On Thursday I took off from Sacramento on the first leg of my travels to the village of Klukwan, AK. I landed in Seattle amidst clouds & watched over my 3 hr layover as a rainstorm moved in.  It was enjoyable to watch with my fellow passengers as we chatted together in our seats at the gate.  Fortunately, it did not delay our flight to Juneau but it did make it difficult to see anything but clouds all the way there.  We landed in the midst of rain and after retrieving my bags, I walked across the street to my warm dry hotel room. I was glad to sink into bed after a long day of travel.

That night as I attempted to sleep, the wind picked up and began pelting my window with rain.  The sound was like someone throwing pebbles at the glass a handful at a time.  This was not a great sign for the next day’s seaplane flight to Haines. This is was the view from my hotel room window the next morning…

After checking out off the hotel and heading across the street with my luggage I checked into my flight only to hear that all flights were currently on hold. For an hour we waited to hear if the weather would clear and allow us to fly but eventually all flights were grounded for the day.  After rescheduling for the earliest available flight the next day, I left my bag of workshop materials with the airline and headed back out in the rain with my luggage to book another night at the hotel.

Once settled back in a room, I headed out into Juneau on foot to find something to eat. Thankfully there was a diner around the corner where I sat listening to the people & their stories swirl around me while I nursed my coffee over eggs & toast. I found a place to get some soup fo later and then returned to the hotel to spend the ‘bonus’ day reading & preparing for my workshops. It became a nice opportunity to pause.

The next day, I awoke to a grey but not windy or rainy day.  I checked out at 6am to head across to the airport in hopes of getting any of the 3 earlier flights to Haines. There was a wedding that day in the village of Klukwan that I had been invited to attend.  I did my best but due to all the cancelled flights the day before every seat was filled.  My flight took off at 1pm with mix of sun and patches of blue sky and was worth the wait! What a beautiful view I had from the front of the plane!

What a joy it was to land in Haines & be greeted by friends! Now, let the rest of the adventure begin!

This trip is funded entirely from support through the patrons of New Joy Arts. You can become a patron and give!

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