hike I: The Dome

Today I hiked my first Alaskan hike: The Dome. It was beautiful. It had been really rainy here the past week, so it really made if feel like I was in a Hawaiian rainforest (except for the glances of Indian Snow and chilly breezes). There are a lot of pictures, so continue at your own expense of free time. The Dome is pictured above. Below is when we started out (after we found the correct trail, which took about walking a mile in the wrong direction): 
While walking in the wrong direction, I spotted this and everyone thought I should take a picture, and I complied: A bear's track!! It's a black bear's paw. Notice the short, sharp claw? That is the signature paw mark of a black bear (it helps them climb trees). Later we actually found fresh bear scat, but I didn't take a picture of that because that's just gross. I am glad I saw some though so I know what it looks like: it looks like an icky tar spill (in case you're ever in bear country).
There were a lot of weird looking trees that have been broken by strong canyon winds, or that fell because they were just old. I don't know what happened to this one, but here's a picture:
This was further back in the canyon while we were on the incline:
Growing up in Vegas, I didn't have a lot of these: 
That had to be crossed by a bridge made from stapled-in pallets: 
This tree had amazing curly-cue bark, I'd never seen anything like it! 
This plant was very tropical looking, I thought. What say ye?
Here's a neat little dried-up seeder:
Huge green leaves, another thing I cherished in the desert:
This is a plant called "FiddleHeads" and they're actually edible! Julie said at girls' camp a couple of weeks ago, she had the girls pick them on their hike and they went back and fried them in butter. She said they were really good! I'm sure the butter helped:
Cute microscopic (almost) seed cones. They were so small, and almost everywhere:
We saw a huge bush with these little flowery things that looked like the had the potential to become berries. So, being the genius I am, suggested someone try one to see if it tasted like any known berry! Bonnie The Brave Blonde tried one, (just nibbled and tasted) and said it didn't taste like anything edible she'd ever had. Later, she also drank river water after she had us girls encourage and cheer for. She said it was the best water she's ever had! I believed it. 
Once we reached the top, our views included: Mark's huge C-17 hangers on base (this is zoomed in to the max, sorry about the noise - I tried messing with it, trying to make it a little better):
Here is the view of Anchorage. You can barely see Mt. McKinley to the left:
This is the valley-view behind us: 
A cute, yellow sea-plane: 
This white antler moss:
and these really small flowers. Mauri, these are for you! :
The Dome Stats: 

5.5 miles roundtrip hike

~2,500 foot gained elevation

One down, 49 more hikes to go! 

Monday night email

I Love the lotion tan..... and you don't have to worry about skin cancer when you spread on a tan.....    Glad to hear that you got more fabric.... you are hooked and I'm happy for your addiction........ Here is some good advice for the future..............be sure and memorize your credit card#  ......in case Mark takes away and says that you can't by any more fabric......... 

you have a great evening. 

-jodi

*direct copy/paste from my email. Thought I'd share some of her humor with you all... but then again, I think she might be serious!! FAA (fabricaholic anonymous)

quilting the middle east

I'm taking the plunge into the depths of making my very first quilt! Yesterday, I went with my seamstress friend from the ward to pick out the fabrics I will be needing for this quilt. Above are the threads I've decided on for this colorful and glorious quilt! I wanted a lot of bright colors, gold and bronzes, so here is the fabric palette: 
There are a few strange ones, but the two main colors (that will be squared on the outermost sides are the two on the far right). One of them is my favorite (below) with gold strands of thread running along the yellow design on the orange. I had to try to remember that the squares of the quilt are mostly 2x2 inches, and so I wanted either a really concentrated design, or a really spread out design simply used for the coloring (like the crazy orange purple one that actually has a scaled dragon on it - but it will be too small to tell - thank goodness!) And then there is the really muted, subtle green to bring out the designs in other prints and tie it all together. Again, my favorite of the bunch: 
My second favorite, almost tied for first: 
One that I did not include a big picture of is the starry night-like turquoise colored fabric with gold specks. I love it. It fades from dark dark blues to light light teals all while having constellation-like yellow and gold specks spackling it all over. Then I have the stripes to tie it all together (except for the blues which I still had to have b/c they were just loved): 
If you've seen pictures from the Del Rio house (in old old posts, you saw our extremely dark green living room). We loved it. I love dramatic homes and flavors from the orient and far-east. Flavors in food yes, but also that can come alive in decor around the home. I'm not sure how this quilt will turn out, but I have some very high hopes. It's my first one... so you should not have high hopes! 

Meet Olla

Since moving up here to the spacious, spread-out state of Alaska, we realized we wouldn't be able to keep up our "one car thing" much longer. It was impossible for me to take Mark to work, drive back, run errands, drive back, pick Mark up, drive back in our fuel guzzler. Hence the little one, Olla. Said like the Spanish hello, "hola!" It's a manual, but I'm having a lot of fun driving a stick again. So far, it's getting 37 mpg average. Go Olla!

Denali Train day II

The morning on Friday, we re-boarded the train above. We got in the same car, letter C, and kicked two old people out of our seats. For which, I felt bad because they got mad at us! It is not fun when people get mad at you, especially when they're old and should be enjoying life. Goodness! After that encounter, my mood was lightened when I got to see the views from the other side of the train: 
I'm not sure where we were when I saw this cute little boat on the rainy lake, but I'm glad I got the shot. When we were about 2 hours into the train ride, and in the yummy dining car, I saw this HUGE Matterhorn-looking mountain. It was just unnatural looking. It was different than any mountain I had ever seen. The first signal that it was just HUGE was the snow billowing off the sheer cliffs being hit by its own weather-system's wind. It was Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America, and the tallest mountain from base to top in the world: 
You are probably thinking, "No, Jayci, Mt. Everest is the highest in the world".. and you'd be right. Elevation-wise, Everest is the highest peak in the world. But Mt. McKinley is the biggest mountain you can see in this world from base to peak. Mt. Everest starts at about 13,800 feet and ends at approximately 29,000 feet; giving it only about 15,200 feet of mountain. Mt. McKinley's base is at about 1,000 feet and ends at 20,320; giving it 19,000 feet of sheer mountain. HUGE. Did I explain it well enough? I am still trying to catch my breath after seeing it. These pictures do NO justice, it was the most bizarre looking mountain.  
Below is more of the marsh-land of Alaska... with lilly pads! It was so sweet and simply beautiful after such a monstrously scary-looking mountain. 
Mom and Dad, I miss you so much already, it was SO much fun having you here; I'm glad you came to visit. You two are getting funnier and funnier every time I see you. I love you! 

Denali Train day I

Thursday morning my parents, Mark and I heard the female conductor holler "All aboard!" and then boarded the train above. Two engines, lots of passenger cars, two dining cars and one caboose. Personally, I loved the dining car. But the views were pretty snazzy as well: 
Above is the view from the highest, longest bridge of the train ride. It was 300 feet high and 2oo (?) feet long. Below is a view of one of many lakes. A lot of the tundra landscape is unfriendly to people. It can act like quick sand in many parts! I'm glad we were on sold train tracks.
The train ride was 8 hours long, but on this ride, I decided I love the lurch of the train. It lulled me into quite a few cat naps, I had time to read my mystery, and every now and then we'd all get excited when someone shouted "Caribou! Caribou!" in a sing-song voice. Mark thought he saw two black bears, one hopping out of a tree, and one running back into the bushes, but we were going fairly quick at those times, so he's still unsure. 

six mile lake

Today after picking Mark up from his squadron, he and I drove to the Six Mile Lake that's on base. The road goes right in between these two water ways, and the lake is connected under the road, sort of like a bridge, but not quite like a bridge. There were two different kinds of boats: the one pictured above, and the one pictured below. It was delightful.
This is my personal favorite. On the boats' sides it said "rent me"... so maybe I will.

shish kabobs

oh my! On Friday, I knew I wanted shish kabobs on Sunday, today, so I went to the grocery store, got Italian Salad Dressing, a purple (really called red... but who am I trying to kid?) onion because of their oh-so-sweet oniony flavor, and four bell peppers, 2 green, and 2 red. Then steak and chicken. Last night we marinated it for our small and simple BBQ fast-breaking-feast. Yum!

baby shower

This morning I threw a last minute (planned-within-the-last-few-days, last minute) baby shower for a friend I knew from Del Rio. She got here about 4 weeks ago, settled into her house two weeks ago, and is due with her first little girl within the next couple of weeks. Since next week I have family coming, I wanted to do it before I got too busy, and before she got too uncomfortable.
Here is the table with cute little cookies and napkins after we moved all the gifts from the empty-space to here: 
Cathy, Kristen, Nicole, and Jill before opening gifts, and here I am after the gifts have been opened:
It was fun, but a bit worrisome throwing such a spontaneous shower. She got a bunch of cute little clothes for her soon-to-be daughter. I love purple and yellow together, so for the clothes I gave her, I tried to stick with that theme. I wish I had gotten a picture of the yellow dress and ruffled-underwear I got for little Aurora; it was adorable! Happy Baby Shower, Nicole!!

11:00 pm black bear

Yesterday night about 10:30 Mark wanted to go on a bike ride. Anywhere else, this would have been crazy, but it was still really light out. He got almost down to the church near our house and noticed some people pulled over taking pictures. Then he noticed this huge black bear staring at him. Mark booked it back up to our house so we both could see it. So I grabbed Buckwheat (instead of putting him in his cage - we were in a hurry!) and we drove down to where Mark had seen it. I am glad we ended up taking Buckwheat because I've never heard him growl and bark like that; not like there is a predator around. He doesn't mind moose one bit, he loves rabbits and squirrels for the chasing factor, but I've never heard him like this. He must have known it was some sort of a predator. Sorry about Mark's "no's" trying to keep Buckwheat hushed! I couldn't not laugh.  Then on the way back home we noticed a moose on the other side of the street just up a ways. I'm wondering if the bear was following her scent? Maybe we kept it from it's next meal. Good thing! I don't think I'd be interested in seeing a bear + moose fight in our back yard. oh my!

So here is the moose video - it will work if you click on it (in case it looks a little strange).

 

peep hole

I apologize if you frequent this blog, but I just wanted to post this here as well. Yesterday Mark went to work putting the peep hole into our front door. I was so surprised that the woman that lived here before didn't have one put in. Her husband had been deployed for an entire year, so needless to say, I feel good it's apart of the house now. 
It took mark about 2 minutes to drill through the door, and this was the view pre-glass. Hello over there!
Here is our model, Buckwheat, demonstrating that it works. It looks like it's always been there! Nice work, Mark. Well done. The simple things can make the biggest of differences. Except for today when Mark and I answered the door to a teenage girl asking for money to send her to a Florida acting and modeling school. Why didn't we use the peep hole? Now we're out 15 bucks. We're suckers. Don't get any wise ideas. We're not doing that again.

the finds

Having someone stylish living in the house before you, makes for some fun shopping magazines and cute advertisements heading your way. That is the case here. The girl who lived here before had some serious subscriptions.  Anyway, there was one that came in the mail that got my attention. There must be a few different versions of these ads sent out nation wide, because this is the only one like it I've seen (above). So below are a couple of the finds. 
I really loved the design of this gold pendent on the necklace, and the chain wasn't ordinary. The dressing room wall was so nice a texture that I snapped a quick one. Reminds me of something from Spain. 
Now this find reminds me of a Swedish girl's braids... possibly named Grettle? This short-sleeved sweatshirt was just cute and comfy. And cheap! So there you have it. I had to wear the necklace yesterday to church, so here's the proof that I love it: I couldn't wait.

weekend mishaps

This weekend has been full of mishaps for us and our house. First one happened Friday night when the sun poked its shiny head out onto the mountains and Mark was walking the pups (we're dog sitting) and I walked out onto our wet deck to take a picture with his new camera. Well... we got locked out! I'm a genius, I know. At least I didn't do it while he was away! Luckily we had a window open earlier and we thought it was still unlocked. Problem was, it was on the third story. So after hoisting the ladder up to Mark, then bringing it down so our neighbor Jason could get up and hold it for him (hoisting it a second time.. I'm tougher than I look!), Mark leapt through (and hung for about 2 seconds while he wiggled in - was a second too late for it with the camera). That was a close one. Then this morning, Mark and I were so tired from a late night of leaping through windows, that we were rushing out the door so I could lead the music for sacrament meeting. We forgot to take the trash out. Yesterday afternoon I had thrown away the remains of a yummy DQ dessert cup with extra chocolate and brownies. This is the moment all you dog-free people will be reminded WHY you don't have a dog. Buckwheat found it while we were at church and smeared it into our very light-colored carpet. There is no picture because it looked so nasty. After baking soda paste, Resolve, it is nearly gone. He felt sick all afternoon. LASTLY: 
While cooking dinner for our friends, the Betz, and Clark, we decided to use the oven at 450* to finish cooking some meat. The steam from the oven when we opened it would set the smoke alarm off and make the dogs whine. It was horrible and happened like 5 times. Who says Newspaper is wasteful?! Good thing I got to take advantage of Nordstrom's half-yearly sale yesterday, otherwise this weekend would have been way too much fun! hurray for good-buys!

color pallet

I've never seen pine trees with purple or aqua needles until yesterday. It's as though the Northwest has turned a bit tropical.
This was the only leaf remaining on this spring-loaded bush.  So stubborn, but still photogenic. 

films

Excitement all around! Last night, or early this morning (12:01 am), you decide, Mark and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. What a great movie. Mark and I were talking about some of our concerns before the movie started. We were worried that the CGI wouldn't be as good as the real stunts and explosions they had to use for the first three. We were worried that Harrison would be too old (he was old, but still marvelously Indy). We were worried that the sound effects would be different and not the baseball bat on the punching bag. But it was! They even threw in another great fight scene with another Russian that just wouldn't quit. They even still had the greedy woman (seems to be a theme in these movies). 
When we drove to the theatre at 11:00 pm, the sky was still a light blue with a red lining on the horizon where the sun had just fallen. When we left, see the picture above! The sun was nearing the horizon again at 2:40 am, but just north of where it went down. The sun does not always set in the west and rise in the east here. The sun just sort of stays in the northern portion of the sky all day (and apparently all night as well). It is strange how close we are to the top of the world up here. 
Mark wore all his Indy gear to the movie, but wore only his leather jacket into the theatre. There were a lot of other guys who dressed up though, so no worries there. The theatre was packed, and with a fun audience, it made the movie even more exciting. Hope you all get to see this film.

leave it to the beavers

Yesterday was a such a nice day, that me and a nice couple from our ward took our pups (Lucy and Buckwheat) to this park near the center of Anchorage where the trail stretches around this very large pond. It's a lot bigger than what this picture makes it look like. There are a few beaver dams around the lake, some ducks, mosquito swarms, and dogs that are swimming, catching sticks and sniffing. Buckwheat had a thrilling nose-full. 
It sprinkled a little, but for the most part it was sunny, a bit breezy, and just beautiful. It was a nice way to spend part of the Sunday. 

and the winners are

1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes for our Ward Dessert Contest tomorrow night. One of the responsibilities as Activities Chairman is to go shopping for prizes! Below we have the winners:
3rd Place: the three toothpick sets and holders. 2nd place: the green [dessert] plates. and the 1st prize is the set of salad tongs with mother of pearl handle-ends. 
I really want to win them myself! Though I have no idea what I'm going to make... any ideas?

colorful

Here in Alaska, people LOVE to paint their houses different, exotic colors. I think it must be a coastal thing, because near the water it can be sort of overcast and grey, so the people make up for it by painting the exterior of their houses. In our neighborhood there are all sorts of fun colors. I thought I liked the light olive green, but now... NOW I have my favorite color. And it belongs to my lucky neighbor, Jeanette. Hers is the aqua colored house. The olive green next to it was what I loved before. Here's a close-up on the little shiner:  
Side note: I took these two pictures last night at 9:00 at night! But it was overcast and a bit drizzly, so you can't really see the entire effect of a late-setting sun. Maybe these are the make-up showers for April. May showers bring June flowers!

eyes

There is a reason for my lousy blogging and no pictures. It is my vision still. On Friday, my eye doctor didn't see the improvement he had hoped for, so he put me on steroids. Steroid drops to be precise. If I don't pinch my nose between my eyes, after a few minutes I can start to taste the awful bitterness of the drug. I can't understand why anyone would drink, or inject, or eat steroids. Anyone else have difficulty understanding? I'm supposed to use them 4 times a day, but I've been bad and have only used it 1 to 2 times a day because I have to sit there for two minutes with my eyes closed and pinching my nose with a piece of tissue so it catches my stinging tears. Sorry to whine. They are improving though! I have another appointment on Wednesday, and then the doctor is getting deployed, so I'll be playing Musical Doctors, and giving updates and reasons for why I'm not blogging/photographing (I intertwined both of these because one completes the other these days!). I think I'll pull out my camera this week again. 

Actual leaves are springing from the tree-buds now, and with light rain mixed with sunshine, I spent the day thinking of what summer will be like. I'm so excited!

and cut!

That's a wrap people. We're in the house!! It is so comfortable and wonderful and everything we hoped for. Things are unpacked and ready for use. Our smiles are sticking and so are the brownies in the pan (we have no olive oil). This past weekend, Mark's family flew into Anchorage. They arrived Sunday night and left Tuesday night. It was motivation to get things unpacked just when we moved in, but it was even more of a motivation to have guests coming. I think they were expecting a lot more work than we gave them. It was great having company, and I'm looking forward to my parents coming in a few weeks. 

The place I looked forward to the most:  our own bed! 

We took Mark's family to the Alaskan Wildberry shop and they finally had 

the chocolate fountain on. It looked and smelled delicious:On Tuesday we went 60 miles SE of Anchorage to a Preservation park that houses injured or sick animals. It was nice to see these rehabilitated animals! They were beautiful, strong, and healthy looking. The muskox even had babies, so I think these Alaskans are doing pretty well. 

Here is one of the three grizzlies we saw digging for roots. There was one bear (would be to the left of this one in the picture) that would pose for the cameras by resting his chin on his clawed fist (reminded me of a certain movie with "portraits by Deb"... it's unmentionable here!). 

These two bald eagles are some that are actually on base. They have been in this cage once they were found injured, each over 12 years ago. I had no idea that eagles could live so long. When these birds are on the ground, they are about half the height of a man. 

This is a muskox baby (calf?). In Best Buy, for all the televisions on display, they play a nature video of these native animals. A part of the clip is of a baby muskox hopping around on the ice and then falling flat on its side like a baby pup or colt. They are adorable, and have such 

big personalities! There were two of these tiny oxen that were annoying the adults. It was quite a show. The babies would run up to the adults who were eating fresh hay and get chased away by huffing, hoof-pounding adults over and over again. They were so cute: 

A reason that this update has taken so long was because of my eyes. Remember in a previous post when I mentioned my new oculars and my itchy, red, allergy-ridden eyes? Well, I finally got in to the optometrist and it's not allergies after all. My eyes have been 

attacked by a toxic chemical. That's right! I was shocked too. Apparently, my corneas reacted horribly to something new (we suspect a certain face wash) and never got a chance to heal because I wear contacts every day. So now I can't see, clearly that is, and with vision 20/80, I have been given thick eye drops and a command to wear glasses all the time while avoiding driving. They're on their way to being healed. Thank goodness! 

I will post more pictures of the house on my other blog soon. Tomorrow we receive the shipment of things we took with us to Oklahoma, and then I have my first of weekly visits with the optometrist to monitor my progress. Thanks for checking in on 

the update!