Traveling with my Tambourine

Hiked Mt. Edgecumbe and on that same weekend it was

 Homeskillet Festival.

Homeskillet happens to be a music festival that is held here in Sitka each year. This year I was lucky enough to be able to go to it. Tickets were reasonable and the bands that were playing ended up being pretty marvelous. I had never heard of any of them and decided to youtube it so I could see what kind of music I was getting myself in the jiggy for. Ended up loving one of the bands "medicine for the people." If you have not heard of them, I reckon, you best be checking them out. They are very delightful people to be with and Hope, their percussionist is hypnotizing when she plays. I hung out with a few of them after their show and finally got the musical courage to whip out my tambourine and play with them. Who would have thought, I'm not musically challenged after all.

About my tambourine:

I do this thing, called traveling with my tambourine, it's kind of my thing, I bring it wherever I go. The first one I bought was in New York City, then I brought it back to Pennsylvania with me. It's name is "Rainee" after one of my good friends who worked with me in PA. From there it took flight with me to Utah and it lived with me there. Then when I moved to Fiji, so did my tambourine, and when I decided to hop, skip and jump to Australia and New Zealand, it also came with me to both those places, and back to Utah. Unfortionately that Tambourine broke, it still works, and I fixed it, but I glued the part together and decided it was time to leave that tambourine behind and get a sibling for it. It is currently living in Utah with my lover still. Needless to say, I invested in a new tambourine for me to travel with here in Alaska. It's name is "Bluebird" and it is very good at keeping me company and and saving me from bear chow.

Rainy:

Bluebird:

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What have I been up too lately, in a visual sense?

Well get some control and use the scroll

to roll on down and indulge.

Nahko and Chase from Medicine for the people.

You can sleep on my floor anytime friends.

Hope: Medicine for the people percussionist.

She is a such a unique individual, very easy going!

Sunset: first night of Homeskillet Festival

Releasing Eagles back into the wild.

Mckay came to visit from Juneau with Jessica (not pictured)

 My couchsurfer and friend from Australia, Gabrielle.

She visited for a couple days and was an excellent adopted roommate for the couple days she was here.

 One of the most beautiful sunsets I saw here in Sitka.

 Fish net hammock my friend Cherissa showed me.

 Rope Swing.

 Of course, I had to jump in, 1, 2, 3, times.

 Had a friend take me on their boat to a float house, then we kayaked, then I fly fished for the first time.

 and I saw my first brown bears in the wild. mama and her babe + other mama and her 2 babes.

My adopted maltese puppy, Sofie.

 Another day, another sunset.

 Hammock time

Meditate...it's great.

Some may say I'm a dreamer, but baby, I'm just a doer. I make ma dreams come true.

Mt. Edgecumbe - Sitka, AK

It twas one of the few days where it was not raining for most the day here in Alaska.

There is a volcano called Mt. Edgecumbe located over on Kruz Off island which is about a 30 minute boat ride from Sitka. 

I knew I had to hike to this volcano the second I saw it and heard it was possible.

So.......

7 miles in

7 miles out

14 miles total

From sea level to 3200 ft up.

on an Island in Alaska

......

Tambourine ....check.

Lucky for me, the weather that day was perfect. Started out cloudy, as we hiked the last 0.6 of a mile (which was thee worst and hardest 0.6 mile I have ever done), the cloud crept up and out of the way so we could view all of our surroundings on top of this volcano. 

I even got sunburnt for the first time ever here in Alaska. 

Proud of that.

I hiked up to the volcano, I sledded down on my rain coat on the side of the volcano (about 0.5 of a mile), I walked around the rim of the volcano, I ate strawberries at the top of the volcano.

I feel accomplished. This was also the longest hike I have done in one day. Not sure what it was before this, but I know it wasn't 14 miles. 

Here are a few of the glamour shots of this amazing hike.

 My adopted hiking group for the first bit.

 Up the last 0.6 miles of the trail, the first part & my temporary walking stick.

 Krikey.

 Yoga on top of Mt. Edgecumbe

At the top of the volcano, meditating, making my mark with peace and tambourines.

Volcano crater.

Balance around the rim of Edgecumbe.

Into the Alaskan Abyss....

Here me rawr...atop this volcano, barefoot.

After sledding down, I feel great.

Hugging trees & saying my goodbyes for now.

Such an excellent day in Alaska!

I got sunshine...in a bag

Lately....

I done thangs. seee.

 Watch whales at the Seamart with the Volcano in the background...

I must hike that while I am here.

Go to crab fest and feast on crab.

 Watch Beautiful Sunsets at the Seamart parking lot.

 Yet another beautiful Sunset in Sitka, Alaska.

 How Beary Cute. Fortress of the bears.

Bahhh. Bahhh. sheep.

 

Run the "Only Fools Run at Midnight" Race

Go Team Worldly Tree Huggers!

note: Best body paint award goes to brooke & kyle

 Thimbleberry Trail, where I ate my first Salmon Berry.

Mushrooms.

Tree Huggers. Tree hugs are free hugs.

Hike up Gavin Trail with my amiga Jheryn. So beautiful.

 Stairs going up gavin trail.

Happy Fourth of July

Hug a tree, it's free.

A sunny day, a sunny slow day, & working

Fireworks, over the water.

Frolicking with my tambourine in Alaska

 Fireweed.

It's raining. I have had zero customers purchase something in the past two hours of work. I just want to curl up in a ball and watch gossip girl. I rented it from the library and it is soothing for me and my leg. I pulled a muscle in the race I ran, but I ran the whole entire race which was 3.1 miles. So high five to the girl with the painted legs. Yes I was dressed and painted as a worldly tree hugger [like the page on fb please]. Super exciting that my team won a prize for best body paint.. OH YEAHHHHHH. I bought some grapefruit juice and a honeydew and it is absolutely delicious. I have one month til a friend comes out to visit and I cannot wait and then I have 6 weeks til my lover comes to visit and I can't can't wait. So excited to see them both! Iyiyiyiiyiyi.

Shitka, I mean Sitka, AK

Hey, holla, hola, errro.

Since the glacier, I have done so many things, I don't think I can keep track, so I am going to make a bulleted list of accomplishments out here.....dun dun dun.

• Hiking
• Hiking
• Hiking
• Hiking onto the Mendenhall Glacier
• Kayaking to the Mendenhall Glacier
• Walking to the Mendenhall Glacier
• Touching the Mendenhall Glacier from my kayak
• Seeing a bear
• Riding in a Seaplane and riding in the pilot (assistant) seat.
• Eating King Salmon
• Eating Halibut
• Eating Crab @ Crab Fest
• Went to Walmart and Costco in Juneau
• Went to St. Therese Shrine
• Went to Eagle Beach and saw my first whale in the wild ever!
• Went to the Salmon Hatchery in Juneau, the fire alarm went off.
• Going on a Whale Tour and seeing whales, humpbacks to be exact.
• Seen soo many bald eagles, had one flutter by my face too.
• Bonfires
• Hula Hooping
• Fishing
• Steamboat ride
• Mt. Roberts Hike and Tram
• Got some gold from a gold panner man.
• Seen a few sea lions and seals
• Did I mention, a gazillion bald eagles
• Owls, the snowy kind.
• Gold Fish racing at Imperial
• Finished Desperate Housewives  final season
• Read some books, have a Juneau Library card, I'm legit.
• Rode the ferry to Sitka
• Totem pole park, been there done that, gonna do it again.
• Rode my bike to all 3 grocery stores in Sitka
• Saw whales on the ferry, saw whales at the grocery store parking lot, I love whales.
• Went to the Rapter center and watched birds, lots of birds, birds are rad.
• Coook, food, for real.

I have done more, but I am at a blanko for words...oh. yeah.

Anyways, short story time....

Yesterday, I got a lot of energy from a bunch of pixy stix and watching the bachelorette. This lead to me taking a bike ride at about 9 pm going, the other way, the road goes two ways, one way and the other way. So anyways, last night I went the other way... my destination was the grocery store, why? So I could say I have been to all 3 grocery stores on the Baronaff Island. So I pedal, pedal, pedal and end up at the grocery store, then suddenly, whale, whale, yes two whales. I go "Oh my Hooozah," and find a nice rock to sit on and try to snap photos of these creatures after completing my whale dance. As I am taking photos, the whales dive down. I can tell this, because they flipped their tails up above the water. I sat there looking and thinking I knew where they were going to come up, then I miss them come up because I was looking in the wrong direction. I hear others murmur and point and then I jump up cause..by golly.. they were getting further away. As I jump up, my phone plumets in the wall of rocks entering a segment within these huge boulders that seemed to be impossible to reach. I quickly asked for strangers assistance, first a light to see if I could see my phone hidden in the rocks, then a broom, stick, duck tape and a flashlight from the grocery store workers. Luckily one came and assisted me as I tried to reach my phone. She could not fit and finnagle her way into the hole in the rocks like I could, So I began to dive into the rocks, first my hands and arms, then my head, then my boobs, then my tummy, and almost my booty. My legs were poking out of the rock wall and thats all you could see. After much fiddling with the metal rod stick and flashlight, I was able to dive deeper into the rock and grasp my cell phone. Then I was basically stuck in the rock, but after time and patience and support from outside the rocks, I was able to jiggle out of the rocks after scraping up my body a bit. Moral of the story, don't do your whale dance and jump up if your phone is on your lap. Why did I care so much? My old phone broke, I got a new one sent to me about 2 weeks ago, and I am in Sitka by myself operating the store and have no other way to communicate with people besides the internet.

The end, hope you enjoyed my pain of diving into rocks and trying to save my cell phone because I got distracted by whales. 



Glacier-Licious

Alright, it's been just over 3 weeks here in the Alaskan abyss and I have learned many things. One is not to anger a porcupine, it may not be able to shoot quills at you, but it can give you an evil eye like no one can. It's true, that happened. Another thing I have learned is that there is gold in the river, I got some gold flakes from a man down by the river.... "I'mmmmmm Rich!!!" Not really though, the gold flakes do not even qualify as a pennies worth.

Guess what it rained, on another note, the sun showed through too. I have now seen 4 almost fully blue sky days with few clouds now. Those days are magical, more magical than disneyland! Also, I went fishing, but not with a fishing pole, just in a way that I watched people fish and that to me qualified as fishing. Oh shoot now, I forgot to mention the bars here, they are interesting, I have finally gone to some with a few friends of mine from around here and they are not like fiji bars, not like utah bars, but alaska funky bars. Funky in the sense that on the dance floor, people wear xtra tuffs (the official alaskan boot). Thats classy up here, people are friendlier when you have xtra tuffs, however, I do not have xtra tuffs, they are a bit pricey and considering the extreme budget I have been cut down too here I cannot afford them.

Have I mentioned the color blue and I that I found a place to enjoy the color blue. I am speaking of a glacier, the mendenhall glacier.. I indulged in a kayaking and canoeing adventure out to the glacier, I touched the glacier and I realize that was not a good idea to get up close to the glacier after I got close. No worries though I got out safe and sound and got some amazing photos, now you can feast on ice, mum, you should enjoi that since you love ice. On another note, the water was so cold exactly the way I like my smoothies that my lover boy makes me. Soooooo cooooooool! Anywho, glacier was amazing... and that is that. Photos to come, sooner or later and more detail too!

Loading up the cars for kayaking!!

Lounging by the glacier

making brownies

kayaking blokes 

ice.ice.baby.