Today gave new meaning to the word EXHILARATION. With just a few minutes’ notice I was on a helicopter heading to the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. The chopper ride would have been a 10 even if we didn’t land on top of the glacier, get out of the helicopter and walk on it. This ice field has been there for more than 300 years… even longer. The ice is blue and the water is a deep robin’s egg blue. It was damn cold up there. Teeth chattering cold. Melting ice was running through our feet in little streams. We got down flat on the ice and stuck our lips in the rushing stream and drank the water. Forget Poland Springs. Water NEVER tasted so cold and fresh and sweet. After 40 minutes on top of the glacier, looking out for miles, eagles soaring overhead and wind whistling by your ears, the choppers came back to pick us up. Think of what it was like the first time you held a baby and that is how heart thumping and awestruck you would feel today. I came back and hugged the first few people I saw including the Manager of Shore Excursions that sent me on this adventure. NOTHING can compare to this. I have climbed the mountain and spent a short time in heaven.
Wednesday was a perfect summer day in Alaska. The sun was shining bright, temps were in the mid 60’s and the air was warm and cool simultaneously. My alarm didn’t go off…instead I was shaken out of bed by the announcement that we had arrived in Haines, AK. I had to be dressed and outside in 15 minutes. I greet guests on the pier and point them in the right direction. There was a small independent coffee shop just up the hill. Right out of a movie. Small town in Alaska, small coffee shop with a woman that wakes up at 1.30am to make the pastries. Before I returned to the ship, a local drove me around in his car to show me an eagle preserve, a local small brewery that makes spruce tree beer and the downtown area that boasts a Hammer Museum. A museum that has the world’s largest collection of hammers. The museum was no bigger than a Starbucks. No McDonald’s… not even a pharmacy. He even tuned in a local radio station for this city, hosted by the mail carrier. Now I know where they get ideas for those TV shows. With all this excitement I took a nap before my live presentation at 3.30pm. Desk hours till 7 and then 2 hours of listening to a string quartet play classical music in an elegant lounge while sipping 2 martinis. The ship slowly left port with many snow capped mountains drifting by the large picture windows. The sun was still shining brightly when I left at 10.30. I made a few phone calls to friends and hearing loving voices from Boston and Boynton Beach made me feel comfortable and happy. I talked to Lee this morning. Hearing his voice always makes me happy and homesick. How can I be so tired and so pumped up at the same time? I should just be able to fall asleep as soon as I get into bed, but I feel like the day is just beginning. I like the people and the lifestyle. I like life on the ship. I want another assignment in another part of the world. The feeling is infectious. I like it here and I miss home. But what home? Where is home? If I were to leave now it would feel like a brief dream. I would want to be back on the ship.
