A Summer with Wren

This summer we got to watch our friends' dog Wren a few times.  I've never had a dog before but I loved taking Wren on walks and runs and playing fetch with him.  We have such a beautiful town that loves dogs and doesn't care if you put the dog on a leash or not.  So we had fun taking him around in what Drew likes to call "a dog's paradise."  Portage Valley is one of our other favorite places to go.  If it wasn't already owned or forest land and it wasn't so far away from work we would build a house there.  It's our favorite of the four valleys.  Drew came home from a kayaking trip this summer and we decided to do a hike together, but Drew was so exhausted that he didn't really feel like hiking up a mountain.  So we decided to walk the Blue Ice Trail, which is about as flat of a hike as you can get along the valley floor.  Wren and he had such a fun time being off leash and jumping into the water and the snow.  We had another gorgeous day.  He loves to splash in shallow water but he won't swim.  It was absolute torture if we through a stick in the water too deep for him to reach.  It was fun to watch him find ways to get the stick without having to swim.  He also loved the snow by the avalanche chute that still hadn't melted.  He is such a great dog and we love whenever he comes to see us.  Hopefully soon we can get a dog of our own that's just as good.

Dipnetting

As Alaskan residents we get the chance to go dipnetting every year.  This year in July we took advantage and got a group of friends together to drive down to the mouth of the Kenai and catch us some fish.  Since this summer was freakishly sunny, we got lucky and had a beautiful hot day.  We packed a picnic lunch, brought a tarp and camp chairs, a bunch of borrowed gear and a couple of coolers and spent the day on the black sand beach there.  It was so fun!  It was like my Alaska life colliding with a trip to the Jersey Shore. Unfortunately we lost our set of pictures we took that day, but we have several from friends that we managed to get.  I wouldn't actually kill the fish myself but I did gut them and everything so I feel like I did pretty good.  We just got a few little pinks but the experience was awesome.  Hopefully our long lost pics will show up again soon. In the mean time....

It's a beautiful day on the beach in Alaska...

Believe it or not, this is not really that crowded.
It's supposedly is shoulder to shoulder when it's really busy.

Holding the net steady in the water against the current is harder than it looks.
I got my muscles worked out that day holding it steady.

One of my fish.....so proud!

Our friend Fay in the water...

This is one of those moments that 10 years ago
I never would have guessed would be a part of my future.

We ended up staying up half the night processing the fish and of course eating some of it too.  It's not the best salmon ever, but we know what we are doing better next time and we have already arranged our summer plans around dipnetting again.  Now if we can just get weather that's this good again!

Packrafting!

It took me a bit, but here are our packrafting pictures!  Our friend tipped us off to someone who was selling two packrafts in our sizes, so we took the plunge (haha) and bought some packrafts.  Our first trip we just kind of paddled down Portage Creek for fun.  The next time we took a professional with us who basically helped us realize that we don't know anything about being on rivers.  It was fun though, we learned a lot and we had pretty good weather.  We hope to use them in the future on some backcountry trips.

The packrafts blow up with these bags that you fill with air and then deflate into the packrafts.  It's a lot easier and faster than blowing them up with your mouth.

Just as we started to get the hang of what we were doing we ran into this little family of moose.  Very cool to see them, but I didn't want to get anywhere near them.  We pulled over and watched them to see if they would cross or not.  The mom wanted to but the babies weren't willing to follow, so they ended up retreating to shore and we passed by without a problem.

So glad I live in a place like this!!!

Walking back on the Trail of Blue Ice we saw a black bear and enjoyed the land part of
Portage Valley.  We both agree that Portage is the prettiest of the four valleys.  That's
probably because it gets the most rain of all of them...
but on a sunny day it doesn't get any better.

I love that I can do this kind of thing just a few minutes away from our house.  We feel so lucky to be up here. :)  Hope your summer has been just as sunny.  We just took my parents down to Portage to enjoy the valley as well. We'll have to post some pictures of their trip soon!

Out and about...

Drew and I did the Virgin Creek Trail on one of these fine sunny days we've had recently.

After awhile we decided to get off the trail for a change of scenery.  We ended up coming down the mountain after a bit and popped out behind some houses.  Drew said that this was the most beautiful view in Girdwood:

Turns out we'd stumbled onto Echo Ridge, one of the places we've toyed with buying a place for ourselves.  Maybe it was meant to be...

We've also seen some moose and bears around the house this spring.  There is a mama moose and two babies that I see almost every day I run.  I love living in such a beautiful place!

Orlando, It's been a long time coming

So yeah, we went to Orlando a month ago now!  Crazy how the time has gone by.  It was a fun family vacation, thank you parents! We came back to the most glorious summer weather ever in Alaska, so there hasn't been much time for blogging about Florida.  Today is the first cloudy/occasionally rainy day we've had this month. (shocking!!!)  So I guess that means it's a good day to post some pictures from down south.  I didn't steal pictures from my parents or siblings so this is a bit incomplete, but there's still some good ones.

Drew and I ended up going to Seaworld on 3 different days.  We got great weather and we were able to see all the shows and ride all the rides, sometimes twice.  Drew's not much of an amusement park guy, so Seaworld was a good one for him because there are so many non ride shows/exhibits.  I still managed to get him on the Manta Ray once, and my dad went with me once.  Definitely my favorite ride.  We were surprised that Saturday was by far the least busy day we went.  There were almost no lines for anything until Saturday afternoon.

Paper hat made by Grandpa

We happened to be there the week after the new Antarctica ride/exhibit opened.  We timed our arrival at the park twice so that we could go straight there when it opened.  We got in almost instantly both times, but by the time we finished the ride the line was 2 or 3 hours long.  

We stayed at my parents Marriott timeshare.  This was my second time being there with them and Drew's first.  It's a beautiful resort with a lake and several pools, restaurants, tennis, a gym, jogging paths, activities, etc.  We spent a good portion of our week just relaxing at the resort.  Drew and I took a salsa lesson together and Drew got chosen out of the audience to dance the hula during the Wednesday night luau.

bean bag toss with Joe and Isaac

Dad and Drew at a chocolate tasting

We also spent a day at Aquatica, the water park that's associated with Seaworld.  It was such a great water park and we had a fun time.  Once again, we hit up every ride at least once.  We had fun racing on the speed racer slides all at once and floating in the raging rapids together.  My dad and I actually tied to the HUNDREDTH of a second on the racers TWICE! We waited the longest to do the clear water slides that go through a pool with dolphins in it.  It was not anything like it makes it look on the website.  It was probably my least favorite of all the rides.  Drew pooped out a little early, but my dad was willing to stay a little longer and ride a few slides again.

Taking our lunch break during the one 10 minute rain spell we had that day.

These little dolphins like to swim upside down a lot.  They think it helps them look for fish.

 My favorite ride was the Walhalla Wave, which was the best with three adults in it to get really high up on the sides of the slides during turns.  Drew took our waterproof camera on several slides and set it to take pictures every few seconds.  As a result we got tons of unflattering shots of my dad and I. :)

These rapids were the funnest way to get from one side of the park to the other.

Love that he's smiling with his eyes open underwater.  Isaac's swimming has really improved since we saw him last.

We also spent an afternoon at Gatorland, where we saw a lot of alligators and crocodiles and I got pulled out of the audience to hole a big yellow python.  I also got to do a little shopping, something that just isn't much fun in Alaska where there are barely any stores.  I finally found a bathing suit I liked, just in time for the last day of our trip.  Still this new suit better last me for the next 15 years or so, because it will probably be about that long until I can manage to find another flattering one again.  On the way back north we stayed with Drew's parents and my dad got to take a spin in the Mustang. 

My dad's first car was a 1966 mustang so it was fun to take the Harlos' 1967 for a spin.

All in all we had a great trip to the east, but we are glad to be back in Alaska and back to earning some paychecks.   If Drew comes home from kayaking tonight then maybe I can post on our packrafting adventures this weekend.  No promises!

Have a lovely last weekend in June...