Our morning ritual was becoming familiar: we woke at the crack of dawn, and while still dark, fumbled to take down camp, pack our things, and set off to a new location. We skipped breakfast as we planned on eating once we arrived in Gustavus from Juneau. The flight was only 30 minutes, after all.
Unfortunately, our flight was delayed nearly four hours due to weather, leaving us three and a half hours too long to spend exploring the Juneau airport. We scavenged for breakfast, but as there was only one restaurant in the entire airport (not recommended by the flight crew), we ate a gas station type meal of string cheese and coffee.
The only flights to Gustavus left from Juneau on puddle jumper 1960s era Cessna-like airplanes that wibble-wobbled with each and every light gust of wind. The interiors were so tiny, that for safety reasons everything had to be checked in, even things like water bottles and camera bags. I’m mentioning this because had I known we would spend 4 hours in that airport, I would have at least not packed my cell phone or Kindle or food…
I usually love airports, but after memorizing every square inch of that airport (something that could be easily accomplished in 30 minutes), I became extremely restless. There were only so many cups of coffee one could drink, tabloids one can read, and stuffed bears one can photograph.
