Of all the ridiculously crazy and busy days I have had since arriving in Juneau this one was one of the most ridiculous and crazy. And busy.
I had a meeting scheduled in the center of town at 8am this morning, made the mistake of going to my office before the meeting and ended up calling to say that I was going to be late for my meeting. Pseudo-emergency, fire put on hold and off to my meeting.
There is a huge native Alaskan special event happening in various locations around Juneau over the next few days that I really want to take the opportunity to see at least in part:
and ridiculously I crossed the street directly in front of the opening parade this morning while rushing to my meeting.
I could hear the music and caught glimpses of the primarily red and black costumes that made up this very colorful parade, as I was passing by.
Two meetings and back to my office and multiple pseudo-emergencies later I realized that I was not going to get done with work early enough at the end of the day to go down to Marine Park and catch the outdoor dance groups that were scheduled to perform. Damn.
By the end of my day all I wanted to do was put as much space between me and Juneau as I could, and I gladly headed out of town - away from Juneau, away from Mendenhall Valley and Out the Road to the sanctuary of peace and quiet.
I truly truly love living out there.......
On my drive home tonight I realized how wound I was, and was not ready to be at the house yet, so pulled down the road just past the Ferry Terminal. I stayed in a condo on this road for a few weeks after I first moved to Juneau - staying with a colleague until I moved into an extended stay hotel for another month downtown.
I knew from my explorations that there was a rocky beach at the end of the dead-end road that I could walk on and slow down on.
The picture (above) is of a ferry close to the terminal on what turned out to be another very warm and partially sunny day..........
I spent an hour wandering on a rocky beach, looking at the water and mountains and trying to slow down. While talking to my Mountain Boy I put the phone down to the waves so he could hear them. He is in beautiful Montana right now.......
Right after I got divorced (three years ago now) I spent six weeks at a campground. It was the only way that I could get caught up on bills that I had, and it was a place to hold up until I could take possession of the house I had just bought.
My colleagues and friends at work down in Tennessee at the time, thought that I was living a challenging life at that point - "roughing it" and struggling - but in truth I loved those six weeks. I was staying at a really lovely campground, and had a great site by the lake.
And after a tough marriage and tough divorce, it was peaceful and quiet. I loved every minute that I was out there.
Beside my tent were two trees close to each other, and the branches and trunk of one tree had grown around the branches and trunk of the second tree. I called it my "hugging tree" because it looked like one was hugging the other.
Today I found my hugging tree in Alaska.
It's funny sometimes what unexpected thing can calm you when you feel unsettled.
A few weeks ago, during a stop at the Ferry Terminal it was a brief and friendly conversation with three rugged-looking men who had set up tents in the corner of a grassy area in the parking lot beside the terminal building. They were waiting patiently for the ferry to Soldotna, and my brief talk with them and my brief visit with their beautiful, big friendly dogs calmed me down.
Another day last week it was offering to take pictures of tourists at the glacier. Couples were taking turns taking pictures of each other, and were happy that I offered to photograph them together with the glacier in the background.
Over the weekend it was walking to Peterson Lake - a very quiet and beautiful place that you cannot drive to. I walked for two hours to get to it, and I was happy that I had found it, and greatly enjoyed eating lunch beside this quiet lake before heading back.
This morning it was a brief conversation with what I think may have been a homeless man who was sitting on a bench petting his little chihuahua. I stopped for a few minutes to talk to this friendly guy and pet his little dog, before moving on again. I liked that I stopped, and by the smile on the mans' face I think that he liked that I stopped as well......
Tonight it was finding a hugging tree.
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