Hike up Bird ridge

It was a windy day along turnagain arm where we went hiking up bird ridge. The dogs had a blast and stood right into the wind and had their tongues blown right out of their heads!

It was a really steep trail, reminescent of Koko Head in Hawaii only steeper, we ascended a little over 2000 ft. in less than a mile and a half. The views were amazing and we wished we had a sunny day to enjoy but alas summer is over in the AK, we had our week of sunshine and hot days....

Kevin went with us and we all had a great time scaling the cliffs and watching the huge tidal changes in the bay.

If you want to see the whole album from the day click on the picture below.

Bird Ridge

Deck Project Post 1

Let it be known that we have started the deck! Updates will follow with progress of the fun. So far we have drilled the holes for the footings about 4 feet deep and sunk the sauna tubes into the holes and then poured the 8 60lb! bags of concrete into them. With the footings in we can now go get the lumber... The deck is much cheaper than we had anticipated, which is always nice! We are going to put in cedar with a pressure treated sub structure and some fancy copper encaps on the hand rails, assuming all goes as planned. Should turn out to be quite nice and have plenty of room for good summer BBQing fun and games! The finished product is going to have a table and chairs and a big area for bbqin. Looking forward to finishing this baby! We are headed to the Chulitna river for our first Canoe trip of the season tomorrow, stay tuned for the fun!

Deck project day 1

Bouldering in the bowl

Bouldering fun

The above set of photos was taken on a bouldering hunt for a glacial eratic in the trails just to the west of the Chugach. We headed up there about 9 that evening and enjoyed the long summer days here in alaska searching for a LARGE rock in the forrest to climb on. We had a blast hiking around and found the rock along with a rope swing and played around until the sun started to set. Great night to break up the week of work.

Alyeska in May

Trip to Denali NP

I FINISHED!!!!!

I attempted....I swam...I pushed...I biked...I had a HUGE leg cramp....I pushed harder...I ran...and crossed the finish line loving every minute of it!!!! Well, except the leg cramp part of course :) AND, I came in about 30 minutes under what I was expecting me to take. I don't have the official time yet, but I'm just totally pumped and proud of myself that I finished one. I have to thank my friend Spring Clegg for inspiring me to do this....you rock Spring!!!!

Here's the 3 National Weather Service girls at the end of the race....Kristine, Louise and I, all first time triathletes!

Here's a shot Ben got of me at the finish line. I don't have the greatest face on because 1) I was TIRED, and 2) I didn't see Ben and though he hadn't come, so I was pretty bummed. But seconds later I saw him and was so happy he had come!!! Thanks babe!

Wish me luck!!!!

I'm attempting my first triathlon today up here in Anchorage....The Gold Nugget Triathlon. So if I make it across the finish line, stay tuned for some pictures!
Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Confusion with smaller pictures

We've been getting some questions about the smaller pictures in our blog, those are actually links to "web albums". So when its an extra small picture (like the Jeeping in Alaska and Fairbanks posts), click on the small photo and it will bring you to the whole album.

Ben and Lisa

Bean Bag Toss!

Filled with boredom but also with excitement of summer one evening, Ben and I decided to make our favorite game that we played in Hawaii - Bean Bag Toss. We recruited Kevin and Laura to help us...along the the puppies to stand guard :)

After a few mess-ups with the bean bag making (had to sew them all, 8 of them to be exact, by hand), we had a great game of bean bags. We learned from some mistakes in Hawaii building the boards, and now they are super light and transportable......so look for us touring the nation with this AWESOME game! :)

Great action shot of Kevin makin a toss......this picture was taken at 9:30pm - good ol' Alaskan Summers!

Jeeping Trip in Alaska

Alaska Jeeping Trip

(Click on the picture above to see the whole album)

With a gorgeous Alaskan spring day this weekend, we decided to take advantage and attempt some Alaska 4-wheelin with Kevin and Laura joining us. We were pretty much the only Jeep out there, mostly just ATV's and dirt bikes. Most of them were completely COVERED head to toe in mud.....seemed like some sort of badge of honor. Anyway, it was nice to get out. We tried to make it to the Knik Glacier, but it took WAY too long.

One of the highlights of the day was a joke Laura told that fit our experience to a tee:

What is the last thing a redneck here's before he dies?

(in a redneck voice) "You're doooooin it man!"

:)

Fairbanks

faribanks

(Click on the picture above to see the whole album of pictures)

So Lisa and I went to fairbanks last weekend. We had a great time despite a bit of boredom as the city of fairbanks is pretty crappy. We put together a web album of the highlights, some pretty cool stuff when I look back at it. We saw an Ice museum full of cool art and went to the best hot springs I have ever been to and ate out at some interesting restaurants and remarked about how preety it could be if everything were green and the river boat rides were up and running. Our bed and breakfast was nice except for the really annoying laugh of the lady who ran the place. It was a bit stuffy for us too but not bad I guess.... Lisa is still there til the end of the week, she gets to stay at the springhill suites. Much nicer! She is attending a fire weather training event. Cool stuff! Guess I will call it quits for now... Tons more to post though.... So keep you eyes peeled. Sorry for the long wait.

Ok so here is my Jeep after a lift and bigger tires. Oh and about 6 hours of washing, waxing, vacuuming and shining. Still looks pretty dang good for an '03 if you ask me. K so next weekend I am going to take her out and do some wheelin' alaska style. Should be a blast so watch for pics and video!