alaska

i went to alaska! cait works for bluehouse ski company and they were taking a little company ski trip up to alaska to go heli skiing. they needed 10 people for the trip and they had an extra spot which cait offered to me. in my typical fashion, i said maybe, then no, then maybe, then back to no. two weeks before they left i decided i actually did want to go, and lucky for me they still had a spot for me.

quite honestly, the conditions were not epic alaska like you see in the movies (as i learned, those fresh snow, blue sky days are actually hard to come by. especially for mid april in juneau) but it was still the greatest trip! flying in the chopper and in skiing big mountains with no one else in sight was awesome. i LOVED it! so did the rest of the crew and before the week was even half over we were planning our trip to haines next year. the people, in the end are the ones that made the trip so memorable and fun. i only knew one person well, but by the end of the week we were all friends.

the people are the ones that have to make a trip like that, especially when you spend-as chuck described it-3 days in the gnar, 4 days at the bar. it rained...A TON. in juneau when it's raining there is really nothing to do besides sit in your hotel room, or sit in a bar. even though i do not drink and spent 4x more time in a bar that week than i have in my whole life, it was a great time. who knew they have Wii, pool tables, karaoke, and so much more going on at a bar in the middle of the day.

so the skiing and travel comrades were great, but the people and food of juneau just added to the experience. the people there were absolutely incredibel. so nice, generous, friendly, weird, fun, and interesting. i really think i learned something from every single one of them. one thing they all taught me was what good food tastes like. bbq's, bon fires, pub food, and brunch. all of the food was A-MA-ZING! we got a hotel room with a kitchen in so we could cook...and then we ate out almost every meal.

the locals we met also gave us some great suggestions of sites to see, despite the rain. my favorites were the shrine of st. therese and mendenhall glacier. the rain just made them even more of an adventure and more beautiful!

so i went on a ski trip to juneau, alaska. if i went back there, it would be for the food and the people, not the skiing. and that doesn't bother me one bit. i have pictures of the trip on my picasa album. click on the 'check out my picasa album' link or the picture below it on the top of the left menu. enjoy!