Thursday, September 10, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Summer in Alaska
So, we are quite behind on updating our blog and so much has happened since mom and dad's visit in May! Brant has spent a lot weekends fishing this summer...I went along on the ones that didn't start at 5am!! We didn't have much luck fishing for red's this year, but Brant did get a couple silver and a halibut - which will fill our freezer until next summer. The summer weather has been absolutely gorgeous this year - mostly in the low to mid 60s. We've enjoyed fishing, 
camping, hiking, and having dinner
on our back porch. Brant's birthday was July 13th, and we celebrated by having a cookout with a few friends. It was the first year in a LONG time it was not celebrated out on Lake Hartwell. Brant
was thinking of
running over and jumping into Lower Fireweed Lake just to say he did get in the lake on his birthday, but we weren't prepared with our wet suits :)
We moved out of our home in Eagle River and up the road about 15 minutes to Chugiak, AK. The owners of our home in Eagle River are coming back from their deployment in mid-September, so we began looking in July for a new place. The first day we went looking, we found a house that both Brant and I really loved. It's a great log cabin home away from town, and has a big yard that Duke loves! We have a few neighbors, and Brant can't wait to build a firepit in the backyard. The first day we were out here, Duke ran circles around the house as fast as he could until he collapsed, so we knew he liked it too! With the he
lp of a few of 
Brant's buddies from the dental clinic, we got all of our furniture moved in in 1 day. then we spent about 3 weeks going back and forth everynight after work and every weekend until we got everything moved out and the house cleaned. We are finally in our newhouse, although boxes are still everywhere! It has a great little wood stove that we can't wait to use this winter and a great backyard where we put up an outdoor kennel for Duke during the day.
Brant graduated from his residency on August 14th - YAY!! He is now officially on his own and loving it. He wasted no time starting to use his accrued leave time after graduation. He left this morning at 5:30am for an 8 day float fishing trip down the Kasilof River with 2 other guys from the clinic. They were flown out this morning in a small single engine plane and
dropped off with their gear and a boat in the middle of nowhere, AK. They'll float for 8 days, catch and release trout. He gets home for 1 day and then leaves for 4 on a moose hunting trip with 2 other friends. Hard life! haha. Brant has been working with Duke, training him, so he is able to accompany him on some hunts next year. As of now, he's still a wild man :) He just turned 7 months and is 70 pounds! He loves running through tall grass, stealing neighbors' newspapers, swimming, playing ball, and hiding his tennis balls under the couch and then crying until we dig them out for him.
The leaves have started to change this week and fall is in the air! The weather is still beautiful, but we know snow is only about 6 weeks away! We're going to enjoy as much sunshine until then as we can!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Mom and Dad's Visit
Mom and dad were here for a visit last week over Memorial Day. Brant and I both had 4 day weekends, so it was the perfect time to have visitors! We went out to eat at all of our favorite restaurants in town and the weather was nice almost the whole time! Mom and dad got to see a moose on the way back from dinner on Thursday night - the first day they were here! On Friday, we left for Seward for the weekend and had planned a fishing charter for all day Saturday. On the way down, we got a call and our charter got cancelled due to bad weather, so it got postponed until Sunday. On our way down to Seward, which is about a 2.5 hour drive south of Anchorage, we stopped at the Conservation Center and saw a bunch of wildlife, including black bear, grizzlies, a porcupine (that was a first, and they stink like crazy!), moose, caribou, and some other animals as well. We got down to Sewa
rd and went to dinner at Ray's - a restaurant that Brant's parents recommended that they went when they were here on their cruise last summer. It was on the water at the marina and had a beautiful view of the mountains - and was really yummy! Since our charter was cancelled on Saturday, we had the day to fiddle around town. We went to the SeaLife museum, which is kind of a rehabilitation center for animals. And I was excited we got to see Puffin! After we left the SeaLife museum, drove to Exit Glacier. It's a huge glacier in Seward with lots of trails you can hike to the foot or all the way to the top. We took the hike to the foot of the glacier as it was getting to be dinner time :) We hit the hay early as we had to be to our charter at 6am the next day. The weather was not good again on Sunday, so we didn't get to go out as far as we wanted for King Salmon, but luckily we still got to go out. It was a long
fun day. Dad was the only one that caught a halibut. Mom, Brant, and I all caught cod, and then mom caught a rockfish. There were 5 halibut caught on our boat total and the biggest one was 90lbs!! We got our fish packaged up and headed back to Eagle River. Monday was Memorial Day, and Brant wanted to take our salmon rods down to Ship Creek to fish for king salmon, as they are just starting to swim into the rivers this week. Mom and I dropped of Brant and dad to fish while we took Duke down to splash around in the river. He had a blast and good thing I had him on his leash - he's not quite big enough to fight the current on his own yet :) We went back to pick up the guys and our first sight was dad climbing up the hill with no boots and mud up to his knees, holding his fishing pole. Apparently, they got in a pretty mucky spot, and he sunk into the mud and got his boots stuck. Brant tried to help dig his boots out, but they were too stuck. So, he had to crawl out of his boots and leave them. We found a hose to hose him off, and Brant rode home in the back of the truck with Duke becaus
e he was just as muddy. Brant and I had to go back to work on Tuesday, so mom and dad were on their own to explore. I got a text message at work on Tuesday afternoon from mom that said "moose in your yard." I gave her a call, and she said there were two moose in the neighborhood and they were currently in the front yard, one was sniffing our trash can, and dad was hiding behind the birch tree to get a closer look
! I told her to remind him that they WILL charge you if you get to close. He risked his life, but got some pretty good pictures :) We've never seen moose in our neighborhood before...maybe we should start staying home from work a little more :) We had a great visit with them and are looking forward to other visitors this summer!!
rd and went to dinner at Ray's - a restaurant that Brant's parents recommended that they went when they were here on their cruise last summer. It was on the water at the marina and had a beautiful view of the mountains - and was really yummy! Since our charter was cancelled on Saturday, we had the day to fiddle around town. We went to the SeaLife museum, which is kind of a rehabilitation center for animals. And I was excited we got to see Puffin! After we left the SeaLife museum, drove to Exit Glacier. It's a huge glacier in Seward with lots of trails you can hike to the foot or all the way to the top. We took the hike to the foot of the glacier as it was getting to be dinner time :) We hit the hay early as we had to be to our charter at 6am the next day. The weather was not good again on Sunday, so we didn't get to go out as far as we wanted for King Salmon, but luckily we still got to go out. It was a long
fun day. Dad was the only one that caught a halibut. Mom, Brant, and I all caught cod, and then mom caught a rockfish. There were 5 halibut caught on our boat total and the biggest one was 90lbs!! We got our fish packaged up and headed back to Eagle River. Monday was Memorial Day, and Brant wanted to take our salmon rods down to Ship Creek to fish for king salmon, as they are just starting to swim into the rivers this week. Mom and I dropped of Brant and dad to fish while we took Duke down to splash around in the river. He had a blast and good thing I had him on his leash - he's not quite big enough to fight the current on his own yet :) We went back to pick up the guys and our first sight was dad climbing up the hill with no boots and mud up to his knees, holding his fishing pole. Apparently, they got in a pretty mucky spot, and he sunk into the mud and got his boots stuck. Brant tried to help dig his boots out, but they were too stuck. So, he had to crawl out of his boots and leave them. We found a hose to hose him off, and Brant rode home in the back of the truck with Duke becaus
e he was just as muddy. Brant and I had to go back to work on Tuesday, so mom and dad were on their own to explore. I got a text message at work on Tuesday afternoon from mom that said "moose in your yard." I gave her a call, and she said there were two moose in the neighborhood and they were currently in the front yard, one was sniffing our trash can, and dad was hiding behind the birch tree to get a closer look
! I told her to remind him that they WILL charge you if you get to close. He risked his life, but got some pretty good pictures :) We've never seen moose in our neighborhood before...maybe we should start staying home from work a little more :) We had a great visit with them and are looking forward to other visitors this summer!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
