QUINN’S EXTRAORDINARY TRAVEL RAMBLINGS
Alaskan Summer 2010
Juneau was gifted with glorious sunshine and warm temperatures in May and June. July was a rather nasty month weather-wise. Even though the weather was slightly like a bowl of overturned cornbread we still got out on several grand adventures such as camping, hiking, biking, swimming, cliff jumping and much – MUCH more. All of the locals were pleasantly surprised as the weather made a turn for the better and ended up quite beautiful in August and September.
The Alaska String Band played music at the Mount Roberts Tramway four days a week, giving shows in the Chilkat Theater through out the late spring, summer and early fall. Silver Sea, Asuka, Regent Sea and Holland America cruise lines all welcomed the Alaska String Band on board their ships to give evening performances of the Southeast Alaska Odyssey Show in their theaters. Other interesting music engagements in Juneau included the Alaska Folk Festival, the Island Pub, State of Alaska Legislature Session, Governor’s awareness rally to prevent domestic abuse in Alaska, wedding at Glacier Gardens, Mountain Music Festival, Grand Ole Opry to benefit the United Way children’s fund, Laborers Union Labor Day Picnic and more.
Laura traveled to a wedding in North Dakota in June and she was gone for a week. When she came back she was all set to get herself a beau. She didn’t find one luckily. If she had, we do believe that Quinn would have encompassed her intended in raspberry JELL-O.
Quinn produced his first “Movie” with his friends this summer. The movie was “WWIII”. They planned a double night sleepover and over the course of three days consumed tons of pizza and filmed a grand movie. He has also started his own movie company, Chester Van Gogh Predictions (yes, predictions.)
Abigail attended the three week Weber Dance Camp of Boston, MA which was held in Juneau this summer. She went every day from 1:00 till 5:00 Monday through Friday. At the end of the dance camp she performed on stage at the Juneau Douglas High School.
Paul went on a hunting expedition up a mountain with his friend Jeff Machakos. He was gone for two and a half days. He didn’t shoot anything. And he woke up in the night with severe Charlie horses in his legs. He says his old age is to blame but he was secretly delighted when his friend Jeff who is ten years his junior also complained of a Charlie horse.
Melissa discovered the Bobby Pin Blog on the internet and promptly ordered the hairdo book illustrating do’s from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. She then began to create some wild new (or shall I say “old”) looks for my sisters. Laura looked like a Cocoa Cola pin up girl. And Abigail chose a beehive.
One exceptionally fun music engagement our family attended was the local home education retreat held at the summer camp at the end of the road. Abby and Quinn went out with the rest of the students and attended several workshops with their friends. Abby attended the cross stitch class where she learned how to cross stitch her name. Quinn attended the Aerodynamics class where he made paper airplanes. He also attended the Tie-dyeing class and made a shirt. The last class he took was a jitterbug class where he learned to– well that’s obvious–jitterbug. While at the retreat we played a concert and hosted a ballroom dance.
We had company up from Virginia this summer for a week. While our guests were in Juneau they took us on the zip line at the local ski area located on Douglas Island. We glided from tree top to tree top in the thick rainforest. Eaglecrest, the ski area where the zipline is located is one of our favorite hiking places. Several days each week we would hike to the top of the mountain and hang out on the ridge overlooking the Southeast Alaska Inside Passage waterway and Admiralty Island in the distance. Admiralty Island is North America’s largest island and averages one brown bear per each square mile of the Island. Douglas Island where we live and play is home to black bears, deer, wolves, and many other smaller wild animals.
Auke Bay Bible Church was privileged to host the African’s Children Choir from Uganda. The orphan children ages 9 – 12 gave a beautiful song and dance performance. One day the Alaska String Band prepared and served them a spaghetti luncheon. At the request of the Alaska String Band the Mount Roberts Tramway generously gave the African Children’s Choir complimentary passes up the Mount Roberts Tramway where the children were able to explore the alpine meadows above downtown Juneau.
We enjoyed several outings in the boat this summer. On one outing we were amazed to see three humpback whales breech simultaneously from the water. Wow! What a sight that was to behold. On one of our fishing jaunts, Quinn caught a Dolly Varden at the boat launch while Paul was putting the boat in the water. Quinn named it of course and promptly prepared a new habitat for the fish in a bucket at the back of the boat. The fish’s name was Frederick. Much to Quinn’s dismay, Paul intended to use Frederick for bait!! As we motored out beyond the protective islands of Amalga Harbor and into the broad expanse of water known as Lynn Canal which leads on to a favorite fishing destination at St. James Bay we discovered that we couldn’t go on. The wind had really kicked up and the ensuing rough water was not something to tamper with. So as Paul kept his watchful eye on the growing swells and steered the boat back to safe harbor Quinn unobtrusively slipped to the rear of the boat and wished Frederick a prosperous life as he threw him back into the water. Paul got rather mad at Quinn upon discovery of his escaped bait.
The weekend before we left on tour Abigail and Quinn got together with ten of their hometown friends and went to a ballroom dance hosted by the Juneau International Folk dancers. Abigail was proud to be wearing her first ever high heel shoes. And Quinn looked smashing in a pink suit. Everyone was formal and they looked splendiferous. And that ends a brief synopsis of our shenanigans for the summer.
Alaska String Band Blog 