My sister and I were looking forward to dog sledding on Mendenhall Glacier when we were in Juneau. It’s the first excursion we booked when planning our trip. It fills up quickly. She had done it before and highly recommended it. One of our motivations? Playing with puppies! I know, we can do that anytime, but playing with dog sled puppies on a glacier? I’m pretty sure it’s once in a lifetime. Well, or twice in a lifetime if you’re my sister. But we knew there was a chance it would be cancelled. Weather in Juneau makes the helicopter take-off iffy. But we went to our designated area and waited to hear the news. 

We stood with a couple who was equally as excited. Their Alaska trip was limited to the cruise, and this was their highlight. We also saw a couple from our earlier land travel group, but we didn’t realize at the time they were signed up for the same trip. We soon learned our trip was cancelled. We were told we would get a refund, and if we wanted to try to rebook a different trip, we could go to the small ticket stand. I walked over to the stand just to hear our options, but I wasn’t there long. People were being rude. It wasn’t just our trip that had been cancelled, and people weren’t happy. The poor young man in the ticket stand was being blamed for the weather and just about anything else they were irritated about. I was on vacation. Nothing was worth getting very upset about. There were plenty of fun things to do. I was in Alaska for goodness sake. 

We found out the couple who had been in our travel group had travelled to Alaska four times to specifically dog sled on the Mendenhall Glacier because it was her dream, and this was the fourth time it was cancelled due to weather. And while they were certainly disappointed, she said, “What that tells me is I’m not supposed to be on that glacier behind those dogs, so I’ll just be happy with all the other things I’ve been able to do.” 

My sister and I adjusted and explored around town. It was a relaxing day, and we were glad. After lunch, I decided to take the tram to the top of the mountain and explore. I walked the trails and took beautiful photos. The weather had cleared and I could see for miles. I watched someone craft a totem pole. I must have been noisy enough to alert the bears, because I didn’t see any. To be honest, I didn’t think about them until my sister said something about them being in the area after I returned to the ship. 

I absolutely would have enjoyed dog sledding on a glacier, but I also don’t feel like I missed anything. I enjoyed my day in Juneau. It’s not just when I’m on vacation that makes me pause before getting too upset about things. I really need to take the same approach at any point. There are certainly situations where getting upset is warranted, but I want to choose well. Because it takes a lot of energy and time. And that energy and time could have been spent on something else. 

Choose wisely today.

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