Meese Encounter

Had a close encounter with Meese No. 78 last night. Wrigley and I went for a run on some of the trails near my house. At one point there's a long stretch of downhill (my favorite!) and an abrupt turn to the right, and where do you think that meese was hanging out? Yes, right around the corner, not even visible until you get there. Wrigs was running ahead of me (he's such a show-off), and he started to do his freak out bark. As soon as he did that I saw the spindly meese legs through the trees. Wrigs was only about 20 feet from the meese, who was starting to walk towards Wrigs with his big rack low to the ground. Luckily, Wrigs listened when I called him back in my "I'm really serious, Wrigley, get your little dog butt over here" voice. So, we avoided skewered Wrigley and had a lovely run back to the house. Hopefully the next sightings won't be quite so exciting.

It's fall, so the male meese are growing their racks in. It's really impressive to see those things up close. It's a wonder they can even lift their heads. I wish I'd had my camera - the leaves have put on their fall outfits, and the run last night was just stunning.

Next up...Loren's wedding!! Scott and I are headed to Illinois tomorrow to begin the festivities. Probably won't see any meese....

Not that I'm Bragging, but...

This is what I did Labor Day weekend. Nice weather, much??

Putting Scott to work

Checking out huge icebergs

Hiking up the side of Bear Glacier

And it's appropriately named
I heart this state!

I Ran and Nothing was Chasing Me!

Harumph. I wrote the text of this post first, then put in the pics, and now blogger isn't letting me rearrange things. So, looks like pics are first, and they're in reverse order. Excellent!

First up, the Yukon River. The finish of the race. What race? Keep reading!

Teammate running through beautiful Canada. Canada?! Yes, keep reading!

The route was NOT ugly.

Skagway. This was the first heat to start. Notice they got to start in daylight.

The team: No whine. More wine. Some of the members wanted to be No wine. More beer. I think that's a pretty clever name...maybe next year.

This past weekend I ran in the Klondike Road Relay. The relay is 110 miles and travels from Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory - it's a former Gold Rush Stampeder route. It's so long you have to carry a passport. What was I thinking??

I ran Leg 1. The good news: I was done early. The bad news: it's 9 miles uphill. Here's a cross section of the course.... www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/156/4/476.pdf My team kicked off at 10PM, so it was pitch black. I thought I was going to miss out on stunning scenery and was a little bummed about starting in the dark, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It was only me and the 10 feet of road in front of me...and the girl I was chasing (thank you Maggie for keeping me going!). I was able to take the entire 9 miles 10 feet at a time, rather than rounding a corner in the daylight and seeing miles of uphill climbing, which would've likely resulted in me hurling myself into the gorge I would've also seen. Turns out running at night is WAY cool. I ran the whole thing, did much better than I was expecting, and even thought about taking up running races. That must've been the endorphins - I raced in a Tuesday Night Race Series event last night and was wondering why the h*ll I thought I liked racing so much. I was in p-a-i-n.

I don't have any pics of me running, but these give you an idea of how it all went down. The route takes you through some beautiful country, and the fall colors were at their peak. I think I'll do it again next year!

Happy Campers in Places that Aren't Ugly

I had the world's best visitors up here in July. I also had Duncan, Krista, and Julz visit. Ha ha. Seriously, you guys were so much fun, and I can't wait to do it all again Kauai style. I've mentioned that we happen to be having amazing weather up here this summer, and I am happy to report that my visitors experienced sunshine every. single. day. Not one drop of rain. And we were in Prince William Sound and near Seward!!! Crazy. Here's Julz soaking up a few rays by Coxe glacier. See what I mean?



And Krista and Duncan getting all excited about the scenery, seals, and otters, because let's face it, it wasn't ugly!

I think we all learned a few valuable lessons on the kayak portion of the trip. 1. Don't take people you don't know on trips with you. They may brush their teeth with their finger and totally gross Julia out. 2. Don't walk 50 feet away from your fellow campers to do your business. That's not far enough!! That's NEVER far enough! 3. Fjords where there are five tidewater glaciers are c-c-c-old! But surprisingly refreshing.

Apres kayaking, we spent a night back at the Anc, AK pad so we could wash ourselves, wash our clothes, and actually sleep in a bed (or, if you were Krista and Duncan, on an air mattress). Then we headed south to the Lost Lake trail near Seward. The only bummer about kick-ass weather is that humans aren't the only ones who love it; bugs do too. So, on our hike up to the alpine lake...well, let's just say that even Wrigley had a caribou moment. Here's Julia having one. Or maybe that's me having one and trying to take a picture...Once we got above tree line the bugs kinda dispersed. Kinda. Sorta. But the views were breathtaking, and made the bug torture totally worth it.Our camp. Note: It's not ugly.Another valuable lesson was learned at this camp site. About 10 minutes after we arrived and picked our spot, a couple of fellow hikers decided it would be nice to camp there too. People, there are THOUSANDS of acres to camp on, please don't pick the spot 50 feet away. As any good Alaskans (even if only Alaskans for a few days) would do, we shoo'ed them away, just as we would shoo away the Russians.

After Krista and Duncan bid us adieu from Seward, Julz and I headed up to Hatcher Pass to hike the Reed Lake trail. Just spectacular. I heart this trail. The lower lake:

I had a great time with you guys. Sorry it took SOOOO long to post the trip. I'm fired. Miss you, and can't wait to do it again!

Dog Days of Summer

I have ignored this site for far too long! I've ditched the computer in favor of playing in what has been the best summer in recent memory up here. It's been sunny and in the 70s everywhere I go! Here's a little sampling of some of what I was up to through June. Stay tuned for kayak trip updates (Icy Bay/Dangerous Passage) and adventures with Julia, Krista and Duncan...

First up, Jenn and I headed out to Cordova on Memorial Day weekend. We took the ferry from Whittier and the crossing over to the east side of Prince William Sound (where Cordova is) was like crossing a lake - it was so calm and sunny! We did this trip in 2007 and were rained on for the entirety of 3 days. But this year was spectacular!

Marsh area right outside the "city" where thousands and thousands of birds rest during their spring migration. It was pretty quiet by the time we arrived.


The Cordova boat harbor. In one hand I had my camera, in the other, a nice cold beer. I knew then that this summer was going to be really, really good!


From one of our hikes. Not too shabby.


We hiked up to a huge alpine lake that had a tidewater glacier at the far end. That was an unexpected, awesome surprise! And then Wrigley said he wanted to imitate a polar bear.

Then Scott and I went to Halibut Cove to visit Matt, Brooke, and Liam. Halibut Cove is across Kachemak Bay from Homer and is a unique spot with an artistic community. We paddled around a bit, hiked around a bit, and relaxed a lot. Matt and Brooke have quite the setup out there. I highly recommend inviting yourself out for a visit.

This guy was a total ham. I kayaked right up to him and all he did was ask, "Did you get that one?" with his Blue Steel face.

Part of Brooke and Matt's complex. This is a former art gallery turned sleeping quarters. I love the marine-themed mishmash decor.
Scott and I have been spending a lot of time down in Cooper Landing this summer. One of the many things to do down there includes cutting down trees on the property (much to his grandmother's dismay) and torching them.

Scott's grandma can hardly see, but she can stand up at the house looking towards the lake and survey the trees on her property. She can detect where there is new light, signaling that a tree has recently been cut down. I've never seen a 101 year old so angry! Then again, I'm not sure I've ever seen another 101 year old.