Alaska Seven: Take the Trip

 

A trip worth taking

I had an eight hour layover in Juneau (plus another overnight in Seattle) and I had a choice to make. I could either save my dwindling funds and stay in the airport, and read and write. Or I could maybe spend some money I didn't really have and leave the airport to see a bit of Juneau, Alaska. 

I decide to take the trip.

I didn't regret it. It was a bit incongruous to be standing amidst the magnificent natural grandeur of Mendenhall Glacier and the surrounding area, while getting text messages and then phone calls that things had taken a serious turn at home. But I'm still glad I took the trip.  Home stress was going to happen whether I was in the airport or at the glacier. I might as well have been at the glacier.

Because I was alone and had plenty of time, I was able to do what I always want to do but usually can't: Everything.  I walked every available trail, visited every overlook, read every sign, and studied every exhibit in the visitors center.  It took  me about two hours and that it included taking time out to talk to Babs and others back in Ohio. Here's a few pics.

My first stop was Steep Creek, where the salmon are just now returning to spawn. We were able to see a few and I tried to get a picture though I don't know if they showed up in the photo below.

Much of the Steep Creek trail was closed due to the number of bears that show up this time of year to feed on the spawning salmon.  There were bear warnings everywhere around the glacier.

This was about as close as I could get to Mendenhall Glacier. The photo doesn't really do it justice. The Glacier was HUGE compared to the Shakes Glacier that I visited with Chris and Aidan.

Nugget Falls, a large cascade off to the right of the glacier. This is where I got the text message about what was going on at home and I find that most of my photos after this have a distracted quality.  This pic of Nugget isn't that good, but it's the best of the bunch.

This is a pretty decent photo of Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls. I believe I took this at the overlook near the Visitor's Center.  There is another photo overlook a lot closer that I also visited but I guess I neglected to take any pictures there?  Again, I was distracted.

A little less than two years before my dear friend Chandra passed away unexpectedly, she wrote in a Facebook Message to me, "I hope to SEE YOU sometime soon!  Life is too short!!!"  She had no idea when she wrote those words how true they were and they haunt me now. Because we never did get our families together.  Time ran out.  Since she died, I have found a growing desire to maintain the connections with the people that are dear to me.  I had often said for years that I ought to go up and visit Chris and Carissa in Alaska.  It was one of those things you always intend to do "one of these days."  Well, this year, in the wake of Chandra's death, I decided "one of these days" was now.  As the summer approached, I had a choice to make.  There was an endless list of things I could spend my vacation pay on--with an older house, there is always something that needs fixing or improving.  Or I could spend that money on a trip to Alaska to see my old friends.

I decided to take the trip.

And I didn't regret it.  (Indeed, when I think back I don't think there is any trip that I've taken that I've regretted).  So here's my advice:  Take the trip. Chris and Carissa are the types of friends that I could just announce that I wanted to visit and they said "come on over."  Who are the Chris and Carissa's in your life?  Whoever they are,  get in touch with them.  And make real, concrete plans to get together with them.  Life is short, as Chandra observed.  Shorter than we may know. I'm finding there aren't really that many things that matter, in this life but relationships with good people are among those few things that do.  

So what are you waiting for?  Take the trip!