City in the Clouds

Note:  This is my personal blog and as such does not reflect the views of JVC Northwest, Americorps or any of its employees.  So now that that's been said, on with the first amendment.

To start, I should probably give a little background of what this Blog is all about.  I'm a Jesuit Volunteer participating in a year of service as a JVC Northwest/Americorps member.  What does that mean, for those of you not familiar with the program?  Basically, I live in community with 6 other Jesuit Volunteers (JVs), who all volunteer at various social service agencies around Juneau, AK.  We live in a house together with a simple budget, in solidarity with those whom we serve, and incorporate a spiritual component to our service.  That usually consists of a community/spirituality night once a week, and may include any type of spiritual practice, from meditation and reflection to yoga, a sunrise hike, or a prayer service.  JVC Northwest is a Catholic organization, founded by the Jesuits, but does not limit its participants to only those of the Catholic faith.

Ok, how did that sound?  You can find more info on JVC NW's website.  Great, so on to Juneau, AK, and all of the wonderful things that I've encountered here so far.

After a week of orientation outside Portland, OR, we took our leave of the "lower 48" and hopped on a plane to Seattle, and then on to Juneau, AK.  A "city" of 30,000, and the state's capitol, Juneau is located in Southeast Alaska in the midst of the Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest national forest.  The city was founded for the purposes of mining gold, an industry still in existence in the Juneau area, along with the remains of a number of since closed gold mines.  It's amazing that downtown Juneau exists where it is.  It is pretty much built into the side of the mountains that rise right from the Gastineau Channel, which separates the mainland from Douglas Island.  The large majority of Juneau residents live out in "The Valley":  Mendenhall valley, one of the few flat areas in Juneau which was previously occupied by the Mendenhall Glacier, which has receded slowly of the past few centuries.

I could probably keep going about all the little bits of Juneau that I've found.  I remember when I was in the process of applying to JVC NW, I wished that previous Juneau JVs had kept better blogs so that I knew what to expect.  But having gotten here, begun volunteering, and started living a simple lifestyle in community with my fellow JVs, I realize that it's not always that easy to explain all of the in's and out's of a community.  What I can try to do is offer a few reflections on what I've noticed thus far about the community, and some cool pictures, because I know at this point in reading, you're probably ready for a little more action outside of JVC philosophy and Juneau, AK history, although I hope to incorporate some of that as I go along.

A distant view of the Mendenhall Glacier from Douglas Island 

Most of the community (Sorry AJ, I got you in another one)

Perseverance Trail, behind downtown Juneau

A look upriver on Perseverance Trail.  It's hard to differentiate where the peak in the distance ends and the clouds begin!

Coming down Perseverance Trail towards Juneau.  There's an old goldmine directly on the bottom of the slope to the left

Mount Bradley (everyone calls it Mt. Jumbo) on Douglas Island

A big ol' piece o' driftwood on the North side of Douglas Island

A beaver pond next to fish creek on North Douglas.   That little thing floating in the water is a beaver, which was eyeing me curiously while I was standing there.