then, we were off to Basin Road where we hit the Mount Roberts trailhead and hiked up to the tram. We were going at a nice pace and made it up to 1800 feet in a little over an hour and had some gorgeous views of the city. After a beer at the top, we rode the tram back down, went back to the car, and went out to the Alaskan Brewing Company for a much needed beer. Then we had a great dinner at Lisa's before Arica and I both fell asleep around 9:30pm.

The next day was our eating and shopping day as we went around Juneau and tried everything I had told Arica about...waffles at the Southeast Waffle Company in Auke Bay, crepes (The Crepe Escape lady remembered me from many summers before when I would go get crepes at least once a week), King crab at Tracy's Crab Shack, etc...Then we met my friend, Elizabeth, for some awesome Thai and then went out to buy more souvenirs. That afternoon, we ended up at Sandy beach and The Island Pub on Douglas Island and kept our eyes out for the orcas that had been moving up the channel. We were getting a little discouraged that we hadn't seen a whale yet and were considering whale watching except that it was so expensive. Amazingly, we got home and Lisa told us about a whale watching tour being offered for locals for $45 a ticket so off I went to the mall to get the tickets for the next afternoon. That night, we headed to UAS housing and hung out with Jasmin and her former roommates before heading to downtown Juneau for a night of dancing. It was a crazy, but great night out dancing at The Imperial and The Viking and we ended the night at 3a.m. at Pel Meni's for some late night grub.

The next day, we didn't get up until the late morning and had breakfast with Lisa before making a final run around Juneau for Arica's last day in town. Our stop included some halibut at The Sandbar which was my favorite little dive bar in Juneau. Then that afternoon, we headed out on the Allen Marine Catamaran with the Juneau Lyric Opera on a whale-watching tour. It was awesome!! Within the first 30 minutes, we saw three transient orcas -- a giant male, a female, and a juvenile. Then we headed further north and ran into several groups of humpbacks! Then the captain cut the engine and the sponsors started performing opera ballads for us as the humpbacks were swimming near the boat. Nothing can describe the feeling of leaning against the rail of a boat watching humpbacks in the wild and hearing them blow with opera music playing in the background. It was a very calm, peaceful moment and such a nice ending to Arica's trip north with me. We were full of smiles as we sipped champagne and talked with a woman working at the university as we pulled back into Auke Bay. Unfortunately, the feeling didn't last long as we got home and Arica got some bad news from home -- her 25-year-old cousin was in a plane crash in New York earlier that day and had passed away. It was a pretty rough night for her and I think she was happy she had booked her ticket home for that next morning. She caught the early morning flight and made it safely back to Chicago the next afternoon.

Sunday was a lazy day as I went to breakfast with my friend Sara then hung out with the family and tagged along on a ride to Eagle beach to run the dog. Monday, I picked up Jasmin around 8:30a.m. and we headed to Douglas Island to conquer something on my bucket list -- to hike Mount Jumbo (Bradley), a mountain that rises 3300 feet. I had never hiked an entire mountain in Juneau and had a little bit of the hiking bug after doing the Mt Roberts trail. So off we headed up the "advanced and strenuous" level hike up Mount Jumbo on a beautiful sunny Juneau morning. Things were fine for the first 30 minutes after we walked across some wooden planks and then we hit the advanced part. Most of the trail was straight up crawling among tree roots for stairs and since it was foggy, we could only see that we were hiking into a cloud. About 2 hours later, the fog broke and we could see the peak of the mountain. After going down a wrong side trail, we doubled back and up the peak we went. I hit a wall for a short time, but once we were at the peak, it was just a great feeling!! It was windy and chilly up there, but we had a gorgeous view of downtown Juneau and had a Summer ale and lunch at the top. Then we started the long trek down which went a little faster, but was almost a little tougher. With my short legs, I was on my butt a lot scooting down the steep parts, but I will never regret going up there and the feeling of making it back to the car after starting 7 hours earlier.

Tuesday and Wednesday were both spent recovering. Tuesday we went to the university and saw several friends including Marsha, my former study abroad coordinator!! Then Tuesday afternoon and most of Wednesday were spent shopping and going for drinks downtown with Jasmin. We went all over including the Red Dog where we had a great time getting served by our former roommate and talking with people from the cruise ship. Since Wednesday was my last day in town, I went around doing everything I wanted one last time -- breakfast at the Waffle Company, shopping for souvenirs downtown, a stop at the Friends of the Library bookstore which is the best 2nd hand bookstore ever, a soy chai latte from the Flying Squirrel, and a stop in at DIPAC Macaulay Salmon Hatchery to see lots of marine invertebrates and fishes. Then that night, I ended my visit with a tradition -- a bonfire at Auke Rec. There's nothing better than sitting with friends on those stone steps sipping an Alaskan beer as a fire crackles and watching the boats go by. It was the perfect ending to such a great trip. After a couple hours of sleep, I took a shower, packed, and was at the airport by 5a.m. I got one last glimpse of the glacier as the plane took off and said a silent goodbye to my Alaskan home.

I didn't make it back to Lansing until Friday morning since I got delayed and stayed in Chicago Thursday evening, but as I landed in Chicagoland near Lake Michigan and when I pulled into Lansing and heard the Danny and Monica morning show, I just knew I was happy to be back and so excited to go pick up my puppy. My visit to Alaska was the best I ever had and this time, I didn't feel like I was leaving anything behind. I finally felt like it was still home and always would be even if I only came to visit every few years. I've also realized I'm a lucky person for having made and kept so many great friendships over the years! But for now, I belong in the Great Lakes region and have a dissertation to finish by next April. Let the countdown begin!!!

Videos:

Jumping Pink Salmon: [

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Orcas: [

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Humpback whales: [

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