Termination Dust!!

The fall colors have really been beautiful here in the past week! One morning we woke up and it seemed like all of the leaves had turned yellow and orange over night! Apparently, the fall season is short lived - September through mid October. Then "termination dust" starts to arrive. This, we have learned, is when you start to see snow on the tops of the mountains. It is called termination dust, signifying the termination of fall and the beginning of winter. We started to see termination dust a few weeks ago, and it is slowly creeping down the mountains around us. A girl I work with at Providence was telling me about Halloween around here. She has to buy her kids' costumes a size or two big because they are wearing their ski suits underneath because it's so cold. There's usually lots of snow by Halloween and a lot of the parents pull the kids around trick or treating on sleds! We thought that was pretty funny.

Brant and I spent Saturday out and about shopping for winter gear. He is pretty stocked with clothing because he's had lots of warm stuff for hunting season, but I needed some snow pants, more wool socks, and some long johns. I actually wore some wool long johns under my jeans on Saturday and got made fun of because it was only about 50 degrees, but I was freezing! We talked to a guy that worked at the Sportsman's warehouse, and he was telling us all of the local places to snowboard, cross country ski, and hike in the winter. We are getting really excited about trying all of the new winter sports :) We also bought a set of studded tires for the Escape from a family who is about to leave Anchorage and be stationed in Germany. We are slowly getting ready for the snow! Everyone around here is making bets on when the first snowfall will be. Maybe the next post will be covered in white :)

Pictures of our house!

Labor Day Weekend Fishing Trip

Brant's parents came to visit August 27th - September 2nd at the tail end of their Alaskan Cruise/Land tour. They got into town on Wednesday and we left Friday afternoon after I got out of work for a weekend fishing charter. We stayed in Soldotna and woke up at 5am Saturday morning for our trip with King of the River for Salmon. It was freeeeezing! We fished from about 7am until 12:30PM on the Kenai River. It was really different than any fishing we were use to (trout fishing in the NC river!). There was no casting, and the rod was pretty heavy and required some muscle work to reel in! It was the end of the salmon season, so we caught a lot of "pink salmon" which are not good to eat. We were trying to catch silvers, and Brant was the only one that actually caught one! Bob and I had a silver on our line, but we lost them :( We still had a great time even though Brant caught the only silver. When Brant was reeling in his silver, our captain helped him, and when it was in the boat, he took a mini wooden bat and whacked the fish over the head three times to kill it. It was really funny and we got it on video! It was a great day and finally warmed up about lunch time. We headed back to the hotel, showered, had some lunch, and watched the Clemson game - we should've stayed out to fish!

On Sunday morning, we had a full day (7am-5pm) of halibut fishing with Captain Steve's Charters. We had about an hour drive to get to Captain Steve's, so it was a very early morning! We got there, and it was not quite as cold as Saturday morning, but it was raining. So, we all got suited up in our rain gear: rubber overalls with suspenders, rain coats, and rubber boots. We looked like we belonged on "The Greatest Catch." We had to drive another 45 minutes to Cook Inlet where we were putting in the boat. We had another 30-45 minute ride in the boat out to where we were stopping to fish. I get a little motion sickness sometimes, so I took some medicine -- but it didn't appear to work very well. The ride was very choppy, and I had to lay down inside the cabin until we got to our spot. We finally got to where we were going to fish, and we all went out to the back to cast our lines. The swells were only 3-4 feet, but it felt like they were 20! Before I knew it, Brant and Janet were hanging over the sides letting go of their breakfast. I still felt terrible and was wishing I could let go of mine, but the medicine I took was not letting me. I spent the day lying in the cabin, while Brant and Janet puked on/off in between casting their lines. Bob was having a good 'ole time. The weather was so bad and the waves were so choppy, by 12PM, we were all ready to head back. With no halibut :(

So, we headed home early on Sunday with one silver salmon. We ended up cooking salmon steaks on Labor Day for dinner and they were awesome! We had a great time, but think we'll all try the Dramamine Patch next time :)

We have finally settled into a house!! The movers came on August 15th and spent the day unloading all of our things that have been in storage since the end of May! We are very happy to report that there was only one thing broken - and it was a cheap lamp. We spent the day helping the movers check off boxes and unpack and by 5PM, we had a houseful of boxes and a bed to sleep in. I did have to spend a few hours hunting for a set of sheets :) My day was spent unpacking dishes and kitchenware, while Brant hooked up electronics and the washer and dryer. I spent the whole next week unpacking, organizing, and cleaning, as Brant had to report the next day to the base and began working. I had the whole week off and didn't start until August 25th. We love our house and have met some nice neighbors...more pictures coming soon of our house and during the Arnold's visit over Labor Day :)