More from the Begich Boggs Nature Center

A three-dimensional map.

Different areas of Alaska highlighted.

Life Cycle of salmon

Salmon display

Smokey the Bear!

Andrew is getting cozy with Smokey.

There is one at the Center! We signed the log.

Alaska State Bird: The Mosquito

Moose & baby

On the giant ice worm. They live inside glaciers.

Alaska State Flag, blowing in the wind...it was very windy.

Bryon Glacier, Begich Boggs Nature Center & Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

The trailhead. And we forgot to sign the ledger. Oops!

Being artistic. Walking on the snow.

Bryon Glacier

You can't see it, but on the right hand side, around the land mass, there would be Portage Glacier. It has receded this much in 10-20 years.

 Begich Boggs Nature Center

You look through the mask and can see like the animal.

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

We went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and saw some elk.

Alaska DOES have deer!

Wood Bison and babies.

He is so cute! I wanted to take one home...

Resident brown bear

Couple of once-orphaned moose

Being fed by a AWCC worker

The very first baby moose they brought in. He turned four in May.

I wanted to point out that Jeff Corwin came here and filmed. You can barely see if on the second slide.

This is about the film Ito the Wild, using some of the center's animals.

Some caribou.

Memorial Day Weekend

We were planning to go Camping either in Homer or Seward this weekend, but plans fell through. We decided to push back the Homer weekend. This actually worked out better since Elaine and Evelyn flew in on Friday afternoon. I picked them up from the airport after working at Talkeetna on Fort Rich. We (Andrew and I) took them for a tour of base before freshening up at home and setting up the air mattress. We took them out for dinner at Humpy's and ice cream from Marble Slab. Elaine stayed up a little to chat with me before heading to bed.

Saturday I took them dowtown to the tourist shops and the Market on 4th avenue. They absolutely LOVED it! And got many gifts for family and friends. I dropped them off at the hotel around 3:30ish before heading back home. Andrew, Alex and I went to Beartooth Theatre to see 21 Jump Street.

Today we got up early-ish before heading out to hike to Bryon's Glacier and visit the Alaska Conservation Center in Portage. We got somewhat close to the glacier but stopped because the clouds began moving in fast and we didn't want to get caught in a storm. It was pretty windy too, coming off the glacier/mountain area. I wasn't expecting that.

We went to the Beigich, Boggs Visitor Center. It was named after two men who disappeared while flying in a Cessna plane in the middle of stormy weather. When we drove up to it, I thought the building looked familiar and I was right: I came here while on my first trip to Alaska while at Houghton College. I remembered because Smokey the Bear sits on a bench near the entrance and I remember taking a picture there while in college.

Then we visited the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage. It is home to native animals that have been orphaned or injured and need to be rehabilitated. There are black and brown bear, caribou, wood bison (to be released back into their homeland in December of 2013), elk, moose (3), lynx, Great Horned Owls, a Bald Eagle with an amputated wing etc. It rained a bit and it was cold, but I am really glad Andrew and I got to spend the day together. We didn't talk too much but I love to walk in nature with Andrew.

On the way back we stopped along the highway at one of the pull-offs. We walked along the interpretative, about 0.7 miles. I got really chatty then because I was nervous about running into a bear. There was a very bright orange notice put up by park rangers about a fresh bear kill about three miles away. The trail is still open, but high caution is advised. So when Andrew disappeared into the woods when we got there, I got nervous. And then when we walked the trail, I got nervous.So I talked. A lot.

Tomorrow we are having a few people over for a cookout, about 4 pm. I am hoping we are going to have a campfire with marshmallows afterwards. I will have to get more chocolate if that's the case. My friend/coworker from Sitka is coming too. As are the Bulanan's and Alex. I don't think there is anyone else.

Anyways, I have not been very good about keeping up with pictures on here so I am going to try to be better at it. I have come to realize that not everyone has Facebook or has access to the pictures I usually upload there, so I will try to upload more here. But I can't promise anything. Bear with me.

February 27th 2011

White Cliffs Mansion, Northborough MA

The reception

Andrew helping me off the bar after pictures.

The Bridal Party. Left-Right: Nathanial Sager, Timo Nivala, Jaadin Anderson, Matthew Skinner, Bridget McManaman, Andrew, Me, Krystal Blodgett, Joseph Burley, Erin Loftus, Jonathon Skinner, Kelly Eisbacher.

Probably one of my favorite pictures.

I really enjoy this one too.

Our wedding cake, done by Krystal Blodgett. The rubber ducks were added at the very last minute. Notice the 'man' duck is in his blues!

Dancing with my dad.

For those who read and follow up on our very sporadic posts about our lives, we had some trouble with the photographer and the quality of photos given to us. It is pretty much all taken care of now, but these are some of the better re-done photos we have received. I may post more later. 

We do ask that everyone does not copy and paste these files onto your own personal computers. Andrew and I will be giving out photos to those who want them. Thank you very much. 

Hello from Massachusetts! Let's start back from the beginning. We left for the Ted Stevens Anchorage Airport around 10 pm and waited for Julian to get off his airplane. Once Julian came back to collect his car, we took our bags out of his car and checked in with our airline. We got through security and I was 'randomly' selected for a pat down but there wasn't a female around to do it so the guy just swiped my shoes instead. Our plane from Anchorage to Seattle left at 12:43 am and we grabbed some coffee cake and a yogurt parfait that we shared before boarding.

Our flight from Anchorage to Seattle was approx. four hours and I was lucky enough to have a crying, kicking kid behind me. He did better than I was expecting though and I did manage to get some sleep. We landed in Seattle around 5:30 am and then left about an hour later. I got coffee, a fruit cup and bagel (for the plane) along with some animal crackers and a couple of Cliff bars. So we got on the plane going to our next stop, Newark NJ. This flight was so freaking long. Almost five and a half hours. I didn't really sleep at all. I ate the bagel and cream cheese and the animal crackers on the flight and had some of the juice the beverage cart brought but that's it. We started our descent into Newark and it was so bumpy and jarring that I sort of got sick into the vomit bag that's located in the seat in front of me.

So we asked the stewards if we could be let off first since we had a really tight connection and we were all the way in the back of the plane but they said they wouldn't/couldn't do anything. So our flight from Seattle landed in Newark at 3:07 pm and we thought we would be alright because the next gate to fly to Boston was near where we were coming in...like two gates down.

Wrong. The gate originally told us was now going to Phoenix. So we looked at the board and our flight had been changed to C125 instead of C86. So we ran. RAN. SPRINTED. Through the airport. We heard the five minute final warning boarding call for the connecting flight and I had Andrew sprint along ahead of me and let them know that I was coming. I got there just in time. Literally. The doors were closing. It was crazy. And horrible to sprint through the airport after just having gagged into the barf bag!

Regardless, we made it. But we had to wait for our bags once in Boston because they didn't make it to the flight we barely made it on. But Continental gave us food vouchers so we spent all $24 at Dunkin' Donuts getting bagels and muffins for the week.  We finally got to my mom's new house in Auburn around seven and had gotten pizza for dinner. Then we went to bed at like 10 pm.

Saturday we picked up his dad's car at the hotel because we are using his car all week. And we went to Walmart on the way to Grammie's to pick up some things to do maintenance on some of Andrew's caches. Grammie wasn't home so I just saw Dad and Sam instead. After we went to do the caches and then we headed to his parent's house for Victoria's birthday. Mom came too.

Today, Sunday, we went to HBC for church. Erin came too. Then we went out to Leominster (spell?) to go for lunch at Friendly's before Erin and I headed back to Auburn to get stuff ready for Bridget's Bachlorette party....of which I will continue to right about tomorrow...because I'm exhausted and need to take a shower and go to bed before tomorrow!

So while reading another friend's blog today, I was reminded that being outside, out in nature -despite how cold, warm, snowy or rainy it is - is very therapeutic to me. These past few days I have been able to get outside with Andrew - we played disc golf downtown a couple of times, we've gone to Far North Centennial Park/Campbell Tract (took a wrong turn and had to walk 2 miles back to our car, on the road) and today we went down to Alyeska Ski Resort to do the disc course but it was a flounce. So we decided to check out the hotel instead and  then found a lot of caches in and around Girdwood.  I found most of them - and most of them were nanos! We stopped at Beluga Point on the way back home, snuggling under my sleeping bag to watch the sunset.

It has been a good long weekend.

Autumn is upon us. Early morning and late evenings have that crisp-air feel to them. Days are all-around cooler. The nights are darker, earlier. The trees have yet to turn here on base, but I am sure that by the middle to end of September, all the leaves will have turned and fallen. It seems weird to me, that it is only the very end of August, beginning of September, and it is already fall-like. Back on the East Coast it is still relatively warm - these last few weeks it has been pretty rainy - and a 60-degree day is considered warm (still wearing those t-shirts and sandals).

Anyways, some new-ish stuff in my life... after just over twenty four years of a wonderful dentist record, I have obtained three cavities - all of which will be filled at 7 am Friday September 9th Pacific Standard Time...so if you want to remember me on that day, please do...and pray for me now as the left side (both top and bottom) of my mouth has been bothering me (think: lots of ibuprofen) and I still have to wait two weeks to have this done! I hope the ache-y and uncomfortable-ness doesn't get any worse!

A few highlights from this weekend's camping trip in Willow AK

At the top of the mountain, and near Summit Lake.

Summit Lake

The View from the top

A really cool waterfall

I was so excited to capture the water spraying!

At the base of the mountain.

Ally, the cutest little girl ever.

Her sister Emily.

Dinner Saturday Evening.

Kia

After eating fresh wild blueberry cobbler.

Salmon eggs, used for bait.

Dan Evans, with his first catch of the night.

Andrew's first catch!

Gorgeous sunset.