The weather in Alaska is …incredibly surprising right now. Normally Alaska is…well…Alaskan. It’s rainy, it’s wet, it’s definitely the opposite of warm.
Except this week
The weather hasn’t broken yet. Our all day call in Juneau today was beyond breathtaking. Amras had IPM, but I have somehow been released from the IPM rotation (no one has the slightest clue how that happened or how long it will last) so I’m able to go out whenever I want until further notice.
I spent most of the time wandering through bookstores, because you never know what you might find. Case in point: much to the extreme joy of my inner geek, I found a copy of Buffy Season 8: Volumes 3 & 4! I have been looking for those for almost two years! The series has moved onto season 11 so it’s almost impossible to find the first set of graphic novels now. So I now have 1 of the two and am hoping that I can get the next one next cruise. Ha! I finally get to know all the bits I didn’t know yet!
Having satisfied my inner nerd, I took the tramway up Mount Roberts where I spent the remainder of the afternoon walking/hiking up the looping mountain trails, pausing every so often to snap picture of the carvings that have been etched into the trees, and hoping that I was not going to provide a tasty morsel for a passing bear (it happens, though thankfully not often!). Days like this you can feel the trees and undergrowth growing, reaching up towards the rare bright sunlight. The fresh air clears out the cobwebs from the back of my mind and leave all the corners feeling clear and refreshed.
The hike up to the top of the trail loop was intense, probably more climbing then I’ve done in a long long while. But the view from the top? Absolutely worth it. Alaska makes you feel so…tiny. I don’t mean that in a bad way, I mean it in an oddly reassuring way – somehow the vastness of these mountains, the intensity of the colours, the sheer size of it all…it gives me a sense of hope. As if there is something here, something at the very core of this place, that we cannot touch, cannot destroy, cannot harm. No matter what terrible things we do to the world, I am sure these mountains will stand long after we are but a memory…
I really really need to get myself outside more often…
I’m glad you had an enjoyable refreshing and recharging day. Have fun getting out and doing all the things you enjoy while you’re able, before they put you back on the IPM rotation. In one of those odd things that happen sometimes, I just bought Master Buffy Omnibus Volume 1 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus series) for His Kindle. I hope you have success finding the next one you want.