My Plan for Maternity Leave and Work After Baby

Back in November, I started working out what my maternity leave and return to work plan would be. It has just recently been approved. Glad I was so ahead of the ball!

So here’s my plan:

Since Emma has a 50/50 chance of coming on or after her due date, I’m planning to work right up until then, meaning my last work day will be April 5. Ideally, I’d be able to take more time off before she comes but because my time off is limited, I’d rather use it after she comes. If she comes early, I’ll start my leave early (duh).

If I work through April 5, 12 weeks of maternity leave would put me coming back on the week of July 4th. Since my FMLA leave won’t start until May 7 (when I’ll have worked at my job for 12 months), I’ll be actually taking 13 weeks instead of 12. Six of those weeks will be covered by short term disability at 80% of my pay, and 6 of those weeks will be unpaid. If I end up starting my maternity leave earlier than April 5, I’ll cut my leave to 12 weeks total.

When I return to work, I’ll be coming back part-time 3 days a week (Tues – Thurs). My boss is awesome and really fought for me with this arrangement. Apparently, transitioning to part-time is very rare where I work. My three immediate supervisors are kind of making an exception for me and offering this arrangement on a 6-month trial period. They want to make sure that the workload isn’t too much for being part-time. I had originally requested to work 2 days half the year and 3 days a year half the year (since our workload tends to be very seasonal) but they didn’t feel comfortable with only 2 days.

Until recently, I had always planned on being a stay-at-home mom once we had kids. I’m not a career-driven person by any means, and until recently, my job had bored me to tears about 80% of the time. But things at work have really turned around, and Travis and I both agree that it would be nice to be able to pay off some more loans while we only have one child, so that my staying home in the future (when we have more kids) will be more feasible. I also have a pretty well-paying job right now and we have a good friend who is going to watch Emma for a very affordable rate. So we really do come out ahead with me working.

I’m still not completely sure how I feel about going back to work 3 days a week, or what I’ll think about it in July. But I’m willing to try it out for a month or two. I try to remind myself that just because I’ll be a mother doesn’t mean I have to only do mothering things. And it’ll actually be beneficial to our family if I keep pursuing my own goals and dreams. Maybe that means working part-time. Maybe not. It’s another one of those questions I’m hoping becomes more clear once I’m living the reality.

……………..

And just something kind of funny, I got this in the mail yesterday:

My report date? April 9. I think I’m going to be able to get out of this one.

 

Florida 2013

Every 2 years, my immediate family goes on vacation together. This year, my aunt and uncle were also able to join us. Usually, we go to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, which is wonderful. But since I was pregnant this year and my nephew is only a year old, we decided to stick to the States. We were a little worried that maybe the weather wouldn’t be as nice, or we wouldn’t like having to cook our own food, or renting a private property wouldn’t turn out well, but I’m happy to say that the whole vacation went great!

Except for the first day that we were there, it was sunny and high 70s every day (which was plenty warm when you were sitting in the sun!). The house we rented (through the VRBO website) had a great pool and hot tub (once we figured out how to heat it) and it was a lot of fun having a common area to hang out as just our family, instead of staking out lounge chairs and deciding where to meet up every morning. It also allowed my sister-in-law to hang out with everyone while my nephew napped – something that would have been tricky, if not impossible, at a big resort. Who knows what we’ll do in future years, but for this year, Florida was perfect.

The pool and hot tub

The canal that ran behind our house

Just like our Mexico vacations, we spent almost every day just relaxing, mostly around the pool. Every morning started off with coffee as strong as we could make it and a delicious breakfast, usually prepared by my mom. A treat my brother and his girlfriend shared: egg, sausage and sharp white cheddar on an English Muffin with blueberry jam. Delicious.

My nephew loved that little blue truck.

We also went to the beach a few times, but it was usually pretty windy so we preferred the pool.

It was fun to see how much my nephew improved in his walking ability just in the week that we were there. Kids learn so quickly!

On Wednesday, we went mini-golfing, a favorite pastime of ours.

It was definitely a little hard to bend over for the ball with this belly!

Another notable happening was a trip to Trader Joe’s – my first time ever! I discovered the amazingness that is Crunchy Cookie Butter. Seriously, if you love peanut butter, try this. On the whole, I can see why people like shopping at Trader Joe’s but I found that it’s very similar to the Sprouts stores we have in Colorado. So I feel less like I’m missing out on things. Although, once a TJ’s opens here, I will be going to buy more of that Cookie Butter.

We also went out to eat a few times – my brother had an insatiable craving for fish and chips so we walked to the Old Salty Dog for dinner one night. They were apparently pretty tasty. I had some tasty shrimp since fried food gives me really bad acid reflux (and it did even before I got pregnant). After mini-golfing, we had lunch at the other Old Salty Dog location, which was right on the water. My fish tacos were a little disappointing but other people got the Grouper catch of the day and liked it.

As I mentioned in my pregnancy update yesterday, I’m pretty sure I ate ice cream every day we were there. One day, I ate it twice. How I only gained a pound in 2 weeks is really beyond me. (And for the record, Crunchy Cookie Butter is delicious on ice cream too.) A couple of times, we got ice cream from a shop called Big Olaf. If you’re ever in Siesta Key Village, check them out.

Friday evening, my brother Chris, Travis and I headed to the beach about 45 minutes before sunset to take my maternity pictures. Right before sunset, everyone else joined us down there for a family picture. I’ll post those pictures once the photographers post them (aka my oldest and youngest brothers, and uncle).

And that’s about it for our Florida trip!

Minnesota Baby Shower

A week ago, I flew out to Minnesota for a baby shower. I got in around 3:30 pm on Friday and we had some time to kill before having dinner with my brother and sister-in-law. I was still searching for a shirt to wear for maternity pictures so we went to Macy’s at Southdale Mall. Their maternity selection was awesome! It was about three times as big as the maternity selection at the Macy’s in Denver. I found 3 shirts I liked – one I wore for the shower that weekend and another I’ll wear for maternity pictures in Florida. And with that, I think I’m done maternity shopping. Thank goodness.

My parents and I had dinner with my brother and SIL at a restaurant called Faces and then we drove up to their cabin about an hour north of the Cities. We stopped at the grocery store on the way and even though I was exhausted by the time we got to the cabin, we turned on the first episode of Downton Abbey (my parents haven’t seen it). I slept through pretty much the whole thing.

The next day, we slept in until 9 and then had French toast for breakfast. It’s especially delicious when you put blueberry pie filling on top. Mmm… Then we just hung out. I helped my mom put together a simple website for her business (using WordPress), we ate lunch, picked up the centerpiece and groceries for the shower on Sunday, got a pedicure, and then ate dinner at Pizza Pub in Pine City.

Sunday morning, my mom woke me up at 7 am because we had an issue – the cabin plumbing had frozen where it leaves the house, meaning we couldn’t use the shower or toilet. Enter Plan B. Luckily, my brother is nice and was willing to let us take showers at his place. So we packed up all our stuff, grabbed breakfast at McDonald’s and hit the road.

After getting ready at Chris’ house, my dad drove my mom and I to Travis’ aunt’s house where the shower was. It had started snowing/sleeting and there was a lot of slush built up on the road, making the drive a little sketchy. We started to wonder if people would decide not to come, or if we should even cancel the shower. But that seemed so sad since I had flown out just for the shower. So we decided to play it by ear.

An hour later, the snow was really coming down:

I think it ended up snowing around 5-6 inches, which isn’t too bad for Minnesota, but it was the slush that made the roads so treacherous. Nonetheless, everyone who RSVP’ed for the shower showed up, minus 4 of my college friends and one of Travis’ aunt’s. I was very appreciative to everyone for venturing out in such weather! My aunt Sharyn even drove all the way from Rochester (about 2 hours away)!

Once everyone had arrived, we had some coffee and punch while chatting and then played games. For the first ‘game’, everyone had to say their name, how they knew me and give me either parenting advice or a story. There were lots of great suggestions!

The next game, my mom had packed my diaper bag full of essentials for a newborn to 3 month old and we had to guess what they were. Whoever guessed the most won. I got a lot of good ideas from the answers, but didn’t even get close. My friend Brittany, who isn’t a mom herself, actually tied with my cousin-in-law Laura (a new mom herself) for the most right!

Another game we played was matching things in our purse to the first letters of Emma Grace. Brittany and my aunt Sharyn won that one!

The final game we played was a word scramble – all the words related to baby stuff. It was actually pretty tough! It didn’t help that my brain seemed to have stopped working.

After the games, we went upstairs and dug into the goodies.

Gourmet cupcakes from Cupcake in St. Paul

The candy bar

The awesome diaper cake (made out of diapers, so it’s not edible) that my MIL made – she did a great job! I even brought it back to use at my Colorado baby shower in March.

We also had cucumber sandwiches (one of my favorites), cheese and crackers, fruit and dip, and a delicious, easy punch – raspberry sherbet and ginger ale. Try it.

Once we were full, it was time to open gifts! My very generous family and friends gave Travis and I lots of great stuff, including:

Diapers

A cross-stitched blanket made by one of Travis’ aunts

Plus a carseat, diaper pail, pack-n-play, swing, bath tub, baby outfits, blankets, baby monitor, baby bath stuff, and some picture frames for the nursery. I was able to fit everything in the two suitcases I had brought along, minus a box of diapers, the diaper pail and the bath tub (the other big things were shipped directly to our house). My parents will bring the stuff that I left behind with them when they drive out when Emma is born. We won’t need it before then anyway.
The group

By the time we said goodbye to everyone and packed everything up, it was past dinnertime and we decided that driving all the way down to Rochester just to drive back up in the morning was a little ridiculous. So we rented a hotel room, had dinner with Chris and Meg again, and then hit the hay. I was so relieved to not have to sit in a car for a couple of hours. My back was hurting. (Though I know a lot of it is my own fault – I have even worse posture pregnant than I normally do!)

The next morning, I was able to meet up with my 4 college friend who hadn’t been able to make the shower on Sunday. We met up at Panera and it was so fun to see them and their kids!

It was a little more chaotic than the previous day’s shower but all our church friends have kids, so Travis and I are pretty used to the mayhem. It was so much fun to see my college friends. My friend Jen gave me handmade burp clothes, plus a bunch of other baby stuff. Katie gave me a really cute little outfit, Samm bought us loads of diapers, and Holly gave me stuff for breastfeeding plus baby care. We’re getting closer to having everything we need!

After everyone left, we had an awkward amount of time to kill. My mom and I shopped for some baby clothes at Carter’s next door (so much fun!) and then we just hung out at Panera until it was time to go to the airport. Despite the weather, my flight was on time and the airport was pretty much dead, so it was a breeze checking my bags and getting through security. I arrived back in Denver around 6 pm.

It was a great trip! My parents made the weekend so special, and it was fun spending time just the 3 of us, knowing that it’ll probably be the last time for a very long time!

………………….

Speaking of trips, Travis and I leave for Florida this coming Sunday!! I probably won’t be posting much (or at all) the week that we’re gone, but I’ll be back with lots of pictures and stories once we’re back.

 

Thanksgiving 2012

Since you’ve probably read everyone else’s Thanksgiving posts by now, you’re probably wishing you had just one more to read. Right? No?

Well, even though I really dislike it when people say this, I’m going to say it – this post is mostly for me to record what we did this year for Thanksgiving so that I have it for the memory book I was supposed to make in April. (That’s a post for another time.)

I flew to Minnesota on Wednesday and Travis and my younger bro picked me up from the airport (Travis was already out there for a work trip). We went out to eat at Axel’s Bonfire in St. Paul with my parents, older brother, sister-in-law and adorable nephew. Then we all (minus my younger bro) drove an hour north to my parents’ cabin and went to bed (it was about 11 by then I think).

The next morning, we got up and had a delicious waffle breakfast with every topping you could think of before Travis and I headed up north to Nevis (where Travis’ parents live… sort of… long story). I actually thought to take a picture before we departed ways:

It was a 3.5 hour drive up to Nevis but it went by pretty fast. We amused ourselves along the way by imagining what it would be like if we lived up there. (It is the area we’re thinking about moving back to.) By the time we arrived in Nevis, it had started to snow. We ate our delicious Thanksgiving dinner and then played Catch Phrase – pretty much a holiday tradition at this point. I’m amazed we don’t have all the answers memorized.

The next day, we slept in (ahh!), ate breakfast (Monkey bread!), and then I went shopping at Walmart in the nearest town with my SIL Carolyn. She found some presents but I only bought a bottle of non-alcoholic bubbly and underwear for Travis. I know, exciting. After Walmart, we only had a few minutes before Travis and I met up with some friends for lunch. It was fun seeing them again – we only see them about once every couple of years so it’s good to catch up. The rest of the day was spent napping, crosswording and reading until we packed up and drove over to Grand Rapids (where Travis’ parents also live…).

Saturday also started out as a lazy day. We ate breakfast around 9 am, I took a shower and then did a puzzle while the guys ran some errands. I completed the puzzle in record time (though it was only 330 pieces instead of 600). That afternoon, Travis and I headed to the Verizon store to get me a new phone – I’ve had a free upgrade for almost a year and still hadn’t used it. Verizon didn’t have the free phone I wanted but we found it at Walmart. And they had a deal where if you bought a new smartphone (even one for $.97 like the one I got), you got a $100 gift card. (The deal is good until Dec 1 so if you’re looking for a new smartphone, check out Walmart – I would assume the deal isn’t just a local one but I’m not sure.) So I pretty much got paid to get a new phone. How cool is that? (I got the Samsung Galaxy Stellar if you’re wondering.)

There was a little snafu with the upgrade (long story) so Travis and I had to go back to Walmart on Sunday to get the phone then. And I discovered the downfalls of getting the free phone that no one wants anymore – cases and screen protectors are near impossible to find in a store. I was able to find a case at the Verizon store but still need to buy a screen protector.

Saturday night, we played Yahtzee and had root beer floats. Delicious. Sunday we watched more football and just hung out reading and doing Sudoku. If you can’t tell, it was a very mellow trip. I didn’t really do much of anything. And it was wonderful. Unfortunately, we had to leave Sunday afternoon for the Cities. Our flight back to Denver left at 7 am on Monday morning so we wanted to be as close to the airport as possible. It worked out nicely though because we got to see my younger brother, SIL and parents again for a few hours. We went out to Chinese at a local restaurant and then my parents drove back down to Rochester (about 1.5 hours south). They drove up just to have dinner with us! Aren’t they the greatest?

Monday morning came early but we got to the airport with plenty of time. After we landed in Denver, we got our luggage, took the shuttle to our car, and then headed off to work. Boo. This week has actually gone by really fast though. Tomorrow’s already Friday! Yay!

 

Off to Minnesota

I’m currently sitting in the Denver airport waiting to board my plane. I ended up getting to my gate almost 2 hours before my plane leaves because I expected the airport to be nuts. It’s busier than normal but not crazy.

We’re spending tonight and tomorrow morning with my family (I get to see my nephew again!) and then heading up north to spend Thanksgiving and the weekend with Travis’ family. It should be a very enjoyable, relaxing time.

Hope you have a great holiday wherever you are!

Labor Day Weekend

I guess since I said I’d post again this week, I’d better do it, huh?

Our Labor Day weekend was great. The time for my flight into Minneapolis Thursday night got changed about 15 times but I finally landed only about 45 minutes later than planned. Travis flew in to the other terminal from Fargo (where he was for a work trip since the previous Sunday) and my dad picked us up from the airport. We made our way over to my older brother’s house, who is moving to San Francisco this fall and renting his house out. My mom met us there and we went out to dinner at a local burger joint call Flameburger. It was delicious. Travis and I split an order of fries and a chocolate malt, and I still managed to eat my entire cheeseburger. Then we made our way to my parents’ cabin, which is about an hour north of the Cities, and crashed.

The next day, we drove back down to my brother’s house to help him out with cleaning and packing. The renters were moving in on Saturday, giving him just one day to get everything done.  Needless to say, he needed help. We worked until 4:45 when we got pizza delivered. In the meantime, my oldest brother, sister-in-law, and nephew (!!) arrived and after we ate our pizza lupper (lunch/supper), we headed back up to the cabin, making a stop for groceries and beers on the way.

On Saturday, the brother that was moving and my youngest brother and sister-in-law arrived. They brought tons of fresh vegetables from their local Farmers Market – sweet corn, green beans, potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes. Saturday was my oldest brother’s 35th birthday and we celebrated with 24 candles (that was all we had) on an buster bar ice cream cake. It was actually really easy to make and it was delicious – you just mash up a box of Oreos and combine with 1/2 cup melted butter. Press into a 9 x 13 pan and top with sliced vanilla ice cream (I bought the kind that comes in a box). Top that with 1 1/2 cups peanuts and a jar of fudge sauce. Freeze and voila! Deliciousness.

On Sunday, we celebrated my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. I spent hours upon hours the previous several weeks making them a scrapbook of family memories and gave it to them at breakfast. My oldest brother smoked some BBQ ribs for dinner – they were delicious, even if the texture still grossed me out a bit. For dessert, we had an angel food trifle with strawberries and bananas.

Besides eating, we spent a lot of time enjoying the lake on the pontoon and floaties, playing cornhole, bocce ball and ladderball, skiiing (just the guys), and watching my absolutely adorable nephew do all sorts of stuff – crawl, pull himself up, play with his toys and torment the dogs.

 

 

 

Travis and I flew back to Denver Tuesday night, on another delayed flight. Get your act together Southwest! Travis was a sweetheart and dropped me off at our house before going to get the dogs from our friends so that I could go to bed. I was ridiculously tired!

It was a great trip – even though it seemed like we would be there for many days, the time flew by. Hopefully we’ll get back to Minnesota sooner than a year from now!

Still here!

Hey friends. Sorry I’ve been so MIA lately. I promise that my posting will pick back up soon.

This week, I’m trying to get lots done before I fly to Minnesota on Thursday for Labor Day weekend. And my work computer for some reason refuses to load any and all WordPress blogs so even though I haven’t been commenting on your blogs, I have been reading what I can! It has been more than a little frustrating to not be able to read Mel’s race report or congratulate my friend B on her first home. Hopefully it’ll get back to normal soon!

As far as running and other workouts are going, I’ve been lazier than I like to admit. I went for my first run in weeks on Sunday morning and it was awesome. Definitely the motivation I needed to be more diligent about getting out there (which I did again last night)! Relaxation is good but I definitely feel better when I’m active.

Anyway, I’m so pumped to be going to Minnesota. Of course to see my family and celebrate my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary, but also to get out on the lake. We haven’t been on the lake ONCE this year. That better not happen ever again!

Have a great holiday weekend friends and I will be back next week! Promise.

Alaska: Ketchikan (Days 3-4) and Home

The third day that we were in Ketchikan happened to be the Fourth of July so while Al and Matthew got up early to go fishing, the rest of us slept in and then we made our way downtown for the parade which started at noon.

The stair streets continued to amaze me.

 

 

Travis had to take his turn as the pirate since he wasn’t with us the other day:

Since we had time to kill before the parade, we did some more shopping and posing.

Travis’ mom is awesome.

Al, Matthew, Kurt and Marlene met us in front of the fire station to watch the parade. It started with a helicopter flying with the American flag.

I was amazed at all of the groups in the parade. Since I grew up in a big city (80,000 people), I’m always surprised at any signs of “civilization” small towns have (though Ketchikan probably isn’t considered small at 14,000 people). Travis is helping to rid me of my big-city prejudices.

They raced rubber duckies in the water by Creek Street as a fundraiser, which was a fun idea (and a fun float!).

After the parade, we ate the sandwiches we brought along and then walked around Creek Street (since the guys had been fishing when we went before). We saw a trolley…

…and a fish ladder, which helps salmon run the river without going through the rapids.

Since we were downtown, we decided to check out the Discovery Center, which we had heard was pretty interesting. We found out that since it was a national holiday, admission was free. Can’t beat that!

We saw baby salmon:

Lots of stuff about the natives and the industries that built Alaska into what it is today:

 

Learned about the core samples we had found on our hike to Lower Silvis Lake:

 

 

 

And I think this is interesting – Alaska is so big that it would stretch across the Lower 48.

After all of our discoveries, we walked back to the apartment. For dinner, we went to a BBQ hosted by some of Kurt and Marlene’s friends. We brought burgers and drinks and they provided quite the spread. I filled up on all kinds of jello salad before my burger was even done because I decided I’d rather eat jello salad than a burger (though I did end up eating my entire burger too). Alaska reminds me in many ways of Minnesota – the greenery, the snow (in some parts), the bugs, the nice people, the jello salads. Everything except for the ocean and mountains. Minnesota doesn’t have those. Although the ocean has been mistaken for big lakes by several people (Minnesotans)…

Around 9, we headed back to the apartment to watch the fireworks, which wouldn’t be shot off until 11 pm. We had planned to walk down to the main street again but the fireworks started just as we were leaving and we discovered that we could see them fine about 200 feet from our front door. So we just stood in the street to watch them. It was a very good show for a small town. The loud ones would create an echo that bounced off all the mountains around us. Very cool. I love fireworks. And I love being able to walk only 200 feet before I’m home and can go to bed. No traffic fighting for us!

The next day was our last day in Ketchikan. And it was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was shining, the clouds were sparse and Deer Mountain was asking to be climbed. So climb it we did.

Since it’s a fairly strenuous hike (3,000 feet elevation gain in 2.5 miles), Al and Beth opted to do a different hike. So it was just the four of us younguns. For the first 2 miles, it felt like we were in a jungle.

 

So many stairs.

An idea of how fast it climbed:

This is called Devils Club. Why?

Because of these guys:

The first overlook had awesome views of the ocean.

 

As we continued on, we came across a place where a mudslide or avalanche must have happened.

 

 

Right before the second scenic overlook, we started encountering snow.

 

And more beautiful views. Now we were really getting up there.

 

 

Even though the rest of the way to the top was all snow, we decided to continue on (although if we had known what we know now, we probably would’ve turned around.)

 

 

It was so steep and slippery that we pretty much scrambled up on all fours.

With extremely short walking sticks.

The views were breathtaking.

I was trying my best to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, instead of freaking out about how high we were and how steep it was.

We got to a point, though, where it was so steep that we weren’t sure how we’d get back down. So Matthew, Drew and I stopped about 400 feet from the top, while Travis continued on and disappeared over the top of the ridge.

I distracted myself from the fear of Travis dying by taking pictures.

Yes, I know I look ridiculous but the bugs up there were HORRIBLE. It has been almost 3 weeks since this hike and I still have a bug bite on my arm. And I hate bugs. Hate. Hate. Hate.

Finally, Travis’ head poked back over the top.

Thank God he’s alive!

Then the fun part began – shoe skiing! When you get a running start on snow like this, you can just slide down on your shoes. It’s a little tricky and I fell more than once but it was a lot of fun. And a lot of cold.

When we got past the snow, Travis was able to actually wring water out of his socks, they were so wet. But we lived to tell our tale! (Later that night, we found out that people die on Deer Mountain every year because of unpredictable avalanches. Ha… glad I didn’t find that out the hard way.)

So the sun does still exist.

After our hike, the guys showered up while Al, Beth and I ran a few errands. Then we ate dinner (tortellini, garlic bread and salad) before heading over to Kurt and Marlene’s for a bonfire and s’mores. Around 10, we said our goodbyes, drove back to the apartment, finished packing as much as we could and went to bed.

Our flights back home on Friday went without incident. Travis and I got back to our house in Denver by 6 pm, just in time to pick our dogs up from doggie daycare. Home sweet home for all of us!

So was Alaska everything I thought it would be?

Yes!! It was an awesome vacation and I loved that we got to do a lot of hiking and sightseeing. Renting an RV was a great idea – it was so nice to not have to deal with lugging our stuff into hotels, not worrying about where to stay or having to sleep in less-than-ideal hotel rooms. Obviously, it was also a huge blessing to have awesome friends in Ketchikan who were willing to show us around, cook us amazing food and spoil us. But it would be a fun place to visit even if you didn’t have those connections. And since it hadn’t rained in Colorado for months, the rain every day didn’t bother us. I would definitely recommend visiting Alaska to anyone who likes the outdoors!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alaska: Ketchikan (Days 2-3)

Our second day in Ketchikan, Travis, Matthew and Al went fishing with Kurt pretty much all day. So Beth, Drew and I had a lazy morning, then walked to the shops in downtown.

Drew refused to take a picture as a pirate. He retorted, “I don’t do that in public.”

I was so fascinated by the named streets that were really just staircases that I took a picture of this “intersection” two days in a row:

The cruise ships are HUGE.

And you could definitely tell who was a tourist (dressed up, wearing heels) and who was a local (wearing jeans and Ketchikan sneakers). We were kind of in-between because our plans had been to be at a cabin all week so we only brought jeans and sweatshirts along.

Creek Street was the old red light district. While I like historic things, brothels are not one of them, so we declined that tour. (The rest of Creek Street is now just local shops.)

By the time we were done shopping, we were ready for lunch so we headed back to the apartment. The fishermen stopped by for about 5 minutes and when I discovered they were going back out fishing, I got a little angry at Travis. But I got over it and our group of 3 decided to ride the city bus out to Totem Bight State Park, which went smoothly with not a single incident. But on the way back, our bus driver stopped at the gas station to fill the bus up. That was a first.

The volunteer working in the visitor center was just closing up for the day and was in a very good mood so she let us in to the building where they were ‘rehabilitating’ some old totems that were rotting.

It was a lot easier to look at them when they were laying down (otherwise, some of them are so tall you just about fall over following them to the top).

Then we continued on to look at the clan house on-site, which was interesting. The natives lived in houses like this in clans of 45-50 people during the winter. In the summer, they set up camps near wherever they were fishing.

We of course saw more totems, but they’re not as cool in pictures as they are in real life, so I’ll spare you. It was low tide at the time so we walked out on to the exposed seaweed and looked for hermit crabs.

While we waited for the bus, Drew played with something I haven’t seen in over a decade.

I asked him if he knew what that even was. He did. Smartypants.

We got back to the apartment around 6 and since we had no idea when the guys were coming back, we made dinner when we started feeling hungry. Beth and I (but mostly Beth) put together beautiful homemade pizzas. About 10 minutes later, they were burnt to a crisp. Apparently, the oven temperature was not accurate. We were able to salvage them though – just the cheese was burnt so we peeled that off, put on more cheese and put them back in the oven, checking them every minute. So we had pizza for dinner and it was still pretty tasty. The guys came back not long after that and after they ate, we all went to bed.

The next day, the guys weren’t going fishing until the afternoon so we all went on a hike up to Lower Silvis Lake. It was 5 miles round trip and gained about 800 feet so while the climb wasn’t crazy steep, it was constant. All up on the way out, all down on the way back.

The guys saw the tunnel around the big pipe and just had to walk through it. I refused because of the spider-danger. Nothing is worth encountering spiders.

Being the almost-teenager boy that he was, Drew had to try climbing everything.

Even if it meant he could barely get down.

(He survived.)

We got up to a dam and had to climb over the fence to check it out.

Water, water everywhere.

We also came across a big pile of granite core samples.

We contemplated bringing them home for a new kitchen countertop but decided against it.

Finally, we reached the lake.

The bugs were so bad there though that I literally kept pacing back and forth until we were ready to turn back. Travis decided to imitate Ace Ventura and walk the ledge.

Then the guys went out fishing.

The rest of us hung out with Marlene, talking and drinking. Being around Drew reminds me of how much I hated adult conversation when I was his age. Talking seemed like The Worst way to spend your time. Now, I honestly enjoy it. I guess that makes me an adult, huh?

We played some Phase 10 as well until the guys got back and had gutted their fish. Then we had dinner: salmon chowder. Yum. So delicious. I can’t wait until we get some of the salmon Travis caught from his parents because I will be making this! After dessert of mint brownies and ice cream again, we called it a day.

Only one post of Alaska left… don’t be so excited.

Alaska: Ferry and Ketchikan (Day 1)

We got on the ferry around 6 pm on Friday, June 29. We wouldn’t be getting off until 6 am on Sunday, July 1. Yes, the ferry ride was 36 hours long.

We had reserved a 4-person berth, which was nice because it gave us a secure place to put all of our crap, and I was able to go to bed at 7:30 that night. Seriously. We ate our pizza up on the top deck under the Solarium and then I tried to hang out in the observation deck but was too sleepy. So I went to “take a nap” but didn’t get up before morning. Apparently, I was tired!

The Solarium

Our ship’s name

The map of the ship

At first, the ship seemed huge. But after being on there just a few hours, you pretty much knew where everything was (at least, what was accessible to the passengers).

To be completely honest, I got a little bored on the ferry. There’s only so much watching and waiting for wildlife, reading and crosswording, hanging out and napping I can do. We stopped at 4 different ports before getting to Ketchikan: Sitka, Kake, Petersburg and Wrangell. We stopped at Sitka in the middle of the night but got off for 20 minutes at Kake the next day, walked to the only store within walking distance and bought some ice cream.

The stops at Petersburg and Wrangell happened while we were awake but they were only for about 20 minutes and we didn’t think it was worth it to get off, only to get right back on.

Finally, we were coming in to Ketchikan. It’s very cool to watch how they get the ship tied to the dock in the right place. They winch it in. (The pics below are from 2 different ports, if you’re confused about why the dock is on one side in some and on the other side in others.)

We got off the ship, walked across the street for some blessed coffee and waited for our ride in the Alaska Marine Highway building. (I was reading blogs on my phone for the first time since getting to Alaska.)

Have I mentioned that Al and Beth (and Travis and his sister Carolyn) used to live in Ketchikan? Al and Beth moved there when they were first married, stayed for about 8 before moving back to MN and haven’t returned for about 25 years. I think they enjoyed seeing their old stomping grounds.

They still have some friends who live there – Kurt and Marlene. They were so nice and accommodating to us! They let us stay for free in an apartment they own that doesn’t have any renters currently. They borrowed us a car for free. And they invited us over to their house 3 nights out of the 5 we were there.

After Kurt picked us up, we went grocery shopping, napped and then drove around town to see some of the schools Travis went to and apartments they lived in. One of those apartments was actually just at the end of the street a couple hundred feet from the apartment we were staying in.

The streets in Ketchikan are crazy steep and narrow. The street our apartment was on was so narrow that you had to back out of it – no room to turn around! And the steepness reminded me of San Francisco. They have named streets that are just stairs, which I’ll talk more about in a different post. I remarked “Wow, I bet this is horrible in the winter” and was told that it doesn’t really snow in Ketchikan, and when it does, it melts pretty quickly because they get 160 inches of rain a year. Ketchikan is literally in a temperate rainforest (as opposed to a tropical rainforest).

Look at the moss on the back of this roof (the apartment at the bottom was the one they lived in):

Near our apartment was also a float plane harbor, which had planes flying in and out as early as 7 am everyday (grrr):

We tried to go tour the fish hatchery and native museum but you had to pay for them now (not 25 years ago!) so we ended up just walking around in the rain for a while.

Then we went to the Saxman Native Village to see the world’s largest collection of totems.

We learned what most of the symbols mean but I’m not going to tell you because 1) I’ve already forgotten and 2) they never made a ton of sense in the first place. I need an expert to interpret the poles for me.

After driving to the end of the southbound road (there are only about 20 miles of road in Ketchikan because it’s on an island), we went over to Kurt and Marlene’s house. Their two daughters and son-in-law were there too so we were a big group! We finally ate some wild salmon worth writing on the blog about! The locals know how to do it right. It was awesome. We also had carrots coated with pecan Nut-Thins and sour cream (I think… regardless, they were delicious, trust me) and baked potatoes. For dessert, we had mint brownies and ice cream and were informed at the end of the meal that everything had been gluten-free (their son-in-law has celiac). I was impressed – nothing tasted GF!

After we were thoroughly stuffed, we played some Phase 10 until about 10:45, and then went home to bed. There was fishing to be done the next day!

Coming up: Ketchikan Days 2 and 3