Encounters of the furry kind

Friday night we went hiking with our friends Tim and Rebecca and their children. We were planning to walk the Turnagain Trail from Potters Marsh side (at the RR section house) to McCue Creek. Great plan. We went to the section house side to park our cars and we were warned there was a mama black bear and her cubs in the parking lot. So up we went in our cars to check out the scene. Sure enough - there she was a very small bear and her babies were up a tree. The mama loped around a bit sat down and watched us, sniffed around some, pooped and then walked over to the tree and somehow summoned her babies down from the tree. The scurried down and the three of them went off into the woods. We got to watch them for maybe 20 minutes -I took pictures with my phone camera, but they mostly just look like dots in the distance and you can't even see the babies.

So we decided to start at the other end.

It took us about two hours to walk the trail and by the time we got back to the section house side we decided to not go down the path that would lead us to where the mama and her babies had been and went down the wider more used path instead. Great idea....in theory. It wasn't long before we saw her and the babies right on the trail! I was busy looking at all the debris she had dragged onto the trail and didn't see them until she'd already shoved her babies up a tree and was getting ready to climb herself.

We went ahead and headed the other way...not really into walking past a sow and her cubs if you knwo what I mean!

It was the coolest - we got to watch them for so long in the parking lot - and then ran into them at a relatively safe distance on the trail. That is the third time I have run into bears on that particular trail, so I wasn't too surprised, but I have never seen them that close for that long not in a zoo before. This year people have had a lot of bear meetings not nearly as 'fun' as mine, right now there are hunters trolling a trail where a brown bear with her two cubs has already mauled two people. It's been quite the summer for bear encounters.

sunshine and long lost friends

Yesterday started out pretty gloomy and then in cleared up into our sunniest summer day this year. I decided it was too nice to be at work, afterall - who knows when the next nice day is going to be, so I bugged out of work early.

I went home and mowed the lawns (LONG overdue that's a funny pun on so many levels, I kill me!) and then went inside to clean up a little. My friend Mel called and we hit the coastal trail for a little while. I was tight on time, but we made use of what time I did have and she biked while I bladed. I have been wanting to act like I was flying down this hill (if you are familiar with the trail, you know the hill coming down from Earthquake park) it's steep but not so steep that I'm scared, but steep enough that you pick up some good speed. I've been too embarassed / shy / whatever to put my arms out like I'm flying but i've often prayed that I would just take off...wouldn't that be a weird prayer for God to answer? But this time I just did it - I looked like an overstuffed bird coming down that hill, but I liked it so there!

I went home and got to making dinner, and my friend Kim whom I haven't seen in 15 years (we figured that out) came over for dinner with her son. Her husband is now stationed here and we found out the other was here through our moms who happened to run into each other. Weird. So here we are 15 years later...it was so good to reconnect with her - she's newer to the area so I decided we should go to the coastal trail again and her son loved it. Yesssss....I got another one hooked!

John came home just in time for dinner and Kim and I had tried a new recipe that thankfully worked out (chicked stuffed with apples and cheese - so good by the way).

what a nice night...i slept hard!

Oh my my my

What wonderful thing did I come home to after work? Well behaved dogs waiting with yummy chummy breath for me to take them on a walk.

nope.

Dogs who did this: So i'm looking around trying to find the rest of the RAW HAMBURGER container that one of the dogs apparently ATE. I can't find it anywhere, I'm beginning to wonder how in the world that is going to digest in their tummies. Was it going to kill them? No such luck. I found the rest of it in the living room chair...oh to have this stuff on camara.



For the record, I love P&H...they just drive me CRAZY sometimes!

Photos

Promised photos for all my readers of our fun weekend with family!

Here I am with Hannah our little niece and Pike our nephew. Hannah was really into Pike's dog tags, and Pike was really into getting some
loving...from anyone!







Here's Hannah and my MIL's dog Izzy. They are infatuated with each other. It was too funny- the first night Hannah was here, Izzy was trying so hard to herd her. Hannah puts up with a lot and let her kind of push her around the room. With a few little nudges now and then!

Family

I'll post some photos soon, but I thought it would be fun to tell that we had a little family get together this past weekend. John's mom had a birthday last week and to surprise her FIL and John and I decided to see if brother T, wife and daughter could come in from Juneau for the weekend.

They did - and we had a great time. We totally surprised John's mom and she seemed pleased to have her granddaughter here, and of course brother T and wife! It was fun to spend some time with them, and I hadn't yet met their sweet little girl (who is about to turn 1 how embarrassing that I just met her!) - so that was very fun. Seriously, I don't think I've ever met a better behaved child...I'm not just saying this because I'm the auntie...for real I'm not! :)

Pics of the weekend to follow...

We did it!

Well...we did it! My friend Rebecca and I walked the entire length of the coastal trail (9 miles) from Westchester Lagoon to Kincaid park...and BACK!

By about mile 15 we were both feeling the 'pain' but we pursued and proved to ourselves that we can do it. I remember one time when Rebecca, Deb and I walked to church (remember Deb?) and it seemed so far away - I think it was about 6 miles...

Anyway...not to brag, I'm just saying!

Now...that's what I call Camping

John and I have discovered the ultimate way to camp - in someones cabin! :) We love to camp - we have a great time setting up our tent, we're not afraid of sleeping on the ground, and we like a camp fire probably more than the average, healthy adult. AND - it was great staying at our friend's cabin and not having to pack all the stuff that has to go camping if you're in a tent, not having to think much about what we'd eat, not having to pack a year's worth of water, and knowing that we'd be warm (with running water) the whole weekend. Plus - a bonus of watching a movie if we so pleased!

We drove up Friday night and our friends met us to hike for a while. They brought their two little girls, and we brought our two little nephews. We had a great time on the hike and enjoyed a little picnic on the side of the trail. It rained on us some, but not too bad - so we looked for a dryish spot to eat lunch. It was funny - we found a weird little spot that was on a slope and kind of hard for the girls to sit on and we decided to just eat there. As soon as we were done with lunch and moved on down the trail about five minutes...naturally we found the perfect spot.

The trail wasn't very long - I think it must go in about 2 miles - but apparently it was a little much for poor little Pike. He tuckered out and John stuffed him in my backpack. He basically hunkered down and enjoyed the ride. What a funny little guy.

After the hike we hung out at our friend's cabin in Healy that they had rented and then headed back for dinner at our little cabin we were staying at in Cantwell.

Sunday morning we got up earlyish and headed back to Anchorage and our ever present rental to wrap up. Barf.