home sweet harvey: July 2014

So! We've kept ourselves quite busy since our last post. Today is our third or fourth rainy day since we've been here, which I keep telling Nick is crazy!

In Homer we checked out the Pratt Museum. It is a lovely little museum that focuses on local anthropological and ecological history with some art and craft thrown in for good measure. My favorite part was some recordings of lady homesteaders from back in the day. Such awesome strong women! Nick's favorite part was a native rain jacket made from sea lion (?) intestines. So cool! We drove down the Spit, but it was pretty late in the day so didn't partake in any of the excursions advertised. We got some dinner and a quick driving lesson for Nick (the truck we've been borrowing from mom is a manual and I had been doing all of the driving up to this point). He did great! Then we headed back to Kenai.

The next day momma cut Nick and Greg's hair (Nick's haircuts generally rotate around when we see my family) and Greg took us out for a shooting lesson. He took the time to explain safety (always handle a gun as if it's loaded) and appropriate technique. We shot a .22, .357, 9mm, and a .44 magnum. The last few were a little heavy for me, but I feel safer around and about guns knowing how to handle one myself. Also, I got in a couple of kill shots, which was pretty satisfying my first time out.

Side note: basically everything mom and Greg own from high end camping gear to the furniture in their lovely home came from some pretty epic yard sales, so since Nick and I have been here for such a long stint, we've done a couple of Saturdays and found some treasures. Wire baskets, a two tier lazy susan, and a heavy gauge extension cord for Harvey, a few clothing items for each of us (including TWO work shirts for me!) and a couple of other treasures. Just this past Saturday we saw a moose walk through a guy's back yard while we were standing not 15 feet away in his garage! He immediately picked up a moose caller (that was for sale on the table) and started howling into it a bit to see if the bull would come back. Ha! Only in Alaska.

Also, each yard sale day is topped off with a visit to The Moose is Loose bakery, which is an entry in itself. Apple fritters that will change your life. Sticky buns, donuts, and cinnamon rolls for days. The best sugar belly for your money in Soldatna, AK.

Anyway, the day after Homer we got up early to try to go halibut fishing, but the water was too choppy so we ended up doing a little sight seeing in Ninilchick (where we were going to put the boat in) instead. Then we came back for another try on Monday and had the most amazing day on the water! It was sunny and warm (Well, all things being relative. We each still had on long underwear and two pairs of wool socks!) and we each caught our limit! (2 halibut each for a total of 8 fish!) We saw sea otters, and jelly fish, even an orca, which mom said has only happened to her once before! (And she and Greg fish all the time.) Nick was the big winner of the day reeling in a 50 lb. fish! I caught a couple about half that size, but was still pretty pleased with myself. That night, after a long day on the water, Nick and I left to head up for some camping in Denali National Park. We only got about halfway to Anchorage before we pulled over (Alaska has all these gravel pull outs in beautiful places where you can just pull over and car or RV camp for the night for free! It's awesome!) We just slept in the back of the truck but it was a nice head start on the 8 hour drive up to the near middle of the state.

The next day we finished our drive to the park with a couple of hours to spare so we were able to re pack all our gear before taking the last camper bus in. Our first night we stayed at Wonder Lake, which is all the way at the end of the road, which is only about half of the way into the park. Denali is huge (about the size of Vermont) and wonderful and wild. Our bus in only had 6 people on it (think school bus) and a veteran driver who shared great stories and wildlife with us. We had yet another sunny day and saw grizzlies, caribou, and moose among the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, once we got to the campsite it was rainy, our stove wouldn't light, and there were millions of mosquitos. Thankfully, some fellow campers took pity on us and let us borrow their stove and I had brought a wireless mosquito zapper shaped like a tennis racket that provided lots of entertainment. The next morning the bugs and rain continued as we took a bus back out 2/3 of the way to Igloo Creek campground. Whereas Wonder Lake was somewhat crowded (28 sites, woah!) Igloo Creek was much quieter and our speed (only 7 sites total).

After we got our camp set up we took a hike up into the mountains. One of the cool things about Denali is that camping and hiking are permitted pretty much anywhere. Back country camping requires a permit and orientation (next time!), but hiking is to each his own. We found a little trail that scurried about half way up a mountain, which I was pretty pleased with, but Nick was dead set on hiking the rest of the way up. And up we went (on what we later found out was in most likelihood a sheep trail. I kid you not.) We went through the forest and across a gravely mountain shear (Think a 45 degree incline covered in sharp gravel that you are walking horizontally across with absolutely no trees or boulders around to hold on to. Pretty terrifying!) But then we turned a corner and across the valley on another mountain we saw about 7 Dall Sheep! So cool! We sat for a bit and took that in before making our slow descent.

The next day we packed up camp and headed back to mom and Greg's. We still couldn't get the stove to light, the weather wasn't letting up (totally socked in), and we had seen and done all that we had come to (except, of course, Nick seeing Denali itself. I saw it when I was here 11 years ago.) We took the next couple of days to recover from that drive and go fishing once again. Not quite the same luck as our fist day out, but will end up carrying about 100 lbs of fish back to Oregon with us!

Yesterday we picked wild blueberries, saw an eagle aerie (nest) and did a little more fishing on Skilak Lake. Today we've been packing and wrapping things up and just ate a feast that mom slaved over literally all afternoon. Halibut in white wine with garlic and butter, Salmon with honey ginger glaze, crab legs, steamed broccoli and carrots, homemade yeast rolls! We called it "Surf 'n Surf 'n Surf" and stuffed ourselves silly. Tomorrow is back to Portland so we can start getting life underway in Oregon. Many thanks to mom and Greg for making this such an incredible trip! We can't wait to come back!

Now, what you really care about: pictures!