Alaska

 I just can't go to the most beautiful place on Earth and not take hundreds and hundreds of pictures.  If you like nature, sit back and scroll.  It's a long one:

Two weeks after Rachele's wedding, I flew to Alaska to attend Rachele's open house there.  I went alone while Todd stayed back with the kids.  The morning after flying in, my dad and I hiked up the Reed Lakes Trail in Hatcher's Pass- one of my favorite places on Earth!  We hiked several miles in to the lakes, then hiked up the side of the mountain west of the lakes and explored some higher altitude unnamed lakes up there. We came back down another way.  It only sprinkled a little rain in the end. Though the sky wasn't blue, it was gorgeous.

 A couple of moose on the side of Fishhook Road on our drive to Hatcher's Pass

A couple of marmots off the trail.  Noisy little suckers!

Approaching the Snowbird hut- now a vandalized dump. 

It was a descent and fun place to stay at when I was kid.

 High bush blueberries

I LOVE all the varieties of little treasures in the landscape up there.  And I love seeing it evolve from one sort of plant to the next as you climb elevation.  It looked so much more like Fall once we reached a certain height, being cooler that high up.

Another blueberry break.

At one point, the trail turns from dirt path, to rock hopping, to bouldering.  That dog is one rugged canine. He would get stuck, unable to climb a boulder, yelp a bit until he realized we weren't going to come back for him, and wander until he found a way.  And he ALWAYS found a way despite my frequent certainty that he'd never make it!

I love the color of glacial streams. 

The waterfalls between Upper and Lower Reed Lakes.

Lower Reed Lake

Our picnic table for lunch.

Starting to sprinkle rain.

The falls are actually about a 5 min. walk away still here, but we weren't headed that way that day so that's the closest we got to them.

Reed Lake from a distance above it.

 

 A lichen covered hillside.

This place gets a ton of rain.  Fungi everywhere!

An unnamed lake atop a mountain.  

We named if Foster Lake :-)

 

Coming down having looped around this mountain.

 Another lake.

Beaver dam

That concludes that hike.  That night Rachele and John flew in.  They hiked up Hatcher's Pass again with my dad the next day, to the Lane Hut.  My mom and I passed to get some shopping and errands done.  We all helped cook an excellent dinner that night- lobster tail, garlic butter shrimp, asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes.  It was fun to learn how to cook Lobster Tail for my first time.  I came home and made it straightway for Todd since he was a tiny bit jealous!

Saturday morning we all drove to Sutton to see my parents' 80 acres of land that they purchased a few years ago.  I still had never seen it.  It was a beautiful drive getting there, about 45 minutes.  It's 15 minutes outside of Palmer. 

 

Their driveway.  It was really serene and peaceful there.

They own quite a bit of river frontage at the lower portion of the property.

Dad and Rachele looking out over the bluff at the top of the property.

They have quite a view!

Wild Alaskan Cranberries, yum!  OK not really yummy, but super nutrient dense, right?

A mommy and baby moose hiding in the woods.  My dad said he saw moose every single time he'd go out there until hunting season started.

Driving on to Matanuska Glacier, another half hour or more.

Here was a moment where the sun broke through the clouds.

 We hiked to the glacier and across some of it until we reached a lake in the middle of it.  Such a cool sight.

Not the lake we were headed to.

My dad showing why not to "hop through puddles" here... a water filled crevasse.  

The ice is blue far away and close up.

A group of people ice climbing.

It's a great place to learn.

We drove home, flew through the showers, and headed to Rachele and John's wedding open house.  Debbie and her group decorated again and did a great job as always.

Teri, a friend from home had moved to Anchorage about a month earlier and came to surprise Rachele.  They worked together at the salon when Rachele lived here.  It was so great to see her!

Our last full day there, we enjoyed a picnic at April Bowl in Hatcher's Pass.  

Just a short family hike up to the lakes up there.

Sisters

My first sign of blue sky since arriving!

This moss covered terrain (tundra) is so soft that we often go off-trail and hop down hillsides by traversing from one bump to the next.  It's like a giant sloped trampoline!  Love it!

Mom and Dad's garden.

This is why many people don't have lawns up there- it's already green and pretty (and wild) everywhere!

Rachele and I explored the back yard, reminiscing.  

The chicken coop.

Beautiful forest everywhere, every yard looks like this.

All that is left of our tree fort.

Someone cut the other fort trees down while my parents 

lived in CA for a couple years :-(

There you have it!  Has to rain a ton to be so beautiful.  But after 5 days of mostly pure overcast and rain, I was excited to come home to gorgeous blue skies and 90 degrees.  In fact, I took the kids to the water park the very next morning!  I missed them, and it was fun to spend the day there with them.

I love Alaska.  Most of all seeing my family.  And I love the culture/rugged adventures there.  But Fruitland owns my heart now.  It's home.  I came home so grateful to be with my little family where we've settled.  I love the farmers markets, the walls of corn along country roads, the smell of mint (used to hate it), the warmth of the sun everywhere I go, wide open spaces, the slow life. Everyone's canning, sharing their gardens, going to corn mazes, barn dances, still doing events like 5K races and things for another couple of months.  Still swimming... outside. It's great to visit Alaska and get my fill. But it's good to be home.