Our plans to do a multi-day float down an Alaskan river with our kids this summer fell through a second time. Russell and I were both off for the week and it was begging for some sort of adventure. The forecast for Juneau, oddly enough, was high 70s to low 80s and clear skies for most of the week. What the heck? When can I ever get tickets to the Lower 48 with miles anymore anyway, why not use them to fly the whole family to our lovely capitol? Especially now that Sarah Palin has moved back to the Valley where she belongs. Russell's brother and family live there as does one of Russell's cousins. I haven't been to Juneau in 8 or 9 years (which also speaks to how long I've now been in Alaska!) and the kids had never been.
The forecast did not disappoint. Forest fires from Canada made it a bit hazy a couple of days, but we could hardly complain. We were in shorts all week. Kevin went swimming in the ocean and Russell in a nearby lake. The kids and I played on a sandy beach and waded in the ocean as well. I do NOT usually swim in any outdoor body of water in Alaska and was amazed at how pleasant the temperature was! Aleria and Kevin live right on the beach and with the amazing weather it was the perfect place to camp. Natalie was beside herself with excitement about getting to sleep in her own tent by herself. It was only the prospect of a sleep over with her second cousin, Stella, and the fact that the next high tide would lap at our toes, that lured her away from sleeping in the tent all four nights. The ocean was so calm that we canoed with the kids to one of the nearby islands on one day. Russell caught up with one of his old Forest Service friends, Harry, during a fishing turned whale watching expedition. Natalie and I kayaked that day and explored the neighboring harbor.
Despite being totally sleep deprived due to Atagan's schedule, Aleria and Kevin were the most gracious hosts and entertained us and friends several nights with beach barbecues. The multitude of berries that one can harvest this time of year is overwhelming. We returned with quarts of blueberries. But, there were also raspberries, thimble berries, watermelon berries, salmon berries, huckleberries, elderberries, cranberries, currants. Not only are all Alaskans thrilled to have this summer as repayment for the absence of summer last year, but the gardens everywhere seem to be bursting with gratitude as well!
The warm weather has given us wildflowers like I've never seen. The lupine in June and fireweed in July were unprecedented in their brilliance. I've also never experimented much with eating flowers before. We had a salad with fireweed blossoms and one with nasturiums while in Juneau. I'm inspired enough to try stirfrying some stuffed squash blossoms from our garden tomorrow night. And, Natalie has been all over adding nasturiums to our salads since we got home. Of course, in addition to the berries and flowers are all the salmon. We took the kids to one of several streams where the water is literally roiling with fish. The ones that have spawned and are in their waning days of life are swimming around as their flesh hangs rotting from them. I heard Liam tell his preschool teacher when we returned, "I saw some fish. Some of them were broken." So true, my little man. But, the not-so-broken ones are mighty tasty eating.
My last hurrah with OB was that I had the honor of being the obstetrician for one or our resident physicians. Their timing was impeccable in that she went into labor the day after I returned from Juneau and the day before I was to leave for a weekend Seward stint. It was a beautiful, uncomplicated, healthy delivery of a gorgeous little boy. They are a fabulous couple that love to sail and be on the water and named their son Calder (which means 'of the water'). It was such a privilege to be a part of his welcome to the world and reminded me why I did OB for so long. Yet, also a wonderful way to end that chapter of my life... for a while.
Unfortunately, my Seward weekend did not impart the same warm fuzzies as the visit to Juneau and the birth of baby Calder. As bountiful and full of life that August was seeming, death, too, is part of life. Revisit the salmon. On more than one occassion that weekend I thought of Liam's comment. Some of them are broken. I saw some mildly broken lives. A couple of lives very analagous to the end of life struggle of the salmon. And I was witness to a life that got very, very badly broken prematurely. I cover the ER in Seward. It is a small town so sheer chance has it that I'm not very often going to come across the major trauma seen in bigger cities. But, it is still an ER. And it is 130 miles from the big city of Anchorage. And trauma happens everywhere. And so luck ran out. For me. But, more so for him. There is a mountain that looms above the hospital called Mount Marathon. It is somewhat famous in Seward in that there is a big to-do every 4th of July when runners, many of them elite, race to the top and back. The top being 3000 feet above sea level (where the race begins) in a mile and a half.
This man at the peak of life missed his chance to race up Mount Marathon a decade ago. He was back visiting Alaska with his family and decided to climb it with his kids. Some fatal footing sent him tumbling violently down a perilously steep chute for 30+ feet. He sustained a multitude of injuries and while another Seward physician and I did all we could for him, he passed away a couple of days after being medivac'd to Anchorage from the massive head injuries that he had sustained.
Life is bountiful, beautiful, resilient, fragile, finite, and yet infinite. What an amazing privilege and challenge to be so intimately involved with its beginning and its end.
In front of Nugget Falls at Mendenhall Glacier.
Fritz Cove Campout
Our canoe expedition
Natalie's "Thimple" berries on the half shell
Followed by spinach salad with nasturium and fireweed blossoms and more thimble berries
At the JensenHood Bistro on Fritz Cove
The Cousins
Playing Hide and Seek in the Skunk CabbageRussell's whale watching
Puffin in Seward
Natalie showing off our own garden's bounty after our week away. Cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, chard, beets, zucchini, radishes, peas, and, of course, the nasturiums on top.
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