Glamping Day 2

Everyone was up super early in the morning. Some of us eager to get back to Sitka, and others were taking in the scenery of the water and forests around us. Eventually we all were sitting on a group of rocks that looked out into where the river joined with the open water. It was in that moment I was able to just enjoy who I was with and really have a time to reflect on the past month in Sitka, Alaska. If you had told me 6 months ago I would be camping, hiking and living in Alaska i would have laughed at you. I guess God works in mysterious ways because Sitka is what I needed. We were all able to take the time to have time to just sit in comfortable silence and think. Something that in a school all day, I can barely even hear my own thoughts with all of the students around me. Some of us were reading and some of us were talking about our families that all live in different states. It seems that many come from large families while I only have one sibling, and a dog....and of course Memphis counts as a sibling. It was a cold morning and everyone was bundled up and to some it looked like we were in the throes of December weather....but it was only September. After chatting we all decided to split up and explore the woods around the cabin since the tide was low and the rocks were able to be walked on and the forest line on the other side of the beach was accessible. After doing some walking around, we were in the forest again. Which means if I have to bushwhack anymore through trees it will be too dam soon. Julia caught up to us and then we finally exited the forest and just chatted. We made our way to the kayaks to go explore one last time before the boat came to pick us all up. Julia, Mike and I were all in kayaks for another 45 minutes just chatting away about what is going on in our lives, sports and just things. Sooner or later we had to go back to reality and pack our things to go back to Sikta and go back to normal life. On the boat ride back we were greeted with hot coffee which I have never been so excited to see...in my life. After a weekend of semi cooked oatmeal, any food was good. About 10 minutes into the ride back the boat slowed to a nervous crawl wit no explanation. Then we all looked out into the water and we were greeted by a huge whale. Which was definitely a bucket list item to see. One of the families I give swimming lessons to back in Garden City told me about their journey to Sitka and they had been several times but never saw a whale. So I figure that I am lucky to have seen one. I mean really....imagine all the tourists who at some point go to Sitka, and leave having never seen a whale up close because the whale didn't feel like showing off that day. That is a rough life. After that the boat ride back was quick and all we could all think about was a...putting warm clothes on and b....walking back home through town, with the tourists, all looking at us and wandering why we all look so disheveled. And it was int hat moment we had become Alaska Bush People. The harbor where the boat got back to was the central harbor where the tourists all line up to get on buses to see Sitka's attractions. Needless to say, we were a sight to see. But none of the tourists spoke English so all was well. That is the cool thing about living in Sitka, there are so many people of so many different cultures flooding the streets in town that people watching has become a sport. Someone told me once that "...you know you are a local when the cruise ship people ask you for directions.....and you can in fact give them directions" Once we were all off the boat, got our lives together and finally were on dry land, we all got in cars and got rides home. But Kirsten(my upstairs neighbor and fellow AmeriCorps)(Hi Kristen of you are reading this!!!) and I decided to walk since it was such a nice day and we had nowhere to be. The only thing is that one of my roommates had to be at work, so he drove back to the house only to realize I was the only one smart enough to bring a house key with us....sooooo he had to come back to the harbor and grab the key from me, effectively making him later to work than he usually is hahahaha. We knew I needed a ride home for some reason. Next time we will just hide a key. But since Sitka is so small it takes about 2.5 seconds to get back to the harbor so it was just funny for all parties involved. After that I just crashed at home and did laundry to prep for the week ahead at work. The weather here has been beautiful and sunny.

Have a good day fam,

Ash