Pages

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Alaska photo dump

I went to Alaska!
When we got back, there was so much work to do, I haven't had time to do much of anything.
My horses are getting fat; we haven't been out on the trails, and all they do is eat on the pasture all day. I haven't been fishing. BJ and I have spent a lot of time with his kids and grand kids.

There's so much I want to write about... I miss blogging, but for now... I am just going to dump some pictures on you. Between BJ and I we took more than 500 pictures, so I'm not sharing even close to what we have: Just a few, so that I can feel like I have shared some of this amazing trip with you. I often say, "I'll come back and write about it later," but I rarely do, so don't count on it.

Just know: The trip was amazing. The scenery was gorgeous. The time spent with Todd and the family that went too was better than anything I could have ever imagined. Time spent with Todd's family was fun. Words don't do any of the experience justice.

And now: The picture dump. 

We rode in a dog sled. Or a dog cart. 16 dogs running at 20mph dragging the six of us (and a musher) behind them. BJ has the same giggle when he's behind a dog sled as when he has a fish on. I love that giggle!

BJ was the only one that caught a salmon in our group. The rest of us all caught little Dolly Varden. Just fly fishing in Alaskan wilderness was awesome for me. I need to go back JUST to go fly fishing and exploring.

BJ's Pink Salmon

I'm smiling in this picture, but I was really upset. I just realized I had lost my camera. After already dropping my phone in the ocean. I thought I had lost every picture I had taken thus far, and the ability to take more. I was horribly bummed... but my phone (and everything saved on it) survived, and someone found my camera. HUGE sigh of relief.


Just me, standing in front of our plane as we get ready to go back to Juneau, and then get back on the cruise ship.

Coming in for a landing.

Some of the scenery in Tracy Arm Fjord.
Dawes Glacier

I love going to art museums and such with BJ. He is a sculptor himself, so he has a better understanding of what it takes to do what these artists have done. It amazes him, and I love watching him be amazed. (I also have a better appreciation of it all, and feel my own feelings of amazement now too.)

So... In Oregon, there is a street called Mellen Street. I really wanted to take a picture of the street sign. I was practicing on the signs coming up to the Mellen Street sign, just to be sure I got the picture. I have several practice pictures, but when it came to the actual sign, the camera just didn't go off... Therefore I didn't get the Mellen Street picture. I still wanted Mellen (my sister's nickname) to know I was thinking about her, so I took a lame picture of a freeway exit sign... Do you feel loved yet Mel?

This is where we had dinner on our way from Portland (to visit BJ's brother and his family) to Seattle (to get on the cruise ship).

Waiting for my parents to come find us at the car rental place. It looks like I'm slobbering or something...

Everyone waiting in line. BJ and I got through the line first. We hadn't printed out our boarding passes in advance, and we didn't know how much that would delay us, so we didn't wait for everyone else... Turns out it was no big deal, so BJ flashed his "Sea Pass Card" at all of them, I took their picture, and we got on the boat without the rest of the fam.

Just us... in front of our cruise ship.

REAL LIVE HORSE RACES. So much cheesy stuff happening on the ship, but I enjoyed it.

Bowser... from Sha-Na-Na. I actually owned a few Sha-Na-Na CD's, so I was pretty excited to see this concert. It was even more fun than I expected.

Everyone with their cameras out.

BJ and I with future mushing champions.

All the swag we bought. Mostly for BJ's kids. A few things for my brother and sister that didn't come, and a few things for friends. (That reminds me. I haven't given it all away yet. Sorry for the spoiler to the two people that haven't seen what I got them yet...)

Empress hotel in Canada... Mostly, I was really excited to be back on land. Two days at sea was a long time.

Weird looking, but fairly tasty, dessert




Playing combat croquet with BJ's brother (and his son). BJ and his brother have a lot in common, and it was fun to see the two of them together.

Mi Madre

I look like I'm trying to model or something... I don't know what was going through my head...

Some scenery

The tide had come in...

Scenery

Our guide decided we needed a picture of both of us... which I appreciate. I forget to do things like that.

BJ in front of our plane

The Mendenhall Glacier from our plane. The rest of my family hiked here while we were fly fishing.

Zack taking pictures

Alaska!

BJ, myself, and Zack in the rain in Alaska

Towel animals

We spent lots of time just reading and chilling

Fly fishing with BJ's uncle in Washington. I felt like at any moment, a dinosaur should just walk out and greet us... the forest just felt pre-historic.


I never encountered any dinosaurs though.

Just BJ, Brad, and Ben.



This is the sign in front of the river we were fishing in... comforting, eh?


I didn't realize we were making the exact same face... but we were...


We could totally be cruise entertainers.



David Jake was our waiter. He took good care of us.

BJ's brother Matt, his wife Donna and BJ and I.

They totally look like brothers, huh?



I played with the shutter speed on my camera to get this effect.

Welcome to Skagway!

On our way to Musher's camp.


Dogs!










He got sick. This is his effort to look especially pathetic. I was there, and still his eyes break my heart.

This bird liked BJ's leg and foot. It just climbed right up...







This dog reminded me of my sister's dog, Sadie, so I took his picture.

9 comments:

  1. Yay! I totally thought we were going to see dinosaurs in the Alaskan wilderness as well. Robyn assured me it was too cold for dinosaurs. She didn't think to mention that we were also 65 million years too late.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. lol. Just a minor detail... 65 million years to late...

      Delete
  2. Such a fun trip!! I don't even know what my favorite part was, but I loved that we could share it with you. AND YOU WENT ON A PLANE AND WENT FLY FISHING IN ALASKA!! Maybe hearing you say that about a hundred time was my favorite part!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :) That was my favorite part too... Saying it a million times, then doing it, then saying I had done it.

      Delete
  3. I'm so jealous! Alaska is top of my to-see list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I highly recommend seeing it - even though I feel like we barely touched the surface. BJ and I are talking about going back and spending time more inland, in the streams, to go fly-fishing. Maybe rent an RV and spend a week or so.

      Delete
  4. Sorry I'm slow at reading your blog. I do appreciate the freeway sign you took for me and Jeff took a picture of an outhouse for me. LOL I'm so loved! Thanks for thinking of me. :) I'm glad you had such a good time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The only thing I didn't like about this trip was that you and Justin weren't there too.
      Also... if Jeff hadn't taken pictures of the outhouses, Zack and/or I were going to. I missed you the whole time!

      Delete
  5. Are you one of those people who seem to get hooked with salmon fishing? Who can blame you for that? Most of salmon fishing experts either started to learn fishing at an early age or have learned to fish just a few years ago.

    Guided Salmon Fishing Alaska

    ReplyDelete