The End is Near

Video Pick

The older audience won't appreciate this as much as they should; it's a hip hop generation. Also, peep my boy DJ Mearley all over the background of this video. Far left with the cup.

In Soapy news, the parlor museum isn't included on the National Register just yet. The state historic preservation office wants more information about the building mainly revolving around the fact that we (the NPS) want to consider it historically significant in a period of time that runs up into the last 50 years. That makes it a little messy, but soon enough after I resubmit my Determination of Eligibility the parlor museum will be recognized as it should be. Total bummer, but just a bump in the road not disaster.

My other NPS projects are finishing up too, well I guess they have to since Friday is my last day. The end is near. My real triumph of the last few weeks is that I figured out that a building we once believed to be a gold era toll bridge to in fact just be a homesteader cabin with no connection to the gold rush. It's cool, but it means the NPS may have wasted a fair amount of money and time working on a building that the park its in may not care about in the end.

A report I wrote concerning a house owned by the town will soon be submitted to the city and the historic preservation committee for Skagway. Apparently these people really aren't super familiar with preservation, because I was encouraged to point out that wood siding should not be replaced with metal siding as that would compromise the historic integrity of the building. Uhh, yeah.

This weekend I went on a whale watching tour in Seward. It was pretty darn awesome. The boat held about 200 people and was almost entirely full. I sat with a University of Oregon Law Student and an older couple from Orlando. The couple, Ben and Rita, had been to Alaska for 10 straight summers. Ben was making his 22nd trip to the Great North. Ben had been to pretty much every country on earth, 45 by his count. He has climbed Mt. Fuji, Mt. Kilamanjaro and Pike's Peak. Him and his wife made retirement sound like the most awesome adventure one could ever undertake. If we could all be so lucky.

But the tour itself was great. I saw otters, sea lions, two types of puffins, a distant bald eagle a bunch of other birds, a minke whale and a bunch of hump back whales, a dall sheep and a black bear. Upping my wildlife count by almost 4000%. I guess the classically touristy trips are that way for a reason. The highlight was probably seeing this massive glacier, Aialik Glacier. There were 4-5 other glaciers too, but we got much closer to Aialik and it was spectacular.

Those rocks mark the opening into Ressurection Bay
If you have ever tried to take picture of whales you feel me here.
Whale Tails and a glacier
Epic Stellar Sea Lion hide outStellar Sea Lions chilling extremely hard
Click the pick for a real look at the puffins

In front of the camera finally! With a big beard no less.900 foot ice wall. Look how small that boat looks.

This is the equivalent of an eight story building falling into the water. I can't tell if this is exciting or depressing. When I saw it, it was extremely thrilling, no joke. But reflecting on this I think I feel more sad than anything. The glaciers are melting. Quickly.


The water is rising.