2007 US Alpine Championships

So obviously that is not us, but we were there watching the skiers who were participating at the US Championships today. I have never lived in a place who held skiing championships before,especially 30 minutes away from my home so we had to go and watch. After seeing the participants come down from the mountain I have so much more respect for them and their abilities.
Other than the sport, it was a gorgeous and sunny day in Alyeska, which is 30 minutes away from south Anchorage. I even had to take off my hat and my gloves and got to enjoy the sun. Finally spring is coming to Alaska, I can't wait!!

Bellingham, WA for the holidays!

So we made it to Bellingham, WA for the holidays, to visit with Zion's parents. It is always great to see the family and know that there are people out there who care about you and love you even though you are thousands of miles apart.
We left a very snowy Anchorage and since we have been here, it has been classic northwest weather, some rain and less sunshine. But the days are longer, the food is good and the company is better, so no complaints.
We hope everybody is having a great holiday season. Talk to you soon from A-town!

Turnagain Arm Trail in Chugach State Park

Yes, we have started our winter hiking season once again. We went for two hikes in the past two weekends both on the Turnagain Arm Trail in Chugach State Park. This trail is close to the south side of Anchorage and only 10 minutes away from our house. It is on the coastline so when you are hiking, you are faced with amazing views of the water and the mountains. In the more secluded sections of the trail, you expect to meet the Ice Queen from Narnia, waiting to invite you to her castle and give you Turkish Delight.
We are hoping to explore more of the southside in the upcoming weekends, I am seeing some snowshoeing trips ahead...

Yes, we are still here!!

I know we haven't posted lately, well since August but we have not had time. We are still in Alaska, this time living in Anchorage and still trying to recover from the move. We will post some new pictures and adventures soon...

Summer Reading

I have been reading a book for the past two days and I am already at page 300. It is one of the saddest books I have ever read in my life, more like watching a Lifetime Network movie. However, I cannot give up reading the book and I keep getting teary eyed every time I read it. It is called "One True Thing" and it is written by Anna Quindlen. I guess it was made into a movie and I found it when I was browsing through the local bookstore in Palmer.
This is not the first sad, depressing book I have chosen to read this summer. I have actually been on this kick of reading depressing books including "Liberating Paris", "Once Removed" and "Light As Rain". I think after reading all these, I am a little pissed. I do not understand why everything about a woman's life has to be so depressing and so full of sorrow. Why does everything have to be about people not realizing what they have until they lose it? Why does a woman have to be more mature than a man when it comes to dealing with hard decisions or family disasters and a man is allowed to run away or immerse himself in his work/alcohol or a younger woman? Why can't a man explain his feelings and understand what his wife/significant other/lover is going through without being explained as if they are guests on Dr. Phil Show? I just do not understand. May be it is time for me to return to murder/mysteries, at least they are predictable, and you know somebody is going to end their life with a horrible death...

PS. I will go back to posting happy, Alaska stuff soon...

We were in Eklutna Lake in March. Eklutna Lake is 20 to 30 minutes south of Palmer. It is one of the best places for hiking, canoeing, and snowshoeing. On the day we hiked, we saw cross-country skiers on the lake but unfortunately our camera could not capture them. We hiked for 6 miles total, which was three miles to the first public use cabin on the lake. The view from the cabin is gorgeous as you can see from the pictures.

Nancy Lake Canoe Trip

We went to Nancy Lake Recreation Area near Willow and stayed at Red Shirt Lake Cabin in June. We went for a weekend getaway with couple of friends from Palmer and Anchorage. We hiked for three miles to get to our canoes and then canoed for 15-20 minutes to get to our cabin on an island. It was a great time and here are some pictures to prove it.


Zion and Geoff sharing a quiet moment together after a trip to a nearby island to get some wood.

The crew included Kim, Craig, Amity, Libby, Geoff, me and Zion. You can see all the ladies on the left, playing dominoes on the picnic table.

Pictures with the Host- Family aka Bergs

Pictures from March, when my host-family, aka. the Bergs were visiting us. The pictures are from Thunderbird Falls and Schwabenhoff Bar, the ultimate German Bar, in Wasilla, AK.

Long Time No Post

I know I know, I have not been posting a lot lately but it is really hard to sit in front of a computer when I come home from work, since I work in front of a computer all day. I have also been trying to develop some pictures so I can post them online, but posting pictures on ablog takes a long time, so I have been lazy about that too. I guess I am lazy all around, but believe when there is 16 hours of sunlight out, you really do not want to be inside.
I hope everybody had a great 4th of July weekend. We went to Valdez for the weekend and had tons of fun. Valdez is one of those towns that has the feeling of Scotland (according to Zion) during the summer and it is perpetually green. On the way to Valdez, we stopped at Worthington Glacier, one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen in my life. This was the closest to I have ever been to a glacier. (Yes there are not that many glaciers in southern Turkey, somehow, I do not think they will survive the 100-125 F heat.) We actually climbed a trail, or mostly climbed bony spine of a ridge, glacier on the one side and a drop on the other, all in single file. I actually had to stop at some point due to height, wind and fear for my life and of course Zion continued on. I cannot wait to get the pictures to show you all.
For all interested we camped at a cute campsite, called Glacier Campground. The campground was nice, it even had its own waterfall at the community picnic area. (I should say I am not a fan of outhouses, but I love camping and making smores and eating them till I die from sugar intake, so I loved it.)
While we were in Valdez, we hiked most of the time. The city is a cute fishing town, so you can probably spend a morning there but not more than that. People usually go there for fishing, for rafting, sea kayaking and hiking. There are some great trails in Valdez and of course, nosotros tried two of them in one day. We hiked the Pack Trail and the first part of the Shoup Bay Trail. Both of these trails have wild life, i.e. bears, so I was pretty nervous about going but the view from them was so gorgeous that we had to do it. Especially the Bridal Veil Falls and the Horse Tail Falls which you can see close up during the Pack Trail hike were mystical.
I am hoping to get these pictures up soon, but in time meantime check out these links and let me know what you guys think.