Andy took me out on MAPLE and I was lucky enough to experience a day underway on the buoy tender. They were testing some oil spill equipment, as you can see from the photos above. It was fun to see how he does his job (he is the XO, second in command of a crew of 55) and watch how the bridge is run on a day underway.
Yes, this beach is actually in Alaska, we had a coastie take 6 of us on the morale boat over to Kruzoff island with our mountain bikes and our lunch. So we biked across logging roads on an uninhabited island, hiked a couple miles on gaming trails, and found this beach at the end...
Janae came up to visit for the weekend
Janae must have brought some good luck with her, because look what we saw! And 2 cubs with her!
A 5 hour hike up Gavan Hill (I consider that to be more of a mountain, less of a hill)
We noticed, through a hole in the snow, that this was what we were walking on top of
Gavan Hill
Indian river hike, about 8 miles
One of my morning hikes up Verstovia, the trail head is about a 2 minute walk from Andy's doorstep
Driving home from fishing one evening we saw about 17 bald eagles on this beach, one protecting a carcass and the others making sneak attacks
The fog blanketing Sitka
Last day in Sitka, 6am walk along the water....
My first hike with Andy, we did Verstovia, about a 5 hour hike, and crossed some slippery, snowy, steep terrain, but absolute beauty
he even tooking me to a shooting range to try out his rifle
Mucho fishing, I LOVE IT! The king salmon were jumping by the hundreds it seemed, these massive fish "breeching" righ in front of us
this was not one of them, but this is a Doly Vardon, a member of the salmon/trout family...and we did eat this for dinner.2 weeks in the land of the "Last Frontier"
I loved every bit of Sitka, this was actually my second time going up there, and I plan to go back one more time before Andy leaves. You can do every outdoor activity possible, not be too hot (ha!) and in the summer, have loads of sunlight! Now, I know it's not the same story in the winter, darkness and all, but being a marine climate, they aren't getting snow from October to May like you might expect in Alaska. It sprinked on us about half of the days, but the other half were completely dry and sunny and gorgeous. And the consistent rain makes it just as green and beautiful as our rainforest in the Olympics.
We saw hundreds of bald eagles, they're "out" this time of year in full force. Saw deer roaming the trails, mama bear and her 2 cubs out in a field, went shooting and fishing, hiking almost daily, went out on a boat, mountain biking, and cooked some awesome food!
