I ended up hiking the Salmon Creek trail on Sunday despite the pouring rain. (We were originally going to do the West Glacier trail again but it was flooded all the way to the parking lot so we decided to go to higher ground). Once we got in the trees, the rain let up and the trail was beautiful. (Although we did have a ton of fun slipping and sliding while hiking up the trail. I think the parts with wooden planks and ricketty stairs were the most difficult. Anyway, the path was filled with moss covered trees. Basically, it seemed like we were in a Jurassic Park movie. We saw some cool blue and black birds, but no bears. At the top of the path is the dam; it is set at the base of a lake surrounded by the tops of mountains. The view was amazing so we just camped out for a bit and took it all in. Apparently, there is a canoe that people leave there so you can canoe around the lake, but we did not see it and it was likely on the other side of the mountains (not a short hike). Sadly for all of you, I left my camera behind because I did not want it to get damaged by the rain (literally, everything was soaked by the end of the day). However, my friend Amber and her brother and sister took some great ones so hopefully they'll come your way soon.
Sunday evening, my co-clerk Gina and her boyfriend Rich arrived and they have been staying with me until tonight (although they arrived in Juneau this weekend, Gina could not get into her houseboat until Tuesday). It was fun having my first houseguests less than a week after move-in! Rich loves to cook so he volunteered to buy food (yes, my kitchen is still stocked) and play executive chef. On Sunday, some of my other friends went fishing and caught some HUGE salmon. Since these friends were leaving town soon, they filled up my freezer. Literally, I probably have 10 pounds of fish...all for free. We all decided to have a big dinner at my place, which is obviously the place to be (both native Junebugs and transplants agree that my place is awesome and I did a great job in finding it. Many have asked how I did it and/or if they could contact my landlord about the other apartment so I'm feeling pretty proud of myself these days.) Anyway, I got to have my first meal of freshly caught salmon and it makes a huge difference (I usually don't like salmon because it tastes too fishy, but not when it's fresh out of the water!). After cooking a huge meal on Sunday (while the rest of us went through WAY too many bottles of wine for a Sunday night), Rich decided to make salmon tacos last night. Of course, they were amazing, but he also made his own slaw, his own salsa, a yogurt chipotle sauce and toasted the tortillas. I supplied the guacamole and it was quite a feast. In fact, I ate so much that I had to ask myself if perhaps I had had too much salmon lately. Of course, the answer to that question is no, but I'm pretty sure that I'm well on my way to mercury poisoning.
Gina, Rich, Jimmy (my other co-clerk) and I also went climbing after work yesterday. They are all from California and go to all these cushy climbing gyms...they even have their own special shoes and harnesses. I, of course, decided to just climb in running shoes and we all had a good time despite the fact that these paths were a lot tougher than the rankings in California (that's right, they don't mess around in Alaska). I liked it, but my arms and body still hurt. Even typing is painful...
On the work front, today was the first day that Bud (my judge) was actually in the office. He's flying out again tonight so we're back to jeans for the rest of the week (woo hoo). I also finished my first memo (in record time, apparently). I'm aiming to be super efficient so that I don't have to cut back on my 1.5 hour lunches, come in before 9 or stay after 5. So far, so good. Toodles!
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