wrong way

Yesterday my buddy E and I found the East Glacier Loop trail. We climbed steps and rocky switchbacks, saw incredible waterfalls and views. Unfortunetly we were limited on time and couldn't do the whole trail. So we made plans to meet again today. In the meantime I had figured out there was a "hard" way and "easy" way to do the loop, we had embarked on the "hard" or so I thought. Anyway today despite the temps in the 40's and the constant rain we started out to find the "easy" way. We walked and walked and hit several dead ends. After about an hour we came upon houses....not the right direction. Obviously we had missed our intended trail. All was not lost though we found some very interesting sites. One was a bunch of scrap metal and rusted cans. We found a deserted tent and truck cab in a small meadow. And of course the random waterfalls, pools and gigantic boulders. After about 2 hours we finally did find our intended trail however wet, tired and under a time crunch to pick up preschoolers we were unable to climb. I am attaching some pics from the first day where we made it part way around. I am hoping to add an entry later this week with pics from the entire hike, hoping we are able to do it Friday. Although I must admit the "warning confirmed sightings of brown bear with cubs at the top of Glacier Loop Trail" sign has me thinking twice...

Sunshine

Beautiful day yesterday! A little brisk in the morning but the sun was shinning. My friend E and I hiked around the glacier. We actually got right up next to the falls. It was quite impressive. I was surprised at how small the glacier looked from that angle. We then headed over to the ecology trail. As we were crossing the street to check out another trail we spotted mamma bear and her cubs racing across the parking lot! They managed to get themselves onto the protected walkway for tourists. We waiting with a few other locals to see where they would head. Somehow they crawled over the railing and dashed through the woods. We caught a second glimpse of them as they ran under the salmon spawning viewing platform. It was very cool. The babies have gotten so much bigger than earlier in the summer. Today we hope to hit the trail we were headed for before being distracted by the bears.

In the afternoon the kids enjoyed riding their bikes. I am guessing the days they will be able to do this are quite numbered. Little A is getting to be quite brave and good on his.

I will post pics of our walk soon.

snow

Yep you read that title right, I saw snow on Mt McGinnis this morning! And it wasn't even just the tippy top, it came about 1/4 of the way down. I hear there is a wintry mix in the forecast for us next week but haven't checked myself. We thought it was crazy last year when the first snow fall was before Big A's birthday, it will be totally insane if it comes before Little A's!

Speaking of Little A, he started hockey today. So fun! They crawled, rolled, slid and skated around on the ice. Even I wanted to be out there playing. He enjoyed himself and is glad to finally have his own sport and not be on the sideline waiting for his sister. Planning on bringing a video camera next week.

Return to the Rainforest

Well I have truly returned to the rainforest and it is not letting me forget it. I arrived last night to a light drizzle and actually stopped to think about it before walking out of the airport door into the drizzle, something that normally doesn't phase me. As for right now it is coming down in buckets, I could even hear it over the shower! C'est la vie.

It was wonderful to see everyone. I enjoyed being back in Va, the weather was beautiful. However a part of me missed my mountains and the simple life of a small town. Now to unpack...

A visit home

I am enjoying a visit to the east coast thanks to my wonderful husband and Alaska airlines miles! It has been so nice to see and hang out with my friends. Today L took me to Target, oh how I miss Target! I managed to control myself but only because I know I have a trip to Dulles Towne Center and Tyson's Corner on the schedule. Tonight I got to meet 2 beautiful babies born this past spring, it is amazing how time flies. I hear the kiddos are doing well with daddy. He took the swimming and I am told they both swam across the pool! The movie outing didn't go so well though, G tells me Big A didn't make it past the "enjoy your popcorn" part of the previews. I hear they will try again tomorrow.

West Glacier Trail

Today I got to do my first real climbing hike.  My buddy E and I, dressed in our rain gear, dropped the kiddos off at preschool then headed to skaters cabin to the trail West Glacier Trail head.  At the head of the trail we stopped to view a memorial for a teenager that fell and died earlier this summer from the Mt McGinnis trail which is joined to the West Glacier trail.  It was quite sad.  

The beginning of  the trail was wide and relatively flat, a very gradual climb.  We crossed several rushing streams and some bridges.  Then the trail started a more steep climb with lots of rocks.   There was even a rocky part that was so steep and slippery it required handrails.  Although I didn't need them much going up, I was quite thankful for them on the trip down!  E and I walked about 55 min before having to turn around, not sure how long it would take us to get back down with my foot and wanting to make the 11:30 preschool pick up.  We stopped where the trail made a VERY steep climb up a rocky staircase.  It was a very fun hike.  I was ecstatic that my foot could handle it and even surprised myself at the ease of the decent.  I am very much looking forward to doing the whole trail next time and hopefully it won't be raining.  I was pretty wet by the time we reached the car.  Here are a few pictures of the trail and the views.  I tried to get pictures of the steep rocky parts but don't think they came out that well.

My hiking buddy posted some pics on her blog of our hikes here is the link with the pics.

http://greetingsfromthelastfrontier.blogspot.com/2009/09/exploring-new-paths.html

Hike x2

I finally got to get on some of the trails today.  One of my buddies and I managed to hit 2 today, unfortunetly I did not bring my camera so don't have pictures of any of the fun stuff we saw.  Our first hike was on the Auke Lake trail which turned out to be much shorter than we had thought.  BUT it was a neat trail.  Up and down small hills, in the woods.  There was a cool fog hanging over the lake when we started that burned off by the time we finished.  Ready for more we headed to the Dredge Lake maze of trails.  And what a maze it was.  We were quite thankful for all the maps posted otherwise I am afraid we would have been quite lost!  My favorite part was a narrow trail that followed the shoreline.  Everything was moss coated, the ground was even squishy in places from the moss.  We also saw quite a few trees that were down from river otter's gnawing on them.  Very cool to see the teeth marks.  We got to test our Keen's several times as we had to cross a stream and ventured down a trail that was flooded.  We ended up have to reroute and turn back.  All in all we hiked for about 1.5 hours.  I am very excited for our next adventure and next time will be certain to bring my camera!

As for the kids, school is going well.  Little A LOVES pre-K.  The poor kids had to get 2 shots today and has been limping around complaining about his leg ever since.  

We are all happy that football season has started.  Even the kids are into it.  Last night we had little A was jumping around celebrating the packers last minute touchdown with mommy!  Both kids are very upset they couldn't stay up to watch the 2nd game tonight. 

I'll get some pictures posted soon, and I know I still have a few days of the AK RV trip to blog. 

Daisy meets Moose

I am taking a break from our RV trip tonight to tell you about Daisy's encounter with a "moose".   Our neighbors recently came home with a 5 lb Boston Terrier puppy who they have decided to name "moose". I must say this name fits him quite well.  He and Daisy have been getting acquainted over the past few weeks.  Tonight Moose joined us and his family for a spaghetti dinner.  The dogs were too funny, itty bitty moose was attacking Daisy Dog!  This little 5lb dog would stand on his hind legs boxing D Dogs face, biting at her lip and ears.  Daisy LOVED it.  She even got down on the floor with Moose and would roll over when it got to be too much.  These 2 were hysterical, Moose jumping in and out of Daisy legs, over her back and Daisy either laying there rolling around or trying to walk with Moose weaving between her legs.  I am sure the picture and the story don't quite do the actual event justice but I just had to share.

Oh and Big A FINALLY lost that tooth that has been hanging on by a thread for weeks.  It literally just fell out of her mouth.  No hint of a root.  Of course it was still a traumatic event! Not quite as many tears as the last 2 but we still had to have a wet paper towel in our mouths for over 2 hours...DRAMA!

RV trip across Alaska part III

Day 5: We awoke early, left our awesome campsite behind and headed up to Anchorage to meet up with the Virginia half of the family.  The kids were super excited to see their cousins!  We arrived at the motorhome rental place to switch out our RV (long story as to why) and were greeted by 3 very excited cousins.  We even got to see uncle C again as he was in Anchorage for a part for his airplane.  After several hours of switching RV's, loading up RV's and grocery shopping we were off.  We headed for Denali National Park taking the Parks Hwy north.  The first hour took us through the Mat-Su Valley, Wasilla, and Houston kind of the "suburbs" of Anchorage.  After that we were pretty much "in the boonies".  I found this drive to be not nearly as pretty or entertaining as the Kenai Peninsula.  The road was flat and straight and there were pine trees on both sides.  We did still find amusement in reading our mile by mile account of the hwy in "the Milepost".  We arrived in Denali around dinner time in the pouring down rain!  After finding our campsite we cooked dinner for the masses.  The kids were exhausted and went to bed early but the adults toughed it out in the rain next to a campfire.  

Day 6: I awoke to the sound of rain pounding the roof and decided to go back to sleep instead of walking up to the visitor center to explore.   The rain continued throughout the morning.  G and I did manage to take a short hike to Riley Creek while everyone was getting ready for the day.  I must say, I was constantly checking my surroundings for BIG BEARS.  We pulled out at 11am and headed for the park road to drive as far as we could.  The park road is only open to the public for about 15 miles.  After that you need to have a special pass or be on a tour bus.  The park road is 90 miles long.  The tour buses make stops along the way and stop for wildlife viewing.  The trips can be as short as 4 hrs or as long as 13.  We decided that the kids might not last or worse yet torture everyone on board so decided to do the short drive in our RV.   We managed to see several moose on our drive unfortunately it was too cloudy to spot Mt. McKinely.  We then headed to the visitor center and caught a bus to a sled dog demonstration.   The kids were able to pet many of the dogs and we got to watch a team in action and learn about their training.  After this the weather started to clear so we headed back out the park road to see if we could get a glimpse of the mountain, no luck but we did find a great picnic spot for dinner.  After dinner we headed north to Fairbanks spotting several moose on the side of the highway.  I enjoyed this part of the drive as there were lots of mountains and valleys with beautiful views.  We arrived in Fairbanks around 9 pm in total daylight.  Uncle D had found us a great campsite on a river with ducks!  The kids enjoyed feeding and chasing the ducks.  After putting the kids to bed we were able to enjoy some adult time.  We tried to hang outside but got too cold and headed inside.  

Day 7: Our first stop in Fairbanks was about 15 miles outside in a town called the North Pole.  We went to Santa's House, a tourist trap, but kinda cute.  The whole town had candy cane street lights.  Santa's "vacation" house, as we called it, was essentially a store.  Santa did make his appearance and delighted the kids with hugs and pictures.  We also were able to see some of his reindeer in the back.  After this we headed to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to see the Museum of the North.  A beautiful campus and great views!  We watch a few short movies and explored the exhibits.  We then headed to Pioneer Park where the kids were able to play, ride a train and we experienced  -40 below.  BRRRR.  Big A didn't quite make it all the way into the large freezer they use to give you "the experience".  Little A, G and I however tolerated it for about 5 min.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I would have thought but my hands did start to hurt pretty quickly.  We watched hot water evaporate before hitting the ground and used a banana as a hammer.  Definitely a cool experience.  The Virginia V's decided to head back down towards Anchorage and we wanted to stay one more night in Fairbanks.  So after many tears we parted ways.  G and I decided to check out a brewery just north of town for dinner.  The Sliver Gulch Brewery had both yummy beer and yummy food.

Pictures: 1. Campsite in Fairbanks. 2. Where Mt McKinely should be. 3. Moose in Denali