Airport to Downtown Float trip

Saturday, in the early hours Mr. X said he wanted to do the Airport to Downtown float. In our groggy states Mr. X handed me the tide book and we concocted a plan.

Here's how it went:

I went shopping for the BBQ we were providing food for in the evening and skipped all other chores. We drove downtown and parked car behind F&G building. Then we caught the bus at the Federal Building. And then realized that someone :) misread the tide table and we started to worry that we won't make it to the BBQ in time.

Ride bus to airport.

Inflate rafts at the Airport trail on Mendenhall River

(Pardon the following photo quality; they were taken with a GPS camera.)

We made quick work of the river portion and turn into the Gastineau Channel. We had three different seals come check us out. The first one didn't realize how fast we were moving in the river, and we were just about on top of him when he came up for air. He was gone in a flash with a big splash.

After paddling hard for some time and recognizing we weren't making much process against the tide, we decided to get out and walk on the shore.

I somehow managed to fall getting out of raft and ended up wet from shoulders to wrists and waist down. Mr. X said he watched it happen and considered "Sarah or raft, raft or Sarah". In the end he decided I wouldn't drown and went after the raft. It was the right choice since it was all of six inches deep; I was just crab walking and doing push-ups.

To make sure I was miserable, as soon as I stripped down to t-shirt and pants, it started pouring rain.

Rembember those Ivar's clam chowder commercials? I totally felt like a clam.

The tide changed and we put the boats back in. We were flying down the channel! It was so much fun to zip past the helicopter pad, eagles hanging out on driftwood, barge dock, Dipac hatchery.

Once we got past the yacht club, we got hit by wind. The water was choppy and we struggled to make headway again. This is when I realized that neither of us had bothered to eat lunch. Mr. X and I directed the rafts near the shore in order to take shelter by Aurora harbor and the UAS diesel technology center. We kept paddling and crossed under the Juneau - Douglas bridge to the F&G building.

We were glad to haul out here, pack up and eat something before racing off to the BBQ.