Valdez Sunset

Our first night in Valdez was the one and only clear day we had and I am so glad I was able to capture a little of it on film. The pictures are all facing the mouth of the Prince William Sound.

And of course while I was being blown away by the sunset the manchild was trying to show his brothers all the salmon. I am pretty sure he was drooling but couldn't catch it on film. :)

Heading South

Road Trip to Valdez

Donnelly Dome

So Scotty and I are always looking to explore and we decided to sneak out for a weekend and explore Valdez, AK. This is an 8 hour road trip and the trip itself was an adventure. The scenary was amazing and exactly what I had originally thought Alaska would be when we found out we were being stationed here. So about an hour and a half south of us there is this small mountain(dome). Donnelly Dome pops out of the landscape and is beautiful. There is a trail that goes up to the top and I think the family might have to try that trail out!

Jezzy and the pipeline

 We took a break from the drive at one of the roadside pipeline sightings. This one was one I hadn't seen before. It had this pipes that you can see behind my truck. The actual pipeline is below the ground. These pipes keep the permafrost from melting from the heat of the pipeline. I have to say I am very impressed with how much thought to the environment went into making the pipeline.

Pipeline to the Wrangell Mountains

 It might be hard to tell but the pic to the left are salmon getting ready to spawn and the right picture is the stream they were in.

Of course no road trip in Alaska is complete unless you have a picture beside the pipeline. The sections of pipeline we had seen up until now have always been tall so we could only stand under it but this one we could actually touch. So I of course caught my goofball hubby loving on it.

 Further down the road you come into mountains that I swear touch the sky. These particular ones have heavy avalanche activity in the winter which creates this design in the side of the mountain. The darker rock is volcanic rock, the red is iron and the grey I can't remember. But these mountains are a sharp contrast to the green mountains that are directly across the river from them.
Right before you reach Valdez you climb to the top of a mountain range. The beauty here is breathtaking. Every time we turned a corner I was making the manchild stop for me to take pictures! This picture on the right was at the very top of the pass. You can actually climb out on the first set of rocks there for an even better view but since I was in sandals I opted to use my zoom lense instead.

 
 If any of you know me well you know I love to take pictures. I am not always successful in my endeavors to capture what I am seeing but sometimes I stumble across and opportunity and it is AWESOME! As we started our descent into Valdez I loved this formation of rock. So of course I photograph it. I double check the picture and realize that the moon is there too.  Man did I start snapping pictures then! And I am really happy with the results of those shots.  They kind of look other wordly. I also love the fact that there are so few colors but so much contrast in the

picture that it makes it look brilliant! I could not have had more fun on this trip down then we did. These aren't even half my pictures they are just the ones that were my favorites. If you ever get the chance to take this drive do it! Take a lot of film, or SD Cards and batteries and take your time and enjoy all of mother nature's glory!

My garden

I finally was able to plant a garden this year. It has been years since I have tried this but I had heard that even though Alaska has a short growing season it is actually extended because of the insane amount of sunlight. So I planted peas, strawberries, pumpkins, carrots and watermelon and hoped for the best. I also had to have some beauty in there and planted some gladiolas, dahlias and sunflowers. As of yesterday we have been pulling peas out and strawberries. The pumpkins are going crazy but the watermelon is not an my carrots are almost ready to pull. AND I finally have a flower blooming, woohoo! Along with this garden I tried my hand at container gardening some potatoes and celery from veggies I bought at the store and both of those are doing well too. All in all I think my first garden was a success, when my flowers start blooming I will post more pictures!

Hilltop Cafe

We decided to spend our Friday night checking out so uniquely Alaskan things. First we took Riana to the Alaskan pipeline, then we tried out the hilltop cafe. All I can say is yummy!!

Riverboat Discovery

Riverboat Discovery

Our weather has been unseasonably cool and rainy(I know I live in Alaska but we usually are warmer right now) so I decided this weekend would be the perfect weekend to take my niece, Riana, and the hubs onto the Riverboat Discovery tour. Essentially 3 hours of a tour of what the interior of Alaska is all about ! We started with a stop in the 40 below room, which I haven't gotten the picture for and will have to post later. Once we got onto the boat and started the tour itself we started off with a bush pilot demonstration. It was amazing how little space they needed for both take off and landing. The tour said that in the state of Alaska 1 out of every 60 people have a pilots license, guess I better get in the curve and get mine!

A little further down the river we were treated to a sled dog demonstration. These dogs were SO excited to run. The moment they had the harnasses put on they were yelping and running circles. They just wanted to get the command that let them run!

Along with giving us the sled dog demonstration they showed us how they go about training their puppies. They start them young, taking them on trails and over obstacles, and encourage them every step of the way. They do this to help create the bond they will need and to help them learn to listen for commands. They also utilize the older dogs by pairing them with the puppies.

At the end of the Chena we met up with the mighty Tanana River. This is a glacier fed river and it is what is called a silty river.  Compared to the Chena, which is considered a clear river, it is a very murky river. You can see the differences between the two rivers in the picture here --> 

 After we turned around at the Tanana we went back to an recreated indian village.

They had reindeer.

 

They also had demonstrations on how the local indians had utilized all of their resources to create tools, garments and many other items.

While at the village we were able to visit with the sled dogs. They were so friendly and sweet, Riana and I wanted to take them home.

We were also able to explore the village on our own and I am afraid my husband is becoming more Alaskan than I thought. Below is my emerging mountain man.

For years my hubs has been known as Moose by those that love him and my niece couldn't resist the urge to make him an actual moose. Nice rack honey!!

He was also deeply touched when he saw one of his fellow moose's pelts hung out to dry!

Below are a couple of shots from the riverboat of the village.

I am so thankful to have spent the day with the manchild and my niece, I had more fun than I have in a long time!!

Birch Lake

Birch Lake, AK

A couple weeks after coming back to Alaska we decided to take an afternoon and go down and check out Birch Lake. This is about an hour south of where we are but there is a military recreation site there and we wanted to see what was available and play at the beach. When we first showed up it was windy and rainy and down right cold!! I pulled out a sleeping bag and huddled under that while the family explored the beach. Soon the sun came out though and my children assume that if there is sunshine and water then they should be swimming. The crazy little people ended up jumping right into an Alaskan lake,brrrr!! They had a blast though. There was, of course, dunking competitions.

Well after watching Harm thump on his brother for a bit my hubby couldn't stand it any longer and joined in the fun. He started chasing the children down if they came out of the water.

For some reason he started stalking me but I think I made it pretty clear that me entering that water was NOT going to happen.

So he went back to playing with the kiddos.

It was a great adventure that we would love to repeat again.