4th of July Parade

This was the first time we ventured to the downtown parade in Juneau.  We used to live on Douglas Island and would watch the Douglas parade and then head over to Saviko Park for the "after the parade" fun. Now that we live in the valley things are a little different.

Having lived in larger communities I had expected tons of people fighting for the best spot to see the parade.  Not so here which made me very happy.  We arrived at 8am to drop off my son (he was in the parade).  I was going to set up our chairs then when I saw that the streets were empty.  There were a few folks that were setting up for 4th of July family parties but other then that it was quite.

Juneau's Civil Air Patrol Honor Guard ~ From Left Airman First Class Peterson (my son)

Incredible Vintage Car

Gov. Parnell and his wife, Sandy

It was great.  We set up our seats at 9ish but we really didn't need to get out there until 10am to get the best seats.  These were the best seats that I have ever had, anywhere. One of the highlights for the kids is the endless candy that get thrown to them. All the kids come with bags in hand.

As much as I love the sweets the fact that it didn't rain and the sun peaked out from the gray made my day!  The weather was cool, about 50's-60's.  All in all, it was an enjoyable afternoon.  Next year we will head over to the island and watch the soap box derby.

Fun at the Beach!

Juneau,Alaska
Spring  at Auke Village 

This weekend we and a couple families from our homeschool program enjoyed low tide at Auke Village or lovingly know as Auke Rec.


Days with low tides are enjoyed by both kids and parents.  Everyone picks up a bucket, rubber boots, and a shovel. It's great when the kids get there.  they come running down the path with buckets all excited about the morning.  We get a fire started, put the goodies on the picnic table and get dragged down to the water for the hunt.


I just noticed how well my little boy has adjusted to the chilly weather.  He is wearing a t-shirt and it must have been in the 50's with a drizzle.  I wore a jacket.


The beach was covered with muscles and seaweed.  Every time I would take a step I felt like I was destroying a muscles life.  It was unavoidable.

Muscles on the beach.

There were so many interesting creatures to see both on the beach and in the waters.  There were porpoises fishing for something probably a school of fish (duh).  Did you know that hermit crabs are very alien looking?  I had no idea that the end that is in the shell was the way it was.  I'm not even sure how to describe it.  

The "Alien" hermit crab without his shell

See how it resembles a snail shell but it's soft and wormy looking.  Weird.  

It was a great beach day, great company, great fire, and those pesky crows.  That's another posting.
When was the last time you were at the beach?

Metal Festival (is that what they call music?)

Last night was fantastic!  Our young family friend is a dynamic man.  I first met him when he was stage managing Mikado. I remember him making an impression on me because he here was a high school student working with and managing an adult production.

Now here he is producing, probably Juneau's first, Metal Festival. And it rocked!  That says alot for someone who has never, even when I was young(er), liked metal.  There had to have been from 50 to 70 young people there along with several overseeing parents. 

Hopefully in the next few days I'll have photos to post because my son was the videoographer.  We will surly miss our friend when he heads out to my home, California, to go to Camp Pendleton for Marine boot camp.  Serving our country.

Watch out California because here he comes!

Favorite Coffee Stops

Well, we thought today was going to be a rainy day but the sun managed to sneak out.  I love to see the sun here in Juneau.  When the sun shines it makes you want to get out of the house even if it's to run errands.

Of course, you need a cup of coffee to get you out of those rainy day moods and bring in the sunshine.  I actually needed two cups of coffee.  I started at Vintage Fare in the Nugget Mall.  They always have a experimental coffee drink. I think todays was called Banana Split.  I didn't try it.  I bought my usual soy latte with sugar free caramel.  It sounds like I'm on a diet.  Nope. Just getting older.

Then later in the day it was time to stop and get another cup of coffee.  This time I went to Thibbs drive-thru.  They are on Vanguard.  They always ask me how I want my drink.  And I always have great conversations there.  Very brief but always good.

Heat My House!

I haven't posted in a long while.  Partially because I have been so frustrated with heating the house we are renting.  Can you imagine paying $700 to pay for home heating?  Some people are paying even more.  That's is outrageous to me.  When I lived in the Florida Keys I paid less to keep cold.

Of course it is due to the rising costs of oil.  Right now a gallon of gas is $4.14 at the local Fred Meyers.  I know that gas is at $4.25 in Lake Forest, California.  Crazy!  


The break down was $400 for electric and $465 for oil last month.  We are applying for heating assistance through the State of Alaska.  The deadline ended in April.  The other option is a program called RurAL CAP.  They will come to your home and evaluate it's energy efficiency.  Depending on many variables they can help you weatherize your home.

We started thinking the best option for us was to relocate ourselves.  That is a whole other story.

RurAL CAP

State of Alaska Heating Assistance

Gotta be tough, Xtratuf!

Before I moved to Alaska I had lived in Oahu, Hawaii and had given up all my winter shoes including any type of snow boot.  Our families intention was never to leave the islands.  The warm islands.  Then we ended up in this chilly, wet island of sorts.  I had no idea what I should wear on my feet so I came with sandals, and tennis shoes.  Needless to say, one of my first shopping missions was to buy shoes.


Not knowing were to go, my first stop was this place called Fred Meyers.  It is like a Super Wal-Mart but with name brand clothing like Sketchers and Columbia.  I searched the shelves of shoes and really didn't see anything I thought would work.  Primarily because in September, when we moved here, it isn't snowing.  It's raining.  And when It's sunny it is wet.  My tennis shoes worked out for awhile but the rain was starting to get to me because every walk we went on meant a gaggle of children with soaked shoes and me.  That's when I started asking "What kind of shoes do people wear here?"  The answer: Xtratuf®

What are these boots called Xtratuf®? Just the most popular boot in Alaska.  Everyone wears them.  Little kids, moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas, everyone.  These are rubber boots.  Not boots lined with with warm sheepskin.  Just a rubber boots.  In fact they are so popular that  Governor Parnell's and Lt. Governor Treadwell welcoming inauguration is called "Tuxes to Xtratufs".  That's one popular boot.


So, why aren't we wearing sheepskin boots?  Because it rains.  It rains a lot. Now, that's not to say you won't see other boots running around but Xtratufs are the house staple.  Very much like a loaf of a bread. 

Finding a Family Pet in Juneau Alaska

What I thought would be an easy trip to the humane society, became a huge shopping project.  See, I am from a large community, Orange County California, and getting a dog was easy.  The newspaper was full of them, the humane society was full of them. You could even grab a puppy at the front of your local grocery store.  Not so in Juneau Alaska.

As of right now in our local paper there is one dog for sale.  In the Orange County Register there are pages of adorable puppies for sale.   At the Gastineau Humane Society there are two dogs up for adoption and one in the city of Haines.  Which by the way, you can't drive to.  You take the ferry. That's another story.

Your probably wondering why we didn't adopt.  The dogs at the shelter were older and not known for being kid friendly.  We did see one that we adored but he was on his last leg.  Having a pet die wasn't something we wanted the kids to experience yet.  We checked the web site diligently but we couldn't find a dog that would fit our family.  Did I forget to mention we have two cats.  That also played a major part in finding a family dog.

"What did we do?" your wondering.  We did like everyone else in this day of technology.  We shopped on the internet.  Not only was the internet a great way to research the right dog for our family but it made it easy to locate the family dog that we thought would fit our family.  Which of course was in the lower 48, not a ferry ride.

Because I was not the one to locate our new family addition I had to ask how he found our puppy.  He was able to answer me in about 3 seconds.  Here's the poop: He was researching Boxer's and as he scrolled down the page there were ads for dog breeders and he clicked on the ad.  There you go.  How easy was that.

The hard part or should I say, the most expensive part was getting our new puppy here to Juneau, Alaska.  Chance would have it that the breeder had already flown out some puppies to Alaska so she new exactly how to get him here.  Do you want to know how much? It was $450 just for his flight out here. This was a far cry from the $100 or so dollars I was planning to spend.

I'll have to say something that was simple down south was a bit trickier here.  Was it worth it? Absolutely!