Southeast Alaska (mostly Petersburg)

One thing of my work that I requested for this summer was to be able to travel to some new places. They had, on my original itinerary, fulfilled that by having me work at a couple camps in Southeast Alaska... which is WAY different than where I have been in this state.  I ended up only doing one actual camp due to some schedule changes but at least I finally made it to Southeast.  Everyone had been telling me I'd like it there a lot.... I did.

I first flew into Juneau and stayed overnight at a camp that our staff was running there.  The next morning I woke up at 6:45 to be a chaperone on a ferry to Sitka with some of the kids as they made their way home.  It was my first ferry ride and it was good except for the weather.  Here's my only decent photo from the ride.

view on the ferry ride

After we had taken a ferry, we were then to fly BACK to Juneau before moving on to Petersburg the following day.  Lots of travel. 

 Bruster with a bear in Sitka.

 Sitka.

 Bumper backpacks- great for a long airport wait!

 hiking in Juneau

 rainforest

 rachel, claire and I out hiking

zip ties on a stop sign in Juneau

After all that travel, we finally got to Petersburg, which is a small community on Mitkof island.  The beach was awesome. 

 an evening on the beach

Petersburg beach

 Petersburg beach

Not the most becoming picture of me, but I had to share because these crab shells on the beach were HUGE.

 Petersburg coast

cool moss

weird plant we found

Beach

barnacles

Petersburg Beach

 Seaweed fight!!!

Here's where all the fishermen dock their boats.... we walked there a couple evenings to see what we could see and sure enough we found some cool stuff:

 

I got to see a sea lion for the first time and this picture shows nothing of it's size- the thing was GIANT.

Jellyfish! I totally touched the top of it!

The beach was so awesome that we decided to use it to our advantage and for our service project at our camp, we created a moblie of beach treasures.  We took the kiddos down to the beach and had them all collect 'treasures': shells, rocks, driftwood, seaglass, etc.  We then had them tie their treasures to a piece of hemp and hang it from a larger piece of driftwood to create a mobile.  We talked and did lots of activities about community and identity (it was our unofficial theme that just kept evolving throughout the week) and this artwork was the centerpiece of that theme.  It now hangs in the Petersburg library.

Not only did we do an awesome art installation this week, but we also made cards and tissue paper flowers to give to the long term care residents at the local hospital and delivered them during an outdoor luncheon they were having.  Additionally, we did a radio station tour and a RADIO SHOW in which the girls got to read some poetry they wrote with us.  All in all, an EXCELLENT camp to end my season.  For celebration? Muskeg jumping.  See below:

(From wiki: Muskeg is an acidic soil type common in Arctic and boreal areas, although it is found in other northern climates as well. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bogland)
AKA: big mud pits disguised as small puddles.  You can see them in this picture and they look like nothing.  The girls informed us of 'muskeg jumping' and were amazed we had never heard of it.... all it is is jumping in those mud pit puddles.  So, on the last day we had to try it!  I laughed SO hard the whole time.

Here's a very calm looking one.

Bruster and I after muskeg jumping.

I wish you could all smell the way that muck smells.... who knows what was decomposing in there! Hahaha

All in all, Southeast was a great time and perhaps one of the best camps I have run.  We did a lot of awesome things there and I hope to go back again sometime, but for now, there are other adventures to be had.