Independence Day

Fireworks last night at our Town's middle school at midnight; and this is actually a pretty dark night because of the thick cloud cover. It was a really great show! We pulled up to one of our churches (there are two LDS churches in town), and we watched the show across the street. There were a couple of the loudest fireworks that Mark and I had ever heard. It was setting off car alarms, dogs were barking, babies were crying, and all the kids were laughing and cheering. Mark and I loved it!

Hope you all are having a wonderful celebration! Happy Fourth of July!

Hike V: Thunder Bird Falls

I think I've officially turned Granola. Well... maybe san the tie-dye and hemp jewelry, but I love these hikes. My legs have been in pain since Tuesday, even if I walk Buckwheat around the neighborhood, I still have to slowly go up the stairs. So yesterday I knew I had to do something more strenuous to get my legs in action again. So... another hike! Way easy this time. 2 miles with a family who has 3 young boys. And one that I could take Buckwheat on: easy! But still beautiful. The above picture is from the lower view of the big falls. It was so pretty. The mist came off and I had to hurry to take the photo because I was worried about my camera. It was that wet. 
Mark was wearing a full sweatshirt, and still got attacked by the mosquitos. I on the other hand, only got two - maybe its because he likes candy more than I do? Poor Mark. But Buckwheat had a great time!
And so did my legs! Happy 4th of July!

Thunder Bird Falls stats: 

Distance: 2 - 2.5 miles

Elevation gained: 200 feet

tall ships

My dad sent me and my sister these pictures that he and my mom took today. He said that on the 4th of July weekend every year these Tall Ships gather in the bay that they can see from their house. I don't know much about these boats, or the exciting gathering; Aubrey, you probably know a lot more about it then I do. But if you were to edit out the other little boats, it reminds me of one of two movies: The Goonies, or Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm so happy they get to experience such a different lifestyle now that they are in the northwest. What a cool sight to see!

Hike III & IV: Pioneer Ridge & Pioneer Summit

Phewwwie! I am tired this week. Tired from hiking! Tuesday was the 'women's hikes.' There were only 4 of us, and one of them was a sister-in-law of one of the lady's. So really only 3 from our ward. It was a rough hike! No wonder there were only 3! We did the Pioneer Ridge north of Anchorage and near Wasilla. Starting out, it was really warm and pretty gentle of a hike (compared to later on!). In parts (you can see a little bit of it above) we would go through canopies of bushes and trees. It was beautiful, muddy, and pretty humid inside all that brush, which meant mosquitos! The mud was pretty hilarious though trying to hop around it or make it to the little rocks; but if you missed the little rock then you landed in sometimes 5 inches of mud. There are three picnic tables along the trail, we stopped at the first one (about half way up) to eat half of our lunch. It was beautiful.

Here I am near the top. This is where we stopped to eat the rest of our lunch. My legs were exhausted but not shaking yet. If you can't tell, right when she took this picture, a cold breeze hit me. There was SUCH a temperature difference from down at the bottom (warm and humid), to up top (cold and windy). I can't believe my wimpy sketchers have taken me on so many hikes! No blisters, even. See my bear spray? We didn't need it. Thank goodness.
Here is the view from the other side, where I was facing in the picture before. We were as tall as the clouds!

This hike was classified as 'moderate' in this book we're using. It was a tough, tough hike. It was 9 miles total, and nearly a mile of elevation gain. In this video, from where we were, we kept going a little higher, I think. I say I think, because I can't really remember where I took this video. I would have taken a lot more pictures, but I didn't feel safe holding the camera out like I have in other hikes. There were some really steep scrambling parts and some ledges that we walked right next to. 

Comparing it to one of Mark's hikes, the hardest one he's done, it was Pike's Peak in Colorado. He did 26 miles in one day; 13 up, 13 down with a total elevation gain of 7 thousand feet. We did 5200 feet in 4.5 miles up! So much steeper!! But his was harder, because of the distance, and it was longer.  

Pioneer Ridge Stats: 

Distance: 9 - 12 miles

Elevation: 5200 - 6400 feet

Hike II: Winner Creek

Today was numero dos in my 50 hikes goal. It was the Monday's 'kid hike,' but it was still beautiful and fun. Winner Creek is a hike near Alyeska Ski Resort, south of Anchorage. For the most part, I had only seen 'new forest' with aspens, not pines, but this was an older forest with no aspens, and all I could think about was the Twilight series and the forests that Edward and Bella 'run' through towards the meadow, just lighter than I pictured in the books. So that is what the above picture is for. I still can't believe how green the plants are here, they almost glow. 
I was about in the middle of the huge group, and behind me there were two boys who were trying to "ATTACK!" me. They each had 'swords' and when I hear them shout "attack!" I would turn around, shriek, and then run ahead. They got a big kick out of that, run faster towards me, then stop and pant, and the older boy (in the red) would get out the younger boy's water bottle so he could recharge a bit. It was really cute. 
The mile was only 5 miles round trip - perfect for a kids' hike. Almost there!
There were two bridges you could choose to cross, and we all chose the one with the loud, rushing water beneath it. It was so loud and the water was moving so quickly! After passing that bridge, we got to the end of our hike: the hand tram (you can see it on the wooden sign above). 
Above, we were about half way across the little canyon. It was this steel cage that we rode across in, and the gate-door thing's latch was broken off, so I had to keep my foot in place (with one scary moment when it swung open half way over the river), so it wouldn't budge.
Here is the river as we cross over it. It was a little nerve racking! All it was was rope and steel... 
Here I am with Julie making this difficult task look oh-so-easy. There were a couple of pictures where we really look grumpy, but here is the smiley, happy picture for you. When we got each other's rhythm down, we were actually making some pretty good time. Until the end (it got really heavy) and Julie told the Belgium man (who was taking pictures), "you! Pull!" I was laughing so hard, then she started laughing at how she said that. 
On the way back, we passed over the rushing little river, the water was so blue!
Here is the Alyeska Lodge and tram station. To the left of this picture was the ski-lift, but they were doing some construction, so I'll spare those pictures.

Winner Creek Stats: 

Miles: ~5 

Elevation Gained: not much! 

crows

Scary crows!! Just now I heard what I thought was a woman screaming/yelling behind our house. Then I heard the second crow that sounded more 'normal' and more 'bird-like'. So I got Buckwheat all nervous by running to the screen door to see what they were 'cawing' at. Nothing. Just a scary, stupid crow!

This is not something you just don't blog about, of course; Mark's at the base, so I blog. So go on and share in my crow-hating. (:

films

While watching TCM movies when Mark was gone, I spent an enjoyable evening watching this romantic comedy. It really had me laughing! I knew these two were good together, but oh goodness. If you are into classics and want to laugh easily at how 'gentle persuasion' can turn into a romance, put this movie on your queue. It was filmed in 1961, the version I saw was in color, and the characters are so personable. Enjoy!

spouse's flight

Last Thursday was the annual Spouse's flight where all the wives get to take a C-17 flight just for fun. I was pretty nervous I was going to get air sick, but my stomach pleasantly surprised me and I had such a fun time. I knew it was a powerful air plane, but I was NOT expecting just how powerful it actually was. When the pilots hit the throttle (I'm not a pilot, so excuse my vernacular) for take off, we all jolted about 8 inches sideways. I was laughing so hard. Our legs were in the air and the look of sheer shock was on the girls' faces, not mine! I was enjoying it too much. Above is the view when I went in to the cock-pit during the flight. Below and above where I was holding my camera are two bunk beds for sleeping on long flights for the pilots.
The two pilots were "hilarious" during their flight. When you put on the headset they would say, "it would help if I knew how to read charts," etc. Oh gosh. Not what you want to hear when you're DIVING into a canyon with water. I watch Lost though; I know how to survive a plane wreck. So don't worry.
At times I would get up and walk to the little port-hole windows to glance out and sometimes I would have to reassure myself that these guys DID know what they were doing because we would be SO close to the mountains. So close you could see the branches and animals and everything in detail. With a plane this big, you wouldn't think it could get SO close to the ground during low-levels. These planes do low-levels at 200 feet! Can you believe it? And this is while flying through canyons and dodging mountains like this one: 
Alright, maybe not like this one, because there are only 2 of these monster-mountains in the world. This is Mt. McKinley up close and personal. Here is a partial-view of the HUD (Heads Up Display) that the pilots get to use. A lot of the equipment on the C-17 is from the F-15s, like the HUD and also the stick they use to direct the plane. It is the only Heavy plane that uses a stick like the fighter planes. The pilots love it, and I wasn't expecting such a huge plane has such power and maneuverability. 
When I got done with the flight, I called Mark and told him he has the coolest job in the world. I know it hasn't always been fun for him, with all the endless hours of studying he's had to do, all the scary dollar-rides and intimidating stand-ups, etc., and I'm not even mentioning the heck he experienced at the Air Force Academy. He really has pushed himself. I'm really proud of him, and wish I could be a pilot too! Without having to study. That's why they have spouse's flights! So we can bypass the studying and still have the fun. 

Oregon

Mark called me from the top of this 'summit' (?) at Crater Lake, Oregon today to tell me how beautiful it was. He and the other pilots decided to hike around Crater Lake today and explore a bit while the Thunderbirds were practicing for their air show in a couple of days. Mark is flying around the Thunderbird crew members and extra engines, etc. this week and loves having "Thunderbird One Four" be his call sign. He knows I love Crater Lake, so he was sure to send me this pretty picture while I wrote a lousy paper for my commerce class! Lucky duck.

gone fishing

While I was hiking, Mark was FISHING, or at least fish wheeling. Which I might argue isn't really fishing. But we can't really fish yet (since we aren't residents) without paying an arm and a leg. A guy in our ward has a fish-wheel and invited him up with him. It's a spot about 4 hours inland, and the limit for the fish wheel is 500 salmon. 500. Can you imagine? Mark said by the time he left (he had a flight briefing at 2:30 the next afternoon) they had 30, so they're not going to reach their limit this time around. He said they had about 4 King Salmon and all the rest were red (or Sock-eye Salmon):
Mark saw another moose cow and calf. We saw a pair the other day near our house and the river, and the mother was VERY injured (was limping with a broken front hoof and huge cut on her flank). And this one looks like she's had a run in with a big bear. Notice the three claw marks on her side? It must happen quite a bit, I suppose. However, look how cute this baby is: 
Wolf or dog? Mark said it had tags on, so our guess is its half dog half wolf. Either way, it's still huge and really scary.
Here is what the Matanuska Glacier looks like during the early summer. Looks much different now than it did in February: 
Mark had some salmon the night they camped out there with only some honey (nobody brought anything else) and he said it was some really good fish even plain. I'm really excited to try some. Anyone else want any? Come up and get some!

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)