When the ferry docked in Ketchikan a middle aged man who I had never met before surprisingly approached me as I was waiting outside the terminal, and asked if I was Karin. I told him that I was, and he told me that LC was getting Jamie out of the vehicle, and would be ashore soon.
His name was Buc, and he is from Petersburg. A fisherman. And he and LC struck up a friendship somewhere between Bellingham and Ketchikan.
LC has a way of doing that, and as predicted, although I was pleased that I had even made the effort to carry on brief conversations with a couple of passengers on my ferry down, he on the other hand had easily struck up extensive conversations with many people on his trip to that point.
By the time we arrived in Juneau I had been introduced to a bunch of people, who told me that they had heard a lot about me. And my Mountain Boy had exchanged emails and phone numbers with many of them.
I look now at the pictures that he took on his trip before he reunited with me in Ketchikan, and they are absolutely beautiful.
LC bought his digital camera not long before he left Tennessee. Taking pictures can become a newfound source of great enjoyment. It did for me, and after looking through the 1300 pictures that he took on his very long journey across country, it did for him as well.
When LC left Bellingham it was a beautiful afternoon, and turned into a beautiful evening. The rain, high winds and white caps that I hit on the way down to Ketchikan did not reach the Columbia ferry until sometime overnight that first night. In the meantime, I truly love his ferry sunset pictures.......
My Mountain Boy has now been in Juneau for almost a week.
In that short time we have seen a young bear, many eagles, many whales, many sea otters. Mountains - trails - glaciers - rivers - lakes - more - much much more. And we are beginning to find our way around each other again. We have missed each other so much......
So far he loves it here. Yesterday and today were very very sunny and very warm and we have spent much time outside - choosing to explore and experience, rather than unpacking the multitude of boxes that are sitting unopened downstairs.
Very warm and very sunny days require enjoyment. There will be plenty of days to unpack belongings.
And after the past few months, I sincerely hope that he can now really slow down and relax.
His brother, although he speculated with us that he may stay up here for at least the summer and possibly for good, is now already back in Minnesota. A man who needs something that he has never been able to find. I think that he thought he may find it in Juneau, but that was not the case. As the saying goes "no matter where you go, there you are".
Alaska is not a place to run from things. It is a place to run to with open arms.
Gary found Alaska to be a beautiful, peaceful place. He said a number of times in the few short days that he was here that he had "found paradise". I know that he had a great trip across country, and a wonderful few days here visiting with us.........
And Jamie has already made a break for freedom twice in the past week. The second time was today when she surprisingly climbed out of an open window in the living room right after we left the house. She climbed onto the couch, climbed out the window, walked along a tin roof and jumped about 12 feet down to the ground.
Apparently she ran down the gravel road until she responded to a neighbors' calls to her. Our neighbor brought her back to the house for us, and closed her in on the porch which is where we found her when we got home about three hours later.
After reading our neighbors' note and calling him to thank him for bringing our puppy home, we realized that we are going to have to come up with some kind of system to keep our dog in one place so that she does not run off.
I guess that she just wanted to be with us - but I am grateful as hell that she did not break her legs, or her neck, or get lost.
Climb through a window, walk along a tin roof, jump 12 feet down to the ground, and rescued by a good samaritin neighbor..........it sounds like a freakin' movie.
The ferry terminal in Auke Bay right outside of Juneau, at about 4am last Monday morning. It was a lovely morning.
I have walked around this terminal many times - taking pictures of the ships, boats, birds, mountains, sky, channel. It was a good day to come home with my Mountain Boy.....
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