An Alaskan Wedding

It was kind of last minute, but Saturday we went to a wedding of one of Axel's friends.  I was a bit apprehensive as I wouldn't know anybody (or so I thought) but I knew it was important to him so I just went with it.  He worked for a couple hours Saturday morning, we drove the motor home allllll the way back to Wasilla where he lives, swung by Sears to grab a dress for me (I really don't travel with anything even mildly fancy) and some attire for him and then headed out to Big Lake (named for the big lake there...so clever) where the wedding would be.

And what an awesome wedding.  I mean, even though I didn't really know many people there except a few that I had met on my winter visit, I had tons of fun.  The location was gorgeous, right on the lake, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect, quite warm for Alaska (65 degrees-ish) and sunny, sunny all the way until midnight it seemed.  (For those of you that don't know, it is daylight pretty much all the time in the summer here).  Those things combined with a live band, open bar and good DJ, it was bound to be a fun night.  And a fun night it was.

I don't know if motor homes are as popular in other places as they are here in Alaska.  Several people arrived at the wedding in motor homes, some even rented them just for the occasion.  Really it's quite smart- you can drink as much as you please and have somewhere to sleep.  Why the hell do more people not do this back home?

 Awwwww

 Only in Alaska can you take a picture in which there are multiple boats, a jet ski, a float plane and a helicopter.  As Axel would say, "Alaskans have all the toys".

I lost Ax at one point in the evening.... found him playing drums with the band.

What a beautiful day and location for a wedding.  The best part- it's always light out so we were able to party foreverrrrrr it seemed :)  I think this picture was taken just before midnight.  

After the wedding it was back to Girdwood, Ax had drilling to do on the mountain.

Forget skydiving... PARAGLIDING is where it's at

Since I got here, my boyfriend Axel had been wanting to paraglide, and the paragliders were just taunting us flying around in the sky every afternoon and evening.  Ax put me on a mission to investigate it and so I did.... and by that evening our reservations with a couple paraglider pilots were booked.  The cool thing about where we are at is that you can take a tram to the top of a mountain (Alyeska- a big fancy pants ski resort here) and simply fly down.  We had gone skydiving in Cali over my spring break and loved that, and I still think Ax likes skydiving more, but paragliding was the shit (pardon my french). Again, pictures are worth a thousand words, so here you go:

All smiles.

Me with my pilot preparing for take-off.

In flight- so incredibly awesome.  

Just taking off.  With paragliding you just run off the mountain.

Flying

Right before paragliding we were asked by a couple ladies where we were from as their Girl Scout group was trying to meet someone from every state.  "Girlscouts?!"  Instantly we were chatting (I work for Girl Scouts up here).  About 10 young girls informally interviewed me as their leaders recorded it all.  They were a group from New York and were so curious as to how Girl Scouts differed in Alaska.... It was hard to say that we're a bit cooler and more hard core... so I just gave them a bit o' info about all the cool stuff we do.  Hung with them until it was time to glide and they all were my personal little audience when I took off.  And it just so happened that where we went for dinner after flying, the Girlscout group did too.  They wanted to know all about the paragliding and how awesome it was.  It was cool, that even though I wasn't technically working, I was still able to inspire some young ones. It's only been a few weeks without working with kids and I'm kinda missing them!

Hangin' in Girdwood

Well, hit the trails I did. I hiked for several hours the other day.  At first when I set out, I was a bit scared to be honest- I'm back in bear country- and I'm not gonna lie that sometimes it freaks me out.  But I'm glad I kept on and didn't let the possibility of a bear encounter detour me...it was a fabulous day for hiking.  I started out on some Nordic ski trail not really with a set plan when I ran into a couple forest service workers who asked where I was headed.  When I replied with 'wherever the trails take me'  they suggested I cut through to a different path and boy am I glad they did.  As I hiked, I started to realize where it was taking me...to Girdwood's hand tram.  I'd been there my first summer in Alaska with my friend Dan but had approached it from the other side. I finally reached the tram, but I wasn't strong enough to get the tram from the other side of the gorge over to me.  I was kind of disappointed that I wouldn't be able to get across- but kind of thankful too-  It would have been a bit scary to dangle over that glacial river all by myself- and what if I was only strong enough to get to the middle and not back to the other side?  So after eating an apple while staring into the gushing river below, I gave up on the idea that maybe some other hiker's would pass through that I could ride with, and I headed back.

Most people don't realize that Alaska had rainforest...it does... and it's awesome. 

 Hikin' along

 Big ol' Moose track (how on earth did that become a kind of ice cream?!)

 The hand tram.

Back home something like this would have such high liability that it couldn't exist....it's a bit different in Alaska- a lot less rules.

Unfortunately I didn't have my actual camera and the iphone just couldn't capture how blue the glacial water is.  Maybe I'll capture it better another day.

Arrival in Alaska

Well, I've made it to Alaska, and man have I missed it.  Really, this place is fabulous.  So much badassness it's hard to describe.

Anyways, I've been able to spend a lot of time with my boy Axel.  He's working in Girdwood, which is just outside of Anchorage so it makes actually spending a little time together possible.  And I've been enjoying every minute of it.

On Saturday, I ran the half marathon in Anchorage- the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon.  It was a great race... only about 5000 runners (teeny compared to my annual Chicago Marathon), beautiful sunny and 75 degree weather, and a good portion of the race on the coastal trail right along the ocean.  I had taken a couple weeks off of any serious running to give my hurting knee a rest and boy did I feel the results of not keeping up with training as I ran.  I mean, I knew I could finish no problem as I ran four half marathons in four weeks just before the break in running, but I didn't know how fast I could manage.  With a few hills and not much sleep (about 2 hrs) the night before, I knew a PR probably wasn't going to happen so I just enjoyed the run.

My friend Josh and I ready to run!

On Sunday Ax had a day off so we trekked out to the Matanuska glacier.  I have a friend I met my first summer up here who works as a guide on the glacier and we were hoping to catch her-- we sort of did--as she was leaving town.  Bummer that we didn't have her a guide, but I'm glad I at least got to say hi and she hooked us up with some stretchy crampon things which were a total necessity for what we were about to do.  I had never really been on a glacier hiking around like we did.   I mean, I had seen them when I went in the helicopter over the Chugach range and on the snowmobile trip when I visited Ax in the winter and from afar as I've visited different parts of AK, but it was totally different when its sunny and gorgeous out and your hiking around right on top of this massive ice formation.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here you go:

It's back to work for Ax for the next few days so we're calling Axel's motorhome parked in Girdwood home.  I like it- so simple.  He's up on the mountain today- so I'm going to go for a nice long hike in the drizzly rain.  Alaska greeted me with a few sunny beautiful days, but I knew it wouldn't last long- oh well. Time for the trails- later gators.

Let the Adventures Begin!

For those of you who don't already know, I'm headed to Alaska to spend another summer (this will be my third) and then I'm going to teach abroad in Thailand.   I'm using this 'travel blog' to document what I do, where I go, people I meet, etc.  And while it's obviously going to be a great way to keep in contact with everyone back home, it's a bit selfish in nature too.  I regret not keeping a good record of the places I've been to so far and I'm hoping this will be a way for me to remember my adventures, and even better, share them with others.

Even though I didn't depart Illinois until today, the travel process actually started a while ago.  First I made the decision to actually GO.  I signed up for a TEFL class (Teaching English as Foreign Language) in Phuket Thailand, made arrangements to work in Alaska for another summer and then quit my teaching job.  Yep, I did it.  An incredibly hard decision, but I know it was the right one.  

At last, the school year ended (I had been teaching elementary art and coaching track) and I have spent the last couple weeks visiting with friends and family, getting in doctors/dentists appointments, sorting through everything I own to sell a bunch on eBay and our family garage sale, selling my car, figuring out vaccinations/medications I will need, etc. in preparation to be gone for a while.  And, before I knew it, departure day arrived.

This morning my mom took me to O'hare airport....rather early so she could make it to work on time.  After almost four hours (most of it at the wrong gate...oops!)  we were on our way to Seattle.  My neighbor on the plane was from the Seattle area and offered to drive me to the city and spend the afternoon with me when I mentioned I had a nine hour layover I was dreading.  So, off I went with my new friend to Pike's Place market where we wandered around (watching them throw the fish is always amusing).  We grabbed a bite to eat at a little Greek cafe and I tried some Tully's coffee.  I even passed up the original Starbuck's store just to try a new brew.   After wandering around a bit more, I had to find my way back to the airport.  Asked around, found my way to the light rail station, hopped on the train and made it back to the SeaTac airport.  And here I sit waiting to go to Anchorage, in a rocking chair nonetheless (Seattle is just awesome like that), and finally starting my travel blog.

 Driving in.... Seattle has yet to disappoint.

 Totem Pole... I love the art of the Northwest Coast.  

 New Coffee.  Delicious, but it's no Kaladi Brothers.

 The market.  That blur in the air, yep, it's a fish.

The breeze off the water was awesome.  What a perfect, and random, day in Seattle.

Stay tuned... Alaska adventures coming soon!