The Snow is BACK!

Uh oh! The snow is back!  This is the scene we woke up to this morning. Looks like it's time to bust out the ice scraper once more.



Jonny enjoys his cup of coffee on the porch.



The snow was really coming down!



Of course our little kitty was quite curious about the snow. This is her first time being out in it. She's licking the snow off her whiskers.



She enjoys running around in the woods right next to our condo. This may be the last time she can feel the moss under her paws.



A closeup of her adorable footprints.



If you'd like to see Kiwi's reaction, click HERE.

The spruce boughs were piled high with snow.

We decided to make our way to the glacier to look around at how things have changed. We won't have to worry about bears any more!



On the Moraine Ecology Trail, you can find many beautiful things, no matter what time of year.



Snow is starting to gather on the top of Jonny's hood.



I'm nice and cozy in my knit cap!



I find it absolutely amazing how delicate snow can be. It balances on the tiniest of places. Here, snowflakes cling to the head of this grass.

The snow piling up on these dead plants gives the illusion that these are puffy snow flowers.

Snow balances on the tops of these alder "cones."



The snow on this branch has shifted. It actually no longer rests on anything. The only thing keeping it there is the snow around it. See how it droops below the branch?

Jonny leaves a trail of footprints as he makes his way through the winter wonderland.

The last tinge of color in these autumn leaves is being blotted out by the snow.

At the beach we normally take our guests to for our Whales and Trails tour, everything is whited out.

Ice and snow cover the edges of this stream which flows into the lake.

Snow rests on this beaver dam.

Looking around in the shallow water, you can see snow resting on the tops of the sticks and pebbles in the stream.

The stream from afar.

A very white day at the glacier.

We then decided to make our way to the Trail of Time. At the start of it, we found a mossy trunk covered with snow. See the green moss hanging down?

A beautiful snowy trail.

One of the best things about this trail is the waterfall that gently cascades over the rocks. Well, it's too cold for that, so instead there were TONS OF ICICLES!

 

Rows and rows of long, sharp icicles.

Standing close to these things, we could hear the water dripping from their tips.

The green of this path has been replaced by white.

And to finish off our walk- a snow angel!

If you'd like to see some of our walk on these trails, just click HERE!

Hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did!

Gastineau Guiding End of Season Slideshow

Hey everyone! Jonny and I aren't doing a whole lot as of late.. we're pretty much just sitting around, working on one little project or another, waiting for the snow to arrive.

I realize that we never posted the end of the season slideshow from this summer, so now seemed like a good time to show you all what being a tour guide in Juneau is like! They ended up using a lot of my photos and video from this year. How many times can you spot me or Jonny? Do some of the photos look familiar? Click HERE to check it out!

See you next time!

Testing the Waters

Hi everybody! Today we decided to test the waters! Jonny had an old dry suit that he wanted to test for leaks, so we went for a short dive out at Auke Recreational Area. Because of the huge tidal swing, one must wait for the right moment to go out. We receive two high tides and two low tides a day, and it changes every six hours. The difference is usually somewhere between 17ft to 25 ft in a day from low tide to high tide. Today's tidal difference was one of the highest of the month- over 23ft. High tide is safest, but you can't wait for too much longer after this because the worst time to go out is halfway in between high tide and low tide. The currents are very strong at this time.

We made sure to plan our dive for the proper time, as you can see on our way to the site in THIS video. (Click the link to see it.) The water is spilling out into the wetlands on both sides of the road.

Here we are at Auke Rec!

There's never any surf (which I LOVE for all those who know about my surf entries..) so you can just pop your fins on and hobble right in! It was raining, the air temp was 41, the wind was blowing, and the surface was quite choppy.

Jonny suits up for the dive! This is a special type of exposure suit. It's designed to keep the user completely dry underneath. He's got on some fleece undergarments, so he was nice and toasty. I, however, did not have this luxury, as you can clearly see below.

I felt a little iffy about doing this, because I knew how cold it was going to be, but I thought it would be fun anyway. This is a 7mm wetsuit. It's fine for cold California kelp dives, but for Alaska I'd much rather stay dry. My suit is designed to allow a layer of water in between my skin and the neoprene. Then my body heats the water and keeps me warm. What got me first were my fingers, toes and ears.

Jonny's all set!

And my tank's on and ready to go!

We walked out, slipped on our fins, did a short surface swim away from the shore. Jonny's suit didn't leak, but it was so cold that his natural body heat created condensation on the inside. This only happens in extreme cold.

And THIS is what we saw!

Maybe it will be a bit clearer next time. Needless to say, we didn't stay in the water for very long. There wasn't a whole lot to see! The water was only about 45 degrees, so we were ready to go back to land after a short time.

Hope our next dive is better!

First Snow!

Juneau had its first snow the other day!

A mix of rain and snow fell at sea level locations such as Taku Inlet, Downtown Juneau, and Lena Point. Temperatures at sea level are hovering in the low to mid 30s in the evenings. There isn't any snow accumulation at sea level yet. Elevation areas above 400 feet including Eaglecrest Ski Resort are expected to see a few inches of fresh powder.

A friend of ours posted what she did with the first snow of the season.

There wasn't any snow at our condo yet.. it fell as rain instead. And it's expected to rain and rain and rain for quite a while longer. The snow is on its way!

Stay warm out there!

Night of the Living Locals- Updated with more pics!

Hi everybody! Happy October!

We're starting things out right! Last night, Jonny and I participated in the most amazing thing ever... a zombie flash mob!! This is the third year that Juneau has done this. Basically, if you want to participate, all you have to do is show up at the Evergreen Cemetery at 7:00 PM dressed up like a zombie.

This is what the Evergreen Cemetery looks like during the day.

It was established in 1887 to replace the older cemetery on Chicken Ridge, near Main Street, when that location was staked as a gold mine. If you look around the grounds, you can see some interesting graves. Among them are the resting places of Joe Juneau (died March, 1899, buried August 16, 1903), and Richard Harris (died October 11, 1907, buried December 28, 1907), co-founders of Juneau. You can also see the funeral pyre of Chief Kowee who guided Juneau and Harris through the area. Bernard M. Behrends, and his wife, Virginia Pakle Behrends, pioneer residents of Juneau from December 1887 are also buried here. Behrends Avenue is named in his honor. Some others are Charles W. Carter, mayor of Juneau 1913–1914, Waino Edward Hendrickson, mayor and territorial governor of Juneau 1946–1959, and Daniel Lyon, who died in 1948 saving the mayor from an assassination attempt.

The old graveyard is drenched in eerie green light and filled with fog rolling between the ancient tombstones. You then slowly zombie walk with the horde, moaning and groaning through the downtown streets, past the Governor's Mansion, eating brains and swarming the zombie hunters along the way.

Then all the zombies amass in front of the Capitol Building for a huge group picture.

Continuing through the downtown streets, you can see terrified onlookers peering out through the shop windows.

Eventually most zombies make their way to the Rendezvous Bar. All one has to do for a decent drink is to limp up to the bar and moan "BRRAAIINSS..." to the bartender. If you do, this is what you get!

These creepy BrainShots were eerily sweet.

Here's Zombie-Jonny, having a good time in his "I LOVE BRAINS" t-shirt.

Hanging out with our zombie pals.

The winner of the dance contest was dressed up as a zombie from the computer game "Plants Vs. Zombies." Here we are posing with his sunflower.

After the horde reaches the bar, there is a huge costume contest and zombie dance party!

If you'd like to see some zombie dancing, just click HERE!!

If you'd like to see the rest of the photos submitted to the newspaper, check out the galleries HERE. And have a spooky October!