Misadventures With Mom

I am coming to the end of the first leg of this crazy journey, and I have yet to mention a key player in the shenanigans of the past three days.  When I first found myself preparing to head up north I was dead set on driving my truck the 1,800+ miles to Juneau and hoping to find a friend to join me.  As the time for departure grew nearer I was becoming comfortable with the fact that the drive would be solo...but my mom was a little less so.  Her worry pushed her to buy a plane ticket out West to ensure safe passage along the great Alaskan highway.  Luckily, through talking with others, her worry soon mixed with an excitement close to my own.  Unfortunately, I was giving the heartbreaking news that my little truck required far too much work to make a drive up worth it.  I actually found myself slightly relieved, as I began crunching some numbers and realized just how much that fourish day drive was goings to cost us.  But..fear not.  For, as I was scrambling to finish up my third quarter of grad school, my mom was busy figuring out how to get us to the Last Frontier.  Turns out the ferry is a damn good way to go.

And my mom, Denise, is a damn good travel buddy.  Having put up with me for the past 26+years, she knows when to leave me alone and when to bug me just enough to get me to laugh.  The past three days have reminded me just how alike we are...especially when we spent the entire second day doing nothing but sitting, reading, and sneaking drinks on deck in travel mugs.  I was forced to be on the other side of my dorky humor as we each threw down one lame joke after another, which made me love both my mom, and myself, a little bit more.  And through the rough patches that always pop up when you find yourself around the same person long enough, I realized that I may not express this love and gratitude as often as I should.  My misadventures have always been about those events that happen which you never expected, but forever appreciate...and the beginning of my Alaska adventure is proving to be on of those times.  But, here's the difference, this time I have discovered where some of that openness to life came from.

My mom turned 60 this year, an age when most people are sitting back, knitting, and watching tv.  Ok, she does that...but she proved her adventurous side to me as well.  Today we were walking around downtown Juneau trying to escape the throngs of cruise boat tourists that took over the streets.  Rather than give up and head back to the hotel, we decided to follow a sign for an old mining museum that was a mile and a half out of town.  On the way we discovered a trail head for the Mt. Roberts tram (which costs $31 per person if you go round trip from town).  We wanted to see the sights and save a buck so vowed to come back after the museum...because we are that cool.  After looking at the map and figuring a mile hike up, we were game.  That is, until we came to a fork in the trail half a mile up that said 2 miles to the tram.  Not going to lie, I was up for the adventure, but a little worried about my mom.  Her thoughts?  Eff it...game on Juneau!  And an hour and a half later, we found ourselves sweating, swearing, and smiling as we came to the cruise line tourist infested tram building.  But guess what?  We saved ourselves $21 (it was $10 down if you hiked)!

So, here I am.  It's 9:30 pm, still bright out, and preparing myself for a 4am wake up.  Have no fear, the woman running the front desk assured us that it gets light at 2:30.  Although I am antsy and ready to start work, I find myself sad to be parting ways with my new adventure buddy. That's ok...she promised we could get matching tattoos when she turns 80.

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