Summer adventures so far...

I just thought I would post some photos of things we've been up to so far.


My mom (and 4 of her friends) are up visiting so we have been quite busy with that. This past weekend we went camping in Seward and then near the Kenai River. In Seward we went to the Sea Life Center and Exit Glacier. We stayed at a campground near the Kenai River called Hidden Lakes. We enjoyed the peace and quiet and even saw 2 black bears (a cub and an adult). The fish are in and, boy, is the river ever busy with fishermen. Talk about combat fishing! I have not been fishing, yet, this summer, but Andy has taken a few of our guests out. What an experience for them! I'm not really too excited about fishing when you are standing shoulder-to-shoulder.


Cooper loves camping! So much to see. So much to smell. He gets pretty tired by the end of the weekend.


Last Thursday was summer solstice so we celebrated the longest day of the year by going to a Matisyahu concert at the Moose's Tooth. Awesome!

I'll post more photos as our summer adventures continue...

Andy's Fishing Trip to the Chuitna River

I think we can say the fishing season has begun up here! Our chest freezer has been cleaned out and it is ready to stock some salmon. Andy and some buddies went on a 4-day fly-in fishing trip to the Chuitna River (across the Cook Inlet). They took a small (5-passenger) plane to an airstrip in Beluga. A guy (Kenny Rogers look alike) picked them up in a barely-running Dodge pickup and drove them (5 miles) to the general store to fill water jugs. Another guy took them to the mouth of the river (2 miles) where they set up camp. The weather was hot (and the fishing was slow) for the first 3 days. 3 king salmon were landed but, due to lack of ice, they could not keep them. :( Finally, on the 11th hour of their last day, Andy brought in a 25+-pound king salmon!! It was the day they were flying out so he got to keep that one. They safely arrived back in Anchorage on Sunday night. Andy vacuum-sealed the fillets and they were placed in our awaiting freezer.

Adam, Jeremy, Ben, Andy


Andy and his first (big) fish of the season


Now that's a thick fillet of fish!

Our adventures in Utah...

Our trip down to Utah was amazing! We spent the first 2 nights in Torrey because Andy had a friend getting married there. Then, we (with a friend, Sloan) spent 2 more nights down in southern Utah. We hiked some beautiful places, including some slot canyons where, in some places, you had to take your backpack off your back and walk sideways through the canyon. That is how narrow it got! It was quite the experience because I had never hiked through the desert before. Phew! What a difference it is from hiking up in Alaska!! Not only is it 30-40 degrees warmer, but it took some time to get used to the altitude change. Bryce Canyon National Park was breathtaking! I just don't quite know how to explain it, and I'm not sure if a picture will do it justice.

Andy and I also spent a few nights up at his family cabin in Brighton. It just wouldn't be a Brighton experience without a few rounds of frisbee golf! We also did a lot of hiking but, with it being early summer, snow blocked us from doing longer hikes. It felt great just to relax, too.

Nine more days until our first visitors and I can't wait!! I'm also excited that our flowers are finally starting to bloom in our front yard. About another week or so and I'll be able to make some rhubarb crisp. Yummy!

We are getting closer to summer solstice, which means we are up to 18 hours of daylight. You just can't beat that!

Enjoy the photos...

Hiking with friends in Torrey, Utah


Hiking in Escalante (Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument)


Bryce Canyon National Park

Summer is (almost) here!!

The weather continues to be cooperative, so Andy and I have been trying to get out as much as we can. We only have 1 more week of school left and then we have the whole summer to play!! On this particular trip, we ventured out on a hike to Table Rock (about 20 minutes south of Anchorage). It offered spectacular views of the Cook Inlet and surrounding mountains. It was a bit windy, though.

On Friday (May 25th) Andy and I leave for Utah. We have a wedding to go to down in Torrey, Utah, and then we plan on spending a couple more nights camping in southern Utah. I haven't been there but I hear it is beautiful! We also plan to spend a few nights up at the cabin in Brighton and, of course, spend time in Salt Lake. We'll be back in Anchorage on June 5th, only to be anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first guests from the lower 48--my mom!!! I am so excited for this summer and all of the great memories that will come with it!

Where does the time go?

Well, I had good intentions to frequently update the blog. I can't believe it's been so long!! School is going so fast. The kids only have 13 more days of school left!! Yikes! May 25th is the teachers' last day. We started a new calendar this year so we are getting out about 2 weeks earlier than last year.

We haven't had too much going on. Two weekends ago we put some new flooring down in our kitchen and dining room. Andy and I did all of the work ourselves and, I must say, it's lookin' good. The weather has been partly sunny with temperatures in the 50's so we have been biking to work these last few weeks. What a refreshing way to start the day! Today, we took a 17-mile (round trip) bike ride into downtown Anchorage for lunch. (That's what the photos are from.) The tourist season must be fast-approaching because the hot dog and salmon quesadilla stands are already out.

Mom, we are up to 16 hours, 38 minutes and 30 seconds of daylight!

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone has a Happy Easter! We are going to the Performing Arts Center, later this afternoon, to watch STOMP. We'll probably put some salmon on the grill for dinner. Otherwise, not much planned. I've been doing a lot of spring cleaning, which seems never-ending!!

Also, just wanted to show some photos from my birthday celebration in Mexico. Enjoy!

Mom: 14 hours, 0 minutes, 5 seconds of daylight!!!

Kincaid Park

We just had to go to Kincaid Park (with the dogs, of course) to celebrate the day. For the first time since February 3rd, our temperature got above freezing!!! Yahoo! We hit 33 degrees today and it's supposed to be about the same throughout the rest of the week. We still can have hope that spring is on its way! Anyways, just thought we'd share a few pictures of our outing. We hope you are all doing well!

Spring Break

It certainly is not spring up here, so I'll say we went to San Diego for our Mid-Winter Break. :) We had an awesome time, visiting Andy's mom, sister, and friends. It actually worked out that we got to spend some time with my sister because she was in the area for work. On Monday, we went to the San Diego Zoo. I had never been there and it had been years since Andy had been there. It was great to watch all of the animals but our favorites were the orangutans and pandas. On Tuesday, we drove down to Mexico for the day. Ahhhh...the lobster was so delicious but I'd have to say that the highlight of that day was experiencing a Mexican traditional birthday celebration. In a nut shell, this is what happened: The servers brought out a piece of cake and I was thinking, "Oh, that was nice." Then I heard Andy's sister say, "Uh oh" and I knew something was going on. So here I am, surrounded by about 5 servers (plus the 8 people we were down there with), and the servers are blowing whistles. I ended up taking a tequila popper shot, followed by a gentle head shaking (by the servers), which was then followed by me having to take a bite out of the piece of cake (WITHOUT A FORK). Needless to say, it doesn't feel so great to have frosting up your nose! :) It was all worth it, though. On Wednesday, we went wine tasting and played 18 holes of golf. (Is this a good time to say that I beat Andy in that round?) We played another round of 18 holes on Thursday and then spent a lot of the evening watching the basketball games. It felt great to get a little vitamin D and come back to Alaska with a little color on our faces. I shouldn't complain about lack of sunshine, though. We are now up to 12 hours, 33 minutes of daylight!!!!

Iditarod 2007

It was a beautiful (but chilly) day for the start of the Iditarod. I have gone each year since I've moved up to Anchorage, yet it never gets old. The dogs are always so excited to get onto the trail. Some sit around watching all of the people watching them, enjoying all of the attention. Some stay huddled in their "cubicles" in the trucks, especially those who are towards the end of the line-up. Some bark at the other dogs whose mushers are getting them ready to head to the starting line (probably a bit jealous the other dogs get to go before them).

For these mushers, their lives revolve around sled dog racing. When they are not mushing on the trails, they put in a lot of work to keep the dogs fit and healthy. I can't imagine feeding all of those dogs! Mushers come from all over the world. I saw one musher from Norway. Another is from Wisconsin. There were a total of 82 mushers, anxious and excited to start the 1,049-mile trek to Nome.

There was an article in the newspaper this past Friday about a man who won a sports contest. He won a trip to any sporting event (Super Bowl, etc...) yet he chose to bring his family up to the Iditarod (what a guy!). The people putting on the contest thought he was nuts for not choosing an event where he could enjoy warm temperatures. (Our high temperature today was 20 degrees.)

Enjoy the photos!

Skiing at Alyeska

Andy and I took a little mini vacation down to Girdwood over the weekend. We spent most of Sunday on the slopes, enjoying the beautiful views. I am so thankful that Andy is so patient with me when I am skiing. I am at that point when I need to take a few more risks, but I just can't get myself to do it. Sunday night we enjoyed dinner at Double Musky. The crab stuffed halibut is delicious!!!

I have almost fully recovered from my unfortunate 2-week bout with "the crud." I was home from school last Monday and Tuesday, and I NEVER miss school because of sickness. My appetite is slowly coming back. Thank goodness, because I miss eating all of the time!!

Good-bye, Fontella

To all Andy's family- You are all in my thoughts as you go through this difficult time. I feel so lucky that I had the opportunity to meet Fontella on 2 different occasions. I will never forget the first time Andy introduced me to her on Christmas Eve 2004. She said that she was so happy I was not an Eskimo. :) I also feel honored to have been there during her 100th birthday celebration. I could listen to her tell stories all day! Her memories will live on...

Nancy Lake Public Cabin

Over winter break, we spent a couple of nights at a public use cabin on Nancy Lake (about 2 hours north of Anchorage). A friend of ours, Kim, has a lakehouse on Nancy Lake so we spent a night there, also. From our friend's lakehouse, it was a .9 mile ski to the cabin (on the lake). The cabin was very rustic. We had to haul in our own firewood and water, but that made it that much more exciting (and challenging). I had never had to go out and saw down dead trees to get (additional) firewood, but now I can say that I have. Hauling the tree back to the cabin was a workout in itself!

We did a lot of skiing and snowshoeing on that first day. On the second day we weren't so lucky. It had snowed about 6 inches throughout the night, which made skiing a bit difficult. It sure didn't stop us from getting outside, though. Cooper had an absolute blast! He is definitely a snow dog. He loves to camp because, most of the time, he gets a few table scraps. It's no surprise that I (Jana) am usually the one spoiling him with such treats. (What can I say? When I was younger, all my mom fed our dog was people food.)

On our "check out" day, we braved the -10 degree weather as we skied the .9 mile back to the truck.


We hope this blog will help us stay more in touch with our family and friends down in the Lower 48.