A post for my mother

Hi Mom,
Here are pictures of my room in the dorms and the career center where I go to work. And soon I'll take a picture of the van.
Love,
Joshua

A hike up Mt. Verstovia

A cruise ship came into town on a very sunny day in Sitka. I hiked Mt. Verstovia with my friend Ronny. It was about a 2 hour hike up and 1 hour hike down. We had a few rests, too. It was such a gorgeous day for a hike. My favorite part of the hike is heading back down where there is ample snow on the mountain and it is steep enough to just sit and slide down on your butt. I am hoping to go again soon just to enjoy that again.

Indian River Trail

Leap of Faith

We were supposed to say what goals we were leaping for and what obstacles in life we were leaving behind. I forgot to plan what I was going to say so all I could think of to say was that I was leaping for pie (or pi really) and leaving behind cake. I was really sad I wasn't able to grab hold of the bar, my hands were so cold, that is my excuse.

2008 YABAH House

During the beginning weeks of the 2009 YABAH year, I was helping finish up last year's house. I don't have any good pictures of the house yet. I just took close up pictures. I have some "before" pictures of one of the decks we were working on, but instead of an "after" picture, I have an "after" drawing.

And the deck:

Before

After

Juneau

I know it has been a while since my last update, and I will have to start getting into the routine gradually I suppose.  I feel like a travel blog is easier to maintain because moving on from place to place urges one to write it down while it is fresh in the mind.

Moving on... I visited Juneau in April to attend the Juneau Folk Festival.  I had a great time.  The head of the organization I work for (SAGA) is based in Juneau and Marilyn, the lady that interviewed me for the position, found a young woman I could stay with for the weekend, Michelle.  Instead of going to the Folk Festival on the Friday I got into Juneau, Michelle invited me to a barbecue on her friend's 40 foot yacht.  I wasn't going to pass that up!

The next day I watched many, many folk music acts.  People from all over Alaska came to perform and watch. I never would've guessed it, but I actually didn't want to hear another banjo or mandolin on Sunday. However, by Monday I was asking my mom to send my banjo to me.

Here are some pictures from Juneau.

A picture from the yacht.

Juneau

Also, I had the chance to see the Mendenhall Glacier.  Marilyn gave me a ride out there.  It was really cool but I didn't get that close to it.  I was thinking that since all the glaciers are melting they wouldn't want tourists speeding up the process by breathing on them, so I kept my distance.  However, when I got back to work I saw my co-worker Ben's pictures from the same glacier and his pictures were much cooler.  He walked right in between some of the glacier walls.  I was jealous.