We'll See

I spent the day at a career fair in Juneau - displays set up from employers that ranged from the military to the city government to the state government to private organizations.  A good, productive and successful day.

One of the pictures I took of the event included this display by the Juneau PD.  I posted it for my retired cop Mountain Boy.....

My youngest son is somewhere outside of Iraq now, and on his way home.  A huge relief.  Can't wait to hear from him, and for him to tell me that he made it OK. 

When I was talking to him last night, my free-spirit son was excited about many things - the prospect of alcohol and girls.  And of course getting to drive his vehicle again.  I was up in NJ where he is based last August (the last time I saw him), and he LOVES his vehicle.  A Suburban?  Or Escalade?  Or some other gas-guzzling black oversized SUV.......

Like the 24 year old he is, he loved to floor it when we drove under underpasses - just to hear the darn thing roar (and it does).  He calls it a "manly truck" - my testosterone driven youngest child. 

At one point (on the way to one of those crazy NJ beaches that costs money to enter ($8 I think), he coasted by a cop who had pulled over a vehicle.  I asked him why he did that, and he told me that he couldn't hit his brakes because his brake lights were out, and couldn't hit the gas because he has straight pipes and he'd get busted for the noise.  I wasn't sure whether to laugh or just shake my head in resignation.  I did both, then had him stop at a parts store so he could get what he needed to fix his brake lights.

He's coming home with a large wad of cash in his pocket.  I have asked him to hold off on buying anything new - just for the first two weeks.  Last time he got home from Iraq he blew through his money as fast as anyone I have ever seen spend a crap-load of cash.  I am hoping that he has grown up a little since then, will take a step back and think before he heads out to eagerly face the salesmen who will see him coming from a mile away.....

We'll see.

I stopped briefly in Auke Bay on the way home tonight.  Just to catch my breathe after yet another very hectic day (career fair and unavoidable meeting in the middle of it - on the run again).

This cove is quiet, peaceful, beautiful.  I drive by it every day going back and forth to work, and always look out to see the boats, the water and mountains.  This is also the same view that I can see from the huge windows at my favorite restaurant in Juneau (Booyah Grill):

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/73/1479254/restaurant/Alaska/Booyah-Grill-Juneau

I suspect that it may not be a quiet place for much longer.  The wheels of tourism are starting to grind - maybe the tour buses and the masses don't come this far out.  But I think that they do. 

We'll see.........