Summer, Summer, Summer

Sunrise 3:24 a.m.   Sunset  11:59 p.m.

Hello from Central Alaska!  Summer is here.  Which explains why I've been MIA- I've been out playing.  Having fun, exploring the unexplored, by me, anyway.  And visiting some favorite spots, as well.

Since my last post we have seen and enjoyed Portland.  Loved Cannon Beach and all it's salty sea air.  We saw Goonies Rock, which is awesome, and admired trees, trees and more luscious green trees.  In Seattle we met up with friends for a drink before heading back to Fairbanks.  It was great to see Crystal and Ken, after working for her for a few years, it was nice to just relax and enjoy each others company.

After unpacking and reuniting with the furkids we settled back in life on the Last Frontier.  Memorial Day Weekend found us picking up our boat...FINALLY.  Brent has been anxiously checking the mail, the phone and the email every 3 minutes for weeks.  I have never been so glad to have to make a trip to Fairbanks in my entire life.  

Saturday we attempted to get out, but with 2 dump truck loads of gravel to shovel, we found ourselves working instead of playing.  Finally, late Saturday evening we managed to head out to our favorite area in the Donnelly area of lakes.  Of course, we knew that finding a free lake was going to take some time.  

Brent and the furkids tromped up and down dale and hill to find a free one.  And when we did, we all celebrated.  The dogs love to run, but don't love to be reigned in mid-sniff.  I mean, after all they may miss a rabbit trail...

Once we found an unoccupied lake, Brent set about inflating our new flotation device.  We were all excited, well, scratch that, Brent and I were excited to try out the new boat.  Unfortunately, Cash and Ches were more interested in gulping fresh lake water and swimming, swimming, swimming.  

In the interest of sanity, Brent and I decided that he and Ches would make the maiden voyage while Cash and I watched from shore.  So, they hopped aboard, we pushed them off, and about 5 ft. from shore Ches projectile vomited all over Brent and the new boat.  I wish I had a camera to capture the look on Brent's face.  Somewhere between sheer rage and udder disgust.  He maneuvered back to shore and we gave up the boat for the evening.

After indulging Ches and Cash in plenty of water play, we took off for home.  We were thoroughly enjoying the late night sun, lamenting a bit about how we "never see any buffalo" and voila!  As if sent to us, they were there.  Lots and lots of buffalo.

And then even more buffalo.  So we sat and enjoyed every bit of the experience.  They mulled around, interested, then suddenly stampeded off towards the majestic mountain range.  I wish they had stuck around a little longer.

As always the scenery near Donnelly is fantastic.  The mountains were out and proud, and waiting to be admired.

This is a photo of one of the forest fires burning near Delta on Memorial Day weekend.  Luckily we've gotten some rain, and the fires (and smoke) have subsided slightly.  It continues to rain, and hopefully it will work in putting out the rest of the fires in the area.

This is the sun at 11:15 p.m. on Saturday, Memorial Day weekend 2010.

We also grilled with friends, took in the local Memorial Day service at the cemetery, and picnicked and napped...and well, just enjoyed the weekend.  Oh, and lucky hubby worked, too.

This past weekend proved to be equally busy as the one before. Friday we were both beat and hit the hay early.  Saturday found me holding a Sassy party and readying the food, the troops and the camper for our first outing.

Saturday morning we woke to more rain, which was welcome, but irritating, and cooler temps.  Luckily in the afternoon it warmed up and we managed to get out and enjoy the cool, damp, but lovely weather.  All in all, the first night in the pop up was a grand success.  Despite the hundreds of pin-sized bloodsuckers preying on us in our sleep.

Sunday we headed for home, napped, played, walked, napped a little more.  Work, play, work, play.  The cycle of life, as it were.  Tonight we are getting more rain.  And while I know that it's needed in the area to help combat the forest fires, I can't help but dream a little dream, involving sun!

Happy Summer!

The Last Ride of the Year

We've been enjoying a gorgeous, albeit it cool, fall.  We have had plenty of sunshine, and the temps are cool, but enjoyable yet.  After our 6 inches of snow in late September we've been virtually snow free, though I think our luck may be running out in that department. 

Two weekends ago Brent and I decided to make the most of the warmer temps and head out for one last ride on Meadows Road.  It was a fairly warm day, when propertly dressed, of course.  The problem was the WIND.  It was terribly windy.  I finally had to wrap my scarf around my hat to keep it from blowing off in the gusts and gales.  Unfortunately, it was so bad that we didn't stay out as long as we would have liked to, but we took advantage of the day and snapped some pretty pictures.

Donnelly with it's dusting of snow.  It actually had a pretty nice cap about a week or so before this photo was taken, and I'm happy to see that we've lost some of it.  I'm sure it will be frosted soon.

Now that Brent is working less overtime he's had a little more time to get out and do some salmon fishing.  These are the silvers, at the end of the run, the end of the spawn, and they're coming North to die.  By the time the reach us, they're tired and well spent, and although we don't eat them, Brent finds them a lot of fun to catch. 

In addition to salmon fishing in the river, he's been doing a little grouse hunting.  And just generally relaxing, which is a huge change for him, and something he finds very difficult to accomplish.

We've had some exciting, and nerve wrecking, encounters with wildlife.  I was headed to work one day last week to find a cow moose standing guard of my car.  Needless to say I shut the door and grabbed for the camera.  By the time I got the card put back in she had sauntered to the opposite side of the house and I managed to catch this (not-so-great) photo of her.  When my heart rate finally calmed down, I headed out to work.

Brent was out playing with Ches in the yard, walking the driveway in search of birds for the freezer, when something caught his eye.  That something turned out to be a black bear, at the end of the driveway, in nearly the same spot I saw him/her.  He reared up on his hind legs to sniff the air and booked it out across the hay field to the West of us, where Ches was hunting for voles. 

Fortunately they didn't notice eachother and Brent got himself, and Ches, back to the house without incident.  I don't think Brent will admit it, but he was a tad shaken.  All he was carrying with him was a .22.  Not exactly bear protection.

Last week was a whirlwind and was busy.  I was offered another job, so I'll be starting that in the near future.  My friends at Durham have been gracious enough to allow me to adjust my schedule around this temporary job on base, and I'm hoping that the situation will work out well for all of us.  At the end of the week Brent started his new shift, which is still an adjustment.  But I think he'll really like it when everything settles and he gets used to it all.

Saturday I spent the day in Fairbanks.  I was fortunate to finally meet up with Susan, a fellow blogger, in the North Pole/Fairbanks area.  We met up for a late lunch, and it was truly delightful.  I love to hear of others' stories of travel to and from Alaska.  Susan is a brilliant photographer, and if you can check her out here, I promise you'll be impressed.  We chatted and learned more about eachother, though I admit, we knew quite a bit through the blogs and facebook.  My only regret?  That I didn't have more time to stay and play and chat and catch up.  I'm looking so forward to doing it again, soon!

I had two goals for the day.  And I got neither accomplished.  After a hellish wait on an oil change at Walmart, I didn't manage to get in that day, despite a 2.5 hour wait.  I rushed, grabbed my things for Tanya's shindig and rushed to North Pole to cross item #2 off the list. 

Hmph.  No luck.  AT&T store.  Closed.  BUMMER.  I was so looking forward to finally having reliable cell phone service.  Everytime I make a call, get a call, attempt a call, I get dropped.  Grrr.  It's time to switch.  Maybe soon.

Saturday night I arranged for a babysitter and took Tanya out on the town to celebrate her 30th birthday!  I had messaged a few of her friends, with Tony's help of course, to meet us at Pike's Lodge for dinner.  We arrived, fashionably late, to a table full of smiling faces, all there to support Tanya.  We enjoyed great conversation, mouthwatering food, the carrot cake of my dreams, and gifts galore for the birthday girl!  It was a great, and memorable, night for us all!

Sunday morning I rushed around trying to complete the tasks from the previous day.  I never did get the phone, but only because I need to drag Brent back to North Pole to make use of his hefty discount.  I did, however, manage to get an oil change.  Two days wait, 5 hours total, after buying my own oil filter from another store...it's done.  I can safely say, I will be trying out someone else next time.  And for the record, there were several other people in the same situation. 

When I got home I was wiped out. I took a nap, and woke to dinner lovingly prepared by my awesome hubby.  I lounged, nursed a headache (no hangover, I was sober cab), and laid low.  Much to my dismay, and thanks to the weather, I've been having headache issues again. Hopefully the barometric pressure changes again soon...I could use a reprieve.

Have a happy day!

Some pics

This is a photo of the mountains on Sunday a.m. on the way to Fairbanks. They were beautiful and I wish I could capture all the color that creeps up. The sky is always full of pinks and blues in varying shades. Breathtaking.

I didn't quite get these in chronological order. This is a photo of the bridge over the Tanana (like Banana with a T) River on the way back to Delta Junction from Fairbanks. With the mountains in the background, I thought it made a beautiful picture.

This the Alaska Pipeline that runs along the Richardson Highway near Delta Junction. This was taken on the way to Fairbanks before we crossed the Tanana River.

This is the Tanana River in the evening. It is HUGE, and I'm really looking forward to watching it change in the summer. It is unbelievable how far it reaches. Truly beautiful.

This guy is my favorite. He greets you and waves as you travel through North Pole, Alaska. He's so huge, that I had to zoom way out to get him in the picture. I can't wait to visit his village on one of our next trips.

This is my buddy the squirrel. He caused such a ruckus yesterday that I had to get a picture of him on my blog. He made so much noise that I swore it was an animal at least twice his size out there. I hope he comes around more often. Although I'm a little afraid he might get shot, the neighbors aren't as fond of him as I am.

I forgot to tell you that Monday while Brent and I were hanging out getting the house in order we heard something hit the house. It hit so hard that it shook a picture frame off my window ledge. I thought for sure one of the trees had come down.

Brent snuck outside to see what it was and there was a pair a grouse along the side of the house. They spooked so we didn't get a photo of them, but they were absolutely gorgeous. Hopefully we'll be able to catch a photo of the pair soon. They seem to like to hang out here.

Have a happy day!

A Long Day

It has been a long day. Not for me, necessarily, other than I've been alone all day. But Brent worked a 14.5 hour shift. The worst part? He can't call on the missile field so I had no idea if he was okay, and when I tried to call his phone there was no answer. I was getting really worried when he called to let me know that he'd be home in 45 minutes. That was about 35 minutes ago. Now that I know this is a possibility I probably won't be so worried next time. I hope. Anyway, I managed to have a pretty good day and Ches and I got a really good walk in today. Above is a picture of the road we walk. I zoomed in so you can see the mountains, but we walk down to the yellow sign and back. Anyway, it was a chilly but beautiful day.

These are the mountains to the East. There is actually a whole range but unless I zoom in you can't really see them and it make for uninteresting bumps. So, I zoomed. The forefront is land that has been cleared for hayfields. Very interesting.

If you look very closely you can see that these are Army choppers. They flew over the house and shook us top to bottom. Ches was napping and woke up barking at all the commotion. Very cool, and it added an interesting little tidbit to our day.

This is just a picture of the morning sky. I thought it was pretty. Ches was pottying and since most of you probably don't want to see a picture of that, I decided to snap the sky instead. Now, if we could just catch some of the wildlife that keeps leaving tracks around the house!

Have a happy day!

Entering Yukon

This is the kind of craziness that goes on. We were traveling along in our lane and a big ole truck goes barreling by at a speed that some would call crazy.

This is the first pass of the day. While we were driving it I could hardly look. What you don't see if the massive drop off over the cliff. The photo was taken about 45 minutes before sunrise, but it was light enough to see where we were going.

This is one of the herd's of bison that we saw along the roadside today. In addition to the bison, we saw 3 lynx, caribou, elk, and moose. In terms of wildlife and scenery it was the best day, hands down. The road was another story.

This is one of the many bridges that we crossed. The first one was really scary, but they were actually some of the best roads of the day. Leaving the bridges was sometimes the scary part.

Ches continues to be the perfect traveller. She's started her arm rest antics, but I had to scold her today when she was nudging Brent to pet her while he was trying to navigate the craptacular roads.

We drove around 330 miles at about 40-45 mph. Brent drove the entire day, so he is pretty wiped out. We did travel with the couple we met in Fort Nelson last night. They are relocating to Anchorage from Evergreen, CO. We traveled tandemly today and plan to tomorrow as well. It's nice to know that we aren't alone on the road.

This is a good example of what the roads were like for the good portion of the trip. Brent has a blister from gripping the steering wheel. I'm really hoping tomorrow is a better day.
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The high temp for the day was -21. Not so bad all in all, except when the gas pump broke in Muncho Lake and they had to partially dismantle the pump to get it to work. This is also where we paid $5.73/gallon for gas. And a Diet Pepsi cost us $4.75. OUCH! I also had to use the men's room that was so cold I could barely go. Yikes.

We're spending the night in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. We are planning to travel to White Horse tomorrow, I hope the roads cooperate.

The real experience begins

Before we even started out the most common phrase we heard was "what an experience". It has been a journey to the experience until now. I dare say that neither of us really knew what we were getting into. I dare say I would have sold or shipped everything and hopped a plane. The journey to Alaska has been emotional, but fairly easy, until today.

We left Dawson Creek, British Columbia at 9:15 a.m. just before sunrise. We had a nice, semi-leisurely morning. At breakfast Brent was chatting with a local on his way to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory who was putting chains on his truck. Brent decided that we didn't need to put ours on yet, but would if, or when, we needed them.

Two miles out of Dawson Creek we saw our first moose of the day. I, however, had not had enough caffeine yet, so I missed a great photo op despite the fact that my camera was literally in my hand. Grrrr.

Shortly before entering Fort St. John we crossed the bridge in the above photo. I normally am a good sport about heights, I don't like them, but if I feel safe I can handle it. I didn't feel safe. It could have something to do with the fact that the bridge seemed like it was 10 miles long, although in actuality it was only 1/2 mile long, I literally got nauseated. The picture does nothing to show the depth of the drop. Nothing.

Long gone are the nice flat roads that I was claiming to be "boring" just a couple days ago. The roads turned to true mountain roads as we entered the Northern Rockies of Canada early on in the day. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking and beautiful. But the roads are good in some spots, not so good in other spots. Slow going and smart driving was the name of today's game.



We stopped to give Ches a potty break at mile marker 148 on the Alaska Highway. As you can see it was named Suicide Hill at the time the road was put in. It received its name for being the most treacherous hill on the road. I'm really happy that they waited to tell us until we reached the top! In early days travelers received the warning "Prepare to meet they maker" before they headed to the top. Happily we made it up, and down, the hill without incident.

Later in the day as I took over driving the last 60 miles of the day we saw a HUGE moose. S/He lumbered across the road in front of us before trudging through the ditch, as s/he came to tree line s/he became panicked and started to trot before barging through the trees. It was a great sight and I hope we can share it with you all soon.

All in all it was pretty stressful day. Due to the altitude we traveled in and out of snow. A lot of powdery white stuff causing white out conditions for portions of the trip. Other parts we had sun, and we entered the ditch at one point. Luckily Brent was quick thinking and managed to get us out of the snow and out of the middle of the road just as a semi came barreling over the hills. It was scary enough to make me cry for a just a second.

Tonight we are relaxing in Fort Nelson, British Columbia. We checked in early and have been trying to relax despite a water issue. That seems to be corrected now so I'm hoping for a hot bath and a warm bed before we hit the real mountains tomorrow.

On a fun note we ran into a couple from Denver on their way to Anchorage. They're moving as well, and are driving because of their dog. I thought it was neat coincidence, and it's nice to know that there are fellow crazy people out there.

So, if you're the praying kind...please pray for continued safe travels for us. God is good.