Shake it!

This summer has been absolutely amazing. My mother, step-father, and brother came to visit for a week. We picked them up in Denali and went to Valdez to go Halibut fishing. Although we didn't catch any monsters, I'm pretty happy with my catch (I'll post a picture later)! I miss them already.

My dad also came and stated for a couple weeks. We went camping, rode the Alaska Railroad, and went to see Mt. Mckinley. Although it's rare, we were able to see the top of Mckinley--even from the train. On the shuttle into Denali, we saw dall sheep, caribou, and even a bear. I wish he could have stayed longer, but hopefully I'll get to visit home soon.

We've also moved onto Ft. Greely. No more driving! This is especially great for the winters--the roads can be very dangerous. I love it here...plus I've made some friends which makes it even better. I can walk to the gym, commisary, px, Zumba class, etc. It's great. There is so much room in our new place. We have three levels, including a basement. Oh, and about Zumba, I absolutely LOVE IT. I am the most uncoordinated person alive, but I cannot say enough good things about this class. It is fun, a great workout, and you feel a sense of accomplishment afterwards. More on this later.

Trevor's dad, granddad, and uncle are coming up this week. We have been super-busy with company and I love it. They are going on a men's fishing trip for silvers--we always have to take full advantage of the summers.

It's hard to believe we've been here for over a year. I'm still happy here--especially since we've made the move. As long as I get to see my family and take fun vacations, I'm okay here. In August, Trevor and I are going to Dallas for an Energy conference. I CAN'T WAIT to lay out by the pool in a bikini--that's one thing I miss. Even though we've had several days well into the 70's and 80's...it's no Alabama.

I Passed the Bar!

Obligatory...since now I'm a lawyer and all...

Spring is Here!

Now that it is incredibly beautiful outside, I'm suddenly in the mood to take pictures and post about activities. Last time I posted, the sun was out around 3 hours a day. Now, the sun is up from around 4am to 10pm, and it's only going to get better. In January, the temperature was anywhere from -20 to -40 and today, it'll be 60 degrees.

I was in Alabama for all of March taking the bar exam. It was incredibly difficult and doubt I'll pass. People continually ask me "How do you think you did?" Well, the answer is "I have no clue." The bar exam isn't an objective test, meaning you have to choose the "most right" answer from a mostly ridiculous question that would never occur in real life. This is why it is almost impossible to gauge your testing results. As far as the essay portion, I don't feel terrible about it--it's easier to study for, but impossible to know what the examiners are looking for. I've already passed the Ethics portion...let's just hope I can go all the way. But enough about my personal life....back to Alaska!

Anyway, so we finally bought a trailer for the RZR. Who knew they would be so expensive? Regardless, I'm happy we bought it. We went riding Saturday on Coal Mine Road which is an old, abandoned trail leading up to an old coal mine. Snow and melting snow (mud) was terrible in some places, but the RZR is pretty awesome and we made it through. Karla and Brent (our friends) went riding with us and brought their cute doggies. It was so much fun. Brent and Trevor even shot a few Ptarmigans (wild birds) and I cooked them for dinner. This summer is going to be amazing. Today, we're going fishing. Hopefully I'll have a big fish to post on here later.

Winter Pictures

Water Freezing at -40F

Welcome to Winter

Well, thanks to a 2-3 month project at Boeing, my blog has been out of commission. Today is my first day home. Now I'll have a little more time to devote to documenting our experiences in beautiful Alaska.

So how are things going? Well, it's cold for starters. Even though this has been a "warm" winter, we regularly experience anywhere from -10 to -40 degrees. We plug our car in nightly to avoid freezing. One night we forgot, and our tires were square and the Exploder would barely move. Hopefully that won't happen again.

We've made a few friends which makes our journey much more enjoyable. It's nice having people to hang out with when it's so dark and cold. For New Year's Eve we went to a Fort Greely Masquerade Ball which was tons of fun. Trevor and I had cools masks, outfits, and a great time.

I've booked my flight home for Feb 17th. I take the bar on the 22-24th of Feb. I'm not looking forward to it; hopefully since I'm home I'll be able to take advantage of the study opportunties.

I've got lots of pictures and videos to post!

Anchorage

Two weeks ago, Trevor and I made our way to Anchorage to shop for winter clothes for the weekend. While there, we got snow pants, masks, bibs, ugly boots, gloves, etc. I look like the Michelin Man. Oh well, at least I'll be warm. Anchorage was a beautiful and small city...we really liked it. The mall, however, is pretty poor--only a few good stores. But of all the things we bought, I'm the most excited about the new earrings Trevor bought me for my birthday. I love them. I know they won't technically keep my warm or anything, but whatever. Ha.

Home in Alabama

I'll be posting new updates when I return to Alaska. Right now, I'm enjoying myself in Alabama but missing Trevor terribly. He couldn't come because of work...he was actually at a business meeting in Rhode Island the day I flew out of Fairbanks. He told me this morning that there is already frost on the ground; it was 32 degrees this morning...burrrrrr. I'm not looking forward to that.

Denali

This weekend, Trevor and I went to Denali National Park. We brought a tent, firewood, and some food in a cooler. After setting up our camp, we made hobo meals and threw them on the fire....for a hobo meal, it was fantastic. The temperature got down to around 40 or lower, but our sleeping bags kept us warm--it just wasn't very fun getting out of the sleeping bags in the morning.

Saturday morning, we went white water rafting on the Nenana river. The rapids were rough and it was a lot of fun. I wish I had some pictures, but I couldn't take my camera for obvious reasons. The water was FREEZING. Had we fallen out, even with our wetsuits, we would have been dead in around 30 minutes. The water was only 30 hours off the glacier.

Later that day, Trevor and I went into the park and hiked around. We decided to climb a huge rock and took some pictures once we got on top. The park is amazing and the mountains were fabulous. I must say, however, the mountains near us (Delta Junction) are pretty great too.

On Sunday, Trevor and I boarded a shuttle that went through the park to Eielson. It was very windy and dusty which made it hard to hike around off the shuttle. Denali only has one road through the park...and the park is over 6 million acres. So basically, you have to be very careful when deciding to backpack on your own. While riding to Eielson, we saw around 20 grizzly bears which is crazy considering the park only has about 300 grizzlies and over 6 million acres. I'm not good a math, but it's pretty amazing that we saw that many bears. We also saw lots of caribou, golden eagles, falcons, arctic ground squirrels, moose, etc.

Lastly, we arrived at Mt. McKinnley--also known as Denali. Denali is around 20,320 feet high at its south peak. It is unbelievably huge...both tall and big around. I can't believe that people are actually hiking Denali because the wind and cold have to be unbearable. Denali is only visible approximately 1 out of every 7 days. Unfortunately, there were a few clouds covering the top, but we got a pretty good view.

All in all, Denali was an amazing experience. In order to get the full effect, we needed to stay a bit longer, and maybe camp as far into the park as possible. I'd also like to flight see and land on a glacier. At least we know what to do next time; the drive is pretty short for us.

Sadly, fall is beginning here in the interior of Alaska. Many of the birch trees are already changing colors. Temperatures will start dropping in the next couple weeks. This means that the warmer temperatures will be a distant memory and the cold will taking its place. We've tried to take advantage of the warm weather by doing something every weekend, but the summers are just too short to do everything we want to do. We will, however, hopefully be going skiing in Anchorage pretty soon.

George

George has finally joined the Marshall family. At first he was scared and cried a lot, then he became a cuddler, and now he's a terror. I don't know what it is about me, but every pet I've ever had has been extremely hyper and out of control. He plays 24/7, but is quiet a night when we go to bed....so that's good. I'm glad I've got someone to keep me company since I'm home alone during the day.

Valdez Trip

I have never seen so much wildlife before...beating out even the zoo. I saw moose, porcupines, rabbits, porpoise, humpback whales, killer whales, a shark, jelly fish, sea lions, sea otters, puffin, halibut, and a GRIZZLY BEAR.

We started the trip by going on a glacier cruise. We ended up getting a great view of glaciers and got to touch the ice bergs. Although it was 70 degrees at Prince William Sound, it was really cold on the water. I loved seeing the sea lions and otters. The sea lions look so fat and lazy while the otters are adorable and playful.

The next day, we went on a deep sea fishing trip which lasted 8 hours. I had never been deep sea fishing and it was a lot of fun. We didn't break any records, but I was perfectly happy with my 20-30 pound Halibut. In fact, we're having it for dinner tonight. I'm actually embarassed because when I was reeling it in, I could have sworn it was 100 lbs. Ha.

On the last day while touring the area, Trevor's mom saw a bear in the woods by the water. He was crossing under the road in order to find some fish along the shore and rocks. We immediately stopped the vehicle and I got out of the car with my camera. I KNOW it was stupid, but I was close enough to the car to where HOPEFULLY I could have made it back inside should he have decided to eat Amy instead of fish. He was amazing...and big. I'd never seen a bear before so it was an experience of a lifetime. I posted some pictures below.

On Monday I finally adopted George! He's so little (a pound and a quarter). He went to the vet today so he's not happy with me. I'll post pictures of him in the next day or two!

Valdez Pictures

Prince William Sound

Bear

More of Grizzly Bear

Ice Berg!

Porpoise

SEALS

Worthington Glacier

Porcupine

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.