Sitka Vacation

Sitka is an incredibly beautiful place, especially when the sky is blue. And the sky was blue the whole time we were there, so we pretty much just wandered around gaping at the mountains. And of course, I always love lollygagging around docks and perusing the boats, daydreaming and thinking about the names, so we spent a fair amount of time doing that. The best name we saw was El Princessa, which is kind of funny if you know a little Spanish. We also liked these boats, which brought up memories of friends and family – Matty Will, Thor Hammer, and Aunt Ardie.

The highlight of the trip was getting to hang out with our new friend Zerby, friend of our friends Matt and MB here in Bethel, who was kind enough to show us around some of Sitka’s awesome hikes. We checked out Indian Falls the first day, and a couple days later hiked from Harbor Mountain to Gavin Hill and back down
into town. The first hike was a light snack, and it filled us with a false sense of confidence. The latter hike was spectacular, full of amazing views, and just a great experience all around. However, we took a severe beating when it came to the descent. Even today, we are still waddling around on account of our extremely sore calves.

Basically the last part of the hike
involves thousands of stairs down the mountain. It sounds easy – but it’s surprisingly deceptive.

On Sunday, we went out on a surfing mission to Sea Lion Cove, a two hour boat ride from Sitka.

It was just us and a few sea lions on a mile long sandy beach. Our guide was Kevin Griffin, a former Coast Guard helicopter mechanic with no shortage of practical joke stories. If you are looking to surf Sitka, Kevin’s your man. He’s been scoping out all the best spots and pretty much has them dialed in. Incidentally, the day after we got back from our vacation, we heard Kevin’s voice on the radio – Alaska Public Radio Network did a little feature on his role in Sitka’s growing surf scene.

We had a good time. The seas were pretty rough getting out there, and both Zerby and I were concentrating on taking deep breaths to avoid any inopportune vomiting, but it was worth the effort. It was Zerby’s first time surfing, and he caught a few waves. We were pretty stoked about the mission. I do intend to surf Alaska again, but hopefully it’ll involve a slightly more mellow boat ride. Our wetsuits kept us quite warm, which is nice.

(Genevieve foresaw the potential seasickness and wisely abstained from this mission, and instead joined Kevin's wife Willow, their rugrat Kai, and several other new mothers with rugrats on another short Sitka hike).

And now, we are back in Bethel, living the tundra dream. I'll be starting my new job as assistant district attorney in a couple of weeks. Today Genevieve is exactly 20 weeks pregnant, so Revel is currently the size of a large sweet potato. Exciting. We took this shot in his or her honor:

And a Dulcie update: She's doing great. Her bandages came off today. She gets her new prosthesis in six weeks. They are still waiting to confirm that the cancer hasn't spread, but all signs are looking positive. Thanks to all of you who sent out the positive vibes!