Today I was working at the University of Alaska Southeast Community Days On Campus.
Last week I was at the Juneau Maritime Festival downtown alone, but this weekend had a colleague working with me, who I did not know well but whose company I greatly enjoyed.
The event featured activities, booths and a variety of jazz, folk and brass band music for the whole family, and with the weather happily still remaining very warm and sunny, it was a nice day to be doing such a thing.
The picture above is actually of a very large painting on the wall inside one of the buildings on campus. It seemed very appropriate for a campus that is located so close to lakes, rivers and the channel in the SE.
UAS is a beautiful campus located in Auke Bay - very small, very inviting and welcoming, beautifully landscaped, and surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains.
It is a campus in stark contrast to where I went to school in Toronto and even more of a stark contrast to where my oldest son went to school in middle Tennessee (a behemoth of a campus of 28,000 students).
Ever since I knew that I would be moving to Juneau I have been toying with the idea of trying to find some way (in between a real job) of taking their Outdoor Skills and Leadersip Certificate program:
The program has nothing to do with my current job, and at this stage in my life I don't even know what I would do with it even if I were able to find some way to take the program.......
Until I started training for, and then racing in Adventure Racing I was never an "outdoor person".
I had been an athlete in one form of another (karate, judo, running, strength training) my whole life, but started training for Adventure Racing when I was about 40.
Old by most athletic standards, but not so old when it comes to a sport that requires not only physical stamina and a wide variety of athletic skills, but also the ability to reason, adapt, pace, and keep moving ahead for many hours and sometimes for many days in (often) very challenging circumstances.
In short, AR was a sport that required skills over and above the athletic, making it ideal for experienced athletes looking for a new challenge........
I learned about the outdoors, and then learned to love the outdoors through my training for this sport, and because of that Adventure Racing will always be dear to my heart.
This is the same raven that I took a picture of a couple of months ago - a very unusual large metal sculpture. Ravens, eagles and totem poles are seen in many places and in many forms throughout Juneau, and recognizes the importance of these symbols for both native Alaskans and the general Juneau population.
This event was nowhere near as large as the one I attended last weekend downtown, but it was a very low-key event for the family on a beautiful Saturday on a long weekend, and as such was nice to be a part of.
One of many orchestras and bands that played music throughout the day.....
As with the miner statue downtown last week, the significance of the raven statue was lost on the smallest of Juneauites. Just one more fun place to play............
UAS is directly adjacent to Auke Lake, and there are many views of both the lake and the snow capped mountains visible from the campus.........
My Mountain Boy happily sounds relaxed, rested and excited about the rest of his trip. After all of the work he did and all of the stress he felt down in Tennessee it is very very good to hear him sound relaxed and enjoying his visit in Minnesota.
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