The Briefest Of Chances

The boat with a great name down at Aurora Harbor downtown this afternoon.

The air was very dry, the sky was valiantly trying but mostly not succeeding in staying bright and blue, and it was very very cold.

I think I jinxed it.  One day a little over a week ago I titled one of my blogs Rain High 44, and made the observation that the weather for months had been almost consistently the same.

Rain.

High 44.

Within just a couple of days of making that stunning observation it stopped raining and the temperature dropped.

LC called me today.  He is where he was finally headed.

Temperatures between 68 and 72.

When he asked me what the temperature was like here I told him between 28 to 32.

Aurora Harbor is located close to downtown, and is bordered by the Juneau-Douglas Bridge on one side and the Juneau Yacht Club on the other side.

I did not stay long today because it was cold and truthfully my wanderings along the piers got old very quickly.

Regardless, I love this place just as I love the harbor over on Douglas Island and the harbor out at Auke Bay.

Most of the recreational boats are now gone for the season or winterized and floating dormant. 

There are many hard working fishing boats at Aurora Harbor.

At Auke Bay you see many small recreational boats and many very large, extravagant and hugely expensive boats during the boating season.

Not so much downtown. 

Slightly more humble boats and a lot more obviously hard working fishing boats.

I love them all, and find all of the harbors in the area very interesting and always a calm place to walk and explore.............

These two Coast Guard guys (Coasties) quickly walked to the end of every pier, turned around, walked to the next one, rinse and repeat.

They seemed relaxed but cold, and I had the impression that they were strictly walking for exercise...........

"The Triplets" in the background.

The air has been so cold and so dry recently that I do not believe that any snow at all has fallen over the past week, even up in the mountains.

Much to the chagrin of would-be skiers who are anxiously watching the skies and the mountains and crossing fingers for snow so Eaglecrest can open.............

Two surprises when I went to pick up ferry tickets tonight after work.

The first was that I had forgotten about the 30% discount I could receive for taking a mirror return trip.

It is not every day that you end up paying less for a service than you think you will have to.  COOL!

The second was that the return from Sitka is not until the second of December.

I checked the schedule and ticket availability all last week and the return trip left Sitka at 5:30pm on December 1, arriving in Juneau at 2:15am on December 2 (meaning that I could make it to work by late morning).

Tonight when I bought the ticket and again when I checked the schedule online at home I realized that the trip has been changed. 

It now leaves on the 2nd early afternoon and arrives here in Juneau at 6:30pm

It was a choice of returning on Sunday or returning on Thursday.

There is no good time to be away from my job these days so it is what it is.

I'm not coming back on Sunday, will not be back to work until Friday and the world will continue to turn.

People think I will be bored spending that much time in Sitka in the winter.

Somehow I don't think that I will be bored............

One of many shrink-wrapped boats seen throughout all harbors at this time of year..........

I took this picture because there is nothing like this art work at any other boat harbor in town.

It provides many smiles and begs questions - who??  why??

I somehow imagine grandchildren being encouraged to colorfully make their mark on grandpa's fishing boat.

I don't know the real story for certain of course, but I loved the the color, the simplicity, and the unpretentiousness of it all.............

I did not spend a lot of time at the harbor.

Maybe 15 very very cold minutes.

But they were nice and quiet and calm minutes, and I had the briefest of chances to be outside by the water and close to these boats.

Not a bad way to spend a short time............