Oops!

Oops, I forgot to include two of my favorite pictures from the glacier hike I posted before. Thie first of course is a weather weenie photo, but the second I think is the best. And I figured Vanessa would be proud of my photog skills! :) Enjoy!

 

Hike at Matanuska Glacier

Last weekend, Lisa Brown and her mom joined Ben and I, and our temporary roommate Garrett on a hike on Matanuska Glacier, just northeast of Anchorage. It was such a beautiful place, got lots of great pics, gonna have to post a lot to show you all! Sorry for the amount!

We thought we were on just dirt and rocks in the beginning, turns out its all ice!!!!

The glacier was melting in beautiful patterns into a river.

Garrett and I next to the river (really small, under the glacier, in the dark space, can you see us?)

Looking through the icy abyss!

Ben testing out the depth of the lake, getting ready to jump

Lisa Brown, Professional Glacier Tour Guide, Walking Pole Demostrater, and Tina's cousin ("Eat your food, Tina!)

There was a really deep blue line in the ice, just denser ice with less air bubbles.

glacier hike contd.

Mmmmmmm, glacier water!


Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam (minus the Cult Jam) in the fireweed (can you believe its a weed?!)


Really beautiful rock color near Sheep Mountain, we went there to a little lodge for dinner and pie!

A different view of Matanuska Glacier

On our way home, we accidentally took the wrong exit. As we were turning around, I thought I saw something that looked like a bear, but to not sound dumb since we were back in Anchorage, I asked "Is that a really big dog?" Everyone looked and Lisa Brown screamed "Its a bear!!!!!" Turns out, it was a momma and two cubs. Sorry for the crappy picture, it was dark and they were moving FAST (one cub is in the backgroundin the tall grass)! But yea, our first bear sighting, only about 4 miles away from our house, in the protection of a car thank gosh!

Our 4th of July

For the 4th of July this year, Andy and Lisa Brown and her mother joined Ben and I to a trip to Talkeetna, about half way from Anchorage to Denali National Park. On the way, we decided to stop at the Little Susitna River again to try to catch a King Salmon. No luck again, but Ben found a great "sport" to do in the river, "River Running". He conned Lisa Brown into trying it, and for the rest of the story, check out the video.

What you don't see at the end was Ben diving in the water when Andy yelled "Dude, save my wife!". Luckily Lisa managed to get to shore. Good laugh.
Here's the post-falling-in-the-river shot.
 

In Talkeetna, they were getting ready for the Moose Dropping Festival, where they drop hand painted and decorated wooden moose by the local businesses, onto a bullseye on the ground from a plane. People put money on which moose will hit the bullseye, then there's prize money. A famous Alaskan tradition. This was my favorite moose, a mer-moose, decorated by a local store.
We stopped by the Talkeetna River to skip some stones.
Here's a great shot displaying my weather geekiness.
Good friends, good times!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!!!!!

It was Ben's 30th birthday on the 7th, ready....everyone!...."Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Beeeeeeennnnnnnnnn, Happy Birthday tooooo yoooouuuuu!"
It was a good one, Ben got a tool chest/work center to put all his tools in...
and some Superman pj pants!!!!! (He also got some more socially acceptable ones too to wear around other people, as to not give away his identity)...
He got the birthday poster greeting, started by his mom when he was just a wee one...
and then a dinner at Benihanna's and dessert at the Crow's Nest with our friends The Browns.
Then for another dessert, I combined his favorites...cupcakes and angel food cake...and made angel cupcakes!!!! Turned out a little strange (if any of your try this, DON'T use paper cups!) but still good none the less.

Now try to imagine the next two pics in action!!!!! Happy Birthday my love!

Fish fish fish fish fish....

Here fishy fishy!.... I have one thing to say, waders rock, except when you go in the river too deep!

Oooooops!
Our friends Andy and Lisa workin' it on the Little susitna river.

More fishing...

The water at the falls was really flowin! Salmon are nuts.
The long arduous journey up the river!
Kenai lake, hmmmm might be nice to be the guy with the float plane and the masion on the right eh?
We tried our hand at the King slamon, not much luck though, the run was weak and we are going to wait for the next one to come around, but catching a king is a must do! We had a blast anyway, notice the beer holder in Lisa's back pocket... Too much fun! 

We had so much fun on the first trip we went back to see the falls and catch a few more fish while we were at it! This is Lisa's first of the day, three before that were so huge that they got away!
The falls were awesome, the fish were packed in there like sardines, you could literally walk across their back to the other side of the river! It was truly amazing to see them swim up that falls. The water was really flowing fast and they made it right up no problem! I am going to try to post a video on here so you can get a better feel for it!
Great shot of a fish in the air!
See the backs of the fish in the water!