Try and Try Again

I had a wonderful birthday. Thank you again everyone for your thoughtfulness. It was so nice to reach the mailbox each and every day, to find another letter, card or package. You made my day extra special.

11 p.m. Sky on May 15, 2009

This package arrived from my younger brother Kyle, and his girlfriend Jana. It's a great Independence Day wall hanging and tea towel. I look forward to using it soon! And the other item is a cute keychain from Hess. THANK YOU!

Friday evening Brent took me out for pizza. There's a great place in town that opened up just a few weeks ago, I believe. Since the dining establishments are, uh, limited in Delta, we hit up Birch Brothers pizza. It was very good. We ate our pizza while Ches waited in the car. Then we loaded up and headed over to a friends to chat and get me out of the house for a while. It was great. Relaxing, filling and perfect.

Unfortunately, Saturday did not fair as well for us.

We had reserved a cabin on Lisa Lake for the weekend. I wish I had a picture, it is breathtaking. We trudged, tromped and plodded through tundra, moss, swamp, mud, water, you name it, to get there. On foot. Carrying everything two people and a dog would need for a weekend in the woods. Much to our dismay, when we neared the end of the trail it was impossible to reach the cabin. I could have cried. And nearly did. We back tracked, forged ahead, repeating this process numerous times over the period of about one and half hours. All in the middle of nowhere. Ultimately, as I stood contemplating what items could easily be replaced and left in the woods, we decided to head for home.

We were both so disappointed. So. Disappointed. We were so close. How close? We could see everything, except that darn cabin. The boat, the water, the mountains. Us and nature. How divine does that sound?

Being hardheaded and determined not to let this minor (MAJOR) set back ruin our weekend, we headed home to regroup and find an alternate plan. Since it was so gorgeous we piled into the car and headed towards Donnelly campground south of Delta Jct. As our luck would have it, the cabin was taken. Since we don't have a tent, we officially scrapped the camping idea and decided to head home, once again, to try to find a plan. And we managed to find a nap in the process. LOL. It was a very trying morning. Very.

After a few moments rest, and a little stomping about we decided to pack up the grill, some fixings and head out to enjoy the mountains views and just hike, grill and relax before heading home for slumber.

We hiked and explored until we came to this resting spot. Here we sat, and listened as the wind rushed through the valleys and over the peaks. We listened to swans calling, ducks taking flight, and nature surrounded us.

Sunny snow-tipped Alaska Mountains

We just sat, and took in all the beauty and glory around us. We watched a bald eagle sit atop of the trees, swaying in the breeze. Here, if you look closely, you will see two caribou bucks grazing along the creek. They were happy to entertain us for the duration of our stay. We kept hoping for a moose, or perhaps a bear, but none were to be seen this day.

The view of the valley

After resting and relaxing in our own bed on Saturday evening, we headed out to this same spot on Sunday a.m. We did a short little hike, then plopped down in our new favorite spot to enjoy the view. This morning we saw a lone caribou make his way across the entire valley. He kept a wary eye on us.

When our souls were full we headed into town for brunch with Sid & MaryLou. They wanted to treat us, partly for my birthday, and partly for our care and help while Sid was on Shemya Island. We had great food and great company. After brunch we headed to their home, as MaryLou had a gift for me. She bought me a jade plant. I don't have much of a green thumb, so I'm a little worried about that. But a jade plant I have. It's said to bring luck to the household it graces. Bring on the luck!

Napping is our favorite weekend past time, as you may discover in this post alone. So Sunday was no different, we snuck some zzz's and then Brent and Sid headed out to hit the fishing holes. Success was had! Our freezer now holds rainbow trout and grayling. Ha! So we'll be grilling up some fish shortly.

Monday we made a very quick trip to Fairbanks. We had to go because I desperately needed a blow dryer, mine exploded on Friday. And Brent needed some items that we just couldn't find in town. So we made record time to and fro, and then dropped off the groceries and headed for the mountains. It was a glorious, albeit windy, day. We wandered the roads behind Donnelly Dome, and it is filled with dozens and dozens of lakes. We saw bison (with babies), moose, caribou, snow shoe hares galore, eagles, hawks and it was awesome! Why no pics? Hmph. I'm just learning to use my new camera, and operator error has caused me to lose some pics, or make them unuseable anyway. I'll see if I can rescue them in the coming days. If so, I'll post them.

And that brings us to today. I worked on unpacking and cleaning, since we did nothing the entire weekend that was household related. I cleaned windows and floors, and I'm STILL waiting for the phone to ring.

On another note, please think of my brother, Brent, who is recovering from his tangle with a chain saw over the weekend. I know it involves his foot, 4 hours in the E.R. and some stitches, hoping you heal soon! And to my sister-in-law Sara, who lost her beloved aunt to cancer yesterday afternoon.

Hoping you are enjoying spring as much as we are!! Happy day!