travel log: juneau, alaska

Monday, August 27

our second day in alaska
we discovered the amazing capitol city of juneau. 
looking at the small population of the town (ringing in at a whopping 30,000 ppl), 
you would NEVER guess that Juneau is the biggest capitol in terms of sheer land in the entire US...
(yes, that little fun fact came in quite handy during a cruise trivia competition...i'm glad my sister was listening!)

speaking of land mass,
i'm convinced I saw most of juneau from a bike on a sore bum.
my dad, who is quite the avid cycler
decided it would be a great idea for our family to take a 20 mile bike ride to see the Mendenhall glacier. 

and it was a good idea...before and after the ride. 
during it,
i honestly thought i was going to keel over and die. 
am I being dramatic? 
no (well, maybe)
but it's no secret i'm the worst biker in our family because I have no zero muscle anymore after slaving away at a desk job for a few years (well, maybe not slaving, but you know...)
i was freezing cold (because come on people, we're biking around glaciers!)
the wind was blowing hard right at me that all i could do was put one foot in front of the other for fear that if i went any slower i would literally start blowing backwards (no joke). 
my saving grace was that i was wearing the sweetest bright neon yellow poncho so at least if i started blowing away someone might see me! 

but despite the actual ride (which really was fun), the glacier was seriously breathtaking! 
before juneau i had no idea or concept of what a glacier really was, and it was beautiful to see the ice wall wedged between the 2 mountains. 

after the epic ride, we showered and went back out into juneau. it has some really adorable and colorful downtown streets, the quaintest little book store i've ever seen (where i indulged in a dark chocolate and coconut bar) and some awesome pubs that showcased the olympics:) 

Juneau, thanks for the most wonderful memories with my family:) 
I hope I see you again (and next time in better biking shape!)
love Katie 
{fyi, a lot of yellow poncho action is coming your way...consider yourself warned!}
 {notice my fuzzy beanie under the helmut...that's how cold it was people! i don't generally look like a dork for NO reason...ha}
 {whoa nelly, we're like the freakin sun in this picture it's blinding!}
{zumba moves...get it!!!}
 {glacier glory}
 {dad and his mini-me, girl version}
 {dad and his lone boy...love these guys}
have a wonderful week dear friends:) 
may we rest in the beauty God has created all around us, and thank him for the beauty of today. 

13 comments :

  1. Gorgeous photos! Looks like it was a great time, even if you were chilly and had to wear beanies and ponchos :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks beautiful! And the bike trip sounds awesome! Except the wind part--wind can make riding a bike way harder than it's supposed to be!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh wow. that is funny about you with a bike!!! I am sure you did better than you realize though. What a beautiful place and I adore seeing what it looks like there!
    +Victoria+

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh wow! It looks so beautiful!!!! I would love to visit someday :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. WOW those glaciers are COOL! (no pun intended!). Lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow - it looks like you had the most amazing time and the photos are beaut-i-ful!! Did you make the top one? Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. beautiful shots of the glaciers! I love all these vaca posts. I feel like in some small way it's a vaca for me reading them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great photos! I love that Pete and Lena have the non-yellow ponchos, they're too cool for school! Oh, and I'm loving the rumba moves!! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  9. wow Alaska looks gorgeous! Hope you had fun!

    love from San Francisco,
    Britt+Whit

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow!! It's sooooooo pretty!!!!! I wanna go!!!! I love y'all's yellow!!! :) Looks awesommmeee.

    ReplyDelete
  11. these are AMAZING, friend!! all of your Alaska photos have been, but I have to say the Zumba moves was my fave. Haa!

    Miss you!

    ReplyDelete

I LOVE hearing from you friend:) Your comment will make my day!