Sunday, August 5, 2012

Flat Top Mountain

 Those of you who know me well know that I think exercise is a 4 letter word. I don't mind it if it has purpose, but just to exercise for the fun of it? No thank you! I'm definitely not a hiker, heck I'm not an outdoors person. Give me a book and a kitchen and I'm happy.
Well, some women in my new ward hike Flat Top Mountain every Monday night after the kids are in bed. (Remember, we have extended periods of light right now.) For some crazy reason I got it in my head to hike it with them. Now you need to understand that in Alaska as I said in the last post, hiking usually means you are going straight up. I mean hugging the mountain straight up and this was no exception. I can hike but going like that is more than I can do. So I'm very proud of the fact that I made it (with lots of stops to catch my breath!) at least 3/4 of the way up the mountain. This was my view from where I rested while the others went to the top. At the top of the picture is the port of Anchorage, it's a long ways away from up there.
Not sure I'm going to make it back this week. We'll see if I'm up for more torture

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Thunderbird Falls

 
Not the greatest picture of the Falls. But I'm thinking I'll take my Dad's cousin Vern here when he comes to visit next week and we'll get some pictures of the falls from below. This was taken pretty much directly across from the falls.

 
The extra kid is a neighbor who lives down the street named Everest who insisted on being in the picture with us. It was raining off and on, which is the reason for the rain coats.

 This was a fabulous hollow tree the kids found to play in. Why do you need toys when you have hollow trees?
One of the cool things about our hike in was that directly across from us on a cliff ledge Reagan pointed out a Bald Eagle just sitting there. We got to spend some time observing it in the wild. It was pretty cool. We also got to see Salmon swimming in the stream from the waterfall. I'm looking forward to going back again soon. It's one of the easier Alaska hikes. I say easier because here in Alaska pretty much all hikes go straight up. and while this one does too, it quickly even out a bit.

Friday, August 3, 2012

One Fine Day

 
A beautiful day and we just couldn't resist being outside in the water. Luckily Goose Lake is much warmer than Campbell Creek. Daniel was a therapy so Reagan and I played hookey and went by ourselves and enjoyed the heat. 
While we were there a Mom had left her toddler in a stroller and her dog tied to it as she helped another child in the bathroom. Something startled the dog and off that dog went. And boy did it go! The baby went flying and luckily was unhurt, but the stroller and the dog hurtled off through umbrellas, strollers, kids and adults flying as they collided. It was probably at least 10 mins before they were able to get the dog to stop. I think the stroller flying behind it just made the poor dog run faster. It was quite a sight to see.
 
Reagan and I felt guilty so we went and picked Daniel up from therapy and went back to the beach with him. We stayed there until it was time for dinner. If you have a good day up here you make every moment count.


Thursday, August 2, 2012

Beaver's Lodge


 One morning after Paul had gotten off work from a night shift we walked down to Takhu lake and went fishing as a family. True to our family tradition we caught nothing. However the kids found this pile of brush that they were absolutely certain was a beaver's home. Having recently watched The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe, they were sure that Mr and Mrs. Beaver lived there and they spent half and hour trying to find the door so they could go visit them. It was SO cute!