Alaska Range and Mt. Hayes with New Camera

In case you're wondering, Mt. Hayes is the tallest mountain depicted that looks like a linebacker with shoulder pads. The first picture is Mt. Hayes through the Ft. Greely missile field. The last picture is of the Alaska Range with most of the snow melted away.

Here's about Mt. Hayes from Wikapedia: Mount Hayes is the highest mountain in the eastern Alaska Range. Despite not being a fourteener, it is one of the largest peaks in the United States in terms of rise above local terrain. For example, the Northeast Face rises 8,000 feet (2,440m) in approximately 2 miles (3.2km). In terms of topographic prominence, Mount Hayes is one of the top 75 peaks in the world.
Mount Hayes was first climbed in 1941 by Bradford Washburn, Barbara Washburn, Benjamin Ferris, Sterling Hendricks, Henry Hall, and William Shand, via the North Ridge. Today's standard route is the East Ridge (Alaska Grade 2+). Mount Hayes is not frequently climbed due to its remoteness and the resulting access difficulties.

Little Rainbows and an Arctic Char

This morning we decided to go fishing at Mark Late towards Ft. Greely. Today was mostly cloudy and ended up raining, but we managed to catch 4 fish before the bottom fell out. The fish weren't very big, but at least we caught something. I'm convinced we would have gotten a big fish if we could have stayed out there longer. Too bad it had to rain. Maybe tomorrow it'll be nicer.

Later on, Trevor made us some awesome burgers on the grill while I made some potato salad. It was so good. It's so nice to be able to grill things now that I don't live in an apartment/condo complex anymore. Oh, and we sold our condo back in Birmingham! We couldn't be happier!

So, Trevor apparently signed me up to go to a "Tupperware Party" with a lady from his work last night. I was not happy about going (b/c it sounded horrible) but once I found out it was code for "girl's night," it wasn't so bad. I met some really nice people and bought some Tupperware. Tupperware and Pampered Chef is expensive but has some really good stuff! I wanted everything there.

And, yes, I realize I look stupid in my cap...just go with it. It's windy here.

Living at the End of the Alaska Highway

Things have been going pretty well in Delta Junction. I'm getting my school work completed on time and Trevor's still loving his job. This weekend we went fishing and riding the razor with Trevor's work friend. It was nice to have a "guide" help us know where some of the trails are located. It got a little too windy and we ended up having to call it a day.

Trevor's family comes up in a week and I couldn't be more excited! I've missed Olivia, and can't wait to head up to Valdez! I've never been, but it's supposed to be incredible.

Trevor bought me a new camera on Monday, so hopefully it will take some better pictures. My old camera is awesome for running around or taking pictures close-up, but hopefully this one will be better for the outdoors. We'll see. It's not any more expensive, but it has more mega pixels and all that jazz. I obviously can't afford to spend $1000 on a huge camera...plus those types of cameras aren't easy to lug around.

This weekend was also the first weekend we decided to venture out at night...well, if you call daylight night. We went to Clearwater Lodge and hung out with one of Trevor's work friends. I met a few people and hope I made a couple friends. The band was awesome. People aged 20-80 were dancing and having a great time. The 80 year olds were in better shape than me and danced the whole night. I obviously need to get in shape. We'll definitely go back.

Gardening, baby moose, and George.

This weekend has been mostly rainy. But we have managed to make the best of it. I picked up some arctic flowers, castle mix, and a tomato plant. This small box of flowers/plants hardly qualifies me as a gardener, but I'm getting there. In Alaska, you really have to make the best of the summer...because in the winter, life becomes, well, cold. Really cold.

Yesterday, while riding to look at George (I'll get to that later), we saw a mama moose with two calves. It's amazing how comfortable they seem to be around humans. Here's a picture of the little family to the right.

Lastly, I've been looking everywhere for a kitten to adopt. I really miss Meow-Meow, but my granny has fallen in love with him and I can't bear to take him away and have him shipped to Alaska. He's spoiled with granny. Kittens have been really hard to find around here, but I managed to find a little white Siamese with gray ears at a local dairy farm. I forgot to take a picture of him, so this will have to do (yay google images). Trevor has been itching to have a child named George one day (I have no idea if he's pulling my leg or what) so we decided to compromise. The cat's name is now George Marshall. His eyes opened the other day, so hopefully if everything goes well, we'll have him when we get back from our Valdez trip. I really hope everything goes well. I'll be sad if something happens to George before he gets to come home.

Riding in Bear Country

Rudolph. I saw him.

So the other day, Trevor and I went riding on the ATV. We decided to take it down to an old coal mine up in the mountains. It was amazing to take trails along the mountains, down towards an old coal mine, and to see the wildlife. I've never seen a caribou (reindeer, same thing). While we were riding on one of the trails, a huge bull caribou jumped out in front of us. It had a really large rack. I couldn't get my camera out in time, so I don't have a great pictures...I did manage to get one, however. Wish I could have gotten a better pictures, but this will have to make due.

I miss Taco Casa and Zoes

I really miss Taco Casa and Zoes. Life has been pretty hard without two beef tacos, hot, with frijoles and my Greek Salad with the potato salad on the side with extra dressing. Even though Alaska is hands down the most gorgeous place I've ever seen, here are some things I'm missing:

1) Zoes

2) Taco Casa

3) Regular running water (we only have well water...with no fluoride...my teeth will prob rot out).

4) air conditioning (In the summer, it gets around 80 at times and there is no air conditioning)

5) movie theaters, regular restaurants, and malls within a 100 mile radius

6) friends...I have none. Maybe I'll make some if I can find a job or something to do.

7) Snakes...I'd rather have snakes than bears. Just sayin'.

8) Night time. It's hard to sleep when there is no night. Of course, in the winter I'll be wishing there was some daylight.

9) Mexicans. Instead of awesome Hispanic aisles at grocery stores with awesome food, we have Russians and their Russian food. It's much easier to read "tortilla" and understand than hard Russian words like this: "Я мечтаю встретить женщину, чтобы разделить с ней мою жизнь." I can literally see Russians from my window. No joke. Palin was right. Seem like nice folks, though.

Our New Toy

We've kept a low profile this week due to the Wasilla fiasco last week. However, the RZR came in today and we had to take it for a ride! We rode to town to the local restaurant--Buffalo Drive-In. The drive-in only opens in the summer and is a nice place to hang out and eat awesome ice-cream. Today, however, there was a rough sand storm and my face was clothes was covered in dirt. There was an outline on my face of where my sunglasses were.

The RZR rides great...very smooth with lots of power. We are renting a trailer tomorrow for the weekend. I'd like to ride up to the mountains. We'll be able to get a lot closer than if we were on a car. Hopefully I'll get a lot of great pictures this weekend. This time I'll be sure to wear my helment and goggles so I can keep the dirt out of my eyes and hair.