Things will break and when they do go on a hike!

Exploring above Ketchikan.

This has been the week of malfunctions in my life. My trusty IPhone decided that it needed to update itself, which is great. But after the updates it didn't want to let me send or receive texts or phone calls. So after spending an hour on the phone with Verizon, it came down that my phone had to make a journey back to the lower 48. So my phone is now on it's way back to my daddy where it will hopefully be fixed! 

So after that very frustrating conversation I took a walk with Kayla and Bryce to explore a little! We took the tram from creek street up to Cape Fox Lodge and walked down some dirt paths to find a great view of the city from above! 

The next day was supposed to be my first double cruise day, and I was super excited! We saw a humpback, some seals, lots of birds, and had some great views of eagles! It was an absolutely beautiful day, and then one of our jet engines sucked up way too many sticks and didn't want to run anymore. So we had a nice slow cruise back to Ketchikan, thankfully the guests were wonderful! 

Ketchikan Creek

After those two days I was very ready for two days off! The first day off, I explored a little around town. I found some cute spots along the Ketchikan Creek that make you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere while you are still in the middle of downtown. Then we had a wonderful girls night with Pitch Perfect 2! Seeing Clay Matthews and the Green Bay Packers singing and dancing to Destiny's child made the entire thing worth it! 

View back down the trail.

The second day Kayla, Annie, and I decided to hike Deer Mountain. The trail is almost 3 miles and full of stairs, switchbacks, and a landslide crossing that climb up the 3,000 feet to the top. The hike was full of beautiful views and bugs. Thankfully, I've lived near a marsh for the past few years, so bugs are something I am familiar with! We didn't make it all the way to the top, we stopped about .25 miles from the end of the trail. But that just gives us motivation to hike it again! We did stop to have a snack at an overlook that had some great views of Ketchikan! While standing on a landslide scar looking back over the islands around Ketchikan, it finally felt real that this is my life and I live in Alaska! 

We found the snow.

Landslide scars

View of the islands from the Landslide

So yes my phone broke, but it has actually been nice not having it glued to my side every minute of the day. I'm using my actual camera to take pictures, and I'm not updating the world about my every move. At meals with my new friends, instead of checking my texts or social media while waiting for my food I'm just enjoying being there. I'm very ready to have it back and fixed, but I believe that everyone should take a break from their phone from time to time!

In life things break and everything doesn't always go exactly as planned. But with all of the things that went wrong there have also been so many smiles, laughs, and new memories made over the last week. I got a package from my daddy, the sun has been shinning in Ketchikan for 2 weeks straight, Uno has become a regular game in our house, and late night explorations have been had. 

Life is not perfect, but that's what makes it all so enjoyable! So when things break sometimes the best things you can do is just go for a hike!