Alaska Journal --Day 7 | auroraborealis's Blog

At the time, and in retrospect, this was my most magical day in Alaska.    Probably for all the wrong reasons, but I think this day was my favorite.   My journal entry for this day just states "Hottie, Hottie, Hottie" but I will bypass the journal and go into greater detail.

I disembarked from the ship around 7:30 in the morning and had to find something to do until 3:00 when I could check into the hotel.   My flight was leaving at six the next morning, so I had to be at the airport at five so I planned on going to bed early.    But in the meantime, I had to find something to do.   I had to cancel my hike again because of my ankle.    So I was in Juneau and had to find something to keep me occupied for over seven hours that didn't involve much movement.   I had hurt my ankle again the day before climbing up a hill after the float trip and I was in quite a bit of pain.   A whole lot of pain, actually.    This whole day had a surreal, magical quality about it and I think that was because my brain was being flooded with endorphins from the pain.   I limped around town after getting off the ship looking for somewhere I could just park my ass, but nothing opened until 9.    I walked down to the waterfront and sat under an enclosure in a park and just watched the world go by for an hour and a half.   It was very cool!    I just looked out over the water, watched the birds and the people go by and just felt at one with the world.    Shortly before nine I made my way back to the center of town and went into a bar that had internet access and pinged my Hottie, and surprise, surprise, he was there!!! I was SO excited to talk to him and tell him everything that had happened.    I still remember his reaction when I told him about getting lost and having to hitchhike back--Holy Shit!!!    That was pretty funny.     We chatted for about an hour and he had to go do something so I left the bar and wandered around and did some gift shopping.    I think I hit every gift shop on main street!   It was pretty fun looking at all of the goodies.    I went back to the bar after about an hour.   I was in horrible pain and needed to sit down.   I started ordering beers.   I hadn't eaten yet that day.   I had Guiness Stout for breakfast.   I also jumped back on the internet and chatted with the Hottie for another two or three hours.    After a while the pain subsided and I got daring again so I bid him goodbye and walked back down to the waterfront.   When I was getting off of the ship one of the crew told me to be sure to stop at this place on the wharf for some Russian dumplings.   She was totally right, they were absolutely gorgeous and totally worth the trip!!!    They filled my belly and warmed me up--not that I needed too much warming after all the beer I drank!   I poked around that building on the wharf for about an hour.   It was a dusty old warehouse.    There was this antiques shop in there that struck me as so out of place--it was a very feminine shop.    I floated through there for a while, dreaming about all of the items and where they might have come from and who their previous owners were, what they were like and why they might have purchased the items.

I slowly made my way back to the center of town, got a cab and went to the hotel, checked in, took a hot shower, crawled into bed and watched movies until I fell asleep.

That whole day had an ethereal, magical quality to it and will always be remembered as one of my favorite days ever.