Even here in the semi-frozen north there is a season–albeit a short one–known as summer. How do we know it’s summer? The snow is gone, except for a few shadowy, north-facing patches here at almost sea level. (The stuff still on the mountains doesn’t count.) The kids are out of school until August 20-something. And the tourists have begun to arrive.

Unlike our previous location, the town we are in isn’t easily accessible. You can’t just take a drive and end up here. But there is a small cruise ship that comes over every Wednesday, bringing a few folks to spend the day wandering the two main streets of town or to take an hour-long jaunt down the mostly gravel highway to Child’s Glacier and the Million Dollar Bridge (no, no, not the Bridge to Nowhere. That’s somewhere else.). Standing a quarter mile away across the river and feeling the cool breeze come off unmeasurable tons of ice while Volkswagon- to building-sized chunks calve is awe-inspiring and exhilarating. You just have to be ready to bolt inland in case one of those chunks creates a wave that will wash up and over the river bank on your side, flooding the picnic/viewing area. Yeah, it’s happened. Apparently there were salmon tossed into trees during one big calving-induced wave.

We’ll be taking my mother and nephew out there when they come up in July. I’ll remind them to wear their running shoes.

Other than relatives visiting, we do have a few things to keep the kids busy and me sane. Camps, both sleep-away and day, will fill some of my daughters’ days. Family fishing trips will dot the calendar. We’re planning to go Outside for a couple of weeks before school starts. But overall, the plan is to take things nice and slow.

What will you be up to?