Only in Alaska

Every once in a while I see something, or something happens that reminds me that I’m not living just anywhere…I’m living in Alaska. (Which, I know, most of you think crazy the way it is…) Today was one of those days.

I was driving home along the highway (which, by most standards is just a double lane road with a median) which runs alongside the Channel. Suddenly, there was a whale cresting right beside me. And when I say, right beside, I mean RIGHT beside. Those of you who’ve been here know how close the highway is to the channel, so this will mean that much more. He was just cruising along, most likely enjoying all the spawning salmon that come up the channel to the fishery this time of year. The thing with Alaska, especially south east, is you exist WITH nature. You don’t even have to go past your front yard to see deer, bears, in fact, at one point, I had a porcupine living in the tree just off my deck. We went camping last month on a little island only about 20mins by boat off the main land and I spent an hour the next morning watching whales cresting and breaching all around us. This may not be your booming metropolis of a city, but I’ll trade that in for green space and fresh air any day.

(Note to my family: That doesn’t mean I don’t miss home…)

PS This is not the whale I saw today, but I DID take this picture…

Spring in Juneau

Long time since my last post…time flies when you’re having fun!

Indeed, it has been a fun spring. Since my last post, way back in March, I’ve been back to Vancouver for the month of April, which absolutely flew by, and had my formal wedding on the 24th up in Osoyoos. (Some informal pix can be viewed through my Picassa albums.) I arrived back to Juneau on April 30th, just in time for the May 1st start of the Annual King Salmon Derby!! Sadly, however, we’ve only been out 3 times and only caught one measly little 15lb King. I still find it amazing how much meat you can still get off such a modest sized fish!

Spring here has been, apparently, out of the ordinary, but it’s certainly been right up my ally. We have had day after day of cloudless sunny skies and temperatures upwards of 18C, which is understandably not the norm for a rain forest. Typical or not, it has made it nearly impossible to not fall in love with this town with this kind of weather. I’ve even become so domestic as to plant my own little flower planters…we’ll see how long they last in the absence of my green thumb!

I’ve been continuing my attempt of learning to run; A “hobby” I picked up while I was home in April due to a slight fear I’d out grown my wedding gown! What amazes me the most here is how fresh and clean the air is, even after days without rain. Definitely one of my favorite things about Juneau is how little (if any) pollution there is.
Andy has headed off for the weekend (it’s a long weekend here: Memorial Day) with the guys (including my father) for a mass fishing trip. They head over to a massive “island” where there is a little bay called Elfin Cove which apparently has some of the best fishing in the area. It’s a 4 hour, by boat, journey. I haven’t quite decided what I’ll be doing with myself for the next 3 days, but I think I have a fairly good idea…

My latest guilty pleasure has been the Twilight series. I scoffed and how much publicity it seemed to be getting and at how all the “silly” girls were swooning over “Edward Cullen”. Sadly, I have become one of those “silly” girls… Ok, so maybe I’m not the swooning type, but I can’t lie, I’ve definitely become addicted to the sickeningly pathetic romance and suspense. I’ve made it through both of the first 2 books (500+ pages each) and just broke down and bought the last 2 in hard cover because I’m too impatient to wait until August for the paper backs!

So that’s been my last 2 months in a nut shell….I’ll try to be better at more consistent updates, providing life is exciting enough to have something to update!

Taku Winds

Something I’ve been hearing about for a while, but never experienced (until last night) are the Taku winds. Because of how the mountains are situated in the downtown and Douglas area (which just so happens to be where I live) wind get funneled down the channel at gale force speeds. Taku wind season apparently is between October and April, and occur on average 4 times during this period. I guess that makes last night one of those 4 times as wind gusted up to 50mph! (Again, my metric friends, that’s upwards of 80km/h) It really was wind like I’ve never experienced before, not to mention the fact my house sort of juts off the side of a hill, making me feel a tad more vulnerable. Apparently, though, you get used to it. My hubby didn’t even flinch all night long as I lay wide awake and worried about our house popping off the mountain and ending up in the channel. (My imagination works in wonderful ways in the middle of the night!) This picture shows what looks like clouds around the top of the mountain, when actually that’s a full blown snowstorm going on up there. (Not unlike a dust storm in a dessert, I imagine…) Wouldn’t want to spend much time on the tops of those mountains during these little out bursts!

Our non-shotgun shotgun :)

The demand has come in regarding my supposed new marital status. Ok, so it’s not “supposed”, it’s for real. *gasp* Corinne Pernisie is finally married…much to the disbelief of many, I’m sure! lol Anyways, here’s the deal. It was actually planned all along. Seeing as I’ve bitten the bullet and agreed to become a local resident in our friendly neighbouring country, there’s this wierd concept called “immigration”. Funny that. We were warned that this process can take up to 9 months to complete, and during that 9 months, I am unable to legally live, much less work in the US. I continue to find it amusing how difficult the States make it for Canadians to come into their country. And the best part is, their fear is that we’re just going to waltz in, use a partner to get our citizenship and then ditch them. As if we’re just DYING to be American. At any rate, I can’t comment on whether it’s much easier for them to come to Canada so I better be nice!

I digress…

So it just made most sense to get married and get the paper work started. Our original plan was to be all coy and keep it a secret until our formal wedding in April. But for those of you already married, I’m sure you can agree that it’s the happiest day of your life and the LAST thing you want to do is keep it a secret. (Besides the fact I’m TERRIBLE at keeping secrets) Our official date was Friday, August 29th, and it was absolutly perfect. We had it at my parents place in front of the fire with my puppy at our feet. Mom and dad, Heather and Kyle and Granny were there. So intimate, so memorable.

Our wedding in April will still go ahead as planned. I am, of course, your typical female. I want the dress, the flowers, the dinner…everything a girl has always dreamed of. It’s going to be in Osoyoos at Nk’Mip winery and resort but again, we’re keeping it small and intimate with pretty much just family. I am still so excited to get everyone together and it’ll be great to be up in the Okanagan one last time before I leave the country!

Thanks so much for all your love and wishes. We are so happy to have started our lives together…the only thing that would have made it better is if we could have done it “normally” and already be co-habiting, but hey! normal is so over rated right?!

Stuck Truck

How about some good ole Canadian humor?? This has got to be one of the most classic songs/videos. Doesn’t get much more Canadian than this…those of us from the prairies can attest that! Here’s the Corb Lund Band and Truck Got Stuck 

Burgers and Booty

Ironically this seems to be the topic of the week…a friend of mine blogged about a similar topic. But I was listening to the radio the other day, and the DJ was doing a sort of survey on what guys wish women knew. The general consensus was summed up by one guys quote:

“All men want is ‘burgers and booty’.”

Translation:

Men are simpler than we give them credit for. And I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, in fact, quite the opposite. We as women are notorious for complicating men because, plain and simple, WE are complicated, so we assume everything should be just as complicated. All men want in some good quality cooking and a little lovin’ and they’ll be happier than pie.

Now why can’t we women figure out how to be so easily pleased??

Bring on the Hockey

My friend just posted in his blog that Monday night is the first official “Monday Night Football” night of the 2007 season so it inspired me to share that I am going to my first hockey game of the 2007-2008 season. However, it’s not NHL, and it’s not WHL but it IS Canada vs Russia juniors game #8. They just tied game #7 tonight and had been (until tonight) dominating the series. (“they” being Canada, of course) So game #8 will be a good one to finish it off with. I’m just excited to get back in the arena and do some good ‘ole Canadian cheering!!

Cancel or Allow?

Wow…2 posts in one day after my blog draught. Do you think I have too much time on my hands?!?!  Anyways, just caught this new commercial that’s out for all you Vista lovers. It cracked me up. I don’t really know first hand, but from what I’ve heard from all my tight computer buffs, Vista’s had nothing but a “bleep-load” of problems. My limited experience has taught me that it looks pretty cool, and has come fun features, but apparently the security is pretty shoddy.  Clearly Mac thinks so too… check it out…

Fore!

I am a terrible golfer. I’m the first to admit it. I tend to just stick to driving ranges because the need to hit perfectly straight is not nearly as important as on a golf course. I usually spend more of my time searching the bushed for my ball then I do on the fairways. But hey! at least I can have fun. There are few time that I laugh harder then at myself with all the lame shots, curve balls, and yes, even swing-and-misses. Those are the best. Why is it, that when you swing at something and miss it, it hurts like a bugger?! I especially notice that in volleyball. I don’t swing any harder (usually) and if I happen to get my timing wrong, I pretty near throw my shoulder right out. The same this goes for me in golf…besides the fact I almost hit myself in the back of the head with my driver! Yes, my form is less than perfect! lol  Anyways, I found this hilarious clip the other day of two guys driving balls off a dock. Check it out…cracks me up how innocent it seemed at first, and yet what morons they are! =) (oops I couldn’t import it…i’m a bit of a blog novice still…)

http://www.break.com/index/incredible-golf-ball-ricochet-accident.html

Hostess with the Mostess

So Damon’s been up here for the past week, and yet again, I’ve proven that I am a terrible hostess. There are so many awesome things to do in this city, and somehow, a whole week almost went by without doing barely anything. (Granted, I was working most of last week but still…) I’m pretty sure he thinks Vancouver is the most boring city… Anyways, I tried to remedy that on Saturday, and I think we actually had our busiest day in history. It was pretty cool. The morning was a bit of a write off considering the time it takes to get up, showered, eat breakfast etc. (Neither of us tend to be real early risers) But the day officially started around noon when we headed downtown to watch “African Adventures”, a 3D IMAX. I’m pretty sure it’s been at least a decade since I last went to the imax and I forgot how fun it was. Especially the sexy 3D glasses they make you wear. (see below) Damon had a really good point in his blog…how is it that we can be technologically advanced in this world, and this is the best they can do for 3D glasses…”That’s Hot!” (to quote Ms. Hilton)

So we went from there down to Granville Island to take in some of the local scenery and the Jazz Festival. Our first stop was at the TapRoom in the Granville Island Brewing Co. to take in an amazing Jazz trio featuring an upright bass, sax and keyboard. We sat across from the most adorable gentleman who must have been at least in his 70’s if not older who used to be an accomplished bass player but was now too old and couldn’t see his music anymore.

 

 We then left there to wonder around the markets and take in the sights, which, on a Saturday afternoon down on Granville Island is at the very least wildly entertaining! Buskers, shoppers, and the odd seagull were all part of the days events.

 

We finished the day off by attending my first opera ever: Don Giovanni showing down at the Waterfront Theatre. My room mate was my hero, starring as Donna Anna, the main female role. I have gained an whole new respect for opera. The vocals, the acting, the music all so fascinating. Plus, I just felt special knowing one of the main characters!

 

And the was the day’s events in a nut shell! Not sure we could’ve fit much more in. And then, just so we didn’t get TOO out of character, we spent Sunday sitting indoors, scowling at the rain and playing scrabble! (oh…and we made one quick Timmy’s run…can’t miss out on my large double double!)