Friends.

Last night our friends Tara and Kristan hosted a going-away party at their house for all our friends. It was a beautifully sunny, calm evening, and a great night with friends. We are so fortunate to have made great friends in every city and state we've lived in.

Several friends either have lived in, or were raised in the area where we're moving...and two gave us lots of ideas for places to explore. Wendel and Annie, recent transplants to Juneau from Washington made us this card, were the map they drew on the front has numbers corresponding to fun things to do and see that are detailed inside the card. What a great idea! We can't wait to explore the new area.

Today is another flawlessly gorgeous day in Juneau and we've made the most of it, throwing open the doors and windows this morning while we were cleaning, then going for a drive this afternoon to visit some of our favorite places.

The labyrinth at the Shrine:

Blooming flowers, finally!

 Cairns at the Shrine, with the Chilkat mountains in the distance:

 The Mendenhall Glacier, of course:

 And our favorite bear-viewing site (but no bears today):

Tonight we're going to a friend's house at the beach to help her celebrate her birthday. Tomorrow we'll load the truck with the last of our stuff and strap the kayaks on top. Then we need to do a final cleaning of the apartment. We handed over most of the keys to the new tenant this morning. Tuesday we need to be at the ferry terminal at 4 am. That's less fun, but it should at least be mostly light out, and we can wait to shower until we're on the boat, which will mean we can sleep a bit more.

Almost time to go!