Flying Past Volcanoes

Sunday was a day to remember! Garrett's cousin's cousin, Rod, has been a pilot for nearly 30 years and owns two planes: a four-seater and a two-seater. Because there was a bunch of family in town for Garrett's other cousin's wedding, Rod was offering to fly his family members around to do some sight-seeing while the weather was so nice. Rod offered Garrett and I a trip when we were at the wedding on Friday evening, but we didn't want to get our hopes up in case it didn't work out. However, Rod held true to his offer and we were to meet up with him and Garrett's cousin, Trent, at 8:30am Sunday morning at the Wasilla airport.

It was a beautiful, clear, sunny, chilly morning. Garrett and I were nervous as we sat in the car waiting for the Cessna to land at the airport to pick us up. The plane was WAY smaller than I thought it would be - the pilot and co-pilot in front, the two passengers in the back row, and some storage in the way back. Everyone was shoulder-to-shoulder which was nice because it kept the plane warm! I'm not a big fan of flying. I especially don't like take-off and landing. I'm usually the person with eyes clenched shut, hands white from squeezing them together, body unnaturaly tense, and creepily mumbling. But on Sunday, I surprisingly wasn't stressing about it too much. I was excited to see my new home from the sky!

We took off with ease and Garrett and I were all smiles. We followed the Cook Inlet down the west side, opposite the Kenai Peninsula. I wasn't really sure where we were at any given time but it was sure pretty! We flew over a bunch of lakes - like, a BUNCH of lakes. There is so much water up here that it's kind of hard to believe. Most of them are not swim-worthy, though, and look like they grow all kinds of yucky things. Some are dark blue, some green, and some are milky blue from all of the glacier silt. Some are as small as a pond, and others are big enough to land float planes on. We spotted a moose from the air, wandering between bodies of water. On our left was the inlet with it's river-laden beaches - the tide was out, so each tributary left from that morning's high tide grew branches like trees, stretching across the silty shore. 

We began our descent and were scouting a strip of beach for landing when Trent spotted a sow grizzly and her two cubs making their way from the sand to the trees. When they heard the plane, the mama bear stood up and she was ENORMOUS. She watched us circle low for landing then the three of them took off into the shelter of the forest. The babies raced after her, tumbling and rolling in their haste. It was spooky to see such wild and giant creatures right where we were supposed to be landing. Getting out of the plane, we saw the fresh tracks across the sand alongside where the plane's tires had rolled to a stop. I couldn't help but check over my shoulders every few minutes to make sure we weren't interrupting some sort of grizzly get-together.

We wandered along a path toward Silver Salmon Creek - about the same place we saw the bears run to hide! - because Rod and Trent wanted to cast a few lines. Garrett and I hung out while they fished, taking photos of the scenery and scouting for more bear tracks (which we found a LOT of). We also found a few dead jellyfish and some beautiful shells. We didn't get visited by any critters, thank goodness.

We had sandwiches on the beach of the inlet and sipped coffee from thermoses before stepping back up into the plane. We took off with ease and headed inland to fly over a small part of Lake Iliamna and to see if a burger place was open at Lake Clark. I saw another bear lumbering across the beach below! The stretch between the mountains was really bumpy. At first, the drops just made me laugh at the unpredictability - like a roller coaster with your eyes shut - but I started to get woozy. I could taste my ham and cheese sandwich all over again and felt like I could blow at any minute! I was bummed because I wanted to see the sights, but watching the wings bounce around just made it worse. I hid my face in Garrett's shoulder and tried to pretend like I was on a fun fair ride but knew things were about to get bad soon.

Luckily, we were over Lake Clark before I knew it and were coming in for landing. It felt good to be on the ground again! The burger place was closed but the owners were hanging out watching football so they let us in to use the restrooms. We chatted for a while and I was able to drink water and chew some gum, which helped a lot. After about fifteen minutes, we were heading for the skies again.

We flew the length of Lake Clark, which was a beautiful turquoise color and had sandy beaches, and headed toward an enormous mountain range. Rod warned me it might get pretty bumpy again and I was worried that the nausea would come back. Fortunately it was smooth the rest of the day and I got to fully enjoy all the sights! We couldn't believe the colors and the enormity of everything. It's a harsh but breathtaking terrain. We flew toward Mount Redoubt - a volcano that erupted in 2009 - and got close enough to see that it was emitting some sort of steam! It was weird to see a snow-covered volcano. I always picture them like the ones in Hawaii - ha! Not up here.

There were tons of glaciers and small mountain lakes, steep peaks and concave valley floors. Everything seemed to be blanketed in a down comforter made of resilient snow. The sunshine made the terrain look warm but you definitely wouldn't want to get stuck out there for the night! We flew back over the inlet and began our way up the Kenai Peninsula, passing over Soldotna and taking a wide swoop over Anchorage. We were low enough to see hikers waving at us from the tops of local mountain trails and I could see little figures running around on playgrounds. We landed back at the Wasilla airport at around 3:30 and were exhausted! We couldn't thank Rod enough for taking us out on an adventure of a lifetime. He even made the lunches himself! 

Garrett and I then had to drive to Anchorage to run some errands and meet some folks for dinner, so it was a long day full of sitting. I am so happy to have been given the opportunity to do something so out of my norm, though, and am actually looking forward to flying in a small plane again! Who woulda thought. 

Old Buffalo Mine

On Saturday we went on a four-wheeling adventure with Bill and some of his neighbors and friends. The group ranged from a 5 year-old to an 86 year-old! In total, we had six four-wheelers that caravanned all over the mountains for about five and a half hours. Garrett drove the two of us around which was nice because some of the trails we found were not for the faint of heart. It was pretty chilly out and Bill warned us that more layers would be better than not enough. I wore about four shirts, plus one of Garrett's flannels, as well as a scarf, a hat, and snow gloves. It was hot in the sun - too hot for all the gear I wore - but once you start riding, the wind tried to carve straight into your bones. 

We started from a parking lot tucked back into some sort of state park and drove up a packed dirt road for about a mile or so. We were surrounded with yellow - the changing birch trees were like barricades on both sides of the road. The fireweed has already bloomed and died so the brown stalks mixed with some stubborn green plants made up the undergrowth. Even though the prime of fall has passed, it was still a beautiful area and stunning view. We took a narrow side trail off of the main road and wove our way through some muddy bogs and around big boulders. The path took us up an extremely steep hill and I was not a fan - I'm always afraid it'll tip too far back and come falling down on us! Garrett wasn't even phased, though, and we made it up slowly but surely. 

We cruised around on a high plateau for a while before heading back down - it was a pretty short trail. Not content with that jaunt, the crew decided to head to the Old Buffalo Mine near Sutton - a few miles away - and give that area a shot. 

There were way more people at the second spot and we were kind of bummed. It's no fun to cruise around when you have to worry about other people popping out of the trees or meeting them head-on.  One of the other group members declared the sights would be worth it, though, so we unloaded and began the trek up a switchback old mining road. Once at the top of the mine, it was so windy that we had to yell in order to communicate. We were told there was a small, steep trail that led up to a look-out spot over the old coal mine, so we took turns checking it out. The mine was a giant v-shaped pit with unstable edges made of sand and old coal dust. Garrett tried walking along it and nearly slipped all the way down! 

Someone else found an entrance to the bottom of the pit so we drove as far down as we could on the four-wheelers, then walked through the somewhat narrow opening into the pit floor. There were chunks of coal everywhere! The kids discovered that you could draw with them so we made artwork on small rocks. The ground was silty and sticky, making it hard to walk through. We all wandered around for a while taking pictures and enjoying the protection from the nasty wind. Garrett picked up a big hunk of coal about the size of a watermelon and threw it against a large rock and the coal shattered into a million pieces! It's pretty fragile stuff. We tried climbing up the coal veins but it just turned to powder underneath our feet. 

We rode back down, taking some fun little shortcuts along the way, and enjoyed the views of the valley below. Once back to the parking lot we started from, we found some paths that led to the mouth of the mine. It had been shot at and trash was everywhere, which made me sad, but was cool to see nonetheless. There were old outbuildings that were used to house dynamite and a little hut that might have been a tool shed at one time. We rode up and down some hills and found old signs and equipment. It was like touring a giant, unkempt museum!

Surprisingly tired from the day's travels, we came home and laid low for the evening. Mammaw was still in Seattle so the three of us whipped up some homemade pizza and watched 48 Hours. Now Garrett won't hush up about buying four-wheelers and side-by-sides! I guess that's what I get for moving us to a state with more trails than roads. 

Earthquakes & Little Lakes

I survived my first Alaskan earthquake! It hit at about 9:45 AKDT (for those of you that don't know, Alaska has it's own time zone. We're two hours behind Mountain Time and one hour behind Pacific Time. Some of the Aleutian Islands off of Alaska share a time zone with Hawaii because Alaska is so darn BIG!)

I was sitting on the couch at Mammaw and Bill's house, reading another blog on my computer, when it happened. Remy was sleeping on the matching armchair and we were having ourselves a lazy Thursday morning. There's a dirt road right in front of the house that gets a fair amount of traffic, surprisingly, so when I first heard rumbling I assumed a big truck was just making it's way down the road. The noise grew louder and louder and suddenly I felt the couch cushion wiggle a little and I realized no truck was THAT rumbly. I looked at Remy and she was staring at me with her little pointy sonar ears going crazy and I knew something was up. It died down pretty quickly, and I realized it was an earthquake at about the same time it seemed to be over. 

But it wasn't over! A more ferocious jolt occurred and the entire couch began moving - I felt like I was on a waterbed! Items in the house were clinking together, the chimes on the porch were ringing nonstop, the blinds were swinging back and forth and Bill's recliner was rocking with enough force as if someone had just leapt out of it. I jumped up from the couch, grabbed Remy, and stood underneath the doorway to the closet under the stairs. From there, I could see things hanging in the shower swinging back and forth and, through the living room window, the trees swaying in every direction. 

I knew there would be aftershocks, but I didn't know when they would occur. I knew not to expect anything worse than the main quake, though, so I felt safe enough to come back to the couch. Remy was spooked and kept close for quite a while afterward. I looked up "alaska earthquake" on Google and found out it was a 6.2! Way bigger than one I'd ever been in before. I realized I could still feel the floor rumbling under my feet. The entire thing lasted almost a minute - a lot longer than I thought it would. 

I've only felt one other earthquake before, back when I was in middle or high school. I was sitting at my desk in my room one night, probably doing nerdy things like homework, when my chair jiggled and things on my desk rattled. Since our house was fairly small, I shouted "did anyone else feel that?!" They all shouted back, "feel what?" and I informed them that I thought we'd just had an earthquake! They all thought I was making it up, which I wouldn't put past my pre-teen self at the time, but I swore that at least something had happened. No more than two minutes later, the newscaster on the channel my dad was watching downstairs said "looks like we just had a little earthquake!" Talk about vindication. But that was no 6.2!

I'm glad I know what to expect now. I guess you're not supposed to hide under doorways anymore? (Thanks, elementary school! What're you going to tell me next - that Pluto's not a planet?!) Apparently, hiding under a table or solid surface is a better way to go about temporarily impeding your death during a more aggressive earthquake. I'm hoping this was a rare occurrence, though, because yesterday's was the biggest quake in the last couple decades. I can handle the little rattlers just fine.

I was really excited to talk with Garrett about it because I knew it was his first earthquake, but he told me that he didn't feel it because he was using some dirt drill thing at work so his whole day was an earthquake. Dang it.

Last night we attended the rehearsal dinner for Garrett's cousin who is getting married today in Wasilla. I can't believe this is our first wedding of the summer! We had one to go to earlier this year in the spring, but we thought this was going to be another hectic year of "I do"'s. We got to see Garrett's aunt, uncle, and cousins as well as his boss and some coworker-friends from last summer. It's nice knowing we're not completely alone up here in The Last Frontier. 

The house that hosted the event was so beautiful - tucked away into the yellow birch limbs and next to this tiny lake spotted with loons. It was the perfect night to sit against the outdoor stone fireplace and look out at the dusky reflections on the water. It was chilly, but for some reason any other temperature would've ruined the mood. 

Watching Leaves Fall

Now that Garrett's back at work, my days have seemed really long. I'm trying to savor these last two weeks before I, too, have to report somewhere every day. 

The weather has been so nice since we got to town. The nights are really chilly - down in the 30's - but the days are sunny and warm. The birch trees surrounding the house are losing their leaves slowly but surely and this morning there was frost on the grass alongside the dirt road. Remy and I hung out all day alone because Bill took Mammaw to the airport in Anchorage. I found Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood on Mammaw's bookshelf so I've been cranking through that. It's so good that I have to stop myself from reading chapter after chapter because I don't want it to end. I also found a fall edition of the Taste of Home magazine that has a bunch of awesome recipes and have been copying some down for dinner ideas so Garrett and I can take turns cooking. Usually he just whips something awesome up because he is a naturally good cook, but I want to hone my skills, too!

I've also adopted Mammaw & Bills' routine of watching Judge Judy at 2:30 while enjoying a cup of vanilla "latté" in the afternoons. I know, I know. But I feel like I make a fantastic stay-at-home-dog-mom at this point. I'd spend more time outside doing things but a) the neighbors are slightly creepy, b) I have no method of transportation, c) the nearest "town" is a half hour away, and d) I have no money to throw around. So instead I sit in the comfy living room and, amongst other things, watch all the pretty yellow leaves fall from the tall trees.

This year has been weird. I haven't had a job since last December when I interned at Anderson ZurMuehlen. I guess I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant this past spring, but it wasn't much of a job - more of an extra-curricular that paid a little. I started working when I was 14 1/2 as a dishwasher and haven't really taken a break since, so not being employed for almost a year is not something I anticipated. Not that I'm complaining! It'd be nice to have a sense of purpose again, though. I'd like to make some money and use the skills I've spent so long acquiring. Thank goodness for Garrett who has carried our financial burden for the better part of the year. Not a single complaint, either. 

Hidden in Houston

Yukon Territory, Canada

It's been so nice laying low at Mammaw & Bill's for the last few days. We have horrible cell service here so I feel like we've been off the grid for a while. When we venture into Wasilla I can send off a few texts and post a quick picture on Instagram but that's about it. 

Houston has a population of just over 2,000 and doesn't really have a main street or downtown area. The Parks Highway goes right through the Mat-Su Valley and connects Anchorage to Fairbanks, essentially. It's over 300 miles long and is known as a really dangerous highway. They're doing construction on it now to make it wider, but it's mainly two lanes without a median which you can imagine would get pretty sketchy in the dark winters. There are accidents every week and lots of fatalities. Plus, driving under the influence is a pretty big issue here so that adds to the danger. Luckily we will be living in Anchorage and won't have to commute on the Parks Highway every day like hundreds of other people do. Scary stuff!

Garrett starts his job tomorrow with Bauer Construction, the same company he worked for last summer. He was going to wait until I started my job on October 6th but the drive up was more expensive than we hoped it would be so having some extra money will be extremely helpful. Plus, we've just been sitting around on our bums so why not make some dough?! The downside is he has to drive to Anchorage all the way from Houston and be to work by 7:00am, which means he'll have to be on the road by 5:30am...yuck! At least he might be able to beat the traffic since he'll be leaving so early!

It's been chilly the past few days but so pretty. I kind of feel like I'm made for cold weather. I love bundling up and feeling cozy much more than I like being hot and sweaty all day. I'll probably be changing my tune by about January when we're barely halfway through the cold months! 

The Big Move

We made it to Alaska! It only took us five days of driving 10-15 hours a day to get here, which was quicker than we anticipated. Here's a rundown of the big trek:

Monday
We left the Bitterroot Valley at about noon but had to run errands in Missoula before we could truly hit the road. After getting the transmission flushed and oil changed, we stopped for some ammo for Garrett's rifle and a dog bed for Remy then grabbed some lunch. The drive to Bellevue seemed to take forever but there was a gorgeous sunset to guide us. Craig and Michael had a delicious dinner waiting for us despite it being so late and Remy and Jasper played for a while.

Tuesday
Craig had already left for work when we rolled out of bed at 8:30 but we got to chat with Michael and plan our route while Remy played in the yard to burn some energy. Somehow Remy magically escaped from the yard and we thought we were going to have to spend the next few hours searching through the neighborhoods for her, but luckily she came running when Garrett called for her. WHEW. We stopped at a grocery store to stock up on snacks and such and finally rolled out of town toward Vancouver at about 1:00. Getting over the border was kind of a pain because we had to declare Garrett's rifle and for some reason it was some huge ordeal. We had to wait inside the building for almost an hour as they slowly searched our car and trailer for who knows what. We had to pay $25 for some temporary permit and were finally free to go, but discovered that they had really dug through the trailer. Stuff was unzipped and unfolded and boxes were shifted around so that was annoying. Vancouver was kind of disappointing because of all of the traffic and we didn't really get to explore, but at least we can say we've seen it! It was way bigger than I thought it would be. We cruised through and continued on our way to Whistler which was BEAUTIFUL! The fall colors were just beginning to change and the sun was barely setting so we definitely hit it at a great time. The actual town of Whistler was crazy - mansions upon mansions. It reminded me a lot of Park City, UT but with WAY more trees and WAY more money. It would've been cool to get out and explore the tourist downtown area but it was getting dark fast and having never taken that route before, we didn't really know what we were getting into. We hit a pretty gnarly pass in the dark and it was slow going for quite a while, especially with the trailer. I'm sure the area was gorgeous but we unfortunately didn't get to see much of anything since it was so late. We pulled into a little town called Clinton, BC even though our goal destination was more than six hours away. We slept in the car in the parking lot of a little hardware store on the edge of town and it was surprisingly comfy! Garrett had fashioned little curtains for the windows and we had a blow up mattress that fit perfectly in the back. It was a little cold but we had plenty of blankets, and Remy acted as a pretty nice foot warmer.

Vancouver BC

Wednesday
We woke up early and scooted out of the parking lot before the store opened so as to avoid trouble. There was an RV park in town but they wanted $20 and we thought that was just plain silly. We grabbed some nasty gas station coffee and secretly brushed our teeth in the restrooms before hitting the road once more. It was another day of beautiful views and we were excited to be taking a route that was unfamiliar. We listened to podcasts and to some old CDs from when we first started dating which is always a treat. Remy slept the entire day except for when she wanted to stick her head out of the window for short stints. We finally found the Cassiar Highway turnoff but once again, we were hitting the scenic stint in the dark. We drove a ways but decided to stay overnight at a rest stop so we could see the pretty stuff in the daylight. I was a little hesitant about it because it was SO dark and SO remote and right next to the forest so all I could think about was enormous grizzly bears waking me up in the middle of the night trying to reach inside and eat my face. But Garrett loaded his rifle and we had Watch Dog Remy so I managed to fall asleep just fine. It was cold again but not unbearable, and the slight drizzle of rain in the night was really relaxing.

Thursday
We slept until about 7:30 and just hopped over the seats to continue driving since it was so wet outside. I later realized that I hadn't stood upright for almost 24 hours because I never got out of the car! Weird. We saw a few bears but that was about it for wildlife. We eventually ran into the Al-Can just west of Watson Lake and were sad because that marked the end of the path we hadn't yet traveled. Gas was ridiculously expensive - almost $6.50 a gallon - so that was fun. With the trailer we were averaging about 13 miles per gallon and I counted that we stopped for gas 21 times - not always to fill up, though. We drove all the way to Whitehorse YT which went a lot quicker than Google Maps told us it would. We had PB&Js for dinner, brushed our teeth in the WalMart bathrooms, then set up camp in the parking lot with about 40 other travelers. I felt like I was part of some gypsy camp except everyone was wearing sweatpants. Another semi-comfortable night's sleep.

Friday
We actually got to stop at a Starbucks for coffee and a quick splash of water on the face before we began the worst day of the drive. The stretch out of the Yukon, over the boarder, and into Alaska is horrible because of all the frost heaves and road damage. It's like riding a terrifyingly unpredictable rollercoaster that goes 55 mph for seven hours. Such fun. Remy was not enthused and sat on my lap for stability for most of the drive. We crossed into Alaska with ease and were relieved to be back in the US. We were determined to make it to Houston even though it was going to take 14 hours. Right outside of Palmer, only a couple hours from mammaw's, we hit rain and fog. We went down a pass right by the beautiful Matanuska Glacier and drove right through a cloud. It was kind of spooky not being able to see more than ten feet in front of us! The pass is steep and only one lane in both directions and the trailer added a little more tension to our already exhausted nerves. It was so colorful driving into the Mat-Su Valley, though, and I felt my heart lift a little at the excitement of arriving in our new home. We made it to Houston by about 9:30 and mammaw had spaghetti waiting for us which was just what we needed. Remy remembered the house and wouldn't stop singing and prancing around! We were so happy to get to sleep in a real bed and stretch out - especially Garrett - and got to be lulled to sleep by the sound of rain on the metal roof just like we love. We're so happy to be here!