A few of us hiked this trail over the weekend. It was about 2 miles one way. It was a good hike. There are two lakes. We only made it to the lower lake because the trail to the upper lake is still covered with snow. We were hoping to see a bear or two but had no luck. I haven't seen a bear yet although my landlord has taken pictures of bears on the property where I live. I always miss out on all the excitement. One of these days I will see a bear before I leave.
Well, I attempted to do some hiking in the snow but that did not last too long. One day I took a drive up the mountain and came across some snow. I decided to take a short stroll in my keens but then my feet started to freeze. Needless to say, I turned back and had to find a dry spot along my way back. There is still snow and its now June. Its been a crazy winter/spring here. Might as well add - a crazy summer, too. Always "good times in AK!"
I spent about 4 days in Miami for a standard setting study for NBCOT. It was nice to get out of Ketchikan and get some sun for a few days. It was hot and of course, humid in Miami. One of these pictures is of downtown Miami and other one is of me from my balcony. I stayed in this junior suite. I had the whole place to myself. It was great; however, I did get a sick during my travels. It doesn't help when its hot outside and then to go inside to a freezing air conditioned room. I also experienced jet lag and time zone change (only a four hour difference). It made an quite interesting trip; however, I survived!
Every year before the tourist start rolling in, Ketchikan does this "tourist for a day" event. There are about 10-12 tours that take place where you can either pay a discounted price or it's free. My co-worker was able to get the duck tour and the zipline. I've never done the the duck tour and it was actually fun. I was able to learn more interesting facts of Ketchikan. Saturday was a fun filled day for me and I was exhausted at end of the day. It was fun being a tourist for the day and it was even better to pay discounted prices for the tours we went on.
All I can say is... it was awesome!! I went with a few of my co-workers, Anne (OT Traveler) and Kelly (PT Traveler). There were about 8 ziplines. We had a fun group of 8 people. It was pretty amazing ziplining through the Rainforest of Alaska. The rain started to come down pretty hard towards the end of the tour and the weather also got really cold. OF course, we had to end our clear day streak of 7 and have it rain on tourist day. Figures! Anyways, if any of you come to Ketchikan, I recommend doing this tour. How do you like my reindeer picture?
The past few days have been absolutely beautiful. Today is day 3 of clear skies which has not been like this since I've been here (at least it feels like it). Supposedly its going to be clear for a couple of more days. Yeah!! This weekend I did a couple of short hikes and had a BBQ with some co-workers. Its been a very nice and relaxing weekend. These pictures is of the moon reflecting off the water and the other one is of an eagle. Eagles are everywhere! Wild life here is amazing!
