Juneau in 30 Days

A soundtrack for this post:

It's here.  Thirty days left until I leave Juneau.  

Do I want to talk about it?  No.  

Am I happy about it?  Yes and no.  

But let it be resolved that while I am still here I will make the best of it, I will enjoy it, and I will squeeze everything I can out of this fair city of ours before I kick the Juneau bucket in a month.  Because I absolutely refuse to look back on this experience and say, "I lived in Alaska for three-ish years and I didn't _________ ?!?!?!?"

My Alaska Bucket List:

• Drive to the Glacier to pick up the International Year of Forests posters. 
• Hike as much as possible.  Trails to include:  West Glacier Loop, Gastineau Meadows, Perseverance, finally summit Mount Roberts (for real this time) and possibly a chunk or all of Mount Juneau
• Pick out a Tlingit paddle with Kip
• Photograph, photograph, photograph! Especially make sure to shoot the mine ruins past Sandy Beach
• Go camping
• Actually see a whale breach--I've seen one spout, I've seen a fluke, but I've never seen one breach
• Kayak at the Shrine 
• Restaurants to make one last run to:  Tracy's Crab Shack, the Sandpiper, Empanada Dorada
• Put together a box of Alaskan goodness for Ainslie when she gets older, so she can learn more about where she was born
• Send smoked salmon to Dr. Zelle
• Pick blueberries (THIS YEAR I WILL FIND THEM!!!!!!!!)
• Walk the Airport Trail the whole way
• Have matching kuspuks made for me and Ainslie
• Swim in the glacier runoff (but only if we have a significant stretch of warm days)
• Go gold panning with Sarah Morin

All of this in addition to normal moving type things and seeing friends as much as I can, etc.  It was actually kind of nice to sit for awhile and think of things I'd like to do in Alaska, because really....I've already done the vast majority of it.  If I had to sit and make a list of all the cool things I've done here that I wanted to, it would be much longer.  Regrets?  I only have one: I wish I'd been able to take Ainslie for a walk in Anchorage before we left in October; the trees on the trail by the university looked really neat, but it just wasn't possible.