Mushin' dogs

On Saturday stopped by Mitch Seavey's sled dog camp in Seward. We took a ride through the forest on a wheeled sled, got to pet the dogs, and learned a good deal about the Iditarod, the training required for it, and how awesome these dogs are.

Yes!

Very well behaved right up until the dog sees a sled, then they go absolutely nuts.

Summer homes for the dogs. What is not captured in this image is the cacophony made up of dogs barking, whining, yelping, and fighting. Lots of dog noise. 

Cheers, 

Seward with the Spuhlers

We took a new cruise around Kenai Fjords and the weather cooperated fantastically.

Puffins are our new favorite bird, they swim underwater just like they fly in the air. 

Humpback whale breaching.

Sea lions do lazy very well. 

Really neat reflection in the still water.

Jaci and Bob enjoyed the cruise.

Downtime on Fox Island.

Rocks on Fox Island.

We spent the remainder of the weekend in Seward. The Mt. Marathon race had made quite an impression, so I set out early Sunday to 'run' the mountain. The way up was a spirited hike at best as the trail was mostly scree. The way down however was fantastic, steep downhill and lots of loose rocks. 

Summit picture, it was a bit rainy out. 

And finally, we leave you with a common but often forgotten reminder...

Please, do not feed the animals.

Cheers.

Seward Cruisin' with the Spuhlers

Jaci and Bob came up to visit and after a hectic first couple of hours rushing between the airport and the train station we were on our way down to Seward. The train ride was fantastic, the weather cleared just in time...

Great views all around...

Jes and her mom's...

this girl did not drop her phone...

Jes and her da'...

this bird did not fall into the ocean...

say yes to railroads.

After our railroad jaunt we boated over to Fox Island in Resurrection Bay outside of Seward, the weather held and we got to check out the fjords.

boat ridin'...

dock at Fox Island and the boat we came in on.

More pictures to come, cheers.

Alaska Salmon!

Our friend Kyle and his family spent this past weekend dip-netting in Kasilof. The limit for salmon was higher than what they could eat, so he invited us over to help cleaning and cutting up the salmon. In exchange, we'd get a couple filets. After a delicious meal of fresh salmon, we got to work. 

First, a cooler of fish. Jes was sad they didn't have their heads on.

Kyle cleaning them out.

Jim filleted the fish, I cleaned up the carcasses, and Kyle and Jes packaged and sealed the fish.

Towards the end, Jim broke out the wasabi and soy sauce and we enjoyed bits of raw salmon, quite tasty.

Quite a bounty. 

Baums, if you're reading, soon we'll be catching our own.

Cheers,

Golfin' and runnin'

This past weekend was composed of an incredible day on Saturday and a rainy, windy, and somewhat cold day on Sunday. We took advantage of the weather on both days.
Our friend Sharon is an avid golfer so we joined her for a round on Saturday. We played a course out in Palmer. It had been a while since we had taken up the clubs and gone a round and it showed although Jes got her game together by the end of play.

Sharon enjoying the links. 

They call this pasture golfing.

On Sunday I decided to 'run' Flattop. I was inspired by the Mt. Marathon race and by Ryan and I's run over Crow Pass. It was rainy and cold but I made it there and back. 

Summit picture, woohoo!

Cheers. 

Lake Hood

We live on the west end of Anchorage and everyday at all hours, float planes fly over our house. The planes are heading to or from Lake Hood, a giant lake that houses a good chunk of Anchorage's float planes. Jes had run the trail around the lake several times but I hadn't seen it. So we headed out on a great day for some dinner at the hotel on the edge of the lake...

After dinner we rode bikes around the lake and checked out the planes.

We also found an owl watching over Anchorage who was kind enough to pose for a picture with Jes.

Cheers.

Crow Pass

So last weekend, Jes, Jenna, and I set out to hike Crow Pass. It is a point to point hike with the southern end in Girdwood and the northern end at the Eagle River Nature Center. We decided to hike it from south to north. The day dawned a bit rainy but we were undeterred.

Our friend Eric joined us for the hike up to Crow Pass, he brought along his dog Birch, solid addition to the hiking party. Crow Glacier is in the background of the photo.

I wore a biking hat in honor of the Tour de France starting. 

Eric turned back and Jenna, Jes, and I kept on hiking.

And kept hiking...

and kept hiking across snowfields...

Past moose... see the trail to the left of the behemoth...

Until we made camp after fording a Eagle River (no pictures as it was quite an event requiring all our attention). The campfire was quite a comfort.

If you look at the full-size picture you can see a white post across the river between Jenna and Jes, that is the beginning of the crossing.

The second leg of the journey was highlighted but several stream crossing, the bridge construction was just enough.

It was a great time.

And if you made it this far, here's an interesting fact: this was the second weekend in a row that I was at Crow Pass. The week before Ryan and I ran the trail from Eagle River to Girdwood in a bit over 7 hours. The pictures from Ryan and I's run were wiped out by the cruel sea but both experiences were incredible. 

Cheers!

Yo and Ryan

Yelena and Ryan, good friends from Denver, came and visited for almost 2 weeks. It was great fun to have them about, sadly, our photo taking ability took a vacation at that time so we don't have too many pictures. For the July 4th holiday we drove down to Seward, we spent the first night camped out near Exit Glacier. A bit of whiffle ball before breakfast...

Yelena got a nice picture of Jes and I enjoying the morning.

Later that day we went into to town and watched the Mt. Marathon race. 

The steepness of the mountain and the speed of the runners was very impressive. 

To make up for our lack of pictures, we took entirely too many at the airport when we dropped Yo and Ryan off. 

It was great to hang out with them.

Cheers.

more from Suzanne and Carla's Visit

So it's been a week since Suzanne left and we are already missing the weather they brought with them. Here's a couple photos from their stay...

Whaley boy!

We floated alongside this humpback for a good 45 minutes. It was very active, breaching a lot, moving its' flippers to and fro, all making for a good show. 

Nice picture of Jes on the beach.

A really large glacier. 

More later, cheers.