Mendenhall Glacier Part 1 6.16.2010

Quent went to Juneau for work. He stopped by the Mendenhall Glacier one evening and took some specktacular shots:

Mendenhall Glacier Part 2 6.16.2010

Buses filled with tourists from the cruise ships.

Downtown Ketchikan 6.13.2010

Visitors 6.2.2010

Our first visitors for the summer arrived. It was Quent's sister Natasha and her friend Woodsen. They spent 10 days with us. Natasha has visited us each year we have been married, minus one or two years. She wasn't going to miss another year and we weren't going to let her get away with missing another year, so she came! The first site we took them to was Totem Bight Historical Park.

Killer Whales 6.4.2010

We were driving along the highway when we spotted a pod of killer whales swimming along shore. We parked at the next turn-out and jumped out to watch them swim and to take pictures. It was awesome! These were the first killer whales I had seen in my life, so I was pretty excited! There were probably 40+ whales that passed by us.  I'm so glad we were able to share the excitement with Natasha and Woodsen!  Did I mention we have a guest room?

Starfish 6.4.2010

Up, Over, & "lost" 6.4 & 6.5.2010

I dropped the group off at the Silvis Lake trailhead, wished them fun, and then I cruised back home.  They had quite a journey ahead of them, plus some!  They went up the Silvis Lake trail, to the John Mountain trail, back to the Silvis Lake trail, and so on.  The plan was to stay the night at the Deer Mountain cabin.  Around 9:30 pm I got a phone call from Quent and he said they were on the wrong mountain.  "The wrong mountain?"  Oops!  The snow had covered some of the trail markers and they took the wrong turn.  I reminded Quent that he should be so glad I wasn't with them because I do not like those kind of surprises.

Before they all headed to bed, Quent stayed up and dug a small snow cave because he could see rain coming in the distance.  In the middle of the night they all moved into the snow cave.  From what they shared with me, it was small and there was water dripping into the cave and getting their sleeping bags wet.

Yeah, it looks a little wet.

Around 3:30 pm the next day Quent called and said they were at the Deer Mountain cabin.  Natasha was taking a nap.  It sounded like they were pretty exhausted from all of the hiking through the snow.  I'm proud of Natasha.  She's quite the trooper!  I wouldn't have been...  It turned out being about a 16 mile hike.  They made it back down to the Deer Mountain trailhead around 7:00 pm.  I had pizza and a warm/dry house waiting for them.  We decided it would be best to take it easy the rest of their visit with us.

Lunch on a rock 6.6.2010

After church we drove to north to Settler's Cove and had a picnic lunch of cold pizza on a rock. It was a beautiful spot overlooking the ocean. It was a "warm" Southeast Alaskan day, so there was a lot of people soaking up the sun on the beach and swimming. We enjoyed the time we had here together and there were a lot of laughs.

Quent and Woodsen would spot schools of fish swimming near the shore. We were hoping to see more killer whales.

Badminton 6.7.2010

It was a beautiful day! We enjoyed playing badminton with Woodsen and Natasha in our yard. I played a couple of games and then just enjoyed watching them play and taking pictures. They were pretty hilarious!

To Prince of Wales we go 6.8.2010

One thing we planned to do with Natasha and Woodsen while they were visiting was to take them over to Prince of Wales to stay in cabins and take in the wonder of the island.

We boarded the IFA "Stikine" fast-ferry to Prince of Wales mid-afternoon. It was gorgeous weather!! It was my first time seeing Clarence Strait with crystal clear weather. We ate Subway for dinner, played card games, I knit, and we just enjoyed the smooth trip over. This would be my (Christina) first time on POW.