Alaska Part 1

Alaska Part 1

Mom, Dad, & Melissa met up with us for 10 days in Alaska

When we finally got to Anchorage after almost missing our connecting flight in Salt Lake City and we met up with Mom & Dad at their hotel around 1am.  Luckily with all our bags! First thing the next morning we went and checked out the famous taxidermy from the show Mounted in Alaska.  Dad didn't get to shoot anything on this trip, but we got to see some of his heros.  They were really interesting and showed us all around the shop and talked to us for awhile.  After that we headed north to Trapper Creek.  It's just south of Denali National Park near the beautiful town, Talkeetna.  It was overcast and rainy on the drive up to the cabin where we stayed for 2 nights.  The first morning  2 moose walked right past our cabin while we were sitting around eating breakfast.  They were only 50 feet from the porch. It was incredible.  That day we checked out Talkeetna went on a boat ride and nature walk then met up with Brucker and his friend Jeff at the Brewery in town.  They stayed with us that night  back at our cabin and in the morning we woke up with a sunny day and a view of Denali!
 We went on this nice hike to get a better view, but by the time we got there is was covered up in clouds.   We did get a few good pictures later that afternoon.   It's such an impressive mountain. It means "the high one" or "the great one" in the native Koyukon Athabaskan language.  It's 20,335 ft and the highest in North America.

Our next stop was in McCarthy.   It is off the beaten path of most people's tours through Alaska.  It's in the Wrangell St-Elias National Park, 60 miles back on a dirt road.   Then you park 1 mile outside of town and have to cross over on a foot bridge and walk the rest of the way in.  It's an old mining ghost town, and it's neighboring town, Kennecott, is famous for it's copper mine.   After the first day we felt like locals in town.  Lots of people are up there for the summer and everyone goes to the one & only bar.  They have a softball game on Friday night that we were invited to and played a few innings in the field with the best view in the world. You are looking right at Mt. Blackburn from the outfield.  It even beats out PNC park with that category of beauty.  The field wasn't exactly proportional, but everyone was out there enjoying themselves, sharing their drinks,  and we had our pick of gloves from the wheelbarrow to join in.

Brucker & Jeff met up with us there the day after we showed up.  Our cell phones weren't working in the town and the guys were camping on the other side of the bridge so Brucker walked over and found us just by asking where the girls were.  The 5 of us did an incredible 9 mile hike up to Bonanza mine which was on top of an impressive mountain.  Mom and Dad hiked around the glacier while we went up.  They even saw a black bear while they were hiking. We had another perfect sunny really uncommon beautiful day to do the hike.  The views from the top were the most awe-inspiring, sublime, breathtaking views I've ever seen.  Mt. Blackburn was in full view, it's 16390 ft, the 3rd largest in Alaska.   Wrangell Mountains include 12 of the 40+ Alaskan peaks over 13,000 ft and we had a front row seat to them.   Then, when we were back down amongst the shubbery there was a plethora of wild raspberries  and we ate our weight in them.  Once we got back down to Kennecot we had a 4.5 mile walk back to McCarthy because we missed the last shuttle.  It took Melissa, Brucker, and me 1/2 hour to go less than a mile because we kept stopping every few seconds.  Of course at this point mom is back in town getting worried that we weren't back from our hike yet.  Fortunately a pickup truck came our direction and we hitched a ride back into town.   Everyone in town was relieved that we made it back in one piece. lol They all heard we were MIA.

We also got to go on a little bush plane with Mom and Dad in and around the mountains.   It was so cool.  There are a half dozen huge glaciers and a handful of smaller ones all around that mountain range.  We even saw a few mountain goats from the air while we were flying.   Then when we were back on the ground we got to walk right up and hike around on the glacier.  We even drank some fresh glacier water.  It was glorious.   We all got to see a bear on our hike back to town from the glacier!  It was a cinnamon colored black bear with a black head.  We watched it for a few minutes.  It was indulging itself with berries, just like we were earlier.  He could've cared less that we were 50 yards away.  Sunday morning on our drive out it was a rainy stormy morning and there was a tree down a couple miles out on that 60 mile dirt road.  There were a few cars lined up and fortunately someone was there with a chainsaw by the time we got there.  We all got out to help clean up the tree to clear the road.  It felt like home. 

We met a really fun family, the Youngs, while we were in McCarthy.  When we got to Valdez we went out and drank some great Alaska brewed beers and ate seafood pizza at the Fat Mermaid until they kicked us out.  Valdez was probably all of our favorite place in Alaska, and maybe the planet.  It's tucked down along Price William Sound and the mountains are coming right out of the ocean.  Huge mountains!  With glaciers on all of them.   I think Annie and Melissa counted 14 different ones from the end of a hike/ mountain bike trip we did one day.

The best day ever started off with kayaking around icebergs and then it just continued to get better. Kayaking around the icebergs were definitely the coolest activity we did on this trip.  We were a few miles from Colombia glacier, which is a tidal glacier that is in catastrophic retreat mode.   Losing meters of ice everyday because about 30 years ago the salt water got underneath and that is causing the breakup.  It creates an awesome playground to kayak around all the icebergs though!  They were giant chunks of ice, some bright blue, others white, and others brown and full of dirt. The color mainly depended on what part of the glacier it broke off from. The day started really foggy, overcast, and rainy.  We weren't expecting anything different though.  Somehow the sky cleared and the sun came out and it turned in to another  uncommonly sunny day.  We stopped and walked around for a minute on one of the islands and found some wild blueberries.  It was the perfect day.

 We got back to the harbor around 5 and went to the fish hatchery where the salmon are all swimming back to spawn.  We were on the search for bears.  Luckily for us we saw 2 small black bears at the creek catching salmon.  Then driving back we found 2 grizzlies playing in a gravel pit. They put on a show for us for about 1/2 hour.   Then we go back into town for dinner.  Dad invited our guide and he recommended the perfect restaurant for us.  It had a great view of the harbor, and the most incredible halibut and king crab I've ever tasted.   That was when Melissa made the comment how she just couldn't imagine anything getting better than kayaking, then we saw the bears, and she didn't think it could get any better. Then we had such a wonderful dinner and there was no way it could get any better.  So we are sitting there looking out over the harbor and the mountains and out pops a full moon from behind the mountain.  It was a day that will be pretty darn impossible to beat. 

The next morning Melissa Annie and I went on a mountain bike ride and hike.  It was Melissa's first time riding in the woods.  At first she thought we were crazy that we like to do that for fun!  She got a little more confidence and didn't hate it after awhile.   We found mom and dad walking around the harbor looking at boats dreaming that he'd buy one and move up there someday.  That evening we went to the grocery store picked up some beer, wine, cheese and crackers and drove back to watch for beers.  haha  I love my family. We only got to see one that day.  It made us realize how fortunate we were seeing all the others the day before.  The salmon run is a pretty incredible thing to see.  These fish are working so hard to get back to where they were hatched to lay their eggs.   Then there are thousands of seagulls poking their eyes out and eating them up.  Seals and sea lions are in the water and bald eagles are feasting on them too.  It's the circle of life right there in your face.  The salmon are swimming to their death and fighting there way to get there.

We took the ferry across to Wittier and the plan was for Annie and I to get dropped off at Jeff's in Moose Pass and they would turn back around to Anchorage to catch their plane that night.  Well we didn't think we were going to make it.  Moose Pass doesn't have a gas station and Seward was another 30 miles away.   Luckily it was mostly downhill and we were able to coast our way down to fill up with gas.  Everything worked out in the end.  Annie and I have 2 weeks now to do some couch surfing and explore the Kenai Peninsula. 

Chicago

After recovering from Hickmanfest we took Melissa and hit the road for Chicago for the weekend before flying out to Alaska.  We stayed with Katie Pride, a great friend from Westminster.   She had tickets for Lalapalooza all weekend so we did our own thing during the day, but her boyfriend cooked an amazing breakfast both mornings.  Omlets and bacon and mamosas.  He has the most amazing view in his apartment overlooking the city and when it's clear you can see some of the lake.

We took the L to Wrigley Stadium hoping to buy tickets for the Saturday afternoon game, but they were sold out and we couldn't find any seats for less than $40.  They just finished sweeping the Pirates so people must have been excited to see them playing well.  We walked around the stadium and checked out a couple bars.  Goose Island brewery is right there so we had a taste of some local brewed goodness.   Then after the game the street exploded with Cubs and Red fans.  It was only 4 in the afternoon but in the bar you would've guessed it was 12:30 on a Saturday night.  We were dancing and got a dance circle going.   It was a lot of fun being in that area even without getting inside the stadium.  

The next day we were treated to another wonderful breakfast and a quick thunderstorm that we were able to watch roll in over the city.   Then we went around and toured downtown and the pier before meeting up with Elizabeth, which is my friend, Cody from Argentina's, girlfriend who lives in Chicago and they are watching our car while we're up here in Alaska for a few weeks.   Another thunderstorm passed through and delayed our plane leaving Chicago.  We had an hour layover in Salt Lake City and we almost missed that!  We got off the plane running and they reopened the door for us to board.   Somehow they got my book bag to Anchorage.  I guess if I have to pay $25 to get it up there they better work pretty hard to make sure it makes it.

HICKMANFEST

HICKMANFEST VI

Great weekend.  It was nice to be home for a week and see the family.  Amy was there with Max and Ben and we got to spend a lot of time swimming and playing with them.  It was great seeing all our friends from home, especially having the weekend party at the camp everyone gathers around together.  I even unexpectedly got to see Cassie.  She had to come up because her grandpa, the ultimate joke teller, passed away and she was up from NC.

Hickmanfest VI officially started at 12:00 on Friday.  Annie and Tia started it with a shot of tequila as Jake pulled up with the trailer packed full with 15 kegs.   People started coming down the dirt road all afternoon and found places to set up their tents.  The yard was full of people playing games all evening.  We had a fire going cooking hotdogs and people brought down a ton of food that night. Last year's record for last man standing was Eric Winger.  He made it to 6:52 (microwave time) and that record was crushed this year.  There was about of dozen of us that made it up until Craig came down around 9am with Clark's doughnuts and cooked eggs and crepes! A few of us were even swimming int he river just after sunrise.  Shawn Winger and I were having swimming races up river.  Somehow I lost at that, but won the headstand contest.  After I ate breakfast I crashed for a couple hours in the tent before it got unbearably hot.  Saturday and Sunday typically become pretty blurred together.  It was an unbeatable weekend.  The only thing we had to worry about was the tide coming in while we were in the river playing flip cup all day.  (Nothing to worry about because the river has no tide!) haha  Although someone was going to check out the time of the tides on his smart phone the first time that was said.   Sunday funday started pretty darn early with Chad Clark sending a picture of his first beer of the day to Jake probably around 7:30am.  I'm not sure how late anyone stayed up Saturday night, but I'm guessing there wasn't more than a few hours the whole weekend that someone wasn't awake with a beer in hand.

Saturday Jake actually had to order 4 more kegs.   Ann was in the kitchen making some good mac and cheese, Norm made his famous Nachooooos, Aunt Amy dominated on the beer pong table, we had some randoms floating down river that stopped in for a few flip cup games. We kicked the last one Sunday night at 12pm but Allison had some warm budlight lime that we could keep the party going late into Sunday night.  Melissa was the first to decide it'd be cool for everyone to lift the kegs up over our heads.  So they were being passed out and the Varsity squad was all there celebrating. 


The whole weekend was such a blast.  We had people come from Atlanta (Cara & Linda), Washington DC (Firas) , Rhode Island (Ryan), and even Alaska (Brucker).   Unfortunately my ipod came up missing, and I'm not so sure we'll have another Hickmanfest of this scale again.... It was one to remember though. 

Maryland & DC

We had a nice week catching up with old friends from high school.  Lindsey Drake and Amanda Zychowski are a couple of my favorite friends from Emlenton.  


Ocean City, MD
We had an awesome few days staying with Linz and her boyfriend Marlin at the beach.  We went out on one of their friends boats and toured around the bay one night at sunset.  We found some crabs off the shore, but nothing that was big enough to legally take.  Then we went back to the dock to do some "chicken necking" crabbing.  They tied the chicken to an end of the rope and the other end to the dock and dropped a few of those in the water.  Then you go and test the rope to see if you can feel a crab pulling on it.  You slowly pull it up and catch the crab in a net.  We caught a couple ones that were too small, but they were surprised how slow of a night it was.  I seriously think I'm bad luck when it comes to fishing.  Anytime I've ever gone fishing it's dead or I never catch anything.   After a slow fishing night we did get a glorious treat when Marlin came home from work with a dozen crabs.  They had to teach us how to eat them and they are now one of my top 10 favorite foods.  


Annie and I also spent a day Assateague Island where they have the wild ponies.  It was incredibly foggy right on the beach.  When I was in the water you couldn't see more than a few yards out to sea.  It was really creepy yet peaceful at the same time.   Then we rode our bikes around and got to see the ponies hanging out on the island.  Annie had always read the books as a kid about this island and it was something she's been wanting to do for a long time.  It was a bummer that we didn't really see any out on the beach in the water, but it was still pretty sweet.  


BALTIMORE
We found a couch surfer and went to the Oriels game in Baltimore.  They lost to the Red Sox again.  (We watched them play each other in Boston) 










Washington DC
We didn't have the best welcome to DC.  We were in Baltimore the night before and went to an Oriels game and the next day we drove to DC.  We were just going a couple hours and I didn't put the lock on the bikes because I figured we would be getting them off the car again when we got there.  We showed up at Amanda's house at 1 and it was about 110 degrees out so we went into the house right away to hug and say our hellos.  It wasn't 1/2 hour later we walked outside to get our stuff out of the car and my heart sank into my stomach.  I was hoping that Annie came out and took them off and I didn't realize she was gone, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.  Our bikes were stolen.  I loved that bike too. It was a Christmas present 6 years ago and we've had some great rides together.  We called the cops and they showed up and we gave them the descriptions of the bikes and she reconfirmed that the chances of them finding them were slim to none.  They figured it was just a couple kids walking down the street that took them.  The officer did give me permission to knock the kids out if I saw someone riding it around the street.  


After that there was nothing we could do, and it wasn't worth ruining our time in DC sulking over the fact that they were gone.  We met up with some of Amanda's friends that evening and went to the DC United soccer game.  It was a fun game, nothing near as crazy as what I've been to in Argentina, and they lost so that didn't help.  It was a good time nonetheless. 


Annie and I toured the city during the days when Amanda was working.  We went to the Holocaust Museum, National History Museum, saw The Constitution and Declaration of Independence at the National Archives.  Linda Stubbs from Atlanta also flew up to meet us and drove back to PA with us for HICKMANFEST.  





We had some great food with Amanda too.  I don't think it'd be possible not too hanging out with her.  She literally gets a new cook book everyday and has her own cooking blog. check it out amzingeats.blogspot.com    We had some great fish on the grill one evening with her friends and went out to eat another night at an Ethiopian restaurant.   We also met up with one of Annie's friends Lloyd and one of Jake's friends from PSU, Firas and had some sangrias. 


On the way home we stopped and showed Linda PSU.  It's such a better school than Alabama!  We went to the Creamery and stayed with Greg & Jan for the night.