Sunday, July 2nd
Today I woke up and decided to take Mo's advice: call Des Keisler and see about going flying. He'd said he'd love to take me up in his plane, and I had gotten permission from the family..so it was up to me to call. I thought I would be waking him up at 9:30am on a Sunday, but no, he said he was going to Sitka at 10:00am and that I should come along. Oh man! Thirty minutes later I arrived looking at least 3/4 put together and just a tad nervous about what I was getting myself into. Turns out that Des flys a small turquoise plane and is well versed in cool places to see around Juneau. We went out to a bay that's known for its wildlife, hoping to see some bears/moose/mountain goats...Nothing was out right then, but we did fly over some gorgeous moutains and got a great look at the rim of the Juneau icefield....just breathtaking in person and I don't think I could really capture it in pictures. But these are my attempt anyway. :-) After the short trip out to the Bay we picked up his aunt and younger cousin to drop the boy off in Sitka at camp. Sitka is an hour west and right on the ocean with a population of about 8,000. Our stop was short, we dropped off the cousin and picked up two pies from the airport diner. Apparently they're rather famous at the Juneau airport and Des was instructed not to come back empty handed. Coconut banana cream and raspberry rhubarb if you were wondering. Dinner with Jim and Blair was really fun, they brought a coworker of Blair's named Amanda who's going to be a senior at a college in WA and is studying Art History. She and Blair both work for the cruise industry driving shuttle vans of tourists to and from the sightseeing trips they book while on the ships. We talked and ate and talked and ate for about 4 hours...the salmon, garlic bread, and berry dessert were deliciand we had a great time.