So I realize this is very late, but we didn't take any pictures on our trip to Homer, Alaska over Labor Day Weekend, and I just got these from a friend (I knew she had some good ones and I was looking for a Christmas Card photo!). We spent the weekend with our Bible study group at our friend Gary's parent's home. His parents own like four radio stations, so they live up on top of Diamond Ridge, with a beautiful view of the ocean and Mt. Redoubt!!
Homer is famous for its spit, which is a long, very narrow strip of land that sticks out into the ocean. There are tons of trendy little shops all along it. Almost everything closes up on Labor Day weekend--on Saturday everything was open, and when we came back on Sunday 2/3 of the shops were boarded up for the winter. Crazy!
The pictures are a little backwards...the first three are from Sunday lunch--deep fried halibut!! YUM!!
The weather that weekend was unheard of. It was our first time in Homer, but we were told to expect cold, WINDY days. It was around 70 and completely still the entire time we were there.
Saturday, we made grilled cheese sandwiches on the beach on the spit. The girls waiting for the men to get back from picking up sandwich materials (we waited FOREVER!). Sheri, me, Dana, and Jenn.
And...notice the mountains in the background? Amazing.
Ken and Melanie arrived for their much-anticipated trip to Alaska on September 17!! We were so excited to see them and to show them the beautiful place that we now call home!!
Matt and I both worked on Friday so that they could sleep, but as soon as we got out, we headed down to Seward to enjoy what would probably be the last nice weekend of the year.
We stopped at Beluga Point on the Seward Highway...
Then arrived in Seward LATE on Friday night...we don't know how it happened, but somehow the trip took four hours with only two stops and Matt driving 75 mph on average. Weird, right? We think we were in a time warp. We ate dinner at Ray's Waterfront and had some delicious seafood :)
Then woke up early Saturday morning to see as much as we could! We spent the morning at the harbor...
This was the bald eagle that Melanie woke up to!
Jellyfish in the harbor
We spent most of the afternoon at the Alaska SeaLife Center, which was SO awesome!!
We got to touch starfish and anenomes and lots of things!!
The majestic sea lion
Jellyfish!! Matt took an awesome video of them swimming.
Then we drove to Exit Glacier on our way out of town Mel found moose poop! She thought it was a rock and she picked it up to keep and give to Corine haha! At Exit Glacier
Melanie was brave and waded into the water that was freezing this SUMMER...she was in pain!!
Our first trip to the Moose's Tooth--on the way home from Seward on Saturday night.
Bonfire!!
Disc golf at Peter's Creek
They braved the drive up to Jack and Jeannie's to see the view--it was cold up there!!
Matt took his parents to the Nature Center on Monday morning...
Friday afternoon, we visited my classroom (this is my Promethean Board) and Matt's work, but of course we couldn't take any photos there! Top Secret stuff and all, you know...
Of course we HAD to go back to the Moose's Tooth...Ken and Melanie love it just as much as Matt and I do!!
Look--they are in love!! Aww...
Saturday morning, we got our first snow!! It melted as it hit the ground, but it was enough to let us know that winter is here. Thankfully, the weather warmed up and the sun came out, so we went back to the Nature Center that afternoon. There was lots of dying salmon to watch, and a wedding!!
Look! We're matching!!
There are lots more pictures on facebook if you're interested :)
After I had such an awesome time at Exit Glacier with mom, dad, and Matt (photos to come...sometime), I couldn't wait to get back to Seward with Daniel to hike the Harding Icefield trail, a 7.8 mile round-trip, 3000 ft. elevation gain trail of wonders. Unfortunately, Daniel is a trail master. We summited in two hours--and there were NO breaks for breathers anywhere on the almost four mile climb to the top!! It was an awesome workout, but I can't say that I enjoyed the views on the way up--I was too focused on the ground beneath my feet! But that's why there's a thing called a descent...
At the trailhead down by Exit Glacier
Oh no! He is falling off the bridge!!
Daniel in the tundra + Glacier
First snow crossing
The Harding Icefield, from where Exit Glacier "flows"
The glacier spills out of the mountain pass...
So, I realized when I saw this picture that I LOOK LIKE DEATH, thanks to my lil' bro's grueling pace.
"The hole", where the glacier has melted away. Water was rushing from it!
GOATS! From far away.
This was the coolest thing for me...those are MOUNTAIN TOPS!! And they are BURIED in glacial ice and snow! How incredible.
Feet + Glacier
I asked Daniel to get a beautiful scenic picture of me sitting and viewing the landscape, but instead he got a picture of me sitting an eating. Awesome. Also, I'm making an expression that my mom always makes...yikes.
Goats! There were about ten, including a mama and baby!!
Let's focus on the beautiful landscape.
Perched
I apologize...you're about to see a lot of photos of Daniel's back side. But since I didn't have time to stop and take photos on the way up, I had to get them some time. And since we literally ran the whole way down, I had to get motion shots. Ah well...
Up in the clouds
Rock, glacier, mountain
Around the mountain
Picking his way through a rock-field...a glacier deposit
I think the sun breaking through the clouds onto the mountain is super cool.
Running through the arctic tundra...
A waterfall
After we finished our 7.8 mile hike to the Icefield, we decided to do a SEPARATE one mile hike up to the edge of the glacier, where I had been about a month ago with Matt and my parents. Here is Daniel and the glacier!
The Icefield trail was awesome. It is very well-maintained, and the views are incredible. Pack cold weather clothes for the top, because the temperature drops off VERY quickly once you pass through the clouds. Like I said, we summited in two hours, spent about 15 minutes on the top, and descended in 1.5 hours for just under a four hour climb. Pretty exhausting for Daniel's first day here in Alaska! We headed back home for SHOWERS because we were STINKY!!
Naomi came to visit for about three days last week (she was in AK for a week, but spent the rest of the time with an aunt that also lives up here). I had the most special time catching up with her, and I was sad that it had to be so short. Naomi is awesome!
Our big event was climbing Flattop, which is the most climbed hike in Alaska. It's fairly easy and very accessible, with stairs built into most of the trail. It's about 1.5 miles up and 1300 ft. elevation gain.
Downtown Anchorage is to the right of Naomi's head.
The Cook Inlet
At the summit!
I don't think that I will ever climb Flattop again...I didn't like the stairs that they had built in (although they are necessary because of erosion on such a frequently used trail), and the last portion of the climb was straight-up rock climbing. There were too many careless people trying to pick their way around for it to be safe and enjoyable. But it offers stunning 360deg views of Anchorage and the Chugach range. AND I was glad to do it with such fantastic company :) Naomi, U R D Best!
Jack and Jeannie took us our last weekend on the Kashwitna for some silvers! Unfortunately, it wasn't the day for the Bex. Jack and Jeannie limited out (2 silvers each) within an hour, but Matt and I didn't get a bite the whole time we were there. Jack even set up my rod and cast it and everything! Here is Jeannie with the biggest catch of the day....YUM!
Well, we finally gave up and decided that we wouldn't be getting any fish, so I told Jack that I wanted to just keep casting out my bait until it fell off. So I was very angrily casting and reeling, casting and reeling, when all of a sudden...SNAP! My line shot down and I had a fish!! I was so excited until I saw what it looked like....
...kindof like a catfish on the front and an eel at the back. Very weird and ugly. It's a burbot, which is a freshwater cod. Turns out though, it's known as being the most delicious freshwater fish you can catch--AND IT IS! I have since decided that I don't care about salmon, I just want to catch burbot! You boil it in sugar water and dip it in garlic butter, and it tastes like lobster. Soooo yummy! I love my burbot friend :)
The four silvers and my burbie :)
Jack and Matt filleting the fish...well Jack filleted the salmon, but Matt had to skin my burbot. You are supposed to do it by sticking a nail through its head into a board, and slicing the skin all the way around behind the head, and then peeling it with pliers. Without pliers or a nail, Matt had to be creative, and the result was a slightly mutilated fish. But we salvaged all the meat!!
The funny thing about my burbot is that it would not die! Matt couldn't hold it still, so finally I told him to chop off the head so that its brain would be disconnected, but it just kept flopping around!!
Well, after our limited success last Saturday, we decided to head up on our own and fish off the shore on Saturday (August 1). We were there for a good four hours without even a hit, (no one on the river got anything while we were there) except for Matt's first official Alaskan catch....haha...
You can imagine how funny this was when we have been trying and trying to catch fish for...multiple weeks...and he finally did, and it was this guy. Oh well. I was just praying and praying that he would catch a good fish so that he wouldn't be discouraged, but it didn't happen. We gave up, and as we were crossing the river back to the main shore, a woman started talking to us and suggested going three miles north to Sheep Creek. So we did! And....
Beautiful bliss! It was very crowded (one person every ten feet down the river), so I didn't fish because I'm not very good at casting, but Matt caught ten fish in just a few hours! He had quite a few more on the line but lost them, usually because he had snagged them in a fin somewhere and you can't really set the hook when it's hanging on to something flimsy like that. You literally cast the line out and reel it in, hoping that it will bump into a fish and the hook will snag itself into their skin. CRAZY!
This is Matt reeling in a chum salmon...they fight the hardest, so they are fun! As you can see, he snagged this one in the fin on its back. It makes it even harder to reel them in because they can swim around all over the place!
A "humpy " (pink salmon)
After so much fun on Saturday, we drove back up after church on Sunday for five hours of fishing before we came home to get Naomi from her Aunt's house. The river was much less crowded, so I was able to get out and fish too! (And improve my casting!!)
Matt with his first catch of the day...a chum "dog" salmon
Me with the first fish that I actually landed (except the burbot)...another dog.
We ended the day with three dogs, two humpies, and a silver! The silver was the only one that we kept. YUMM!!!
OMG the baby was just in the backyard and then it left out the back corner and then all of a sudden I saw it RUNNING toward me diagonally across the yard, so I stood up AND THE MAMA MOOSE WAS RIGHT UNDER MY WINDOW LIKE TWO FEET AWAY FROM ME AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT!!!! And then the baby started NURSING right under my WINDOW!!!!
