Live From Alaska

Yup, still the worst

2011-07-25T15:39:00.003-08:00

Yup, it's official, still the worst blogger in history. If they gave awards for neglectful bloggers, I'd get one.

On a more positive note... the red currants are ready to be harvested! Took a walk through the woods at the north entrance to Eagle River and the red jewelled wonders were everywhere! Planning on going this week, sometime after the rain stops. It was glorious on Friday, then Saturday came, and the heavens opened. I'll also be heading to Girdwood this weekend to see what I can anticipate as far as the harvest for berries there goes.

Reading an amazing book now called A Sense of the World about James Holman, a man who lived from 1786-1857. He was completely blind, but managed to do more in his life than I probably (no, not even probably. It should read: definitely) ever will. He circumnavigated the globe, charted the Australian outback, fought the slave trade in Africa, survived captivity in Siberia, hunted elephants in Ceylon, and did many other amazing things that few sighted adventurers could hope or dream to accomplish. It is definitely a humbling book, and makes me feel just a tad guilty for not accomplishing more with my life. I feel guilty enough to take my cable box back to the cable company, which we are doing tonight. Need to do a lot less watching, and a lot more living!

Worst blogger in history award goes to....

2010-07-07T20:33:00.002-08:00

It's official. I'm a horrible blogger. I haven't blogged in almost a year. It certainly isn't for lack of interesting things to blog about in the largest state in the union. I'll chalk it up to total laziness. Or, I could blame it on Facebook. With a social networking site that makes keeping in touch with family and friends so gosh darned easy, it makes snail mail and even blogging look tedious!

They say the first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem. Well, I admit it. I'm a lazy blogger. I'm pretty sure there isn't a recovery group for my issue, so I'll have to just keep blogging till I feel my recovery is at hand.

Catch up!

2009-08-21T15:58:00.006-08:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged since March! I'm going to claim summer maddness. This summer in the Great White North has been AMAZING! (say it with a sing-songy voice... I typed it that way). The weather has been sunny and warm, the days have been long, and the activities of my summer have been plentiful!

My niece came to visit in early June, and it was one adventure after another. We went to Girdwood the first week she was here. I've never seen a bear there, until I went with her. It ran right across the road in front of my car, then turned around to look at us. On the way back to Anchorage I was telling her to look for dall sheep when we happened upon 2 dall sheep right on the roadside at mile 106. THAT is a rarity, folks. Most of the time, one is lucky to see them as small white dots on the cliffs far above.

We went on a cruise out of Seward to Fox Island on Fjords Tours. Almost immediately after the tour boat captain told us that there had been no whales seen that week, my niece starts yelling, "WHALE, WHALE, WHALE!" We saw 3 gray whales that day, along with dall porpoise, puffins, glaciers, seals and walrus. She is good luck!

On our way up to Chena Hot Springs to stay at a cabin just off the entrance that my brother-in-law (once removed) owns, we saw too many moose to count, and an owl on a fence. I thought the owl was fake, until it turned it's head and looked at us. We got a lot of great pictures. I'll post soon. We stayed in Chena for 3 nights, then headed down to Denali Park for July 4th weekend. In Denali, we took the wilderness tour and saw almost 30 brown bear, more moose, caribou, dall sheep, ptarmigan, snowshoe hair and arctic squirrel.

I had her eating sprucetips, flowers and sticks (as she put it), and even got her to try escargo stuffed mushrooms. Out of everything she ate, the escargo is the only thing that grossed her out! I had her picking fireweed, berries and pressing flowers. She said she was freezing the whole time. I think her thin Florida blood just couldn't take the weather difference. I kept her busy camping, hiking, picking, driving and enjoying the Alaska summer with me.

She headed home just a few weeks ago and I miss her terribly. She helped to make this wonderful summer even better.

The weather is cooling, there's a chill in the air now, the fireweed flowers have hit the top and are beginning to seed, the leaves are turning yellow, and the berries are ripe. Fall has arrived. Winter is right around the corner! Time to start planning for next spring already!

Tourist in my own backyard

2009-03-17T08:36:00.002-08:00

Alaska is huge. Not just big, not just expansive, but HUGE! Huge to the extent that there are many places that don't have road systems. Even our state capital can't be reached except by boat or plane. I could spend the next 100 years here and still not see and do everything that I'd like to. I will never make it to all the Native Alaskan villages, my wallet and the fact that I work Monday through Friday won't permit. Now, if I had a job like my friend Julie, who works as an optical tech, going from village to village, I'd possibly make a lot of village trips. But, even she doesn't go to all of them. They have optical techs who go to certain areas, and she won't make it to all the villages either. I know that realistically I won't go camping at every camp ground that can be found in Alaska. There just aren't enough available camping weekends in the summer, in my lifetime, to camp them all. I won't make it to every glacier, see every lake, river, stream or waterway. I will never hike to the top of Denali. Although there are many other towns in Alaska, some with populations of less than 10, some with populations in the tens of thousands, I probably won't make them all either. I've resolved myself to the fact that I am limited by a mortal body and an empty wallet. However, I am capable of seeing one place completely, and that is my own town.

Part of my job is driving around 2 days a week doing home inspections all over Anchorage, Eagle River, Girdwood and as far north as Peters Creek. In my "travels," I've seen things that others probably haven't seen, or if they have seen they probably don't take the time to really notice. There are sculptures and statues all over Anchorage. From elementary schools to churches, from small businesses to corporate headquarters, art is all around Anchorage in abundance. There are carved totem poles, bronze sculptures, iron facades, and interesting buildings with true character throughout the city. There are mural painted walls, antler covered homes, and touches of Alaskan charm on every street. I've started looking forward to my Monday and Tuesday drives, and I've decided to take my camera along to snap some photos of my "Alaskan Drive Bys" in Anchorage. In fact, I'm going to start posting them here as part of a whole "Drive By Shootings" series (sorry for the play on words).

I've come to the conclusion that it's ok if I don't see all of Alaska. It's ok if I'm not going to be able to see and do all that I'd like throughout the rest of Alaska. I'm in ALASKA! That's exciting in itself! I'll focus on what I'm capable of seeing and doing right here in South Central AK and appreciate it for the opportunities it affords. I'm still going to hike, camp and drive where ever I can and take some special trips, but for now, I'm going to relish what Anchorage has to offer. I'm looking forward to playing tourist in my own back yard. I'll not act like Anchorage is just a "jump off" spot to see the rest of Alaska, but rather the staging platform for this summer's adventures. Maybe the things I find in my drive bys will help others appreciate Anchorage as well. I have an aunt with muscular dystrophy who isn't capable of hiking, biking, camping, climbing or flying all over Alaska. Her actions and adventures are limited to what she can see from the car window, or where her wheel chair can get her. So, I dedicate my drive by segments to my Aunt Cheryl. Look for future entries, I can guarantee you haven't seen all of Anchorage like this before!

Things Spring Brings

2009-03-16T08:10:00.002-08:00

Yesterday, I was perusing my bookshelf at home for books on Alaskan flowers, trees, and edible plants. I know, just a few posts ago, I was bemusing the end of winter and how it's my favorite season. However, with the coming of spring, my "tree hugger," nature lover side comes to life. I can't find anything in my refrigerator to eat, but when I look through the edible plants guide, suddenly my back yard is a buffet of new and interesting delicacies.

I was reading sections of the books to my husband last night, and he just shook his head and said, "Uh, yeah, Cristine... you enjoy that." He isn't interested in trying the shoots of Devil's Club, or cream cheese filled stalks of Cow Parsnip. I may be able to get him to try Pineapple Weed tea, but I'll be hard pressed to get him to eat dandelion greens for dinner. I made spruce tip jelly last year, which no one else in my family has tried yet. I think they are convinced that one of my "concoctions" will poison them.

It's going to be a bright, clear day today with highs near 12 degrees. With the sunny, snow free days come visions of break up and warmer temperatures. I will miss the snow, but I'm looking forward this year to tasting my way through the Alaskan flora that can be found on the hillsides and in my own back yard.

Homerward Bound

2009-03-11T09:28:00.003-08:00

One of the reasons I moved to Alaska when my daughter was an early teen was so that I could share the experience with her when she was young, but when she was still old enough to appreciate all the things Alaska has to offer. I had images of hiking with her, of going on camping trips throughout the state, of viewing bear, moose, wolves, eagles and other wild Alaskan animals in their natural habitat. However, as anyone with teenagers knows, they grow from children and develop minds of their own.

We moved to Alaska and she became a snowboarder, snowshoeing through hip deep snow on unmarked paths is not her idea of a fun winter activity. After the first time we went camping and she experienced her first night's sleep on the rocky ground, she decided that "roughing it" with mom wasn't her idea of an enjoyable camping trip. When I tried to convince her to go to Denali Park with me last year, trying to win her over with tales of a 10 hour bus ride 2 days in a row through the park, she flat refused to go. She wrote a poem called "The Berry Picking Blues" after one of our "fun" berry picking trips up the side of Harp Mountain in Eagle River. I had to bribe her with an Ipod Touch last year to go berry picking with me on the trail to Symphony Lakes (this year, she won't be bribed. It's costing me more to get her to go than it would for me to go to the store and purchase a couple QUARTS of berries!). Picking fireweed, red currants, blueberries, high bush cranberries, lingon berries, and spruce tips for jelly ranks high on her "most painful things to do" list. Hiking isn't her thing. Biking isn't her thing. Spending a day at the Alaska Botanical Garden is like asking her to spend the day watching traffic and counting cars. I'd just about lost hope of enjoying the "Alaska Experience" with her, until now. This semester in school, she's taking Photography. Suddenly, Alaska is teeming with wonder for her!

For the photographic opportunities alone, she's agreed to go with me to Homer on Friday, my day off of work. The eagles congregate in Homer out on the Homer Spit this time of year. Even when they are not being fed, they can still be found perched on buildings, walking the beach, or soaring above the water. She's not put off by the 4 hour ride there, or the fact that we'll probably be there for another 8 hours, only to have a return trip to Anchorage of another 4 hours. She didn't balk when I told her that I wanted to leave at 5:30 in the morning to get to Homer early. She now has images of swooping eagles, majestic birds in flight, and perched eagles that she anticipates taking amazing pictures of. I'm even letting her borrow one of my cameras so that she doesn't have to use her pocket point and shoot model. To tell you the truth, even if this is the only trip we ever take, and the only "Alaskan Experience" we enjoyed together, it will be one that I always cherish. If this was the only experience I had with her in Alaska, it still would have made it worth moving here. How many people get to experience viewing wild eagles (and so many of them in one location) with their children? Maybe when we are there, she'll be excited enough about all that Alaska has to offer that I can convince her to take that overnight camping/hiking trip on Crow Pass that we've been trying to convince her to go on this coming summer. Maybe if I mention the pictures she could take? Hmmmm, maybe I should take it slow instead. One trip at a time.

Winter Wonderland

2009-03-06T13:16:00.005-09:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in the Great White north. The snow was falling thick, all day long. I know some of my fellow Alaskans are very tired of the snow, the cold, and the long winter. I'm not one of them. I was thankful yesterday for the snow. I haven't done much in the way of winter activity all winter. I haven't snow shoed, I haven't XC skiid, I haven't gone sledding. All the activities I look forward to doing as the days turn colder in fall, I haven't participated in. But, with the snow falling, as I brushed off a good 4 inches of snow off my car last night, I felt elated and filled with the thrill that I've been given another chance to reclaim my winter.

Today, the sky is blue, the sun is blazing, and I can hear the water running from the snow melting off the roof near my window. A day brings so much change here in Alaska!

This weekend, the hubby and I are heading with friends to a cabin on Big Lake. We'll drive across not one, not two, but three frozen lakes to get to the cabin that in summer is only accessible by boat. We'll snowshoe, we'll sled, and we'll enjoy the white gift from the gods that we were given yesterday. I know it's not going to make it any easier for the iditarod mushers who take to the trail this weekend. I know it makes the roads hazardous for drivers and turns them into ditch divers. I know it makes some of my fellow Alaskans miserable and wishing the cold would end already! As for this Alaskan, every flake that falls brings a smile to my face, lifts my spirits and excites me for what activities the snow brings with it. The snow fall leaves me planning to go places that I can't go when the ice melts and I can't walk across it, has me heating milk for hot chocolate, has me sitting in front of a fireplace snuggled up with a good book about Alaska, and gives me the opportunity to spend time with family.

As the days get longer and warmer (despite the snow fall from yesterday), I know that spring break up is on its way and summer is hot on its tail. That's the time most here look forward to, but not me. When the sun is at it's highest and the sunny days are at their longest, I'll be dreaming of the cooler temperatures of fall, dreaming of long lazy days picking berries, and dreaming of the first snowfall when the mountains and trees are covered by their blanket of white again. For now, I'll enjoy what time I have left with my friend snow, enjoy the eagles that perch in Eagle River on the snow covered spruce trees, enjoy watching my dogs bound through the snow with glee, enjoy the sunsets that winter brings and summer takes away. I'll tuck myself into my warmest cold weather layers, put my snowshoes on my back, my camera it it's pack, and head out into my own winter wonderland to relish the time we have left together.

Long time, no type!

2009-01-15T18:10:00.002-09:00

Wow, I can't believe I haven't written in so long! I'll catch up soon. I have the whole weekend (I have no work Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Of course, I didn't work today, or yesterday either... freezing rain, icy roads and high winds kept me off the roads and away from Anchorage). So much to catch up on! We won the Denali Road Lottery and went again this past September, our son made Anchorage Jr. Youth Symphony where he plays first chair clarinet, our daughter decided to go to San Diego for Christmas instead of with the rest of us to Hawaii, and we have a new President and a new year ahead to look forward to! I'll catch up on this blog, as well as my other, and catch up on my reading of my favorite musings from others too.

Alaska Calendar

2008-09-18T14:06:00.004-08:00

I have to give a plug here for a great calendar by a great Alaskan photographer. I purchased a calendar last year (ok, I purchased SEVERAL calendars) from an Alaskan photographer who can be found here. All of the pictures are taken by the photographer, in different places throughout Alaska, and believe me, she gets around Alaska.

If you are looking for a wonderful calendar full of pictures only of things few very lucky people get to ever see in the state of Alaska, definately contact her and order one.

2008 Denali Road Lottery Results

2008-08-14T17:17:00.007-08:00

The results are in... and I won again this year for Monday, September 15. Unfortunately, I can't take work off that day, and the kids have school.... sooooooo, if anyone won for a different day, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and would like to trade for my Monday, drop me a comment with your email address and let me know. If not, I'll be giving the winner's slip to another to enjoy the park for me.

Cristine

Summer ????

2008-08-14T08:06:00.004-08:00

It's been quite a while since I last wrote. My last blog was about making spruce tip jelly. By the way, it turned out WONDERFUL! I'll give a quick blurb, then get on with my summer goings-ons.

I picked all the spruce tips from the spruce trees in my own backyard. Since we are surrounded by spruce trees, I didn't need to go any further, or search for them the way I have to search for berries in the fall. I picked about 6 full cups of young, freshly "bloomed" spruce tips. Since this was my first time picking them, or making spruce tip jelly, I read a lot about what to look for, what to avoid, and when to pick before I started. After getting the tips, I placed them in a food processor and finely chopped them. Then, I covered them with water and boiled them for about 30 minutes and let them steep overnight. After straining the juice through a jelly bag, I put it back on the oven, added 1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1 package of powdered pectin, and then added 3/4 a cup of sugar for every cup of liquid.

It took about 3 weeks in the cupboard for it to set correctly, but man, is it tasty. It smells like Christmas, but tastes like heaven! I was very surprised at the taste. When I was picking the tips, and when I brought them into the house, they smelled very much like evergreen trees. However, once I chopped them, the kitchen was pervaded with a citrus smell. Even my boy asked me how much lemon I'd cut up, and I hadn't cut any lemons yet. I'm definitely making the jelly again next year. It's DIVINE on English muffins.

Since May, we've been WAITING for summer to start. Now, in August, we are still waiting... This has been a very odd "summer." The entire summer was overcast, we didn't have very many purely sunny days, and the temperature only hit 70 degrees perhaps 4 times all summer. During the "waiting" for summer, summer somehow slipped by, and now it's mid August and fall is about to start.

I didn't do many hikes this summer. In fact, I didn't do much of anything this summer. I didn't fish much, I didn't CATCH anything, I went camping only once, and all of my grand desires for summer that I had during last winter never came to fruition.

OH, I DID get married though! That will be my favorite summer memory of 2008. We, along with 9 of our friends, went to Girdwood, AK, and hiked to Glacier Creek for the vows. In true Alaskan style, we wore shorts and t shirts and hiking shoes. My impromptu flower girls carried fiddle head ferns we found on the forest floor because we couldn't find any flowers

Bounties of Summer

2008-05-30T21:38:00.002-08:00

There is one thing we have in abundance right now: budding plantlife. The spruce trees in my back yard are bursting with new, green budding ends. The hillsides are awash with purples, pinks, and more yellow than imaginable. I love walking outside and looking down the mountainside every day, being greeted with a new color or a new plant. This time last month, the hillside was covered with newly fallen snow and we wondered if winter would ever end. Now, with the prolonged hours of sunlight, the hillside is alive once again.

I've decided to try my hand at making dandelion jelly and spruce tip jelly this year. Last year, I made crowberry jelly (didn't set right, but that won't stop me from trying again this year), red currant jelly (my son's new favorite), blueberry jam (tip: don't blend the fruit in a blender before jarring, it ends up a wonderful syrup, but not anywhere close to jelly or jam), strawberry/rhubarb jam (rhubarb plants love Alaska... they literally grow like weeds) fireweed jelly (amazingly delicious and light), and highbush cranberry jelly (this didn't set well either, and just a warning, it smells horrible when you are boiling the berries).

While I'm waiting for August when the prime berry season begins, I'll take what the season is bountifully giving at the moment, and head to the trees and weeds and see what I can make of them. Wish me luck! I'll post back after I've jarred the goodies and can share my "wares."

Mission McKinley

2008-05-23T18:14:00.007-08:00

Time: 5:15 am
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2008

The mission (because we are both nuts and have wandering spirits) that we had chosen to accept: a day trip to Mount McKinley ***DENALI***
After synchronizing our watches the night before, Ang and I agreed that she'd pick me up at 5:15 am and we'd hit the Glenn Highway heading north for an all day adventure. The itinerary was to drive to Denali Park, slowly make our way to mile 30 inside the park, then head home. The 17th was the last Saturday we'd be able to drive into the park before they opened it for the official start of the tourist season. After last weekend, the only vehicles allowed on the road are the tour buses that run visitors to the park back to Wonder Lake, the end of the road of Denali Park.

While Ang had her hopes set on seeing the Big 5 of the park (bear, moose, Dahl sheep, wolf and caribou) and a lynx she'd heard tales of others sighting, I was excited just to be in the park again. The only time I'd been there before was the trip Alex and I made when we won the road lottery last year in September (the same trip we got engaged in the park on).

If there is one thing I could tell tourists about going to Denali, it's this: don't get so caught up in the big game you hope to see around the next bend that you miss the little things that are right beside you. We saw an abundance of snow hare and ptarmigan (you've got to hear them give their warning sqawk, it's hilarious to listen to). We were lucky enough to see a red fox and catch him in the process of marking his boundary. We saw ground squirrel, which I'd never seen before. We did see plenty of caribou and even a moose and calf eating their fill of freshly greening buds. The surprise and excitement of the trip came in the form of a round porcupine crossing the road in front of the car on our way home. Ang was so excited to get a pic that she pulled over, made her way through calf deep, half melted snowbanks, followed the prickly fellow into a glade of trees (one of which he promptly climbed to get away from his pursuer), and managed to get a few pictures of Mr. Quills through the tree branches. It really was about the little things on this trip.

Our itinerary was changed, as it often is on the Cristine/Ang road trips. We took a side trip to Nenana, a village a little more than an hour north of Denali Park, to a restaurant called Monderosa. Ang had been told that they claimed to have the best burgers in Alaska. I don't know if they do have the best burgers in ALL of Alaska or not, but they were pretty good, and very large. We both left very full, and she was all for my suggestion to go through the park one more time before we headed home.

On the second trip through the park, we experienced every form of weather pattern Alaska has to offer. For the first 10 minutes, it rained. From mile 15 to about mile 17, it snowed. From mile 17 to about mile 21, it sleeted. From mile 21 to mile 25, it hailed (bb gun sized pellets that made me feel as if the angels in heaven were using the car for target practice). When we got to mile 30 and turned around, we drove back through cloudy skies that turned to sunny skies. A rainbow even greeted us half way back to the park entrance. I kept joking with Ang about something good being at the end of the rainbow, and I'll be darned if there wasn't a group of caribou at that rainbow's end!

We didn't get home until after 1, but we had the moon to enjoy on the trip home. We drove for 21 hours, but it was well worth the 700+ miles Ang put on her car's odometer and the exhaustion I felt the next morning when it was time to get up and head down the Seward Highway to start a hike that Ang had planned on Sunday.

We've decided to book a camping spot at Savage Campgrounds for the July 4th weekend. We are going to take the bus to Wonder Lake (we act like total tourists, and have no shame about it) not once, but two times that weekend. Hopefully, Ang will get to see her Big 5, and I'll get to once again enjoy the ever changing beauty that Denali Park has to offer every time I go.

Just a side note.... I found out when I got home that 10 separate teams of climbers were in the process of beginning the climb to the summit of Denali when we were in the park. All I can say about that is WOW... I'm going to check on their progress.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

2008-04-28T21:57:00.004-08:00

I have been living life, and enjoying my winter, even if I haven't written about it. Now that spring is near, the time of rebirth and moving on from winter, cold, and darkness, I find myself wanting to write again.

Winter is on it's way out, whether Jack Frost is willing to let it go quietly is another story. Last Friday, we had about 16 inches of snow fall in Eagle River. Jack is weaving his way across our April pulling pranks about once a week. Week before last, we had 8 inches, the snow melted (Mother Nature is trying to give us a spring to enjoy, Jack just isn't cooperating!), then Jack came a dancin' through the skies once more and bringing the crystaline flakes with him. I swear I heard his laughter outside my window last Friday.

Before the Jack Frost/Mother Nature power play began, I went to Big Lake with a few girlfriends for a much needed girl's weekend in early March. A friend's family has a cabin on Flat Lake, so 6 of us headed out for a man free, kid free, responsibility free weekend. We drove across a wide expanse of frozen lake (Big Lake) to Flat Lake where the cabin was located. I have to admit to being a little leary at first of driving across frozen water in a heavy vehicle, but my friend assured me that the ice was thick enough to handle the weight, even if it was crystal clear and I swore at times I saw fish swimming below us. When the gang go there, we sledded, we snow machined, we played games and laughed, drank our share of wine and Framboise, and enjoyed 3 days of nothing. It was wonderful. It was exactly what I needed. Nothing like a good game of Apples to Apples to find out what your friends are made of, what they are thinking, and what (or whom) they have tied up in their basement!

I have more updating to do, including neighborhood moose sightings, Fur Rondezvous pics and stories, and wedding updates.

I didn't realize it was so late! With the sun staying in the sky later and later, my time perception is already screwy. I (once again) don't feel I made the best use of my winter time, so I need to make sure I get my spring/summer/fall plans set in stone so I don't end up wasting these prolonged days of sweet sunshine!

Early to rise, late to bed... sleeping is for winter.

Saying Goodbye, Sean Raymond Auchinachie

2008-02-06T10:04:00.002-09:00

Saying goodbye is never an easy or enjoyable thing to do.

I was born in Alaska. My parents came here the summer before I was born to help friends start a Mexican restaurant in Anchorage. After I was born, my grandfather died. My parents returned to Utah where my grandmother and the rest of my family were living, and never returned to Alaska. Shortly after my fifth birthday, my parents divorced. I never saw my father again. I didn't hate my father for leaving. I remember how it was when he was with the family, and I always knew that things were better without him there and that my life would have turned out much differently if he had been in my life growing up. He never tried to contact my younger sister or me after he left. We didn't know where he was or what he was doing.

Just before I turned 21, I found out through my father's uncle that my father was alive and well and had been living in southern Utah most of my life, and that I had a younger brother, Sean, who was 14 years my junior. My sister, who was still living in Utah until 1995, went to visit them just before she moved to Virginia. After her visit, she never heard from our father again and she lost touch with our brother, who was only 11 at the time.
We did try to look for our brother. However, never finding a phone number or address, no matter how hard we looked, we'd just about given up hope of finding him. The fates that be had other plans for us. In November, my niece found my brother on MySpace.

Since November, I've talked to my brother weekly. The conversations lasted for hours, and hours. I got to know Sean during those chat sessions. He was funny, passionate, and full of piss and vinegar (just like me). He always thought that my sister and I didn't care about him, but he found that we certainly did, and that we just didn't know how to find him. We were looking forward to building a great relationship and had already begun to build that brother/sister bond. He talked of coming to Alaska some day, as our father had talked about this place often. I was planning to go to Utah to visit. He teased his nieces about their boyfriends and their web pages on MySpace. He was enjoying being an uncle. I also discovered that I have a nephew, Sean's son, Weston. I found out so much about his life in such a short time and looked forward to every phone call, even if he did tend to make them at midnight and insisted on talking so long.

I found out by talking to him that our father had died of a heart attack summer of last year. Since I never got to talk to our father, Sean showed me our father through his eyes. Our father was Sean's hero. The man was far from perfect, but he always made time for Sean, taking him camping, fishing, tossing the ball around in the yard, barbecueing for Sean and his friends, and giving Sean advice that he respected. Sean didn't have an easy childhood, but he loved our father very much. Seeing him through Sean's eyes gave me a new picture of him, and let me know him in a different way than I'd remembered.

In December, Sean went in for surgery and found out that he had a rare type of non Hodgkins lymphoma. They caught it early, and he had a 90% chance of cure with chemotherapy. He went in for chemo last Monday. He was supposed to be in the hospital for a week. However, the doctor gave the medication incorrectly, administering the full dose, undiluted, into my brother's shunt, straight into his system with no buffer. Within hours, my brother was paralized. He was diagnosed as brain dead with no brain activity within days. This morning, they took him off of life support.

My brother was only 23 and wasn't supposed to die. He had just come into my life again, just to be taken away. I will miss our phone calls. I will miss talking to him. I am forever thankful that I got to have him in my life for the time that I did and that he showed me a part of our father that I never knew.

I found out through Sean that I also have another sister who just turned 11. I don't understand why I lost Sean, but I gained a father, a brother, a sister and a nephew when I found Sean again. I also gained people in his life who knew and loved him whom I will continue to get to know Sean through, through their memories of him.

Thank you, Sean, for being a part of my life the time that you were. You brought more to my life in the short time you were in it than you will ever know. I will miss you. I love you.

Sean Auchinachie
March 9, 1984 - February 6, 2008

Sean is survived in death by his son, Weston Auchinachie; his mother, Laura Auchinachie; his sisters, Cristine Auchinachie, Cynthia Robb, and Shannon Auchinachie; his nieces, Mariah Auchinachie, Kaylee Ann Jeffreys and Dezirae Auchinachie; and, by his family and friends throughout Utah and the US. Sean was preceded in death by his father, Harry Raymond Auchinachie, and by his much loved grandparents, John and Beverly Stock.

Live Big

2008-01-03T10:39:00.000-09:00

In April of 2005, I was in a "going nowhere painfully slow" relationship that I'd been mired in for over 4 years. Sitting in front of the computer, wondering how long I was going to continue the path of my life the way it was, wondering what I was going to do with my life after I turned 35, and pondering my life up to that moment, I decided to look at prices for tickets to Anchorage for the following October. With credit card in hand, and totally on a whim, I offered $350 on Priceline for a ticket from Virginia Beach, Virginia, to Anchorage, Alaska. Fate smiled on me, and the price was accepted. I could stop here and say "the rest is history," but that would ruin the story, wouldn't it!

After I booked the ticket, there was no toning down my excitement or enthusiasm. I began to think about the things I wanted to do for the 10 days I would be in Alaska over my birthday. I began looking for places to stay, things to do, places to go, and fantasizing about how wonderful Alaska was going to be and what a life altering trip I was going to have. I wanted to see the hospital I was born in (Providence Hospital in Anchorage.) I wanted to see the home my parents lived on when I was born (off of Nelchina Street in Anchorage.) I wanted to take the train from Anchorage to Fairbanks, a 10 hour train ride that would show me not only the coast, but the landscape changes from Anchorage north.

I spent all of my free time (ok, and some of my work day too) from the day I booked my ticket to the day I left for Anchorage researching what activities were available after tourist season ended. I found that all of the marine tours closed at the end of September, so no marine tour would be taken on my trip. I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to see whales, marine life, calving glaciers and the normal things that tourists look forward to seeing when they come to Alaska during the summer months. However, coming in October gave me the opportunity to see and do other things that tourists who come in the colder months get to do. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to act like I would if I lived in Anchorage, instead of acting like a total tourist. Because money was tight, I booked stays at youth hostels in Anchorage and Fairbanks. I bought tickets ahead of time for a play at Cyrano's Playhouse on 4th Avenue in Anchorage. I printed out all the bus routes I'd be using on the People Mover. I planned a day to visit the Anchorage Museum. I purchased my train tickets for the flagstop train from Anchorage to Fairbanks, and decided to fly back from Fairbanks instead of taking the train so that I'd be able to spend additional time in Anchorage. I checked the tourism and travel website for Anchorage daily from April to October to see what was going on during all the months I wasn't there, and for the activities happening during the time I'd be there. I even read the Anchorage Daily News on a daily basis just to keep up on what was happening in Anchorage! I planned everything down to the minute, including time it would take me to drive places in my rental car, and how long I'd stay at the Museum of the North in Fairbanks. I drove all my friends nuts before my trip by talking about it non stop. My heart was firmly rooted in Alaska before my body was, and I didn't have any room in it for the "go nowhere relationship" I'd been participating in. The relationship finally ended for good a mere few weeks before the beginning of my trip. So, when I got on the plane to go to Alaska, I was open and ready for any and all opportunities and experiences I would have on my trip.

I had everything planned out: travel routes, time schedules, I'd even planned on attending a job fair when I was here, just to see what the job market was like. The thing I found though, is that life never really goes according to plan. My mother says that I'm a master of "planned spontaneity," and this trip was no exception. Yes, I had it all planned, but on the train ride, I met a lawyer and his new wife who told me something I will never forget. I was sitting there with my itinerary, and he said to me, "Cristine, sometimes you have to throw your itinerary out the window and take hold of random opportunities that afford themselves to you. More often than not, those small opportunities end up allowing you to have experiences you would have never dreamed of. To live big, you have to take big risks." Up to that point, I'd followed my plans to the letter. When I got to Fairbanks, I took that lawyer's words to heart and opened myself up to the Spirit of Alaska and let me take it where it led.

I met a wonderful Tlinkit Indian man at the youth hostel in Fairbanks. He was there for the Alaska Federation of Natives conference. He asked me to go to a place north of Fairbanks called Chena Hot Springs. Big city girl that I was, I imagined being taken by a man I didn't know into the wilderness of Alaska and being killed and buried where no one could find me. However, I had a dream that night that an eagle landed on my back, wrapped its wings around me, and just said the word "trust." The next morning, when Jeff came down the stairs wearing a sweatshirt with a native American symbol of an eagle on the front of it, I took that as a sign that going to Chena with him was the right thing, and what I was supposed to do.

Chena was amazing. I didn't even know that a place like that existed in Alaska, or that I'd meet someone as amazing as Jeff. He told me about the native peoples of Alaska, gave me an appreciation for their culture, their heritage, their humanity, their art, and their love of the land. He treated me better in 2 days than the man that I'd dated for almost 5 years, and he didn't want anything from me but my friendship. I didn't see the Northern Lights that night, but I was so happy, and my heart was so full, that if I had seen the lights that night, I think my heart would have burst from the joy.

The next day was my birthday, and as I headed back to Anchorage on the plane, I was still open for anything that came. When I got back to the youth hostel in Anchorage, I was invited by some new friends to go out of the night. After going to the Peanut Farm for dinner and to watch a game, we headed back to the youth hostel. Sue, the gal driving, looked up in the sky and said, "I think the Northern Lights are going to come out soon." All I saw was a cloud. She pointed out that it wasn't a cloud, as clouds don't "glow green." What followed was nothing less than a symphony of color across the black sky above. With every loop and twirl of color in the blackness above, I felt that this display was my invitation and welcome home to Alaska. It was the best birthday present that I've ever gotten.

We decided to go to Seward the next day. We stayed at the Hotel Seward, with all of us sharing a room on the floor where we shared a bathroom with the staff. I spent the day we were there walking around Seward and going to the Sealife Museum. On the way back to Anchorage so that I could catch my flight, we took a side trip to Exit Glacier, just outside of Seward. I watched my last sunset over the Cook Inlet, and it was time for me to head home.

I never did make it to the job fair or the Museum of the North. My trip the the Anchorage Museum was informative and insightful. The play at Cyrano's was so much fun and the environment was inviting and friendly. The flagstop train ride was such a blast. We stopped along the way to pick up travelers literally in the middle of nowhere, just to drop them, their dogs and their generators off in front of cabins just north of nowhere. In those 10 days during 2005, I felt more at home and more at peace and more grounded than I ever had in my life. I knew that I had to live in Alaska. The spirit of this place, when I opened myself to it, poured in and filled every cell of my being. Leaving Alaska and flying back to Virginia Beach, I felt my heart being ripped out of my chest. I was crying before the plane even taxied to the runway! The entire plane ride back to Virginia, I was making plans to move to Alaska. By my next birthday, I was living in Anchorage.

Now, two years after my initial trip, my life has changed in more ways that I could have ever imagined. I'm still in touch with some of the people I met at the youth hostels I stayed at here, and I will never forget the others I met that left their mark on my life during those 10 days. They will never know how much their kindness, friendship and advice changed my life and helped me become the person I am today, and who I will be in the future.

Walking boldly into 2008 with my arms open wide to all that life has to offer me, I'm excited about my life, excited about the friendships I will make this year, and the ones I will continue nurturing this coming year. I find myself more in love with Alaska than I thought possible and love it more every day. I've lived, truly lived, more in the past year and a half that I've been here than during my 35 years before my first trip here.

Alaska isn't just a place, it's an experience, a spirit, a way of life. Alaska is my heart.

Christmas Snowflakes and Earthquakes

2007-12-26T14:42:00.000-09:00

We were worried for a while that we wouldn't have a truly "white Christmas" here, even though we live in Alaska. The snow has been sparse, and what has accumulated has been washed away by the rain that followed these past few months. Yesterday, however, we awoke to falling snow.

I've been here for a year and a half, and was here last winter. But, I have to admit that I have never in my life seen snow like I saw yesterday (and I've seen a lot of snow, having lived in Utah and Montana for most of my youth, and having lived in Connecticut for a while during winter time). The snow that fell from the sky yesterday was the perfect powder. It was the consistency of instant mashed potatoes before adding the liquid. The snow was light, crisp, and the flakes were perfect "snowflake" shapes complete with the "arms" extending from the center with pointed ridges. It was as if Jack Frost spent Christmas Eve cutting out perfect snowflakes, then let them fall from the sky on Christmas Day. The flakes were large, and looked like flat glass shards that could be broken in half instead of melted. They were so dry and lacking in moisture that they couldn't be packed into any sort of snowball at all and ran through my gloved fingers like sand on a beach. It was a magical day, except for the earthquakes.

We had an earthquake during the morning while opening presents, and another in the afternoon while we were watching a movie on the television. While earthquakes are nothing new in Alaska (we live in the state with the most earthquake activity and active fault lines of any US state), living now in a house perched on a mountainside above a river it didn't make me feel safe feeling the jolts and hearing the house creak the way it did. I told Alex it is a fear of mine that the hillside will sluff like the hillsides along the fault in Anchorage did during the 1964 earthquake, and our house will slide down the bluff with us in it. Both earthquakes registered at about 3.5 on the scale. Neither would have made our house slide into the bluff, but I can just imagine the headlines "Christmas Quake Of 07 Turns Hillside Home Into Sled For Owners On Eagle River Bluff."

In spite of the jolts, we had a wonderful Christmas day. It was a wonderful White Christmas!

Felt Up in Eagle River

2007-11-28T12:25:00.000-09:00

HA! I knew the title would get SOMEONE's attention! It's not what you think though... it's another post about knitting.

I FINALLY finished my first knitting project. I made a felted tote called a Booga Bag. I didn't stab anyone even once while I was making the bag. No sheep were harmed during the making of the bag, and neither were any children, my wonderful fiancee, our dogs, cats, or myself. We did catch a squirrel in the live trap on the deck that froze and died before we could move it, but that has nothing to do with the bag.

I'm not totally digging the bag. I'll take a picture and post it when I get home. There's nothing wrong with it, if you ask everyone else. Probably the fact that I'm a perfectionist control freak is blurring my enjoyment of my very first completed knitted project. I don't like the color, the size, the shape, or the top of the bag. I like the handles (which is funny because it's the one part of the bag I really thought I'd dislike the most when I was knitting them up).

Right now, we have zero snow on the ground. That's right folks, zero snow. All the snow that fell 2 weeks ago was followed by a week of rain that melted it all. Now, our neighborhood looks like fall again, but without the fall foliage, more dismal, muddy and the sun sets at 4:30 pm. I love winter, but I'm not liking this at all. The lack of snow and warmer weather is providing me the opportunity to clean the hot tub on the deck and get it going. I cleaned 1/3 of it the other day, and I'll finish it tonight if it's not too cold out. The weather may be clear, but the odd phenomenon of clear weather in Alaska is also that on the clearer winter days, the temperature is freezing. The clouds of dismal snowy days keeps the warmth in and the temperatures up.

I'm rambling, but I was wondering... I read that the aurora borealis is shifting to the west and in 50 years the center of the aurora will be over Siberia and not over the Arctic Circle. How much of "global warming" has to do with the orbital rotation of the earth and the fact that it changes and the location of the poles change? I'm going to have to read some and research it.

I'm off to start another bag. I wouldn't have admitted it a few months ago, but knitting is kind of addicting (don't tell the longtime knitters I cussed out for saying the same thing to me months ago that I said that). I still like crocheting better, but having another hobby that keeps my hands busy is a good thing.

From the Stacks, Winter Reading Challenge

2007-10-30T10:30:00.000-08:00

On my birthday, I decided that I needed to go ahead and make a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish by my NEXT birthday (October 24, 2008). Reading more books was one of the things on that list. In an effort to actually accomplish this goal, I cruised the net looking for inspiration. I found it. I couldn't believe how many readers had blogs out there. And, from the amount of books they read, I am equally amazed they have any time to blog!

One blog I read mentioned a reading challenge called "From the Stacks Winter Reading Challenge." It goes from November 1st to January 30th. The premise is to read 5 books during that time frame that are already on my bookshelf, without going out and purchasing another book. Wow, what a concept! So, I'm joining that challenge. My actual final goal is to read 26 books this year, with authors whose last names range the full spectrum of the alphabet, A to Z. Starting with 5 books by January 30th will be the jumping off point where I'll begin.

I'm off to post my list! Happy Reading!

Why I love the Parking Garage

2007-10-30T10:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I don't love the parking garage itself. I have a parking pass, but most days when I try to find a spot, it's filled and I end up having to park on the street. Nothing like paying a meter 5 minutes late and already having a ticket on my windshield! I did love the parking garage this morning though. Not only did I find a spot, but the view of the city from the 7th level really is beautiful. I got a bird's eye view of the inlet. It's not frozen yet, but it will be soon. The whole city was still dark, the sun hadn't come up yet. It was only 9 am. Everything I saw, buildings, the inlet, the sky, the roads, was all the same color, a hazy shade of gray/blue, and really quite beautiful and peaceful. Anchorage really is a nice city. I like it because it's big enough to give me the "city feel," with traffic in the morning, buildings over 2 floors tall, more people than I see in Eagle River, and the bus station always makes me feel like I'm around "city folk." Sure, Anchorage has its crime, its homeless, its "city issues," but hands down, there's no place else I'd rather be right now. I'm looking forward to winter, when the Christmas lights are out in full force, the shops are decorated with colorful decorations and everyone is excited about it being December. Seeing Anchorage from the parking garage helps me appreciate it more, cause I can see the "bigger picture" that Anchorage is, not just the street view I get from down below.

On Growing Older

2007-10-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is my 37th birthday. I remember a time when 37 years old seemed so old, almost ancient. I remember a time when 20 seemed old. I was convinced that by 21 I would know everything, and when I reached 21 I thought I DID know everything. Tomorrow, I will be 37, and I realize now that I know very little indeed.

I'm not doing with my life what I thought I would be doing at thirty-seven. I look at the lives of other 37 year olds and am amazed at how "grown up" I think they are compared to me. I have done a lot though. I helped start a church my junior year of high school. I joined the Navy at 19 and served 6 years active duty during Desert Storm/Desert Shield. I married at 20; had my daughter at 21; divorced at 26. I got two degrees, finishing my last BBA degree in management at age 36. I have supported myself and my daughter since my divorce 10 years ago. I moved us all the way from Virginia to Alaska, with no help. I have done a lot of "grown up" things. Yet, I still don't feel I'm where I thought I would be at this time in my life. Does aging do that? Make one wax and wane (what does that even mean?) philosophical? I thought I'd be further financially, career wise, and definitely didn't intend on having the body I have now. I'm in a job that bores me to death and doesn't challenge me at all. In fact, every morning I enter my place of work, I believe I can FEEL brain cells dying. Financially, I'm doing well enough to take care of myself and Kaylee alone, with few extras. I don't have to depend totally on myself now, but I refuse to ever be totally dependent on another, even if I'm married to them. Physically, I sure didn't plan on having a body that looks like I'm still trying to lose the baby fat I gained when pregnant with my daughter (and I can't use just giving birth as an exuse anymore, as she's 15 1/2 years old now!). I'm always telling the kids that "failing to plan is planning to fail." Peeking over the hill at my 37th birthday, I feel like I've failed at a few things, by failing to plan more for myself and following through. I feel like a total hypocrite too when I get upset with them for being lazy and not doing chores, for not being active, for not being vigilant in their studies, for not living up to their full potential. Exactly what right do I have to get upset with them, when I haven't lived up to my own full potential?

I feel old. I know that 37 isn't OLD old, but I feel my age. All that said and done, what now? I haven't gone on that diet and exercise plan I know I need to for my wedding, for my life, for my future. I am still just going home and crashing, instead of heading outside and raking leaves, or doing crafts, or reading, or being productive. I'm still at the same job, no energy or effort being spent on finding another. Honestly, looking at it, those are the only things I feel I haven't been proactive about changing in my life. I know I'm a strong person. I know that my family depends on me to be the "rock," the "leader," the one that guides them into doing what needs to be done. But, no one leads or guides me. I've been so busy guiding everyone else, that I've neglected taking care of myself and being the one who encourages myself to do what I need to do to be where I need (not just want) to be. I'm always telling the kids that if they don't reach their full potential that they have no one to blame but themselves, that they have all the tools necessary to be the best that they can be. I need to preach to myself more, and others less.

I'm not one for pity parties. I don't feel sorry for myself, so that ends the party right there. I'm more upset with myself than pitying. I don't want to get back on here at the eve of my 38th birthday and be rehashing everything I just wrote. I know that all it takes is me putting my mind and energy towards a goal, and I can accomplish anything I set my mind to (oh my god, I'm channeling my mother now, I knew I'd heard that somewhere before). I've accomplished all that I have in my life, on my own. What is to be is up to me, I determine my destiny. I'll have to look at my life like a plan for a successful business and get to work.

Ah, aging.... It really is a good thing. I need a Tylenol after all this hard thinking so early in the morning.

Seasonal Affective Disorder In Reverse

2007-10-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

Seasonal Affective Disorder is caused by a lack of sunshine, or so I've read. When the days get shorter, the lack of sun causes some kind of chemical shortage in the body of some kind, and people get depressed. I don't suffer from SAD in the winter, although I do know people who do. I guess I suffer the opposite of SAD, whatever that is. I was very upset in the spring when the snow started melting and the days started getting longer. I missed winter before it even left.

With the weather dipping into freezing temperatures at night, the days getting shorter, and the nights getting longer, I'm happy to say that winter is returning. I love the snow. I love wearing sweaters. I love drinking hot chocolate and snuggling under warm blankets watching the sun set. And now that we are in the new house with the gorgeous deck system and the hot tub, I'm going to love watching the northern lights while immersed in the bubbling 102 degree water! I will miss the warmth of summer though.

I had so much that I wanted to do this past summer. I didn't realize how short 9 weeks really was till I woke up and the leaves had turned yellow seemingly overnight and the temperature was in the 40s. I wanted to hike more. I wanted to bike to work (that didn't even happen once). I wanted to camp more. I wanted to fish more. I wanted to backpack Crow Pass and Resurrection Trail. Now, those things will have to wait till next summer when they aren't hampered by snowfall, freezing temperatures and ice. If there's anything I wish about summer, I wish I had been better organized. It really did sneak up on me. I missed concerts in the park. I missed bike rides. I missed hikes. I just didn't plan well.

I'm psyched it's winter though! Now, for the next 8 months, I'll have time to plan for those 9 weeks of warm weather. I'm going to read up on the flora and fauna of Alaska. I'm going to plan more trips with Angie (ok, I'm going to let her plan and I'll go along with whatever she says. She's an awesome planner.). I'm going to research camping sites. I'm going to get my gear ready for those warm summer days. I'm going to strategically plan every weekend and weekday night. I'm going to do my own little reports on places in Alaska that I would like to know more about. I'm going to read books about Alaska, books by Alaskan authors, and sponge all the knowledge off of Angie that I can soak up. I'm going to hit the museums (who wants to be indoors during summer, winter is the time for museums), playhouses, and the performing Arts Center. Oh, then there's Fur Rondy, the lighting of downtown (I'm a sucker for Christmas lights), Snowzilla, snowshoeing, losing weight for the wedding, and the Iditarod. I am planning to learn to XC ski this winter. Our new place is perfect for snow hut building and neighborhood snowball fights, and this winter, I will definitely make time for sledding (I didn't make it even one time last year!).

While I'm upset with myself that I didn't better plan my time for the months of May through August, and especially June and July, I definitely have the reverse of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I feel like a kid at the door of a winter wonderland candy store right now. I can just imagine how giddy I'm going to feel the first time I snow blow the driveway.

Knitting Insanity

2007-10-16T11:35:00.000-08:00

I'm a crocheter. I say that with pride. I've been crocheting since my grandmother taught me how when I was seven. It was probably the only "girlie" thing I did as a child. While other girls were playing dress-up with the Barbie dolls they'd receive as gifts from their parents and grandparents, I was using them to play catch with my dog in the backyard. I was far more interested in seeing the "war wounds" of missing feet, mangled heads and ripped off arms that were caused by my dog than seeing my Barbies sporting the latest fashion in plastic Malibu Barbie sports vehicles. My Barbies didn't have feet to wear shoes, and after my dog choked on one of the shoes that weren't being worn by my Barbie, my grandmother decided that it was time to teach me to crochet. I think she believed that if she taught me how to make Barbie clothing that I would treat my dolls better and that they wouldn't be used as substitute rawhide chews for my dog. She was wrong. Though I loved to crochet them outfits, I much more prefered crocheting them burial shrouds. After grandma realized that, she started getting me small metal race cars instead. But, I kept my love of crocheting.

Crocheting relaxes me. I love to watch the hook dip in and out, up and down, around and around. I love seeing the finished product of my effort, whether it's a hat, a scarf, an afghan or anything else. I rarely keep the items I make, I usually give them away, or sell them. I love crocheting so much, that I thought I'd try knitting. It looked relaxing too, and the stitches look different from crocheting. I thought it would be a way to share my love of yarn art with the gals at the office who knit and not crochet. After knitting for about two weeks now, I'm ready for therapy!

Knitting drives me batty. I'm in the process of making my first piece, a felted bag. The pattern looked easy enough: Cast on 70 stitches, knit one row, pearl one row, continue for 16 stitches, then change color and knit one row, pearl one row in an alternating color, then return to the *. Repeat till piece reaches about 160 rows. Easy, right? Sure, till I drop a stitch. The perfectionist that I am can't accept a dropped stitch, so I've removed all the stitches from my knitting needles and attempted to unravel the piece then place all the stitches back on the needles. I've done that about three or four times, just enough to drive me nuts and leave me cursing under my breath. When people ask me what I'm making, I tell them I'm making a garbage can liner! They think it's a joke, but they don't know how serious I am. Oh, then I get to listen to the "experienced" knitters tell me that it gets easier with time the more knitting you do. Uhhhhhh, sure. I may just take their word for it.

I had these grandious ideas of knitting afghans, bags, hats, gloves, scarves... I had grandious ideas of gorgeous items that I'd knitted myself keeping me warm this winter. Ahhhh, dreams. Then, yesterday, someone told me about recycling wool sweaters to make felted items. I think it's some kind of cruel joke! If I would have known I could recycle a sweater to make a purse, that I wouldn't have had to go through the patience testing unraveling process I have been, that I could have gone to the thrift store and spent 8 dollars on a used wool sweater instead of 4.99 a skein for yarn, I would have jumped on that in a heartbeat! It's still crafty, it's creative, it's EASY!

My pride and determinination won't let me just toss the item I'm working on in the trash on my way out the door to the thrift store to purchase a wool sweater, so I'll finish the bag I'm working on. It's going to cost me more than I had first anticipated (with the cost of counseling sessions thrown added... so, tell me more about your obsessive/compulsive need to control your environment and your refusal to allow yourself to make mistakes... blah, blah, blah psychobabble), but I think it will be worth it. I'm not saying the bag itself will make it worth it, but I will be able to say that I finished something, whether I ever start another knitting project again. It's also given me much more respect for crocheting and my ability there. Maybe I can't be good at everything, maybe I don't have the patience to be good at everything. Maybe it's my purpose in life to recycle? I do know that I'm probably not going to knit a pair of socks that requires 4 needles to create when I feel like causing bodily damage to "experienced" knitters with the two needles I'm already using when they start in about how addicting knitting is and how relaxing it is. If I had access to four needles, oh, the damage I would do.

Hello, my name is Cristine, and I'm a crocheter.

Wallpaper Woes

2007-10-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

We have moved into the new house. Well, mostly anyway. We moved all of the larger items in, and all that is left is boxing up my and Alex's clothes at the old place, getting some of the left over items laying around, and cleaning up.

Being in the new house is great. It's roomy, gorgeous and holds secrets that we are still discovering. One of the secrets I found that wasn't so great was the wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom. Two showers were taken in the bathroom over the weekend. About an hour after the second shower was taken, I went into the bathroom and found that the wallpaper was bubbling off of the walls. Seems that the folks who had the house before put up the wallpaper without treating the wall first. So, I'll be removing the wallpaper in that bathroom and painting it this weekend.

For the remainder of the week, I'll be painting the kids' rooms. There's still wallpaper adhesive up in Kaylee's room from the border near the ceiling. I guess that the previous owners took down an old border, didn't remove the adhesive, then placed another border over the top, with plenty of glue. I spent about 8 hours attempting to remove the old border, and finally got the wallpaper off by applying first DIF wallpaper remover, then following that up with hot vinegar and boiling water. In the bathroom downstairs, I'm just going to use the vinegar and water solution to remove the wallpaper. It worked so much better than the DIF. Of course, now my daughter's room smells like a giant Easter Egg, but that's ok. Hopefully, the smell will go away with the application of the primer.

I wish this post was more interesting, but I have "new house issues" on the brain that are taking up all of my time and energy (literally, I'm exhausted) right now. Moving has been wonderful, but I'm so tired I can't think straight.

Three Bears, Two Moose, One Engagement

2007-09-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, we made it to Denali for the road trip. The day dawned dark and dismal... but ended with me wearing the sun!

We headed to Cantwell to stay at the Cantwell Lodge on Saturday. The weather was gloomy, but I was so excited to be spending some alone time with Alex that nothing could have made me unhappy, even the weather. We stayed at the lodge that night, and I totally loved it. The lodge was great: two queen beds and a single bed in every room; a kitchen area (complete with dishes, a microwave and a small fridge); and tons of channels on cable! The host was friendly and the lodge was quiet and well maintained. We spent the night snacking on pizza bites and popcorn, washed the food down with a bottle of wine, and watched Trading Spaces all night. It was relaxing, peaceful and totally enjoyable.

The next day, Sunday, we headed to Denali. When we got to the visitors center, we were informed that the road was only open to mile 30, but I was still so excited to be there that I didn't care if we only got to go to mile 15, I was in DENALI! We headed to the Denali Princess for breakfast and some shopping before going into the park. We figured we'd avoid some lines that way. We watched a little football with some tourists in the lobby (their train had been delayed due to snow in Denali, and they were headed to the McKinley Princess).

We headed into the park at about 12:30. The colors of fall surrounded us like a blanket. Patches of snow were already forming, and we hadn't even reached mile 30 yet. Just before mile 15, traffic was stopped in both directions. It's amazing how many people will stop everything just to watch two moose eat leaves off of bushes. Just before Teklenika campground, I saw a reflection pond (lake) just off to the left in the trees. The rangers still weren't allowing us to go past mile 30, so Alex and I turned around and headed back to the lake so I could get some pictures. I hopped out of the car and made my way around the trees to get the "perfect" photo. The weather still wasn't cooperating. It was still a bit drizzly.

After I took some pictures, I started walking back to the truck, but found Alex still lingering down by the lake. I joined him at the edge, and we watched the ripples on the top of the water made by a beaver swimming to the far shore. I was getting cold, and asked Alex what he would say about heading back to the truck for some carmel popcorn (we had some for the road trip). He turned to me, and out of no where says, "What would you say if I asked you to marry me at this lake?" He pulled out a box with the most beautiful ring in it! I was in shock, I think. I pointed to the ring and said, "is that a hypothetical ring?" We'd joked all the time about "if we hypothetically get married," so I didn't know what else to say! I told him I would say yes, then I'd cry. Both of which I did.

On the way out of the park, we saw a mother bear with two cubs on the edge of a shallow river at mile 15. They didn't stay long, they had berry eating to do, I'm sure. The snow beyond mile 30 was already 5-6 inches deep, with more snow on the way, and winter fast approaching.

The weather may not have cooperated and brought the sunny skies we'd hoped for. We may not have seen much wildlife. We may not have been able to drive into the park to the end of the road. But, this will always be my favorite and most memorable trip to Denali. We don't know the name of the small pond/lake where Alex asked me to marry him, but for us, it will always be Engagement Lake.

Make New Friends, But Keep The Old

2007-09-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

.... one is silver and the other is gold. That's how I'm looking at the changing of the seasons. Summer was a wonderful friend, a new friend (since it was my first summer in Alaska since moving back). Fall is my old friend here, my golden friend.

The city of Anchorage has officially called an end to summer. I wrote in one of my first blogs about how a friend had told me that the "official" start of summer in Anchorage was when the city put up the hanging baskets that line the streets of downtown. On the flip side of that coin, the city took down all the baskets yesterday. All that was left of them when I walked to work from the parking garage yesterday were the remnants of flower petals that had showered down upon the sidewalk when the baskets were removed. By lunchtime, even the petals were gone, after having been swept up by zealous sidewalk sweepers. Adieu, summer! Welcome fall!

We are in the process of moving into a new house with views that rival views I drive to Seward to see! We are still in Eagle River, but we are moving to a new place that will accommodate our family much better. The leaves on the trees in the backyard in the new place are already changing, yet another testament that fall has indeed arrived, whether the fall solstice has arrived or not.

I've been asked by friends Outside (outside of Alaska) how we survive the winters of Alaska. To tell you the truth, the winters in Anchorage aren't that bad. My mom told me that when we lived here when I was young that they weren't that much different than the winters I grew up with in Utah. If last winter was any indicator, the winters here are warmer than the ones I experienced when I lived in Whitefish, Montana and Chicago, Illinois. Granted, the darkness can make me a little less active, but I make sure to plan activities, regardless of the sunlight. That's one key, not letting the lack of sunlight keep you inside. Yes, it's chilly. Yes, it's dark. Yes, it can seem like winter lasts forever sometimes. There is, however, the gym. Last winter, Alex and I tried to go at least 3 times a week. We also planned snowshoeing trips to get us out in what sunlight there was, during daylight hours. Angie and I took trips to Talkeetna and Homer and Seward, which gave us something to look forward to, and a bit of a change of scenery. Sure, we were still surrounded by snow, but the wildlife and the people are definitely different and unique in the different places we visited. Just getting out and driving along Seward Highway and seeing the once free-flowing springs frozen by the winter cold was a wonderful get away. Alex has ski passes for himself and the kids for this winter, so they will be busy, and outside (that's a key, get outside) every weekend during winter. It also helps that the new house has a wonderful hot tub on the deck. Even if it's cold outside, we'll be nice and toasty, outside, enjoying the winter night air and hopefully get a glimpse of the aurora borealis. There's really nothing more invigorating or spirit lifting than seeing the Northern Lights dance across the sky!

There are other ways to get out of the house than dining at one of the Anchorage basin's many restaurants. There are several museums; the tourist shops that were teeming with tourists during the summer are now ours to rummage around in; there's the beer festival in October to look forward to; events in other cities, towns and villages to enjoy; events at the Performing Arts Center that we have tickets to already; many local theatre troops (including my favorite, Cyrano's). The Snow Goose has blues on Thursdays; there's the monthly First Friday Art Walks; there's Sidestreet Espresso for a great cup of coffee (latte, mocha, Americano... pick your poison); the Anchorage Museum hosts independent films and foreign films; and, there is MEETinAnchorage and the Anchorage Adventurers MEETup groups. My kids have also been reminding me of all the crochet and knitting projects I've neglected during the summer, and with the new house comes a beautiful new kitchen that I get the joy of learning to cook (all over again) in. I'm also going to spend the fall and winter reading up on wilderness survival, the plants and flowers of Alaska, mushrooms, and write out a list of activities so that spring and summer don't catch me off-guard with nothing planned (like they did this spring and summer). My fall and winter months are full, indeed!

There's no reason for me to stay inside the house, depressed that the weather isn't warm and beautiful, during the winter here. There's always something to do, it's just a matter of looking. So, how do I survive the winter here? The same way I do the summer. I get outside, I greet each day with a big Alaskan bear hug, I remember where I live and how lucky I am to live here with the people I love, whether the weather is warm or cold, sunny or snowy, splashed with spring color, green with summer foliage, yellow with the leaves of fall, white with winter's snow, foggy, rainy or beautiful and bright. Alaska is a place to be experienced, each day providing a new adventure, each season holding its own place in my heart and it's own set of activities in my day planner.

How do I survive the winter? I don't survive it, I live it, I love it, I relish it! When it comes, it's a new friendship all over again. When it's gone, it's another old friend that I miss till it returns once again.

Touring like the Tourists

2007-09-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

We decided not to camp when we go to Denali for the road lottery on the 15th and 16th. Alex talked to someone who said that it would be down in the high 20s to lower 30s at night. While I think we'd be fine, I guess Alex has thinner skin than I do. He booked us a room in Cantwell for the night of the 15th and one at the Denali Princess Lodge on the 16th. I'm not complaining! We haven't had a get away from the kids in... oh... EVER.

The weather is getting cooler here. I have pulled out my sweaters and am in the process of storing all of my summer wear. Pulling out the fleece and the flannel is like greeting old friends! I love sweater weather. I'm looking forward to wearing my Cabella jacket with the wolf pelt lined hat in the next few months. When my friend Connie moved from Anchorage to Tennessee this past Spring, she gave it to me. When I tried it on in April, I could only keep it on for about 5 minutes before I was broiling! It's going to be awesome this winter.

Alex got the kids and himself ski passes for the season at Alyeska already. They don't know yet, but I know they will be excited once the first substancial snowfall hits. I have no interest in downhill skiing, myself. I know, I know... I've been told that if I try it once, I'll love it and get hooked, but I just don't think I will, and it's not worth the money to me to purchase all the gear I'd need to go just one time. Alex and the kids can go skiing, I'll go snowshoeing and cross country skiing on the paths around Alyeska while they are zipping down the hills and doing face plants into snowbanks.

The leaves on the trees are beginning to turn yellow. Further up on the mountains, the low lying bushes are turning red. Fall is my favorite time of year for color. I love the colors of fall even more than I love the colors of the flowers that line the streets of Anchorage in hanging baskets during the summer. I love bundling up in a jacket, feeling the cold air on my face, wearing gloves. I love making fires, drinking hot cocoa, and snuggling to keep warm. I love watching the dogs bury their noses in the snow and chasing snowflakes as they fall. The darkness that lasts so long during the winters here doesn't bother me either. I have an aunt who has Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that makes her very depressed and lethargic during the winter. She has to spend time under an ultra violet light lamp in the winter. I'm so glad that it doesn't effect me like that in the least. Winter here is my favorite time of year, hands down. The trees, bushes, ground and mountains are covered with a layer of white that reminds me of wedding cake. It's beautiful when the light hits it, or moonlight reflects off each snowflake. The small waterfalls that usually flow down the sides of the mountains on the Seward Highway freeze into magical ice walls, the inlet freezes to a mirror like sheet of ice, and the path to Winner Creek just about evens out to be elevationless with the snowfall. The last time I snowshoed to Winner Creek last winter, I could hear the creek beneath the snow and ice, whispering as it fell over the cold rocks. I took the hand tram over Glacier Creek and couldn't tell how far above the ground I was because the creek was blanketed with a 20 foot layer of snow! It was amazing. I won't be snowshoeing unprepared like I did last year again though. I'll bring an emergency pack this year.

I'm getting all caught up in dreaming of winter already, when I should be looking forward to my Denali trip! This is a possible once-in-a-lifetime trip! Winning the Denali Road Lottery is awesome! Having sent out 10 entries, and winning with one, was great! I'm definitely entering again next year. The opportunity to drive in our own vehicle the entire length of the road is really special. Being able to stop whenever we want to, spending the day in the park from 6 am till midnight, not rushing, breathing in the air and the magesty is going to be amazing. I'm going to have to read up on Denali before we leave. I'm going to make sure I have plenty of batteries for my camera, the appropriate NON COTTON attire (no folks, here in Alaska, cotton is NOT our friend!) for layering, I'm going to crochet a hat just for the occassion, and I'll make sure we have healthy food in the truck to eat! Ok, getting psyched about the trip again! Angie won for the same day. I wonder where they are staying. I could let them use our camping reservations if they wanted. It's already paid for.

I've been here for a little over a year, but I still enjoy Alaska every day, just as much (actually probably more) than I did when I came to visit in 2005. I look forward to every sunset in Alaska, every change of season, every animal I see I feel I'm seeing for the first time, I love the abundance of the land and the secret beauty it holds. I still tape every documentary (thank you Jeff Corwin) on Alaska, bears, and Denali. I look for books about Alaska at every bookstore. I wonder, do people in Iowa enjoy their state as much? How about Oklahoma? There's just something about Alaska, there really is. There's a spirit here that grabs hold of you and just doesn't let go. I have a friend, Mary, who decided to move back to the Lower 48 a few months back. She made it for 41 days before the longing for Alaska brought her right back to it's awaiting, open arms. I love it here! Bring on the Northern Lights! YIPEE WINTER!

Blueberry Slogging

2007-09-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Alex and I went hiking up Harp Mountain in Eagle River. Ok, I'll be honest, Alex went hiking, I went berry picking. We had entered some geocache locations in our GPS unit that morning before heading out. Alex headed up the Harp Mountain Slog to find the geocache box at the top of the peak, and I stayed below, picking to my heart's content.

I decided yesterday, after berry picking for 1/2 the time and getting 2X the blueberries, I will never pick berries up Arctic Valley again. It was a bit of a hike to get to prime berry picking grounds up Harp Mountain, but no one else was there, I didn't have to compete with others, pay for parking, or search and search for ripe berries. Right above the treeline, the berries were there, waiting to be picked. At Arctic Valley, I had to hike and hike, just to find berries, and then they were so sparce that I spent hours there for less than 1 1/2 quarts of berries.

The only thing I advise about picking in an area with few people, remote areas, is to bring bear spray. The area I picked in was an area where this past June, my friend Julie and I had seen a very large black bear about 200 yards away from us on the other side. Also, Alex saw wolves when he was going up and over the slog peak of Harp Mountain.

You'll notice I didn't tell you WHERE Harp Mountain is. I guess I'll let you find that out on your own. It's my way of attempting to have a "secret" berry spot. Not many know where Harp Mountain is, and if you are willing to do the research, drive to Eagle River, and hike to the berries, I'm more than happy to share! Please remember though, this area is surrounded by private property housing, there are no restrooms and little parking, and no trash cans. If you pick there, please leave the area the way you found it, bring doggy doo bags and don't let your pups annoy the locals much.

Happy picking!

Updates!

2007-08-31T12:08:00.000-08:00

Haven't written in a while, thought I'd post some updates.

I've been jamming my heart out. I've made red currant jelly, strawberry rhubarb jam, and fireweed jelly. I've made so much of it, my kids think that we are going to survive on nothing but jelly and jam all winter! They swear I make it every other day.

To my delighted surprise, I learned that rhubarb can not only be grown in Alaska, but it thrives here! My friend across the street had a backyard patch full of it, and offered it to me. I took armloads full, literally. I've got so much rhubarb that the whole entire bottom shelf of my fridge has been dedicated to rhubarb storage. Some of the stalks are 2 1/2 feet long and about 2 inches wide! No, I'm NOT exaggerating!

The berry picking has been tedious, especially for blueberries. I've made it up Arctic Valley several times, but it has taken hours and hours just to harvest 2 quarts of blueberries. I recently read that berries grow best on southwest facing slopes, so my new goal is to take my gps and find some southwest facing slopes before the weather turns cold. Though the blueberries may be sparse, the crowberries are plentiful. I changed my gathering goal from blueberries to crowberries last weekend and gathered 2 quarts of crowberries up Arctic Valley. I also found a great crowberry pie recipe, and have several crowberry jam and jelly recipes that I'll be using my stash of berries in. Won't my kids be delighted!

We hiked Winner Creek trail last weekend with the MEETinANCHORAGE group. A friend and I decided to hike the path from the hand tram over Glacier Creek (just past the Winner Creek Gorge Bridge) to Crow Creek Road. On our hike, we found bushes and bushes full of blue huckleberries. Blue huckleberries look and smell an awful lot like blueberries, but they don't taste as sweet. Caitlin collected enough to make a blueberry (huckleberry, in this case) buckle out of them! We also found patches of salmonberries and I introduced her to the delights of watermelon berries (her new favorite, she says).

Out of the blueberries I collected at Arctic Valley last Sunday, I made the family a wonderful Blueberry Cobbler. My daughter said it was wonderful, but not worth the 5 hours of work it took to get the berries. I have to agree. Five hours for only 2 quarts of berries was a lot of work! Last year, we got that many berries in less than an hour up Arctic Valley. And, the berries this year that we managed to find are an odd oval shape, not the traditional round, plump, juicy berries we've found in the past.

I'm not giving up though! I still have a few other spots I'm going to check out. Since Monday is a holiday, I am devoting my "Labor Day" to the "laboring" of picking berries. I've discovered that the Internet is a wonderful place to find recipes for all kinds of "berry good" recipes. Woman can not live on jamming alone!

Next weekend, Angie and I are going camping again. More about that in a later post. And, the weekend of the 15th, the family is off to Denali Park for the road lottery winning drive on the 16th! I'm so excited about that!

Live is wonderful! I've said it before, I'll say it again.... I LOVE Alaska!

Denali, here we come!

2007-08-21T12:40:00.000-08:00

Well, the results of the Denali Road Lottery are in! We won a ticket for Sunday, September 16th. Angie won for the same exact day.

I reserved a camping space at Riley Camp Ground right inside the park entrance. We have reservations for Saturday, September 15 and Sunday, September 16. Last year, Angie went and left early in the morning from Anchorage. She said the experience was wonderful, but the day was long and she was totally exhausted when she finally got home. We'd like to avoid the exhaustion. The drive into the park itself will still take an estimated 10 hours or so on Sunday, especially if we see wildlife along the way and stop to watch it in its natural habitat.

I'll know more when we receive the package for permit pick-up. The name that won was actually my sister's name! I entered for me, my daughter, my nieces and my sister. My sister's name is the only name that was chosen out of the 10 entries we made for the lottery. I guess I should contact her and thank her for being my sister!

I'll make sure to post LOTS of pictures on my Flickr account after we return. Until then, I'll be learning all I can about Denali, its history and legends. I am also reading a book about the first woman who ever climbed Denali. The book is called The Accidental Adventurer: Memoir of the First Woman to Climb Mount McKinley, by Barbara Washburn. I've got a little less than a month to find out all I can. I find it shocking and a little sad when I tell people that I won a ticket and they tell me they've lived here for 10+ years and NEVER gone to the park. I fall more in love with Alaska every day, and don't understand why some poeple who live here take living her so much for granted.

The Lottery in Alaska

2007-08-15T12:17:00.000-08:00

No, we don't have gambling lotteries for cash here. For Alaskans, the lotteries that are most important are the Denali Road Lottery and the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary Lottery. Each year, thousands of applicants vie to drive into Denali on the only park road all the way to mile 91. Access to the park otherwise ends at mile 15, and the only way to see the park beyond that is on foot, by bicycle, or on one of the busses that enters the parks that is run by the park service. For $10 an entry, applicants hope to be awarded one of the 400 daily passes to enter the park for September 14, 15, 16 or 17.

Alex and I entered the drawing this year for Denali road access. We also entered for our kids. We are hoping to win access for at least one day. If we won access for two consecutive days, that would be ideal. We'd camp in one of the camping grounds near the park, and spend the two days driving the unpaved road, hoping to see at least one of the big 5 (bear, moose, caribou, dall sheep and wolf) animals in the park. It would be an amazing experience to win a ticket and be able to experience the park like few are ever able.

Wish us luck!

From Homer to Fairbanks

2007-08-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

I don't watch the major networks much, so I didn't know there was a new show on called "Fat March." I caught it last night when it was on. The premise of the show is that 12 overweight people walk from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. That's 570 miles. They do it in 10 weeks. They eat 5 mini meals a day, and two snacks.

Out of curiosity, I map quested how far it is from Homer to Fairbanks, Alaska. For those of you that don't know, Alaska may be the largest state in the Union (YES, we are a part of the United States and not Canada), but we don't have many road systems here. Most villages like Nome, Kotzebue, Barrow and just about everywhere off the main highway system isn't accessible by road. Homer is the southernmost point on a major highway that can be reached, and Fairbanks is the northernmost point on a major highway that can be reached. Anyway, from Homer to Fairbanks it's 579.54 miles. That's only 9.54 miles more than those folks are walking on their Fat March.

I've decided to do my own little Fat March and see if I can't walk the distance from Homer to Fairbanks. I'm going to shoot for doing it in 10 weeks, which means I would complete the mileage by my birthday on the 24th of October, by starting tomorrow. I've been wearing a pedometer to determine how many steps I take a day, and I've been attempting to get to 10,000, though I rarely do. Alex is wearing one too, and we've got a little contest going to see who walks the most steps. Activity outside of walking also has a step equivalent that he's got a chart for. Walking 579.54 miles in 10 weeks would be 57.95 miles per week, and about 11.59 miles a day if I walk 5 days a week (9.6 miles a day for 6 days a week; 8.28 miles a day for 7 days a week). I can walk. I can get up in the morning and walk at the gym or in the neighborhood. I can walk at lunch downtown or along the Coastal Trail or at the gym that's only a few blocks from my workplace. I can walk after work at the gym or in the neighborhood or on the myriad of hiking trails in Eagle River. The show encouraged me that I don't need to spend all day in the gym, or eat snail food, or kill myself with intense workouts. Nor do I need to live in a mansion and have trainers yell at me to run up a hill, do 200 more sit ups or cry on camera in front of a whole nation.

I'd like to lose 30 pounds in the next 10 weeks. I know that it's advisable to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, but I'm convinced that is for skinny chicks who want to lose 10 pounds in order to fit into their size 2 jeans instead of their size 5s. I haven't seen a size 5 since I was 5. I've got a lot to lose, and 30 pounds would get me into my snow pants with room to spare, help me snowshoe without getting terribly winded, allow me to buy lower weight rated snowshoes and XC skis, and really get me motivated to lose the rest of what I need to lose by next summer. Plus, we are planning on going to Hawaii the end of December for a winter vacation. I'm not going to have people trying to harpoon me on the beach in Hawaii! Other goals I have will only be helped by losing the weight: running the mayor's half marathon in Anchorage next June; running the Nike half marathon in San Francisco next October; biking the Sonoma wine country next summer; biking from Eagle River to Seward next summer; camping and hiking and biking my hiney off next summer and fall.

No one ever intends to become overweight. I didn't hit my teens and think, "WOW, now I can get a fat ass and wide hips!" Life handed me food on a silver platter, and I ate every bit of it and asked for seconds. But, I know I don't have to stay like this, so I'm not going to.

If those 12 folks on Fat March can do it in front of a nation, all of us seeing their rolls, tears, attitudes and accomplishments, I can do it here in Alaska. I'm not doing it for 1/12 of 1.2 million dollars, but I'll feel like a million bucks when I'm done! And, as I've said before, being fat sucks. I don't like it any more now than I did when I first posted that.

Wish me luck.... the fat march begins! I've created another blog and attached it to this page. It's called My Alaska Fat March... read my progress, pitfalls, pity parties and panderings about it there!

Chitina, McCarthy and Kennicott, oh my!

2007-08-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

This weekend, my friend Angie and I headed out on the road for another adventure. So far, we've hit Homer (last winter), gone to Talkeetna for the Moose Dropping Festival and stayed at the Montana Creek Campground, and this past weekend we headed to McCarthy and the Kennecott Mine. We've done hikes, showshoed, hunted for wild salmon on parade in anchorage and have more plans for the coming winter, and the coming year ahead. It's really great to have a friend who has an adventurous and inquisitive spirit that matches (or actually far exceeds) my own. We were both born with wanderlust spirits.

The trip from Anchorage to McCarthy is not a short one. Driving the 7 hours it took to get there further confirmed that Alaska is a huge, HUGE place with such diverse landscape that I know I'll never tire of living here or run out of places to see. We started off at about 10:30 am on Friday. The last time I'd been up the Glenn Highway past Palmer was last year when I moved back to Alaska from the Lower 48.

The weather was amazing when we headed out, and remained so all weekend long. We saw the Matanuska Glacier clearly as we passed it. We stopped at the Sheep Mountain Lodge for lunch, stopped in Glenn Allen for gas, then headed down the road towards the town of Chitina (pronounced Chit-na). Before getting to Chitina, we stopped at the washed out state campground of Liberty Falls. Angie told me that Liberty Falls was one of her favorite places to stop on the road to Chitina, but that the flooding had changed not only the path of the creek, but also the falls itself. There is a road and parking lot before the actual campground, and we got out there and hiked up to see if we could see the falls. We couldn't see the falls from that hike, however. So, we headed up the road to the entrance to the campground. The road is closed, but we left the car at the entrance and walked past the baracades to the camping area. I could tell that Angie was a little disappointed that they hadn't started to rebuild the campground, but when they do, I'm sure we'll be going back there to camp.

Chitina used to be a ghost town, but it's slowly being rebuilt and reinhabited. It's the end of the paved road area, and the starting point of the McCarthy Road. On the road to McCarthy, Angie maneuvered around potholes and old railroad posts, across old railroad bridges and past moose, snowshoe hares, and ground squirrels till we made it to the campground where we stayed, Glacier View Campground. The campground was quiet, most of the areas were nice, and it was only a mile from McCarthy.

To get to the actual town of McCarthy, it requires walking across a footbridge over the Kennicott river. There used to be a handtram across the river, but the bridge was built in 1995 to replace it. We stopped on the bridge to take a look at the Kennicott and Root Glaciers on our left. We passed the city's watershed, a stream with signs posted that read "Ecologically Sensitive Area: Do Not Wash Dogs, City Water." The last day we were there, we actually saw a man back his truck up to the area and plop a hose with a filter on the end of it into the water and pump water into a huge water holding tank. McCarthy itself is compromised of maybe 10 buildings on a "main" street. There's two restaurants, a take it restaurant called "Potatoes," and a restaurant at the McCarthy Lodge. We ate at the McCarthy Lodge both nights we were in McCarthy. The food is awesome! It was a lot of fun sitting there listening to people from all over the world who were visiting, trying to determine where they were from by the language they were speaking.

Saturday, we took the shuttle from McCarthy to Kennicott. By the way, you'll see Kennecott/Kennicott throughout this blog. This is not a misspelling. Kennecott is spelled both ways. The city, glacier and river are spelled Kennicott. The mine and mining company are spelled Kennecott. The road from McCarthy to Kennicott is 5 miles long. At the end of the shuttle ride, we were let off in Kennicott near the Kennicott Lodge. Ruins of the mining town greeted us. The town and mine were active until 1938. Then, the company up and deserted the town and the mine, leaving everything behind. Several of the buildings were razed, but many have remained and are being rebuilt by the National Park Service. We walked around the town taking tons of pictures, picking the wild raspberries (ok, I picked, Angie watched), and finished by eating lunch at the Kennicott Lodge. Another great place to eat, and the views are amazing! We walked the 5 miles back to McCarthy, then on to the campground.

It was an amazing and relaxing weekend in an amazing and beautiful place. I love living in Alaska and having the ability to act like a tourist without having to pay for airfare and car rental! We've already discussed going back next year, and taking a root glacier hiking trip. For 1/2 a day, it's only 60$; full day cost of 95$. I could have stayed for another week and still not seen everything there that there is to see and done everything there is to do. Since McCarthy basically shuts down in mid September, we won't be able to make it back this year, but we'll be waiting for May, when the area opens up again.

When Alaska Hands You Fireweed

2007-08-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

There's a saying that "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Well, when Alaska hands you fireweed, make fireweed jelly.... or fireweed honey.... or fireweed ice cream.

I went berry picking up Arctic Valley in Anchorage yesterday. We parked at the lot at Alpenglow, and began the hike up the trail that leads to Rendezvous Peak. We'd hiked it a few days ago and found berries on the way (crowberries, lowbush cranberries or lingonberries, and blueberries), but Alex had a goal and a mission to reach the Peak. That goal didn't include berry picking. So, yesterday I went back and I found about 2 pints of Alaska blueberries (the ones with the green meat inside), but didn't stay long enough to find more than that. I'll go back some time the end of next week when the berries have had more time to ripen.

There is, however, a lot of fireweed up near Alpenglow: thick, long, flower-filled stocks of fireweed in bloom. Seeing them, I decided to change my jelly strategy and go for the fireweed instead of the non plentiful berries. I'd taken my scissors to trim the fireweed to place in bags to take home where I picked the petals off. I stuffed two grocery bags full of fireweed stems and headed home to petal pull. From the two bags of stalks I'd cut, I pulled off 2 quarts of flowers. Since most of the recipes I've found for fireweed jelly call for 8 cups of petals, I got exactly the right amount.

I've never made fireweed jelly, honey or ice cream, but I've tasted all three. Most of the fireweed jelly recipes I found were exactly the same. Here are the jelly, honey and ice cream recipes I am going to try:

Marylin's Fireweed Jelly Recipe
8 Cups fireweed blossoms

1/4 Cup lemon juice

4 1/2 Cups water

2 pkgs Sure Jell (or other powdered pectin)

5 Cups suger

Pick,wash, and measure fireweed blossoms (flower part only, no stems). Add lemon juice and 4-water. Boil 10 minutes and strain. Take the strained juice and heat to lukewarm. Add pectin all at once and bring to a boil. Add 5 cups sugar and return to full boil.
Boil hard for 1 minute. Pour into hot clean jars and seal. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

(recipe found at: http://www.alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Departments/Recipes/Jams/fireweedjelly.html)

Homesteader's Fireweed "Honey" Recipe

50 pink clover blooms

10 white clover blooms

18 - 25 fireweed blooms

3/4 tsp alum

5 pound bag white sugar

3 Cups boiling water

Wash blooms in cold water (gently rinse) to remove little critters. While rinsing blooms, boil water. Put all ingredients except water in pan, then pour boiling water on. Let sit for 10 minutes. Bring to boil and boil for 10 minutes. Strain through cheesecloth or jelly bag.
Put in clean canning jars and water bath process for 10 min.

(recipe found at: http://www.alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Departments/Recipes/Jams/honey.html)

OR, another I was told by a friend for fireweed honey that calls for more fireweed than clover:

Fireweed Honey

45 pink clover blossoms

25 white clover blossoms

100 fireweed blossoms

1 tsp. alum

10 Cups sugar

2 Cups water

Wash blooms in cold water. Put all ingredients except water into pan, then add water. Let sit for 10 minutes. Bring to a boil and boil until fireweed turns gray and water is a purple color. Strain through cheesecloth or jelly bag. Put in clean canning jars and water bath process for 10 minutes.

The fireweed ice cream recipe I am going to use is one I modified from a rose petal ice cream recipe I found. I'll see if it turns out. I couldn't find ANY recipes for fireweed ice cream online, so this will have to do. I'll post the final product and review.

Fireweed Ice Cream
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 1/2 Cups fireweed petals only, no stems, no stamen
2 large eggs
3/4 Cup fine sugar
2 tsp. honey
1 cup milk

Put the cream, milk, and petals in a saucepan and bring to just below the boil***. Remove from heat, cover and leave to infuse for 25 minutes until cool. Whisk egg yolks in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Whisk the sugar and honey a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended. Strain the rose-infused milk into the egg mixture and return to the sauce pan or a double-broiler. Cook very gently until slightly thickened, but do not let it boil. Chill this mixture (custard now) and then freeze or process in an ice cream maker. Store in the freezer.

***An alternative to adding the petals full to a saucepan with the cream and milk is to place the sugar and the fireweed petals in a food processor fitted with the metal blade and make paste. Then, place the heavy cream, milk and sugar/fireweed paste in a medium sized saucepan with the honey and completely blend, then place on medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a simmer and turn off heat then continue by adding the egg mixture as above.

I've also learned through buzzing about online that I could have made lilac jelly from the lilac that blooms in my yard. Also, I've goint to try my hand at rose hip candy, rose hip jelly and rose hip jam. When I do, I'll post the pics of the final products, the recipes and the reviews.

Have I already said I love Alaska????

Berry Crazy

2007-08-07T14:43:00.000-08:00

It's berry season, and I've definitely got berries on the brain. Everywhere I go, I see them: currants, high bush cranberries, crowberries, bog blueberries, Alaska blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries, raspberries... I walk the dogs through my neighborhood in Eagle River, and I see the berries off the sides of the path. My walk took longer than it needed to this morning because I kept going off the path to sample the bounty. By the time I got home, I'd eaten my fill of raspberries, currants and some early ripened highbush cranberries and didn't even want breakfast!

I had a friend pick berries up Arctic Valley this past weekend and she let me know that in one hour, they picked enough crowberries to make 4 batches of jelly. That's 48 jelly jars full, folks. I'm berry, berry jealous!

I'm heading up Arctic Valley myself tonight to hike Rendevous Peak and scope out the berry crop. The berries I'm most likely to find are bog blueberries, or bilberries. Bog blueberries are closely related to both the blueberry and the huckleberry. Bog blueberries grow on small branched shrubs, with wiry angular branches, that are very rarely over a foot high. They can be distinguised easily from Alaska blueberries by the height of the bush they grow on and the location where they grow. Alaska blueberries grow on taller shrubs near water or near the treeline in partial shade, the bog blueberry on the shorter shrub above the treeline in full sun. The fruit of the bog blueberry is also different from the Alaska blueberry in that it produces single or pairs of berries on the bush instead of clusters like the Alaska blueberry. Another way to distinguish them is that while Alaska blueberry fruit meat is light green, the bog blueberry fruit meat is red or purple. The most commonly cultivated is the bog blueberry, but I've found Alaska blueberry bushes near treelines as I've hiked up to clear treeless areas where the bog blueberries are. Both types of blueberries taste the best a few days after they turn a complete dusty blue and can be removed off of the plant easily. The berries should be firm, and the skins undamaged. Wash them just before using. To freeze, lay them out on a cookie sheet or in a pie pan/cake pan in a single layer and freeze, then place in freezer containers. When they are frozen this way, they keep their shape and are less likely to get mushy and bleed. You can also use them in muffins by tossing them in the batter still frozen and they won't bleed that way or get mush when cooked.

Highbush and lowbush cranberries (lingonberries), bog cranberries and crowberries are best picked after the first frost. These berries can still be found on the plants even after the first snowfalls and into winter. Highbush cranberries should be put through a food mill before using in jams, as they have a large pit in the middle. Highbush cranberries aren't actually a cranberry at all, but are members of the honeysuckle family. That fact doesn't make them any less tasty though! Lowbush cranberries (lingonberries) are not true cranberries, and are actually related to both the blueberry and the cranberry. They taste very similar to true cranberries, however, much like the highbush cranberries. They can be found on small evergreen shrubs in the same locations as bog cranberries, bog blueberries and crowberries. Bog Cranberries, or true cranberries, can be found among the bog blueberries and the crowberries on trailing plants, sometimes the berries can be found just above moss. The vines look so fragile it's strange to see such heavy berries on them. Crowberries can be found on small "pine looking" plants above the treeline in tundra sections. Crowberries can be "force frosted" by picking them when they are the desired deep purple/black color and placed into the freezer. This has the same effect as the first frost would.

Currants are ripe when they become a beautiful red and can be removed from the plant easily. When you hold them up and look at them in the light, they are almost translucent, and the seeds can easily be seen.

Raspberries are ripe when they are the recognizable dark red color and are easily removed from the plant with the center "core" staying behind so that the berry itself is hollow after you remove it from the plant.

As I've said before, make sure you know what you are picking. There are poisonous berries in Alaska that include baneberries. Never eat any berries that are white, also. I don't claim to be the berry expert. I've done a lot of research and own a lot of books. If you don't know what you are picking, don't eat it. I certainly don't. Once you do pick berries though and have enough to make something with, there are plenty of recipes online, and the books I've mentioned in my other postings have wonderful recipes in them also.

Make sure you remain bear aware when picking berries. Just as people enjoy berries, so do the bears, and we pick berries where they live. When I was picking currants last weekend, I had my boy be my bear watch. He didn't do such a hot job, as he pulled his jacket up and over his face and head to escape the mosquitos. I had found a large pile of bear scat and remained very aware that I was not alone where I was. Just as we were leaving, a couple passed us with their dogs and told us that they'd just seen a brown bear about 100 yards down the trail. That was our signal to leave the area.

I really do enjoy learning about all the plants, animals and berries in Alaska. Call me a nerd, but it makes me feel like I'm a part of everything around me when I look around me and know the names of the things I see. It's like knowing the names of old friends.

Berry Picking Locations

2007-08-03T11:51:00.000-08:00

As I've said before, people usually closely guard their secret berry picking locations. However, I've been doing a lot of searching online, and have found a few locations that look promising that I'm going to share. Most of them are within the Chugach State Park system, but according to regulations: "Berries and edible plants may be gathered for personal consumption, but not for sale. Disturbing rocks, trees, or other plants is not allowed. 11 AAC 12.170."

Berries ripen at different times and are best picked when they are ripe. This past weekend, I found many berries of different types. Alaska Trekker has a great guide that describes when to pick berries and a few different types found in Alaska. If you haven't already gotten it, I'd also recommend the book Alaska’s Wild Berries and Berry Like Fruits to correctly identify what it is that you are picking. Not every berry in Alaska is edible, and those that are edible aren't always very tasty. When I went berry picking last, I not only found watermelon berries, raspberries, highbush cranberries, lowbush cranberries, blueberries, soap berries (not edible), and currants, but I found both colors of bane berries. Bane berries are very poisonous, and ingesting just a few can kill. Through researching other online blogs, state online sites, hiking sites, recipe sites and information concerning different "berry" topics, here's a list of locations that I'm planning to check out. Maybe I'll see you at 1 or 20 of them:

* Eklutna Lake Trails: Take the Glenn Highway to the Eklutna exit and follow the Eklutna Lake Road for 10 miles to the Chugach State Park campground. There is a fee for parking, unless you have a pass. There are several trail from the parking lot, and there is quite a hike to get to the Alpine area for blueberries, but highbush cranberries can be found in the woods. The hike starts in the parking lot and is 5 miles on foot or by mountain bike. Check specific day restrictions if you are going to be taking an ATV on the path, they aren't allowed every day. From the parking lot, cross the Twin Peaks Creek bridge and take a right onto the Lakeside Trail. This trail is rated as easy. It's a 13 mile trail. Bold Ridge Overlook Trail starts at mile 5 of the Lakeside Trail. This 3.5 mile trail (plus the 5 miles it takes to get to this trail, remember) is rated moderate to difficult. It's a hike of a mile and a half to the basin where the berries are. Twin Peaks Trail begins at the parking lot, crosses the Twin Peaks Creek bridge and continues to the alpine tundra. This trail is rated moderate to difficult also because of the steepness in some places. The trail is 3.5 miles. There are highbush & lowbush cranberries, currants, raspberries and watermelon berries along the lower trails, and blueberries, bearberries, crowberries and cranberries at the higher trails and the basin.

* Wolverine Peak Trail: Rated moderately strenuous. Drive about 6.5 miles south of Anchorage along the new Seward Highway and exit east on O'Malley Road. Go about 4 miles to a sharp left curve, and follow the curve to the immediate right. Turn onto Upper O'Malley Road. At the "T" intersection, turn left onto Prospect Drive. Another mile up, bear left where Prospect Drive intersects Sidorof Lane and continue .1 miles to the Prospect Heights parking area. From the Prospect Heights trailhead, mile 2 near Point Trail.

* Flattop Mountain Trail: just above the Flattop trail parking lot on the mountainside above Glen Alps on the Anchorage Hillside. Go back along the Powerline Pass Trail into the South Fork of Campbell Creek.

* Rendezvous Peak Trail: short, easy trail at the end of the Arctic Valley Road next to the Alpenglow Ski Area. Take the Glenn Highway towards Eagle River to the Arctic Valley exit and follow the road about seven miles to the parking lot. There is a fee for parking. This place may be crowded, but there are blueberries, mossberries, crowberries and cranberries enough for everyone.

* Peters Creek Trail: Take the Peters Creek exit off the Glenn Highway and turn right onto Ski Road. Go up about a mile, and go right on Whaley. It turns into Chugach Park Road. Go left on Kullberg, and then right onto Malcolm Drive. Parking is a quarter mile ahead, parking is limited. Use the cleared parking spaces along the right of the road near the trail marker. The trail leads to the slopes of the Mount Eklutna and Bear Mountain above Peters Creek. You have to hike in several miles from the trail head to get to the alpine berry patches.

* Mount Baldy Trail (up the backside, not the face) in Eagle River. Take the Hiland Drive exit. Pass through the light at Hiland, go up the hill. Pass through the light at the Walmart. On your right up about a 1/2 a mile will be Skyline Drive. Take Skyline Drive all the way to the end. The road changes names several times. At the end of the road is parking on the left. The trailhead actually goes through the gated section at the end of the parking lot and up around to your right. The face section is straight up from the parking lot, avoid that section.

* South Fork Eagle River Valley Trail: Drive up the Glenn Highway towards Eagle River. Take the Eagle River Loop/Hiland Drive exit. At the light, turn right onto Hiland Drive. Take the road up and over the South Fork of Eagle River. Just after the South Fork Bridge, take a right onto South Creek and follow it to West River Drive. Take a right and park on the left in the lot. No parking fee. You will have to hike a while to get out of the trees and into the alpine for low bush blueberries. Take either the Hanging Valley Trail or the South Fork Trail.

* Lazy Mountain Trail: This is a steep trail. Take the Glenn Highway north to Palmer. Follow West Arctic Avenue (the Old Glenn Highway) through town and across the Matanuska River Bridge to Clark-Wolverine Road. Turn east and go less than a mile to Huntley Road. Turn right on Huntley and follow the signs to the Lazy Mountain Recreation Area. Take the narrow footpath, NOT Morgan Horse Trail (which will be obvious because it's a wide trail), on the uphill side of the far end of the lot. Bear right, keep bearing right at the fork in the path a half-mile up the trail. The trail climbs for about a mile and a half, but at an elevation of 2500 feet, there's a picnic table and the trail moderates. This is where the berries are.

There are a few other Wild Berry Picking Spots I plan to check out that others have told me about, such as a few off of Abbot Road on the hillside, the Eagle River Nature Center trails, the rest stops along the New Seward Highway, a few camping sights along the New Seward Highway close to Seward, Hatcher Pass near Palmer, and a few near the Kennicott Mine in McCarthy when I head up there next weekend. Now, all I need to do is figure out exactly what I'm going to do with all the berries I get!

Happy picking!

Fishing in Alaska

2007-08-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

I managed to catch one red salmon this past weekend when we went camping in Soldotna. The first night, I fished for 6 hours and caught nothing but a hand cramp, but I still enjoyed every minute I spent on the water. Sunday, I faired much better, and even landed one my first cast out.

Depending on who you ask, everyone has their favorite fishing spot, honey spot, or their own secret spot where they believe the fishing is best. Much like favorite berry spots for berry pickers, fishermen are very secretive about their fishing spots. I have a friend, Carol, at work that guards her secret fishing spot location. She will tell me all about how many fish they caught, how many fish were running, when they went fishing, but she stops short of actually telling me exactly where the spot is.

I haven't been in Alaska long enough to have my own secret spot. This is my first summer back here, and we've only gone fishing a few times. There are also several locations, according to the fishing regulations, where we can fish but then have to release everything we catch. That's the case around where we live in Eagle River, so we fish in Soldotna, down the road past the Fred Meyer, at the public boardwalk or the boat launch. When we fish there, we are shoulder to shoulder with the tourists who have no idea how to fish without the standard 20 feet of space between them and the next person. They also have no clue how to underhand toss their line into the water, so they fly fish over their shoulders like they don't see someone 4 feet away from them, with their lines flying wildly around, hooking on everyone and everything around them. I sympathize that their fishing licenses (because they aren't residents) cost $145.00, but the cost of the license doesn't include a fee for fishing like they own the river. They also have a tendency to keep anything they hook onto.

There are legal keeps and non legal keep fishing regulations when fishing for salmon. A hook in the mouth is a keeper. A hook anywhere else is a foul hook (a non keeper). Easy enough, right? Some don't seem to remember, and keep anything they hook into, fair or foul. I don't know if it stems from laziness, disrespect for the sport, or selfishness and greed, but keeping foul hooked fish is just wrong. With 60,000 fish running through a section of river on a given day, it's really not that difficult to fair hook the daily limit. It may take a while, but that's why they call it fishing and not catching. Fishing takes a while. It's about the experience, spending time outdoors, enjoying nature, not just about catching the daily limit allowed. If catching the maximum amount of fish without worry about skill or the experience, then dip net for them. Dipnetting requires no skill, the maximum number of fish that one can keep is increased in number, and it would open up spots at river locations for those of us that enjoy spending 6 hours on the river and going home with no fish, but many memories of our time on the water.

The Happy Medium

2007-07-30T15:42:00.000-08:00

Birds, fish, flowers, plants, berries, animals, insects, trees, people. There is so much about Alaska that is unlike anywhere else, and I want to know about it all, and experience it all. I have to remind myself on a daily basis that I have as long as I want here, whether it be another 5 years, or a lifetime. I don't have to rush my experiences here. I'm not a tourist anymore. I had to remind myself that I could pace myself while I was in the bookstore today. Angie and I are going berry picking near Whittier on Sunday on the Horsetail Falls and Portage Pass trails so I wanted to get yet another book on wildberries. I purchased the Alaska Wild Berry Guide and Cookbook. But, true to my addiction of not being able to stop at just one book, I also purchased Wildflowers Along the Alaska Highway to add to the book I purchased a few weeks ago, Alaska’s Wild Berries and Berry Like Fruits. If money were no consideration, I would have purchased the dozen other books I wanted about mushrooms, fishing in Alaska, camping spots, trees and plants, hiking trails and Native Alaskan indian tribes. I've really got to get a library card!

I'm going to create a list of all that I want to see and do and break it down by season and year to focus my learning aspirations and activity goals. I want to smoke salmon (after learning about all the types of salmon, spawning seasons, fishing spots and habits of the fish, of course); I want to see more of the state (from Ketchikan to Barrow, which takes just a tad bit longer than a weekend); I want to learn to recognize animal tracks when I see them in the wilderness; I want to know all the names of all the plants, animals and trees around me so that if I had to, I could survive and not end up eaten or poisoning myself. I want to know about the people that inhabit this wonderful land, from the ancient inhabitants to the interesting folk on the Anchorage streets. I want it all NOW. I know that isn't realistic, however. There has to be a happy medium, a learning curve, a doing curve. I've also got to work, handle daily responsibilities of raising a child, pay bills, and enjoy the luxuries of being "civilized" and not having to live off of the land. I'm not ready to move into the bush quite yet, but I want to know everything I would need to know if I ever wanted to.

The happy medium this weekend, this month, this summer, is just to learn about the berries in Alaska (there are 50 types) and how to make jellies and jams from berries and flowers that most people I talk to, people who have been here for most of their lives, have no idea about (which totally surprises me). If I can do that, then I'll be one step closer to achieving my goal of knowing everything I want to know about Alaska. I will never know everything, but I'll do my darndest to learn as much as I can.

A Welcome Weekend

2007-07-27T16:45:00.000-08:00

It's Friday! It's the weekend! It's sunny and warm in Eagle River and Soldotna too!

I've been in less than a good mood today. Alex is out of town, the refrigerator is still broken and not expected to be fixed until next Tuesday, someone let my cat out of the house yesterday and we can't find him, and I'm on a diet. I could go on with things that have irritated me last night and today, but I'm not going to anymore. Instead, I'm going to take full advantage of the beautiful weather we've been given this weekend and enjoy My Alaska!

Last night, I was introduced to the wonderful world of wild currants. I've now added them to the list of wild edibles I'm going to attempt to jar this weekend. Our friends near the Eagle River Nature Center have wild currants growing in their yard and invited me to pick as many as I like. Since they are moving, I'm going to pick to my heart's content and not worry about leaving some for them! A few days ago, we drove up Hiland Drive and saw that the fireweed are in bloom, and blooming in abundance, so I'll drive up there tonight with a few empty bags for the flower blooms and gather them. Another friend just let me know that some kind of berry is growing across the street from his home off of Hiland and invited me to come and see what they are and pick any of them I like (if they aren't poisonous). He says the bears love them, so I'll have to be very aware of my surroundings and especially cautious while I harvest them.

To add to my reasons to be cheerful instead of gloomy this weekend, I'm going to head back down to Soldotna tomorrow to fish. In the Russian and Kenai Rivers, there are still some reds (Sockeye salmon) to be caught. I can use Alex's chest waders and the kids can use the hip waders. I'm going to have someone else filet whatever I catch though. The poor fish I tried to filet last week ended up looking like oatmeal with red food coloring. It was a bad scene. Our tent is still at our friend's property, so we have a place to sleep.

I have to remind myself that my reasons for moving to Alaska and the things I was looking forward to experiencing here can't be overshadowed by broken fridges, lost cats, or children who are (as of late) plucking my last nerve. I'll throw myself into the joys of living in a place so full of life, beauty and abundance and (for the weekend at least) forget about my day-to-day troubles.

The Church of Harry Potter (I'm probably going to hell)

2007-07-26T09:54:00.000-08:00

We have more copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in our house than we have of the Bible. When the book came out this weekend, we were camping in Soldotna. The only thing we could talk about the entire drive down was the new Harry Potter book and what we (Nicholas, Alex and I) thought would happen, who would die, and how we were going to share one book between the three of us. Alex and I even placed a bet (a bet I lost, so I now owe him a Cold Stone ice cream) as to what would happen in the book.

When Saturday morning rolled around, we decided we needed to go get food. What we REALLY wanted was the book. We picked up a copy off of the table in the store, took it back to the campsite, and began reading. Ok, I began reading. I don't like to share when it comes to my Harry Potter books. We ended up going BACK to the store and purchasing 2 additional copies so that we each had our own. That's dedication. That's addiction. Yes, that's pathetic. What's even more pathetic is that I'd also preorded a copy at the local bookstore that I have yet to pick up.

I told Alex on our drive home yesterday that I thought Harry Potter was the new Jesus (I'm waiting for the lighting to strike me as I type this). He fulfilled a prophecy, he triumphed over evil, he came back from the dead (well, sort of anyway), and he's managed to unite all peoples (through god knows how many language translations of the book) in a common purpose, the fight against the evil of Voldomort and his demon hord. Harry "saved" those of muggle and magic blood alike. Sure, he was a fictional character, but who doesn't know who he is? Some like him, some love him, some say they refuse to jump on the Potter bandwagon and downright hate him. But, like him, love him or hate him, everyone is talking about him and the book (young and old alike).

I converted to Catholism a few years ago. As a Catholic, I appreciate that there are saints that I can look to as examples in times of trouble and happiness, and believe me, there are plenty. There's a saint for travelers, a saint for mothers, teachers, children, just about every profession. I'll probably be excommunicated, but I think Harry Potter should be sainted. He performs miracles (sure, he's got a wand and wizard blood), he's encouraging, he's so "human" in his actions that he's easy to relate to, and he's inspiring. He's an example that goodness and love conquer all. Also, because he doesn't represent any one religion, he's someone that everyone can rally behind and support (unless you are Pat Robertson, of course).

I'm actually sad that the books have come to an end. Maybe I'll start a church based on the book and JK Rowling can be a traveling minister. Why not? Anyone interested in joining?

Being Fat Sucks

2007-07-25T14:51:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows it... being fat SUCKS. Anyone who claims to be fat and happy, or pleasantly plump, is just fat and deluded. Anyone who tells you that you "have such a pretty face" is basically saying "Lord, when did you get so FAT?" If you are ever described as having "a nice personality," read that as "there's no chance I want to sleep with you."

I joined Weight Watchers again yesterday. I've joined, quit, and rejoined so many times that if I pasted all of my membership booklets on the wall, I could wallpaper my bathroom a few times over. Why have I joined and quit so many times? Well, being fat does suck, but the pain of withdrawing from eating, and the pain of working out, is more painful than being fat sometimes. Weight Watchers and their program is much better than the clinical study I did from November of 2005 to January of 2006 though. That was a total nightmare. Here's some advice: if ever given the opportunity to take a drug that hasn't been approved by the FDA, a drug that doesn't have a name (only a number), the opportunity to participate in a program that requires that every time you go in for an appointment you have blood drawn, have to pee in a cup, and have to get an EKG done, RUN (or waddle, or crawl, depending on your fitness level) as fast as you can! Why do we put ourselves through stuff like that in hope of losing a few pounds? In hope of finding a miracle cure that allows us to eat whatever we want, exercise little, and end up looking like Jessica Biel? It's not going to happen!

I don't like stepping on the scale any more than the next person. I don't care if it's 5 pounds, or 50 pounds, any woman who feels she isn't the "ideal" weight has a love/hate (or hate/hate) relationship with her scale. Like being in a bad relationship with a man and staying, we keep stepping onto the scale, hoping it will tell us what we want it to, justify our not having that piece of cake at dinner or that slice of pie at lunch, will it into making us feel good about ourselves. And what do we do when it doesn't read what we want it to? We feel bad, abuse ourselves because we were "bad" and that's why we didn't lose the weight, and then get right back on it the next morning.

I have to say one thing about the clinical study I did, I did lose weight. Going on a drug with no name, enjoying the wonderful side effects of no appetite, emotional upheaval (it made me LOOOOOOOOPY), sleeplessness and irrational amounts of nervous energy (I was like a toy poodle on LSD) helped get some of the weight off. But, when I realized I was heading to crazy land, I got off the ride! What happens when one gets into a program with no possiblity of making it a life-long change? Uh, POOF! the weight one lost suddenly finds its way back to where it left.

A friend of mine has this whole theory on the distribution of weight. He says that the earth can only hold so much weight without spinning out of its orbit into space and that the weight has to continuously be redistributed. So, when one person loses weight, another has to gain it. That's why, with the extinction of the dinosaurs and so many large mammals becoming extinct, the population of humans had to increase, to maintain the weight distribution. Don't know if I believe his theory, but I do know that the more weight my friends lose, the wider my hips get. Instead of taking personal responsiblity and admitting that I've gained weight because I have no self control, I guess I can blame it on the weight distribution concept?

Anyway, I didn't join Weight Watchers simply because they have a wonderful program. If I have to be honest, I also joined because I need to be responsible to someone else. It's too easy to lie to myself when dieting. It's too easy to roll back over in bed when the alarm goes off, instead of going to the gym. I tell myself I've already done a half marathon, I've already run a few 8K runs, I don't have anything to prove. I tell myself I'm in ok shape, so I'm ok. Lie, Lie, LIE to myself. I also joined WW because I like the fact that when I go to meetings, there are people there that inspire me, people who have been where I am now on their weightloss journey. And, there are a lot of people there that are bigger than me. Somehow, in my own sadistic way, it makes me feel good about myself that I'm not where they are. Plus, for every five pounds I lose, I'll get stickers. I always liked stickers. I like the instant gratification I feel when I get a gold star. If I got them at work, I'd probably work harder!

Use whatever catch prase you like to encourage you to lose weight... the whole "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels" mantra doesn't do it for me. But, "Being fat sucks" definitely does. It's simple. It's catchy. It's true. BEING FAT SUCKS!

Camping with the past and Harry Potter

2007-07-25T11:37:00.000-08:00

We went camping this past weekend in Soldotna with some friends. They have about an acre of land near the Kenai river. We packed the truck with camping gear (thanks to my highly superior packing skeeeeelllllllsssss, it all fit), placed Beaner (the dog gets carsick, so there's no way he's riding in the cab) in the kennel in the back, put Nicholas in the truck with Chloe (the dog that doesn't get carsick) and headed out for the three hour ride south.

We arrived in Soldotna in the evening and unpacked the tent. I didn't realize that we would be there with so many other people. Marilynn (Alex's friend from work that owns the land) had invited a few other friends for the weekend. Our tent looked downright rustic surrounded by the RVs and 5th wheels on the lot. Marilynn's RV is the size of a tour bus, and looks like an apartment inside, complete with plasma tv, dvd player and a washer and dryer! With the people that came and went all weekend, I'd have to say there must have been about 25 to 30 people there! It was loud, full of laughter, and a lot of fun.

We'd brought a cooler of food, but it didn't get eaten. We brought a small camp stove, but it didn't get used. Marilynn cooked something for every meal. The woman should be a professional caterer. She's Filipino, so we got the treat of dining on Pork Adobo, seafood soup, rice, fried fish chips, and some "American" food like the normal cheese burgers, sausage, etc. I do have to admit though that being surrounded by people speaking Tagalog took me back to my past. It also reminded me that someone from my past go married on Saturday.

We dated for almost 5 years. It was one of those relationships that neither of us really wanted to be in, but it was familiar, comfortable, and hard to leave. I'm definitely not jealous he married someone else. I didn't want to marry him for more reasons than I can count. I ended things to move to Alaska, and I made sure before I left that there was no going back to that situation ever again, intentionally. I guess I can't escape my past, or the people in it, entirely. Thankfully, life does go on. The only constant in life is change. Things change, people have the capacity to change. Good memories, not so good memories, happy memories, painful memories, they are a part of me. Sometimes I do want to know how the people in my past are doing and what they are doing in their lives. I think that's normal for everyone. Some people have left profound footprints as they walked through my life. I've known some truly wonderful people that have shown me that people are good, kind and decent. It's helped me maintain hope in mankind when I've allowed people into my life that were selfish, self centered and hurtful. This walk through life has taken me down so many twists and turns, and I've learned so much about myself and others along the journey. The walk down memory lane that I've been taking for the past few weeks topped itself off with this camping trip.

Looking into my past memories is like looking into a pensieve (sorry for the Harry Potter connection, but I can't help it!). I can pop in and out of my past and view my memories as if they are someone else's memories and not my own. I can view them with an emotional detachment that I didn't have when I was living the actual event. I can't go back and change anything, but I can definitely learn from the events and see now the pain I may have caused others, not just the pain I felt in some situations. I know I don't have the right to intrude on the lives of others in order to say that I regret doing and saying some things I did and said (oh, and there are some things I did and said that I don't regret IN THE LEAST, but that's another issue), or see how they are now, but maybe feeling the remorse and taking responsibility for my actions is enough?

I didn't catch any fish on Sunday. I should have cast differently and gone when I knew the run was on. Instead, I waited till no fish were running and the catching was sparce. I bought hip waders instead of chest waders and ended up with a wet hiney and cold legs, unable to go very far into the water. I should have bought chest waders and gone into the water as far as I could, without fear of getting wet, no holding back. I'll add the memories of this weekend, good and not so good, to my memories of "shoulda, woulda, coulda, didn'ts" and go on with my life. The good thing about life, camping trips and memories is that until this life ends, there's the possibility to do things differently next time. There's the opportunity to look at all the decisions I've made, good and bad, and see how those decisions have led me to where I am. There's also the opportunity that when I'm faced with making decisions in the future, hopefully, I will have learned from the past. I think I have. I don't have a magic wand to wave to make my life any different than it is now, and if I did, I wouldn't use it. Are there things I would do differently if I could? Maybe. If I would have said the things I should have when I had the opportunity, gotten out of relationships I shouldn't have stayed in as long as I did (or gotten into relationships and friendships I never should have), reached out to people I should have kept in my life instead of letting go of them, my life would be much different than it is today. And, so would theirs. And, maybe that's not a good thing. Who knows. It's like the movie Sliding Doors, starring Gwenyth Paltrow. In the movie, two decisions she could have made actually occur, and throughout the movie we follow each decision and its consequences through to the end. Some of the decisions she made along the way were good, some weren't so great. In the end though, the path she DID take and the decisions she DID make were right. I have to believe, so were mine.

The Unmade Plans of Mice and (wo)Men

2007-07-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

Summer's passing quickly. It's the middle of July, the fireweed are blooming, the salmon are heading upstream to spawn, the last of the snow is finally melting off of the mountain tops, and it's time to start planning berry picking trips. August is almost here. Alex and I talked during the winter about all the hiking trips we would love to take after work. To date, we haven't taken any!

We were talking yesterday about the fact that I am the planner, he's the executor. I come up with the plans, he follows through on them. I haven't come up with any plans, hence, no plans to execute. I'll have to remedy that.

This week is already filled with activity. Tonight is camping gear purchasing night (we are going with friends to stay on their property near the Kenai River to do some fishing and camping this weekend), tomorrow is karate practice, the weekend is booked. I'm going to sit down tonight and go through my "Hiking the Chugach: 50 Hikes" book and find some hikes for us to start doing after work. I know he'd be really excited if I put some bicycling excursions on that list, but he'd better not hold his breath. There won't be any "Bird to Gird" trips in my near future. Maybe I'll plan a few bikes around the neighborhood, or a few to the bridge on the highway over Eagle River, but I'm not planning a mini Tour d'France for us around Anchorage any time soon.

I've decided to stop doing karate for a while. It's a sin (it is, really, I read it in the bible somewhere) to not be outside in Alaska during the summer when it's sunny. It read something like "Though shalt not waste beautiful Alaskan summer days!" Maybe I paraphrased what I read, but I'm sure it's something like that. Since I won't have karate tomorrow, I'll take the dog(s) and head up Hiland and check out part of the Symphony Lakes path.

The thing I'm learning about activity is that I'm a leader when it comes to planning. If I plan it, they will come. If I don't plan it, and no one else does, then I'm the one at fault for my wasted summer. The only one better at planning than I am is Angie! She's already got the camping trip for the girl's to Kennicott booked, complete with a mine tour, for the weekend of August 11th. And, if nothing else comes up (meaning if nothing else is planned by me), she's wanting to make another girl trip the weekend of August 17th up the Denali Highway to camp and enjoy the views. The colors at that time should be amazing! They will be fall colors, which means possibly the last trip of the "summer." Again, full circle, back to pondering where the summer went!

Dream a Little Dream

2007-07-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

Since returning to Alaska, the land of my birth, the fact of my mortality has really been pressing upon me. I'm only 36, but sometimes I feel very old indeed. I realize on a deep level that this life I'm living is the only one I get to live, that this isn't a practice for a later try, that this isn't a dress rehearsal for the real show. This IS the show. Instead of considering all that I have accomplished during my life, I think at great length about the things I haven't accomplished, the things I want to accomplish, the things I dreamed of accomplishing and becoming when I would dream when I was younger. I can't help wonder if it's too late to still do most of the things I wanted to do when I was a child and adulthood was still far away and a part of my future.

When I was young, my mother collected magazines. Specifically, she collected old National Geographic magazines. I would spend hours rummaging through the garage in search of magazines with pictures and stories from places whose names I still can't pronounce, places that sounded magical, full of people who didn't look like my neighbors, and teeming with plants and animals I didn't even see at the local zoo. I would remove the maps from the magazines and tack them up on my bedroom walls. I'd clip the pictures and make collages on different themes, peoples, animals, ancient ruins I wanted to explore. I'd go to bed with the images on my walls the last images I saw, and have the most amazing dreams as I slept, dreams of finding hidden caves in hillsides that held treasures that even Indiana Jones couldn't imagine. I'd dream of meeting head hunters, I'd dream of swimming with hippos, I'd dream of finding the Fountain of Youth and living forever on Mount Olympus with the gods. My mother supported me putting the pictures on my wall, supported my dreaming, and didn't mind me slaughtering her magazines, but she stopped short of encouraging my digging up the backyard in search of buried treasure and didn't appreciate it much when I would wash my dirt-covered finds off in the kitchen sink. Somewhere during the years though, my dreaming was replaced by a focus on school, growing up, boys, career, marriage, parenthood, 401Ks, benefits, taxes and grocery shopping. When did that happen? I don't know where the years went. I remember days passing, but years? How did I end up with a paralegal degree? How did I end up with a business degree? How did I end up with a 15 year old? How did I end up with these hips? None of these things were part of my youthful dreaming! Where did the buried treasure go? What about seeing Petra in Jordan, and excavating ruins in Peru? What about watching snake charmers in India and walking on volcanoes? What about writing that next great poem, article, story, or novel? What about playing the cello?

When did I start taking the easy route and give up dreaming? I haven't put any real effort into doing anything in my life for quite a while, other than moving to Alaska. I've been floating along down the river of life, letting it take me wherever it wanted, the path of least resistance. I've drifted into jobs, drifted into unchallenging schools, drifted into relationships. They say God only gives you what he knows you can handle. He gave me a child who is easy to parent, close to trouble free. What does that say about me? I don't give myself credit for leaving home at 16 and moving to Montana to help start a church as a junior in high school. I don't give myself credit for growing up without doing drugs or getting into trouble or getting pregnant in my youth, living in a discipline free home. I don't give myself credit for joining the military and serving for 6 years during Desert Storm/Desert Shield, completing two years of electronics school, and being honorably discharged after completing my enlistment. I don't give myself credit for living through an abusive marriage and having the strength to leave him, and all my worldly possessions, behind and start over with a 4 year old. I don't give myself credit for hanging in there and finishing college with two degrees at 35. Most recently, I don't give myself credit for ending a 5 year, go-nowhere, relationship and following one dream and moving to Alaska. I'm also not giving myself credit for finally finding and maintaining a relationship with a wonderful man for the past year.

I'm painfully aware, as an adult, of the limitations of being human and not omnipresent. I'm more than aware that youth is wasted on the young, and unfortunately my youth was wasted by me also. I made choices during my youth that may not have led to the fulfillment of my youthful dreams, but I like my life. I love living in Alaska. I love being a mother to both of the children in my life. I love Alex. I love my friends. I would have done a few minor things differently, but if doing things differently means I would have a different life, than I'd choose to do it all the same. Knowing that, I also realize that I can still accomplish some of my dreams. I'll never be a concert cellist. I won't discover any ruins in Peru. I won't swim with hippos in the River Nile. I won't probably see Petra in person. I will just have to determine the things I can accomplish, and let go of the things I can't. I'll have to focus my dreams and focus on the things I can attain, and let go of the things I can't. I can't ever get those years back, I can't live all my dreams, but I can still dream. I am 36, but I'd rather start changing what I can now than look back in another 20 years and wonder where those years went and pine for the things I didn't accomplish.

I may never be the modern world's Indiana Jones, but I'll be damned if I'll keep these hips!

Girl Power!

2007-07-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

Kay and I made it back from our camping trip safe and sound. Our weekend at Montana Creek was a total success.

Angie picked us up on Friday night, just a little after 7. After packing our belongings into the car like tightly fitting puzzle pieces, we were off to the campground. The weather in Eagle River was overcast and raining. The closer we neared to the campground, the bluer the skies got. It was promising to be a beautiful weekend.

Angie had the perfect camping set up. The tent was easy to put up, she had everything organized in type-specific storage containers, and the cooler was packed with the perfect camping food. I felt totally spoiled! Rachael got there just after we'd gotten the tent up, and after we helped her get her tent up she and her dog (Wally) joined us for a night of chatting around the fire and s'more making. After we finished the s'mores, we headed to bed. Angie had brought a sleeping pad, but Kay and I slept without one (something I'll never do again on the rocky ground of Alaska). According to others, the only thing louder than my snoring was the fighting that erupted a few campsites from ours at about 3 a.m. Ah, the joys of camping near inconsiderate jerks.

Saturday morning found us heading to the local VFW for a breakfast of biscuits and gravy, and pancakes before we headed to the bustling town of Talkeetna for the festival celebrations. The best part of the morning was the home made rhubarb and strawberry jelly. I was scraping the bottom of the dish to get the last drop.

There's really nothing like a small hometown parade. The floats are all unique and there's none of the flash and glamour one sees on parades that are televised. While I was watching the parade, I thought to myself, "The Macy's Day Parade has nothing on this parade." Without the two-story hot-air balloons, without the glitzy floats carrying Miss America, without the celebrity announcers telling us with float was up next, this parade managed to hold the fascination of locals and tourists alike as we watched it proceed down the center of Talkeetna. Containing such local elements as a cage of geese (complete with a for sale sign for interested parties), the local red-hat brigade, "floats" carrying the decorated 'moose on parade' moose, and the town's rescue squad (what would any hometown parade be without the local fire truck), the celebration wove that hometown feel that wrapped itself around every element of the day's festivities.

We walked around Village Park, perusing the vendors. They made certain to keep me away from the bookseller (don't want to feed my addiction), but I did buy two t-shirts. We caught the Joe Page Band and Melissa Mitchell & Homegrown in concert. Melissa Mitchell & Homegrown is a group that I first heard the weekend before at the Girdwood Forest Festival. I really like her music, the style reminds me of Ani Defranco a bit, but with more bluegrass elements. We skipped the Scottish Pipe Band, as there was one member we were avoiding, for Angie's sake (nuff said). We ate lunch at Mountain High Pizza, which is always a treat. I always end up eating too much at fairs, and this time was no exception. The pizza, soda, ice cream and cotton candy did me in, and by the time we got back to the campground I felt bloated and tired.

The last event we attended was our purpose for going to the Moose Dropping Festival: the moose droppings dropping. Earlier in the day, I'd purchased four $5 tickets, each cooresponding with a same-numbered dropping. For each ticket, I also got a "poo pin" with my number on it. Kaylee wouldn't wear her dropping pin, so I proudly wore all four. After we heard Melissa Mitchell & Homegrown perform, we made our way back to the VFW and joined the throng of people surrounding a very large circle that had been roped off where they would be doing the drop of the droppings. The tension and excitement were thick in the air. The VFW members brought out the droppings, contained in a black back, and hoisted them up into the air. As the countdown began, the anticipation mounted. At the count of one, a rope attached to the bottom of the bag was pulled, and the moose droppings rained from the sky into the circle below. A roar erupted from the crowd! Ok, so I'm embellishing a bit, but it was a lot of fun, and with dollar prizes from $100 - $1000, it was pretty exciting. Two very precise veterans measured the distance of the droppings from the center, with the closest 8 receiving prizes, and the furthest away getting a $250 prize. At the end, the kids in the crowd rushed in to pick up the remaining droppings from the ring. It was like a bad Easter Egg hunt, watching those kids rush in to grab droppings like they were gold filled eggs.

Back at the campground, we turned in early after a very long but fun-filled day. Kay and Angie got to sleep ahead of me, as I had a few chapters of the sixth Harry Potter novel to finish before turning in. Sunday morning, Angie introduced us to "boiled omelets." For those who have no clue, like I didn't, boiled omelets are made by placing eggs and omelet fixings into a ziplock bag, mixing them well, and then placing the bag in boiling water for 8 - 10 minutes. The omelet comes out of the bag looking and tasting like any omelet you'd make at home. They were delicious, and a great start to the morning before packing up and heading home. We opted not to attend Sunday's Mountain Mother contest at the festival, and decided to try and catch it the next time it's held at the Talkeetna Bachelor Auction in December.

I really enjoyed camping with the girls. We are planning another trip to Kennicott Mine the second weekend in August. We had such a blast this trip. Even with the totally full outhouse across from the campground, the too-wet-to-make-a-fire wood I purchased at the campground store, no showers at the campground, and jerkoff males who insisted on displaying their manhood loudly at 3 a.m., the trip was relaxing and made me appreciate just hanging with the girls even more!

Moose Dropping, Look Out Below!

2007-07-13T16:29:00.000-08:00

We are camping near Talkeetna this weekend and attending the Moose Dropping Festival. We will be enjoying a weekend filled with music, food, fun and moose dropping filled skies. Part of the festivities include a moose droppings dropping. Shellacked moose doo will be dropped out of the sky onto a target. Which ever piece lands closest to the center is the winner. People purchase raffle tickets with the associated numbers on the poo. Only in Alaska, folks! Only in Alaska!

I had a friend tell me that a few years ago an animal rights group in the Lower 48 had gotten all up in arms and was calling local radio stations here complaining about the festival and how cruel it was to animals. They believed that live moose were being dropped out of planes over Talkeetna and wanted to know how high the moose were before they were dropped! We may occassionally hit them with our cars, but we don't drop them out of planes, come ON! The callers are probably the same folks that have the warped belief that we all live in igloos, that bear roam the city streets on a daily basis (including Polar bears) in Anchorage, that it's dark for 6 months of the year everywhere in Alaska, and that it's cold year round and always snows (even in the summer). I'm still amazed at the questions I get asked by tourists and by my friends in the lower 48. The misunderstanding about the Moose Dropping Festival in Talkeetna tops the cake.

I'm looking forward to going to the festival. One of my newly found favorite performers, Melissa Mitchell, is performing on Saturday. I get to spend some quality time with girl friends and Kaylee. When the droppings are dropped though, I plan to be as far away from the target as I can get.

To Fish, or Not To Fish

2007-07-13T16:21:00.000-08:00

I'm camping this weekend at Montana Creek Campground near Talkeetna. It's my first camping trip in Alaska! Angie, Kaylee, a friend Rachael (her dog Wally) and I are going tent camping. There won't be air mattresses. There's no shower facility at the campground. The toilet is an outhouse. In Virginia Beach, this experience would be considered "roughing it." In Alaska, this is normal.

Another normal thing I'm finding here are the fishing regulations on catch and release fishing. We've got 5 different types of salmon here that all spawn at different times. Some spawning seasons overlap, but fishing regulations vary for each type as to when they can be caught and kept. I was informed that I wouldn't be allowed to keep any king salmon that I caught if I fished Montana Creek at the campground. When I read the regulations, I found that I couldn't keep ANY fish I caught there what-so-ever.

I don't believe in catch and release fishing just to do it. If fishing to eat the fish, and a fish is caught that isn't within length or weight reguation, that's one thing to throw it back into the water. However, fishing just to catch one, knowing that no matter what is caught it is to be released, just seems cruel to me. It's against my fishing "ethics." So, I won't be fishing.

Next weekend we are going camping on a friend's land down near Soldotna. They live just off of the Kenai River. I will not only be catching fish there, but I plan on eating every one I catch. Ok, I plan to eat every one I catch that I'm able to keep within regulation, of course.

Postings catch ups

2007-07-11T11:59:00.000-08:00

I've written about a few things in my posts that I didn't complete the stories on. I want to remember what happened, so I'm going to complete the "rest of the stories" in this post. It's going to be a long one!

Backpacking, Not For the Poor of Pocketbook or Faint of Heart

We didn't end up going on the Crow Pass trip from Girdwood to the Eagle River Nature Center. Nicholas was in karate camp, and we couldn't find anyone to get him to the all day camp on Saturday and Sunday. We are, however, more determined than ever to make the hike next year. Our fitness levels will definitely have to improve, however. Our friends that went did enjoy themselves, but they ran into very high water levels, a snow field, steep climbs and got lost more than once. Since we can do parts of the hike by doing individual day hikes of the trail, we've decided to do a few day trips on the trail from each end and judge our fitness levels beginning next May. That means, a winter full of working out at the gym, XC skiing, snowshoeing and many, MANY more other hiking adventures before we try Crow Pass. Hiking the past couple of times we've gone, I've realized I'm definitely in no physical position to do any two day hiking trips. Crow Pass would have kicked my hiney!

Touring with the Tourists

Julie and the kids arrived at the Anchorage airport in the early morning hours of the 27th. After 3 separate plane rides, a four hour time difference, several hours of delayed flights, and enduring a crying baby for most of the last leg of their trip, they arrived ahead of their luggage (which had been sent on another plane behind their plane). Welcome to Alaska!

WEDNESDAY: We headed to the house, the kids amazed that it was still light outside at 2:30 am. The sun began to rise just 45 minutes later. We got a late start to Talkeetna to see Denali, but what a beautiful day we awoke to! I told Julie that I sold my soul to the devil for good weather for her trip. She said she'd prayed for good weather anyway, so selling my soul wasn't necessary. Wish she would have let me know that sooner! The skies were totally clear, the weather was warm and inviting, there was a slight breeze. We may have started late, but we still managed to get a hike in at Thunderbird Falls outside of Eklutna. We hiked to the falls, then hiked down to the valley floor to the creek. The mosquitoes were relentless and HUGE! The most memorable part of that hike (outside of seeing the falls, that is) was Julie's daughter screeching "There's a CAN in there," when she realized the "bathroom" at the trail head was just a fancy outhouse. She'd never been camping, or used an outhouse. She was mortified that there was no running water, and no flushing of the toilet, and that the CAN she saw was what she was going to have to sit on to use the restroom. It was the funniest thing I heard that day. After experiencing the wrath of the mosquitoes at Thunderbird Falls, there was no way they were going to get out of the car at the Eklutna cemetery, so I toured the grounds and took pictures for them while they sat in the truck. I enjoyed walking through the cemetery. The Spirit Houses each have stories of their own, and seem to me to be like a pop-up picture book. The houses are colorful, happy in a place of grief, and intricately detailed. After I finished touring the churches on the cemetery grounds and snapping pictures of the Spirit Houses, we headed to Talkeetna. The drive took about 2 hours, with everyone but me and Julie's son falling asleep on the drive. When we got to the viewing point on the road to Talkeetna, I woke everyone up. I had to explain to her son that the mountain wasn't the dark hills only, but the area above the hills that looked like clouds. The mountain is so tall, it's still covered in snow, and it looks like clouds. We headed into Talkeetna, ate at Mountain High Pizza, walked around the town for a while, and headed down to the river. The water was beautiful. The kids built rock sculptures, Julie lounged on a log, and I watched the rafters. After about an hour and a half, we headed back to Eagle River, stopping along the way to take a few pictures of float planes and the scenery.

THURSDAY: Another late start. We headed south to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Julie was truly taken aback by the views along the Turnagain Arm. I can understand her amazement at the beauty, as I feel the same way every time I make the drive. We hiked at McHugh Creek for a bit. The kids had a blast removing their shoes and walking in the water. The water was freezing, but they didn't seem to care. Kids will be kids! When we pulled into the parking lot at McHugh, they got to see their first Alaskan wild animal. There was a moose near the restrooms, munching on a tree. The kids were amazed that it just stood there and didn't take off running. After hanging out at McHugh for a while, we went to the AWCC. I walked the AWCC myself while the rest of the group enjoyed a leisurely day and lunch. I took lots of pictures, including some of musk ox, brown bears, Sitka white tailed deer, elk, black bear, caribou, moose, buffalo and fox. Because of the late start, we didn't get to do the hikes we had wanted to do at Winner Creek or Virgin Creek Falls, but I did take them up to Alyeska and show them the mountain Kaylee snowboards down. We headed home, after another long day.

FRIDAY: The day dawned early for us and we headed south to Seward at about 8 a.m. to catch the Fjord tour by 11:30. We left early enough to stop for a little while at a beautiful pull out just beyond the Homer turnoff. Parking in Seward was hard to find! I've never seen so many people in Seward. Tourism season is definitely in full swing. There were two cruise ships moored. I'm so used to just seeing the small fishing boats that seeing two cruise ships there was a total shock to my senses. I was in the Navy, I've seen aircraft carriers, I've been on large ships, but seeing those ginormous cruise ships next to the small fishing boats slightly unnerved me. They seemed so out of place. They seemed like a violation of the landscape and the scenery surrounding them. I can't imagine what it was like there during the July 4th celebrations. We found the tour boat and got on just before it pulled out and headed for Fox Island. On the island, we enjoyed a meal of salmon, chicken, salad, rolls, drinks, rice and desert. The rest of the group ate inside (the bugs, again, were very irritating), but I couldn't resist eating outside. The kids skipped rocks from the shore for a while, and then it was time to re board the boat and head into the open waters. What a great, inexpensive tour! We saw sea lions, gray whales, glaciers, and birds galore. The tour was 5 hours long, which was just long enough to see what we wanted to see, and short enough to not have the kids going nuts and losing interest. After the tour, Julie's boy managed to ask just about everyone in the tour office if they liked Puffins. On the way back to Eagle River, we stopped at Exit Glacier. We hiked up as close to the face of the glacier as we could get. I was amazed how much it's receded. All along the trail are signs with dates on them, indicating where the glacier had been at those different dates. I'm going to go back some time this summer and do the longer hike to the Harding ice fields above Exit Glacier. It was another gorgeous day!

SATURDAY: Yet another late start (it seemed to be a theme for most of their trip). We headed to Mirror Lake for the MEETin bbq and a bit of relaxation after the go, go, go pace we'd been keeping for the first three days of their trip. Julie walked around and took pics for most of the day. Mirror Lake is a beautiful spot. The kids swam in the water, played on the lawn, and made new friends. Julie even ate a Reindeer dog, much to her chagrin when she realized what it was. She actually turned green. After the bbq, the kids and Julie kayaked on the lake. We went out with friends that night to Humpy's and Platinum Jaxx. We (Alex and I) aren't the partying types, but BOY, can Julie dance. We didn't see her for most of the night, she was a dancin' fool!

SUNDAY: We didn't hike the Matanuska glacier, partially because of the weather, and partially because it was ANOTHER late start day. With a 3 hour drive to the glacier, we weren't about to drive all that way in the rain. Slippery glacier covered with water... not a wise hiking choice. Instead, we took Julie and the kids to Anchorage to eat at the Snow City Cafe. I love the Snow City Cafe. I guess I'm truly in the Alaskan frame of mind now. I've become accustomed to, and actually enjoy, the slower pace in restaurants. I don't care that my food isn't brought to me 5 minutes after I order it. I enjoy the people watching at the Cafe. Still in the east coast frame of mind and speed, Julie and the kids weren't impressed by the service or the speed in which their meals were delivered to the table. I did get Julie to try Reindeer sausage though, and she didn't even get ill! After lunch, I drove Julie and the kids up Arctic Valley, one of my favorite spots in Anchorage. We hiked a little, then took the kids home and Julie and I headed up Hiland Drive on our own. Sunday didn't dawn clear and warm as the rest of the days on her trip had. It was cloudy and misty, but I actually think Julie enjoyed it more. She loved walking in the clouds on our hike up the trail at the end of Hiland. The path we hiked was indicated by a very small, inconspicuous sign written on poster board, between two private property plots. I'd never seen the path before, in all my drives up Hiland. The area is covered with berry plants, so I know where I'll be berry picking in the fall! On our way down the trail towards the truck, we saw a very large black bear on the hillside beside ours. We hustled down the mountain to the truck, making lots of noise.

MONDAY, LAST DAY: Monday, the last day of Julie's trip. We had breakfast at North Slope Restaurant in Eagle River after getting her pictures put on disk at Fred Meyer's. Then, we headed into Anchorage. Because of the late start and the amount of time it took at Fred Meyer's, and the leisurely breakfast (or, should I say Alaskan speed service at breakfast) they didn't have much time to tour Anchorage. Most of their time was spent at a tourist shop on 4th Avenue. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare for them to check in and we chatted until the went upstairs to wait to board the plane at 9 pm. I wish we'd made more time on Monday for them to see Anchorage, but I'll show them around next time.

We didn't get to do a lot that we'd wanted to while she was here, but we packed the days she was here with activity. There is so much to see and do in Alaska, but starting early is a must. Just about everything to see and do is quite a drive away from Anchorage, not a lot of visitors realize that viewing requires extensive driving. A week really wasn't enough time to see and do everything, but I think she got a small taste of Alaska, and realizes why I love this place so much and how I could uproot my life to start over in what they were all convinced was a frozen wasteland. We enjoyed having them here, and she mentioned coming up again later with her boyfriend to catch the northern lights. Having her here made me miss my friends in Virginia, but I love my life here and can't imagine going back to the hustle and bustle of east coast living.

BIRD TO GIRD... HAVE WINE AND CHEESE, WILL BIKE

I kind of knew that this was not going to be as enjoyable for me as I'd hoped when the first turn of my foot on the wheels of my bike to head up the trail, my chain fell off of my bike. Not a good sign! Things got a little better, but not much better, to the half way point of the trip. I couldn't figure out how to use the gears, and rode uphill for the first section of the ride in entirely too difficult a gear. I got left way behind, with Angie (kind hearted soul) keeping me company as I suffered along. I did get off and walk a few times up the hill at the first section of the trail, I'll admit it. The scenery was beautiful, but I was too busy trying not to pass out to enjoy it! Ok, maybe not pass out, but it was tough. I realized how much more physically active I need to be to. I was using muscles I didn't know I had. Thank goodness for padded biking shorts though. If I were ever to meet whomever created those wonderful things, I'd kiss them full on the mouth! Half way to Girdwood, we stopped at a pull out at a picnic area and enjoyed a picnic of wine, port, delicious smoked salmon, sweet peppers, olives, crackers and jam, cheese, chocolate and wonderful conversation. The little picnic we had snapped me out my pain, and I was finally able to enjoy the scenery. The cottonwoods showered the area with cotton. It was so thick there, and the sun was shining just right. It looked like snow in the light. It was beautiful. The rest of the bike ride was very enjoyable (it was all downhill, for the most part). Girdwood was having the first night of the Forest Fair, so we biked to the fair, walked around for a while, enjoyed some music and watched some hula-hooping (a city sport in Girdwood, it seemed). Angie and I headed over to Chair 5 for some late night sodas, and Alex came to pick us up later in the truck (no way in Hades was I going to bike back to the truck uphill for the 8 mile ride back). I'm going to bike a few times a week to build up my endurance, and bike on the stationary bikes at the gym, and then try that trail again with Alex, but from Indian to Girdwood next time. We've got grandiose aspirations to take the train to Seward and take two days to bike back to Eagle River some time next year, so I've GOT to be prepared. If 8 miles wiped me out, there's no way I'd be able to bike from Seward to Eagle River and live!

All caught up on the posts now. Time to take a breather. My fingers are tired! Writing all this was almost as exhausting as the bike ride. And yet, I'm still loving every minute in Alaska! I'm so lucky to live here!

Naturally Alaskan

2007-07-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try my hand at making jelly this year. I've never made it. I remember my mom and Aunt Joyce used to can vegetables that were grown in our backyard garden in Utah when I was young. I tried to hide the canned green tomatoes in the back far reaches of the hall closet where they kept the canned goods, to no avail. They'd also can peaches and other fruits from the trees in my grandmother's yard. I don't remember them ever trying their hand at jellies or jams.

I don't have a garden here in Alaska. I don't have fruit trees here in Alaska. What I do have are roadsides full of wild fireweed. In a little over a month, I'll have hillsides full of wild berries (crow berries, salmon berries and blue berries). Last year, we picked almost 3 gallons of blueberries. They are in my freezer still, waiting to be turned into ice cream, smoothies, muffins and jam. How time flies! It's almost time to start picking again. I got here too late to pick fireweed in full bloom last year. I'm going to take full advantage of the bounty this year though! I found a recipe online for fireweed jelly, and I'm going to start picking blooms on Wednesday of next week up Hiland Road. We drove up there last night. The fireweed wasn't blooming yet, but there were plenty of buds on the plants.

Fireweed grows plentiful in Alaska. The stalks can grow anywhere between 1 1/2 feet to 8 feet tall. The flowers are a magenta color. Native Alaskans of old mixed the leaves with other greens in the spring and ate them as salads (the plants are high in vitamin C); later in the season they used the plant medicinally. The plants grow best on roadsides or where the ground has been disturbed, and they don't deal well with humidity (that's why I'd never seen them before when I lived in the southeastern United States). I haven't tried fireweed jelly before, but I have become a huge fan of fireweed and honey ice cream.

If my canning experience goes well, what all my Virginia friends will be getting for Christmas? I'll be sending a little bit of Alaska to them in a jar.

Wild Salmon in Anchorage

2007-07-09T00:48:00.000-08:00

A friend and I explored downtown Anchorage today, and fished for Salmon. We didn't fish with poles (although, I did pick up two complete fishing pole packages for next weekend's camping trip to Montana Creek Campgrounds). No, we fished for the Wild Salmon on Parade with our cameras.

One thing I regret I never did in Virginia when I lived there was searching for the elusive Mermaids on Parade in Norfolk. Every year since 2000, Norfolk has hosted a Mermaids on Parade event. Local artists create mermaids that are placed all over the city, and later auctioned off for charities.

I read, before I moved here, in the Anchorage Daily News in 2005 about a man taking a baseball bat to a salmon in downtown Anchorage. Reading further, I realized that it was not a live salmon (although, we have those in downtown Anchorage also), but a fiberglass salmon, much like the mermaids in Norfolk, Virginia. When I began to see them swimming their way through the Anchorage streets in June, I knew I had to get the salmon in Anchorage on film before they swam to other "waters" and out of my camera's view. Today was that picture taking day! I acted like a total tourist, map of the salmon locations in hand, and hunted down all that we could locate in downtown. Some had been taken down for repair, some were locked inside buildings (like the ones in the Federal Building and City Hall), and some were too far out to walk to (so, I'll get them tomorrow when I have my vehicle downtown).

All of them were very creative, but my favorite was definitely the Salmonopoly salmon. The game board surrounding the salmon was completely based on all things Alaska. On the back side of the salmon was a game board similar to the game Scrabble (named Snaggle, since it's about salmon) with the words being uniquely Alaskan and based on fishing.

We discovered some other things downtown that will have to be explored further. We wandered into the old Federal Building and found a wonderful free museum and watched a great movie about the McNeil River Grizzly Bears. The Holland America/Gray Line office had some great brochures for travelers, and a fun and cheerful lady behind the desk. I'm going to check out my Alaska travel guide for some more Anchorage and surrounding area freebies and tour those locations too in the coming weeks.

We ended the day in true tourist style with reindeer sausage dogs and ice cream (fireweed and honey, and black walnut and birch syrup). Acting like a tourist in my own back yard has been a lot of fun these past few weeks! I could do this for a few more years (or decades)!

Bird to Gird... have wine and cheese, will bike

2007-07-06T16:34:00.000-08:00

Alex and I are biking tonight. We are biking from Bird Ridge to Girdwood. The trip is about 8 miles, one way. The path is vehicle free, and parallels the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm, one of my favorite areas in Alaska. Part of the trail is actually on the old Seward Highway. The views along the way are breathtaking.

Alex has packed our camelbak with wine and water, cheese and crackers, has put the bikes on the rack and is picking me up after work. We are biking with new friends we met through MEETup, and an old friend we recently got reacquainted with. It's promised to be a leisurely ride, with a group wine and cheese break along the way. With the promise of a slow pace, wine, cheese and a long KID FREE evening that may include a post-ride dip in the hot tub, how can I NOT go?

I'm no biker. Never have been, don't know that I ever will be. Alex, on the other hand, is a biking fella. He loves to bike. When he said he was going to do this trip, I didn't think I would be included in the plans. For Alex, biking isn't a leisurely sport, it's a quest for the finish as quickly as possible. Hopefully, this bike ride won't be like a training session for the Fireweed 400! I am looking forward to the views, if not the actual ride. The weather is beautiful outside. The skies cleared this afternoon and the temperature is wonderful.

I'm praying I figure out how to use the gears on my bike. The last time I tried to go up a hill, I ended up having to jump off the bike before I rolled backwards down the hill I'd just ascended. It was a mess. I did, however, get padded bike pants not too long ago (those things are expensive), so at least my hiney won't be as achy as it was the last ride we took. I'm totally out of shape, so this will be very humbling. Maybe it will inspire me to get serious about getting in shape. Maybe it will inspire me to sell my bike. One way or the other, it will be inspiring.

I admit I am powerless

2007-07-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it... isn't that the first step towards recovery? I am addicted. When I think about doing it, I start to quiver with anticipation. When I find out it's available, I go out of my way to get it. I know where I can find the dealers, I know the prices, for the large items and small. I'm such a frequent customer, I get a discount from the peddlers. I'll drive for 30 minutes from Eagle River to get the latest shipment. I even pre-order! And, yes, I've used previous versions as stepping-stone "drugs" to newer and better, more expensive, releases. I hide my purchases from my family. I do it in private, in public, in the bathroom, and in bed. I'm a junkie. And, my friends encourage my addiction, constantly encouraging me to "try this, you'll like it." And, I always do! I've started two groups around my addiction, so I can meet with other "junkies" and talk about our addiction. Now that a Title Wave Bookstore has opened where the old Cook Inlet Book Company once was, my addiction can be fed on a daily basis (as the bookstore is only a few blocks from my worksite). Yes, I'm addicted to books and reading. I can't get enough! I may just need help! I wonder if there's a 12-step program for people with my addiction.

I'd be fine if it weren't for the continued encouragement from friends who INSIST I read a book they just finished that "they just couldn't put down." It's all their fault. Isn't that the sign of a true addict? Blaming my addiction on others? And, if my friends would quit writing in their blogs about books they plan to read, or have read, or are in the process of reading (mainly books about Alaska on one blog) I wouldn't feel the urge to go and purchase the books they have listed.
I keep telling everyone that I can live without it, that I can quit at any time. I keep insisting that I won't purchase another book, that I'll read the ones I have, that I'll even get books at the library. But, I never do. If I had 15$ and a choice between going to lunch or getting a book, I'd choose purchasing the book.

Title Wave on 5th Avenue in downtown Anchorage has an awesome selection of Alaskan books. On almost every shelf (except for the ones in the back right hand corner, and some new releases at the front of the store) there are books by Alaskan authors, books about traveling in Alaska, books about Alaskan wildlife, wild flowers, wilderness escapades. As a junkie, my "drug" of choice is anything Alaskan. After all, I still feel like a tourist here, every day. Today, intending ONLY to purchase The Crucible by Arthur Miller for my daughter for school, I went into Title Wave with a mission. That mission quickly blew up (as did the dollar amount charged to my debit card) as I looked for her book. I ended up walking out with two bags of books. TWO BAGS and $140 less in my bank account than what I walked in with. I got a Fodors Alaska 2007 guide, Looking For Alaska by Peter Jenkins, 50 Hikes in Alaska's Chugach State Park and Alaska Wild Berries and berry-like fruit. I also got 5 other NON Alaskan books, but if I'd spent any more time in the store, those 5 would have been put back and I would have replaced them with 5 Alaskan books. While looking for Kay's book (which I completely forgot about and ended up having to purchase separately as a second transaction), I found the section on Alaskan bush pilots, wild animals, Alaskan history, the earthquake of 1964 and others.

I've decided to start leaving my plastic purchase power at home from now on. Since the downtown Title Wave doesn't take checks, I should be safe. I know I've got enough to read, and that I'd be fine if I didn't purchase another book for a year, but the addiction is strong! It's hard to give it up once I started, and I've been a junkie since I was young. My fondest memories of my youth were leaving in the early morning hours of summer, walking to the library, and not leaving until it closed. Some of my best friends lived inside the pages of the books I read. I lived their adventures with them and they will always be a part of me. I need to stop talking about it. Talking about it feeds the addiction. I've got to get a hold of myself!

Touring with the Tourists

2007-06-25T12:46:00.000-08:00

Even though I was born here, I haven't seen much of Alaska. I left when I was little, was raised in Utah, spent the last 14 years of my life in Virginia and didn't return to see the land of my birth until my 35th birthday 2 years ago. I had an inkling that I'd want to live here permanently before I visited in October of 2005, and the experiences I had here and the way I felt about this place when I was here just confirmed my need (not desire, but an urgent calling, a need) to live here. When my trip was over and I was on the plane, my heart was breaking having to go back to Virginia. I decided then and there that I was moving here. After a "hiccup" in January of 2006 where I had to totally let go of my past and the people in it, I started making plans to move to Alaska by the end of August of last year. In July, I quit my job, cashed in my company stock and my 401 K, sold all of my belongings except for what would fit in my car, graduated from college and started the drive from Virginia to Alaska. I've never regretted my decision to move here, and every day that I'm here my conviction that I'm supposed to be here grows stronger and stronger. I can breath here, I feel free and content here, my soul can expand here. I feel at home here.

I met Alex online the beginning of February of 2006. We'd both been through some hard times (admittedly, his much tougher than mine), and were looking for friends. I wanted to meet people in Alaska that I could talk to that could give the the "lay of the land" of the Anchorage area so I would know exactly what I was getting myself into. We really hit it off. We talked online and by the phone February through July. I came to visit and do a job search in July. From that moment on, we were a couple. There have been some intense times, of course. Both of us had some adjustments to make, had wounds to heal, have kids to help adjust to the new situation we are all in. But, I wouldn't trade him for anything.... unless it required me to move out of Alaska anytime soon. If he moved, I'd miss him! Relationship or no relationship, Alaska is my heart. Maybe I'll move in a few years, who knows what the future holds. Right now though, I can't even breath when I think about moving away, or moving to the lower 48.

With all that said, I moved here in August and haven't really gotten to see or do much. Sure, I've gone on hikes, have gone berry picking, have gone kayaking, have taken long drives to see Homer and Seward, and even made some brief jaunts to Talkeetna. I've had some great adventures and a lot of fun! However, I have never just taken time off of work and acted like a tourist. I started working right after I moved here. I get to finally take some time off and enjoy my Alaska now that Julie is coming. And boy, are we going to be exhausted. Our schedule is packed. She wanted to see as much of Alaska as she can in 6 days (6 days won't even scratch the surface of what this place holds, but I'll give her a taste), and I'm going to do my best to show her as much as I can. Here's the plan:

Wednesday: Drive to Talkeetna to see Denali (hopefully, it will not be covered in clouds). On the way, stop in Eklutna to see the Spirit Houses; go to the Musk Ox farm; hike Thunderbird Falls on the way out of town (it's a short 1 mile hike, and fairly elevationless); stop in Willow to view float planes taking off and landing.

Thursday: Head towards Girdwood and southern parts. On the way, hike Virgin Falls; hike the back end of Winner Creek Gorge, cross the hand tram (or hike the front section and ride the tram to the top of Alyeska); hit Girdwood for lunch; head south to the AWCC to see the animals of Alaska.

Friday: Head to Seward for the Marine Wildlife and Fjord tour (includes lunch). The tour is 5 hours long! On the way back, we'll stop just outside of Seward and take a look at Exit Glacier.

Saturday: FINALLY A BIT OF A REST! We are bbq'ing at Mirror Lake with the MEETin group. I reserved a pavillion, we will be hiking and biking and kayaking. In the morning, we'll walk around the trails in the neighborhood (my neighborhood has AWESOME trails) and see what we can see. I've seen fox and moose on my walks on the trail. Saturday night, we are going to introduce Julie to brewed beer by heading to one of the restaurants that offers some good brewed beer choices, probably the Moose's Tooth, Snow Goose or Glacier Brewhouse. I think even the nice restaurant in Eagle River offers brewed beer, maybe we'll head there.

Sunday: North to Matanuska Glacier! On the way, we'll stop by the reindeer farm. Matanuska Glacier is one of the few glaciers that we can hike up to, and hike on!

Monday: She and the kids leave today, so we'll stick around Anchorage. We'll hit the Anchorage museum, walk along the coastal trail, eat at the Snow City Cafe, let her do the tourist shop thing, get her a reindeer dog and get her to the plane on time! Monday, we'll sleep (notice I didn't put sleep time on any other day!)

I'm looking forward to being a tourist along with her. I really am. I'm going to take TONS of pictures. There will be NO SHAME while I carry my camera around, ooohhing and aaahhing at this place I call my home. I'm sure I'll be feeling a HUGE swell of pride too, showing her the place I love so much!

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

2007-06-25T12:35:00.000-08:00

Alex and I hit the AWCC (http://www.alaskawildlife.org/) with our friend Sonia and her two kids yesterday. It was pouring rain, it was cold, it was packed with tourists. We braved the elements and the tourist migration of 2007 and had a great time.

We came about 15 feet from brown bears, musk ox, elk, black bears, wood bison, porcupine, caribou and moose. Thank goodness for fences. I got some great pics that I'll post once my batteries are charged! They managed to die half way through the park.

Tourists are funny. They ARE in Alaska, they should expect to have to deal with the weather, right? Nope, not these tourists. They stayed in the buses, pointing at the animals through the window, even though the bus drivers stopped to let those out that chose to get out. There Alex and I were in our rain jackets, in the pouring rain, in the mud, walking around the park, dodging cars and buses. It was wonderful! Sonia and the kids opted to take their vehicle around the park. I hope they got to see as much as we did. When we first went by the brown bear habitat, they were hiding. They came out to say hello to us, all three of the bears, after we'd been standing there for about 5 minutes or so.

I'm looking forward to taking Julie, Daniel and Katelynn on Thursday when they are visiting. The weather report says it'll be clear for that day, but I've learned not to base anything on weather reports. This is Alaska, after all. The only way to tell what the weather is going to be at any given moment is to look out the window, and then look out the window five minutes later (it's more than likely the weather has changed between checks). Come rain, snow, sleet or hail, nothing will deter us from our appointed activities for the week.

I'll post the pics from the park I took yesterday as soon as I'm able!

The Roads We Travel

2007-06-18T21:41:00.000-08:00

The weather changes on a dime here. When I was driving home from work today, the skies over Eagle River loomed dark and gray. By the time we got out of karate at 8 pm, the skies had cleared, the sun was shining, and the last place we wanted to be was stuck inside. So, we went for a drive. We plopped the kids in the car, and headed up Hiland Drive to the entrance to the Chugach Park and Symphony Lakes.

We didn't end up going on our hike of Crow Pass over the weekend (Nicholas had karate camp on Saturday and Sunday, and our "sitter" decided to go white water rafting instead... traitor!), but there will be other weekends. We decided we are going to console ourselves with a night hike up to Symphony Lakes on Thursday of this week instead. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate. Even though it's only a few miles from our house in Eagle River, I've never done the Symphony Lakes hike. I'm looking forward to it.

On the drive up Hiland Road, we saw some sights we didn't expect:

Then again, there were sights we DID expect to see:

The thing about Alaska I love... no matter what road I go down, there's beauty, and the unexpected.

Renaissance in Alaska

2007-06-11T15:06:00.000-08:00

I'd expect sportsman's shows here. I'd expect hunting and fishing expos too. The Native Alaskan conference is in town, that's something I'd expect. But, a renaissance fair? When I found out that there was going to be a renaissance fair in Anchorage over the weekend, I jumped at the opportunity to go. I'd never been to one before. Kaylee was less than enthusiastic about being drug along, but we had a blast, and look forward to next year's show!

At the Three Barons Renaissance Fair (http://www.3barons.org/wiki/Main_Page), there were jugglers, a life-sized chess game (complete with battles for the squares), singing, acting, and lots of fun. The food was overpriced, just as it is at any fair, but much more tasty than the typical hot dogs and cotton candy.

I can't pick the funnest part of the fair. I had a blast at the Circus of the Damned (a total parody on freak shows, with nothing truly freaky about it). We got another view of Homer's the Odyssey (a woman was the hero in this version). The pirates sang shantys and raunchy tunes at the Twisted Toad Tavern for the Baudy Tavern Show. We got to enjoy The Dating Game, renaissance style. Shakespeare's King Richard III has never been performed so badly, I'm sure of it (and, the tomato tossers in the audience agreed). Kaylee even got over her irritation at me dragging her along and said that she was going next year, but with friends. The tomato tossing won her over! Or, maybe it was the guys getting tomatoes poured over their heads by an audience member for their horrible acting!

Backpacking, Not For The Poor of Pocketbook or Faint of Heart!

2007-06-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

Alex, a few friends and I are backpacking Crow Pass the 16th and 17th of June. Crow Pass goes from Girdwood Alaska to Eagle River Alaska. The trail is 24 miles long (add a few miles for sightseeing detours). The first 3 miles of the hike are totally uphill (the last 21 are downhill). I know I'll be hurting when the trip is finished. Just writing this, I'm wondering what in the heck I was thinking agreeing to go! Oh yes, I remember now. It was for the amazing experience I anticipate I'm going to have. Wildlife viewing is a guarantee, with moose, marmat, ground squirrels, mountain goats, bear and beavers along the trail. Glacier viewing is a guarantee; we'll pass Raven Glacier and Eagle Glacier on the trip. There are mining ruins along the way. Wildflowers are in full bloom. We'll see waterfalls, cross a gorge, traverse a river and camp under the stars (for the few hours it's actually "dusky" with the midnight sun in full force). (http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/Hikes/CrowPass.htm)

I found some great websites that I've printed information off of. I'm new to backpacking, so I need all the tips I can get! I've camped before, taken day hikes before, but backpacking overnight is something I haven't done. There won't be any bathrooms, or running water, or restaurants along the way. I won't be wearing makeup, or styling my hair. This definitely isn't a retreat trip to a mountain spa! We are going to try following the no trace principles of camping (http://www.usscouts.org/advance/venturing/LeaveNoTrace.html), and of course we'll be practicing bear safety along the way.

Purchasing items for this trip has been pretty pricey! I had to go get a cold weather sleeping bag for temperatures down to 15 degrees, one that could be cinch sacked down to a very small size to fit in my pack, and one that didn't weigh more than 2 1/2 pounds (and, a sleeping pad for the rocky ground). Since the pass is so high up, snow remains there (deep snow) until well into summer, and I needed a bag that will keep me warm. Hypothermia is the LAST thing I want to have to worry about when we are in a remote area with no phone service. I've also got to pack two separate sets of clothes, at the least. When we went last week to check out the trail, we spoke with someone who said that the pass was still covered with snow, and that we'd need to be prepared to traverse when the river would be about knee to thigh high and COLD, COLD, COLD (it's glacial and snow run off). We'll be crossing the river in shoes other than our hiking boots. Nothing worse than wet socks and hiking boots. I've got to have a set of clothes for warm weather, and one for cold weather, along with extra socks, slick socks, tennis shoes, and all the regular essentials for a trip like this (http://www.backpacking.net/inventry.html#spring-fall-day). We also got bug spray, bear spray, a gps unit and binoculars. I'll also be taking my snow shoes, just in case. The food we got for the trip is all freeze dried. No bringing a cooler on this trip! Alex found some pretty interesting grub. For breakfast, we will be enjoying freeze dried eggs, bacon and milk. Just add water, and PRESTO! we'll be in hog (excuse the pun) heaven. For lunch and dinner, we'll be dining on freeze dried Beef Stroganoff and Chicken Teriyaki. And, the piece de resistance... a dessert of freeze dried Bananas Foster. Snacks along the way will be provided by Power Bar. Water will be provided for by the land (we've got a purifier filter and pump). How's that for living off the land? (I'm almost positive I'll be in gastronomic distress by the time we get to Eagle River, but it'll be worth it). With how much we spent on this trip, we would have been able to fly to Seattle from Anchorage and stay at the Crown Plaza! We will be using the equipment again though when we backpack Caines Head (http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/Hikes/Caines_head.htm) and Caines Head Alpine Trail (http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/Hikes/Caine_Alpine.html) next month when the tide is low (Caines Head can only be accessed at low tide). We'll be using the gps unit when we go geocaching this summer (http://www.geocaching.com/faq/).

I know I now have the utmost respect for "professional" backpackers, those brave nomads who, with packs on their backs and dreams in their hearts, hit the trails of Alaska all summer long. They live off of the land, staying only occassionally at a backpacker's youth hostel. I totally respect them, and their unshowered, unshaven, hippy selves. The next time I see one hitchiking, I am definitely going to offer them a ride.

Reference sites:
http://www.backpacking.net/beginner.html
http://www.backpacking.net/index.html
http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/education.htm#Fording%20Rivers

Afternoon Delights

2007-06-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

I have taken afternoon "trips" the past two days. When I got off work on Monday, I decided to take the Arctic Valley exit and head up Arctic Valley. It was too beautiful an afternoon to waste by just going home and sitting around until my karate lessons began at 7 pm.

I love going up Arctic Valley any time of the year. Although, I do believe my car likes it better in winter. When there isn't snow on the road to even out the terrain (the road isn't paved), it's quite a bumpy ride. The views make all the jarring worth it. Around every bend there seems to be more and more beauty to be seen, more mountains off in the distance to be discovered, and more views than my afternoon joy ride afforded me time to enjoy.

Yesterday, after getting my Alaska driver's license (it's official now, I'm an Alaskan by birth, and by choice), I took Kaylee on a trip to St. Nicholas Orthodox church in Eklutna, and to Talkeetna for a view of Denali. St. Nicholas Orthodox church has a wonderful Athabascan cemetery housing a few dozen "spirit houses" on its grounds that dates back to 1650. Spirit houses are small house like structures built over the grave of the deceased in order to give the soul a "house" to live in and a place for personal relics and momentoes of the deceased to be left. They are painted in the traditional colors of the deceased's family. I was sad to see that the cemetery is getting run down, but happy to hear that the church is cleaning up and restoring the area using local caring teen volunteers.

The drive to Talkeetna is not an especially lengthy one. It's only 100 miles from Eagle River, so I knew we'd have time to get back by early evening. The drive to Talkeetna is beautiful. I wish we'd had more time so that we could have stopped and enjoyed the views at the many lakes along the way. There's also a small airport in Willow that I would have liked to stop and take pictures at of the small planes and the float planes.

We got to Talkeetna in about an hour and a half and took a few pics of Denali. It was lost in the clouds. The mountain is so tall, it was hard to see where the mountain ended and the clouds began. Clouds aside, it was a beautiful view. I had to put the size in perspective for Kaylee by explaining that the mountain we were viewing was still almost 300 MILES away. The town of Talkeetna itself is a lot of fun too. It's a quirky little place with a lot of character, and a lot of characters living there! Kay and I went down to the river and enjoyed the views there for a few minutes before heading home. I don't know if I'll be able to talk Kaylee into another road trip for a while though. I think I enjoy them much more than she does!

I have a friend visiting with her kids at the end of the month from Virginia Beach. She's up for anything, and I plan to take her to Talkeetna. Hopefully, we'll get to see much more of Denali than I did during yesterday's trip.

I really love that I can just get in my car, and in a few minutes, or a few hours, be someplace amazingly beautiful and breathtaking. Alaska is an amazing place.

Winner Creek Trail is a True Winner!

2007-06-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

I started a group here in Anchorage in February called MEETinANCHORAGE. I saw a need for a group that would bring people together when I kept meeting people who asked me time and time again if I had a hard time making friends here. The group gained membership quickly and continues to grow. It's now up to over 185 members! We do all sorts of events and activities. We do dinners, book clubs, hiking, biking, game nights, movies, walking, you name it, we probably do it. The members choose events and post them, and other members RSVP and attend. It's part of an international group called MEETin (http://www.meetin.org).

This past weekend, the group did a hike of the Winner Creek trail in Girdwood. The trail starts just above the tram at Alyeska ski resort and ends just below Crow Creek Mines at Crow Creek Road. I love this trail. It's one I always enjoy hiking (I snowshoed it twice during this past winter). The area is nothing like any other hiking area around Anchorage. The Girdwood Valley is part of a temperate boreal rain forest. The plants there are more like the ones I'm used to seeing in Virginia. There are huge ferns, moss covered trees, and long moss hanging from the branches of the canopy overhead like the Spanish moss I'm accustomed to seeing in the southern states of the lower 48.

The trail leads to a foot bridge over one gorge and a hand tram over another. The waters that rush through these gorges are glacial melt water. When we were there, the water was rushing so quickly that I ended up with a mist of water on my camera lens while I was taking pictures. The water views are gorgeous. During the hike to the bridge, more water views can be seen off to the right of the trail at different points, through the trees. There is also a wide foot bridge along the trail off to the right that leads to some cabin ruins and more spectacular views of the water. We hiked part way up the trail to the ruins, but decided to save that side-hike for another day and turned around half way up. Another side hike we'll do later leads to a one-man gold panning camp. One of the girls on the hike showed us a path that lead to a rope down a very steep path that took hikers to the water level of the second gorge. At the bottom of that trail is a rustic gold panning camp. We'll be heading back in a few weeks to check out that camp. Maybe we'll try our hand at panning for gold too!

The difficulty level of the trail makes hiking Winner Creek trail a winner. It's not a difficult trail at all, it's relatively incline free (though parts can be steep and slippery), so people of all activity levels can enjoy hiking it. The tourists go on paid tours to do the trail and pay upwards of $120 a piece to take the tram ride at Alyeska and hike to the foot bridge over the first gorge. All we paid for was gas to get there! Well ok, we had dinner at Chair Five restaurant after the hike too (which in my opinion is a must if you go to Girdwood).

Chair Five is a fun little restaurant located near the post office just off the main road into Girdwood. They've got amazing pizza, terrific burgers, appetizers that beg to be main entrees, and the beer really hits the spot after a hike. The locals of Girdwood hang out there, and there are bound to be some pretty interesting characters back near the pool tables, sitting at the bar.

It was a beautiful Alaskan spring day. The temperature was great, the bug level was low, and the company was awesome. There wasn't much snow left on the trail at all, and it was relatively mud and muck free on the path. There are also sections of wood blanked bridges over parts of the trail that are anticipated to be the most muddy which is really nice (beats having to traverse mud like we've had to on the past couple of hikes I've done).

Alaska ROCKS!

Not a Petting Zoo

2007-05-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

I heard a story from a friend today that made me laugh and shake my head in understanding. This friend was out running the trails in Kincaid Park in Anchorage, Alaska, and came upon a couple (tourists from out of town) who were standing on the trail petting a moose calf who was happily chomping away on the branches of a birch tree. My friend stopped in complete shock and said, "WHAT are you doing? That's a wild animal!" They looked at him, perplexed, and said, "But, this is a park." After his new spell of shock from their comment passed, he said, "It's a park, but not a PETTING ZOO!" They just didn't seem to get it. This is Alaska. There may be wild animals everywhere, and sightings are not uncommon, but they are still wild!

This weekend, a group of us went on a hike up Turnagain Arm Trail. The trail starts just after Potter's Marsh at mile 115 on the Seward Highway. Along the trail, we saw moose and bear scat (Yes, Virginia... bear doo poop in the woods), and moose and bear prints. We were being cautious, alert of our surroundings, but what happened at the end of our hike made us wonder just how much we are truly aware of, when it comes to wild animals who are the masters of camouflage and hiding.

We were enjoying the hike. The trail is truly beautiful. There are views of the inlet, small springs flowing downward from the higher mountain elevations that flow over the path or under wood plank "bridges," and a waterfall just above McHugh parking area. We took a detour to McHugh parking area to use the restrooms, and on our way back to the trail we saw a makeshift sign warning us of a bear sighting 3 hours previous to our arrival at the lot. A bear had been seen stalking a moose cow with a calf. We hadn't seen any moose, or any bear, since we started the hike. We figured, if we took it cautiously, we'd be ok to take the path back to the lot where we'd left our vehicles. The bear had other plans.

Our group got separated. Two faster hikers went on ahead, and three lagged behind. When two of us in the lagging group found a geocache box, the group was split even more, with one of the three going on ahead, and the geocrazy two staying behind. We knew we'd catch up to the lone hiker on the trail. We certainly did. We found her, coming our direction down the trail, towards the McHugh lot from where we'd just come. She'd gotten a call on her cell from the two faster hikers in our group. They had heard the bear killing the moose calf in the bushes approximately 50-100 feet off of the trail. They told her we should probably consider turning around and returning to the McHugh lot where they would pick us up. We didn't turn around but continued on, thinking if we were loud enough we'd scare the bear. DUMB move in bear country! We came upon the bear further down the trail, now in the middle of the hiking trail with its fresh kill (it had drug the calf down to the trail from where it had killed it). The bear saw us before we saw it. As soon as we saw it though, all of our courage left and we immediately began backing away (with the bear watching us the entire time from over the moose calf).

We came upon a group of tourists from Memphis near the trail end near McHugh. They asked us why we were returning. We told them that we'd come upon a bear eating a fresh kill on the trail. They had the audacity to ask WHY we turned around, if we took PICTURES, and if there was a location where they could OBSERVE SAFELY????? We told them that we turned around because we weren't about to wait around to see what the bear had planned for dessert, that NO we didn't take pictures because we weren't about to ask the bear to pose, and NO there was no "safe place to observe." We told them that this is Alaska, and wild animals are not like the bears you see at the zoo, or the animal reserve. True to form (not to insult tourists, but insulting stupid folk in general), they insisted on going up the trail to see if they could see the bear. We could only shake our heads in amazement, and talk about their stupidity, as they walked away. We learned our lesson though, unlike the tourists from Memphis. Bears don't scare easily, and when they are eating a fresh kill they don't scare at all.

No, Alaska is not a giant petting zoo.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

2007-05-25T12:21:00.000-08:00

The weather cleared yesterday just before I got off work. In Alaska, we take advantage of every moment of sunlight we get during the warmer months. Within minutes, groups of people were hitting the Delaney Park Strip to play softball, walk, and fly kites.

When I first saw the kites on the walk from my workplace to my car, I thought they were parachutes. I was wondering why they weren't moving, or falling. Then, (ok so I have to admit to having a moment of confusion) I realized that the huge, colorful objects in the sky were kites, not parachutes!

I remember the last time I flew a kite. It was the spring of 1999. I was dating an avid fisherman. We were fishing, and happened to have a few kites in the truck that we'd purchased for Kaylee and my nieces. It was a windy day, and the fish weren't biting much at all. During a lull, he hooked the kite center bar up to the poles with the fishing line and threw the kite into the air. It took off like a rocket, and soared into the sky. It soared up fast, and emptied the reel of fishing line. It was the most memorable part of the day, seeing this burly fisherman, his eyes twinkling, laughing, with his "catch" jumping and pulling in the sky. When it was time to leave, he reeled in the kite and we headed home.

Seeing the kites yesterday reminded me that no matter how old, or young, one is the simple pleasures like flying a kite on a warm day never get dull. I could have sat in the park all afternoon watching the kites dip and angle their way through the sky. Their bright colorful display was a welcome site after 6 months of winter and the gray sky spring days we've been having lately. Just as I headed for my car, the clouds started rolling in again. For the 30 minutes I watched the kites though, I had been 10 years old again, with no place to be and no responsibilities.

I've got to get a kite!

Trains, Planes, Tour Buses and Hanging Baskets, Oh My!

2007-05-23T09:43:00.001-08:00

I thought that Virginia Beach was inundated with tourists. The tourism there is nothing compared to Anchorage. Tourist season has officially begun here. Every year, over a million tourists come through Anchorage. Some come through here because they have a day or two to blow between excursions elsewhere in Alaska. Some come for conventions. Some come to begin tours of Denali or the Kenai Peninsula, or train tours to Seward or Fairbanks.

I was told that I'd know when tourism season had "officially" begun when the city hung the hanging flower baskets. Day before yesterday, I was asking when they'd be hung. Yesterday morning, I came in to work and low and behold, the hanging basket fairies had done the city's bidding in the wee hours of the morning. They'd magically covered the city with over 450 baskets of yellow and blue/purple flowers. Just as I'd been told, the tour buses magically appeared, full of neck-craning tourists. Walking to my car from work yesterday, I saw four tour buses parked in front of the Captain Cook hotel. This morning on my way into work at 7:30 am, I saw two tour buses parked in front of the Egan Convention Center. Over the weekend, on the drive down to my hike of Gull Rock Trail, I saw the train to Seward running below the level of the road. Welcome tourist season!

I only moved back here in August of last year. I was born here, but left when I was very young. So, I'm still a Cheechako (newcomer, greenhorn, tenderfoot). From what I've heard, the downtown area is going to get packed with people and remain that way until the end of August. The restaurants will be full. The sidewalks will be full. I'll have to be more aware of people jaywalking across streets downtown where I work. The Seward Highway will be congested because of all the people pulling over to get the "perfect shot" of the Dahl Sheep on the mountain sides. I heard so much Russian being spoken on the streets on my walk to my car last night I almost thought I was in Moscow for a moment!

I do have to admit that I'm excited though. Even with all the irritation and congestion that tourism brings, seeing people so happy and excited to visit here makes my heart swell with pride. I live in a place that people dream their whole lives of just visiting for a week. I have the awesome opportunity to live here every day, every week, every season. I know about the hiking trails and side street coffee shops that only "locals" know about. I get to experience planting my own hanging flower baskets at 11:30 at night, feeling the breeze as it makes its way through the trees. I get to smell the fresh mountain air, see moose trot through the neighborhood in the midnight sun when the rest of the lower 48 is sleeping. I get to spend nights after work biking, hiking, walking the trails, kayaking and enjoying Alaska. I don't have to take pictures to remember the beauty when I go back home because I get to enjoy the beauty on a daily basis.

Seeing the expressions of awe and amazement on the faces of the tourists, watching them snap pictures of things that I walk by daily and take for granted, seeing them smiling and relaxed, answering thier questions on the street like "where do the locals get a good cup of coffee?", "where is the best place to get lunch?", "where is the Coastal trail?" all leave me seeing this wonderful city of mine through new eyes. It's like seeing things through the eyes of my child when she was small and everything was still so new to her.

So, yes, I'll wave at the tour buses. I'll tilt my head back and watch the small planes fly overhead, knowing they are possibly filled with enthusiastic tourists who are about to enjoy the experience of a lifetime in MY state. I'll take pictures of and enjoy all the hanging flower baskets I see. After all, I'm still a tourist in my own back yard, as long as I continue to see things that excite me and thrill me about the place I live. Welcome tourists! Welcome to Alaska. Welcome to the land where God goes on vacation from Heaven.

Gull Rock Trail Hike

2007-05-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

A group of five of us hiked Gull Rock Trail yesterday. It was amazingly beautiful. I'm still enraptured daily by the beauty that surrounds me here. I don't understand how some people can live in Alaska their whole lives and never go anywhere or do anything. I can't imagine living here and NOT getting outdoors. There's so much to do here: biking, hiking, walking trails, sightseeing, backpacking, camping, fishing... the list goes on and on, and somehow doesn't include television and video games! AMAZING!

The hike was a little over 10 miles round trip. Not a lot of elevation, but with as little hiking as I've done this spring so far, it was still a bit strenuous for me. There were sections that were muddy with tar looking mud. Of course, the dog decided she needed to lay down in every mud puddle. Here's a great blurb about the trail: http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/chugach/seward/rec/trails/gull.htm

There were sections of the trail that were still patched with thick sheets of ice. We had to cross several streams across ice bridges. I wish I could put all the pictures here and walk through each step of the hike (there are some pictures on my gallery page). But, the hike took almost 4 1/2 hours round trip, a little too much to write a step-by-step account. All the aches I'm feeling right now were worth it. It was an amazing experience. The weather was wonderful, low to mid 70s (yes, we even hit 70 in Alaska), slight breeze, blue skies with an occassional cloud. It was the perfect day, and one I'd relive over and over, if I wasn't looking forward so much to every single day I experience here!

This weekend, we are doing 2 hikes. We are doing a night hike of Southfork on Saturday, and a day hike on Sunday of Turnagain Arm. I'm excited. One thing the hike of Gull Rock has convinced me of is that I REALLY need to walk more and get in better shape. We are planning to do the 24 mile hike of Crow Pass from Girdwood to Eagle River in mid June. That will be a two day trip, with a camp over at the half way mark. I don't want to be lagging so far behind that I become bear bait!

So many trails, so much time to do them all! I LOVE living here!

Bicycle or Torture Device?

2007-05-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

Alex and I took the kids to the Bicycle Shop about a week and a half ago to pick out a new bike for me, and one for Kaylee. I got to ride a few around in the lot. The ride around the lot was the longest bike ride I've taken since I was about 12! The ride was not a long enough ride to feel what sitting on the seat would feel like after an hour long ride, but long enough for me to realize I know nothing about bikes, gears, shifting, tires, types or accessories. Alex wasn't about to let me get a Walmart special though. I left nearly $1400 dollars lighter for both bikes.

I had the idea that I could ride from Eagle River to Anchorage on the weekdays to get to work, then ride home after. It's about a 30-35 mile round trip ride. The trail is nice, it goes along the Glen. There wouldn't be a lot of road riding, if I added a few miles to my trip by taking the trails. Then, I rode my new bike. All my dreams disappeared in a wave of pain that started in my calves, rose to my hiney, and ended in my chest (as I gasped for air). I hadn't ridden a bike for over a year, and the last time I did it was on the elevationless, flat paths of Virginia Beach. WHAT was I thinking? It was equivalent to buying a 16 ounce steak at a restaurant, complete with salad, soup, veges, bread and a baked potato because you are hungry and really think you can eat it. My eyes and aspirations FAR outweigh my ability and my endurance.

I've yet to figure out the gears, and every time we begin to ascend a hill on the paths in our neighborhood I feel a sense of dread as the bike begins to wobble and I have to jump off quickly to avoid falling to the ground. We took the kids and bikes to the trails in Anchorage last weekend. I did the same acrobatic act every time I started up a hill on the trails there too. I felt pathetic! Alex and Kaylee biked all the way from West Chester Lagoon to Eagle River. Nicholas and I headed home (no way were WE going to bike that far) and consoled ourselves and our lack of endurance with Cold Stone ice cream.

I am eventually going to ride to work though. I probably won't make it home on the bike, and I'll end up taking the friendly public transportation (bus) service home, but I will eventually get the endurance to make the round trip. We will probably ride the path on Saturday and see if I can make it. I know it sure will be a beautiful ride in. Maybe that will be the balm that eases the pain in my tooshy from sitting on that hard bike seat. I really think that ancient dungeon masters created those bike seats. For something that cost me so much, it should feel like riding on a cloud.

Memories So Far

2007-04-25T09:10:00.000-08:00

I told Alex yesterday that almost all of my Alaska memories have him in them. It's true. I wonder how my view of Alaska and my experiences would have differed if I hadn't met him before I moved. The only time I haven't known him, or have him in my memories of my Alaska, is the time I came to visit in 2005. Our lives were very different then, and our paths would have never crossed had things not dramatically changed in both our lives.

I know I'd still live here, even if I hadn't met him. I'd be living in the condo in Anchorage. K would be going to school at East. I still would have gotten out and done winter activities to keep me busy. I probably would have started MEETinANCHORAGE much sooner. I'd still need a 12-step program for my berry picking addiction. I'd probably still be working at Hope. God forbid! I'd be dating. I probably wouldn't be dating exclusively, or just one person. I probably wouldn't be in a relationship. I'd probably be seeing more of Alaska on my own and following the nomadic nature and independent streak that brought me here in the first place.

I would still love Alaska just as much, but I would have really been missing out, and never have known it. I've experienced so much here with Alex, and have really grown and benefitted from having him and N in my life. I wonder sometimes if they know how appreciated and loved they are.

So, my Alaska memories, as they are, are filled with laughter, fun, love, beautiful views, wonderful experiences, and domestic bliss. Never thought that last one would be in there, but it's part of my Alaska, and an unexpected and wonderful part of my experiences here that I wouldn't trade for anything.

Spring in Alaska

2007-04-19T14:40:00.000-08:00

So, this is spring in Alaska?

I'd been told when I moved here that spring was the ugliest time of year in Alaska. The snow melts, the streets and sidewalks get flooded with nasty, muddy slush, and it's generally miserable. This spring, I'm told, is not the "normal" spring in Alaska.

The snow melted gradually, and the water evaporated quickly to keep up with the thaw. The trash that lay beneath the snow all winter was exposed slowly, and cleaned up off of the downtown Anchorage streets as it appeared. I even saw someone sweeping the alley behind my jobsite today.

I went down to the inlet for a walk from work, and the flowers were already blooming and the trees were budding. The snow is almost entirely melted from every part of the city. The weather has been beautiful, in the mid fifties. I anticipate absolutely beautiful weather Sunday night when Alex and I have friends over for dinner.

Ok, so I still miss winter and look forward to it returning, but maybe this spring thing isn't so bad.

Days to Remember

2007-04-17T10:55:00.001-08:00

There are days that, simply by virtue of having something tragic take place on their date in American history, live on as numbers that everyone as a whole recognizes when the number is said. When I say 9/11 (Twin Towers and Pentagon hit by terrorists), everyone knows what I'm talking about. Then, there's 4/20 (Columbine Massacre), 10/12 (USS Cole attacked in the Yemeni port) and now 4/16. April 16 will be known forever as the day that one lone gunman attacked at the campus of Virginia Tech and took the lives of 32 people, before taking his own life. I don't think that any of us can understand what would cause a person to do something so insane as to take a gun, kill 32 innocent people, then take their own life. And, what makes it even more crazy is that massacres like this seem to only be noticed in this country when they happen in this country.

Every day in Iraq there are suicide bombers attacking buses, schools, people waiting in line at job centers, people at home eating dinner at their kitchen tables with their families or people going to pray at a mosque. Those attacks receive perhaps one article in our American newspapers, if not just a few sentences. More often than not, we don't even ever hear about the attacks in Iraq. On a daily basis in African nations, the base of power is constantly shifting, pitting local militia men against warlord types who massacre entire villages just for the fun of it, raping, pillaging and desimating entire populations. Again, maybe it warrants a paragraph or two in our papers here.

What makes the dates here in America matter more than the dates in other "less civilized" countries? Why are we so shocked when people in our "civilized" society behave so uncivilized? I think the reason why those dates matter so much to us is that they remind us that we too are human. We are base, crude, hurtful and animalistic. Our capitalist society doesn't really set us above anyone, that's a myth we perpetuate to feel safe. We aren't any better than any other nation, or safer than any other nation. It only takes one person, one event, one "human" being to bring us back to reality and remind us that we are fragile and vulnerable, not an island super power existing in Utopia above the rest of the huddled masses. I pray for all the families of those killed in the Va Tech killings. I also pray for all the families of those killed in every country where people act like base, crazy "humans."

If we concentrated more on making every day important, and looked for reasons to do something good for the population on a daily basis, maybe we could replace the days that are remembered for horrific events with days that are remembered for love, joy and peace. I know it will never happen, but wouldn't it be nice to remember a date simply because nothing bad happened on that date. Remembered because there was no bad news, no death anywhere. Remembered it because it was a date when everything went right. Wouldn't it be nice to have a string of days to remember like that. A month of days that turned into a year of days. Those would be dates I'd gladly mark on my calendar. Days to celebrate, instead of mourn.

Calm After the Storm

2007-04-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

We had a storm last night. I'd sent Nicholas outside to clean up the backyard, and he sheepishly opened the back door and said, "Do you still want me to clean up the yard? It's hailing or something." I hadn't noticed. I looked up through the sky lights. Sure enough, it was hailing.

It hailed for a little while, then started to snow. God was teasing me, letting me think we had just a little bit more of winter left. The skies blackened. Then, just as quickly as it moved in, the storm was gone. The sun came out. The sky turned back to blue. The dark clouds moved on.

When I took the kids to get dinner, I could see the darkness heading towards the horizon, towards the west where the sun was beginning to set. I had to take a picture (or 30). I drove the kids (complaining all the while) up to the top of Skyline Drive, up to the Mount Baldy base. I walked out onto the snow (slush) and started snapping pictures. There were others with me there, admiring one of the last sunsets we'd be able to see before 10 pm, before the nights get so long they flow seamlessly to dawn, only a brief dusk separating night from day. The sunset was amazing. The storm clouds looked like they were going to gobble up the sun as it was setting, they were dark and ominious. But, just where the Sleeping Lady lay on the horizon, the sky was clear, undisturbed but for a few clouds. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking. As the sun descended below the horizon, a lone paraglider dipped across the sky, right into my camera's view finder range. I had to capture him in flight.

The Sleeping Lady lay undisturbed by the approaching storm, man could fly, the trees were budding with the first promise of life after a long winter, and I felt like I was ascending somehow. All was right with the world at that moment.

I love Alaska!

Tick Tock of Time

2007-04-12T12:33:00.000-08:00

April 9, 07
Kaylee couldn't sleep last night. The snow is melting off of the roof, water dripping onto the ground. The noise kept her awake. She wanted me to lay down with her and rub her back to help her fall asleep.

The sound of the water hitting the ground didn't sound like a "drip." Where did that even come from, that it "drips?" It sounded like a ticking clock. As melancholic as I am about winter passing, it just added to my feeling that I'm counting down time till there's no more snow. With each "tick" of the falling water droplets, I felt winter slipping away. The melancholy is slowly leaving though. I'm now looking for the buds on the trees that signal spring. We also "spring" cleaned the house yesterday, which got me thinking WHY there's such a frenzy to clean once the snow starts to melt and the days get longer. Is it an internal drive to clean the cave or den, to make way for the bounties of spring, summer and fall to come? I know when the ticking of the water stops, spring will be here. The countdown will be over, and I'll be starting another countdown, till winter comes again.