Thought I would update this thing with what I have been up to....
In July, I headed to Seward with a neighbor and his grandson for halibut fishing. With some tourists on the boat, our search for big halibut was detoured for what we call 'chickens'. Once we caught the smaller halibut, we thought we were headed for silver salmon in the bay but again, the tourists squashed the 6-limit salmon catching and we headed for some ling cod and a 3-limit on silvers. You really shouldn't piss-off the captain....they ended up with one cod and we got a few silvers....the first salmon I ever caught (which was deemed too small and tossed back). They were fun to catch tho. The trip was entertaining, and the weather couldn't have been better. It was the first sunny day and the first day in which the fishing boats managed to get out of Resurrection Bay due to bad weather for a couple of weeks.
This summer was remarkable! Lots of sunshine and warmer temps. My garden did very well. Most of the perennials survived last winter and my veggies were excellent. I have given away lots of summer squash, zucchini and lettuce. I dug up the potatoes in early August, purple and Yukon gold. I have a beautiful tomato plant full of tomatoes. So nice in fact that someone had to steal my first ripe tomatoes. I couldn't believe someone would do that...but then again, I can. There are some pretty rude people in the world. This poor plant was then moved inside the house, to the back deck, to the side yard. Since it has gotten cooler, it is now back in the house and I'm hoping to get some ripe tomatoes. If not, I will be trying my hand at fried green tomatoes.
I finally got out and picked Alaskan blueberries. It was a steep and tough climb to the top of the mountain. Picking blueberries in Alaska is not the same as in Georgia. Bigger hike, smaller plants, and the amount berries is much smaller. But the view is better!
The weekend of September 12th, I rode in my second MS150. I completed Saturday's ride, almost 70 miles, and managed to do the ride an hour faster than last year. It was a good ride, and even tho I didn't ride the 2nd half on Sunday, I left with a positive experience and am ready to sign up for next year's ride. Here is a link to the photographer who captured the event:
http://crsouser.smugmug.com/Sports/Cycling. There are some great scenic shots.
I never win anything but somehow managed to win the Denali Road Lottery this year. Maybe my luck is changing? The road lottery is a drawing in which you submit $10 for a chance to drive your personal vehicle all the way into the park.
Martin and I drove up to Denali on Friday afternoon, enjoying the fall colors along the way. Managed to find a place still open to eat dinner. We had pizza, with very limited toppings. After sitting down at the table, the server handed us a piece of paper and said, "these are the toppings we have available as we close for the winter on Sunday". The pizza was very good even with the limited topping selection. And eating something warm before settling in for a night of 'car camping' was nice.
The ride into the park at 6 a.m. was awesome. It was still dark and raining, but we were one of the first people to drive in. Getting up at 5 a.m. was a good idea and a plan well executed. It seemed as tho we had the park to ourselves. As daylight approached we came upon some dall sheep rams. Their position was perfect for photographs (although the lack of light and slow shutter speed caused some of my pics to not look so nice). We experienced a little snow with the rain at 37 degrees as well as fresh termination dust.
The furthest you can drive into Denali is 93 miles, which we did. The entire drive in and out took about 11 hours. Once we hit Eilson visitor center on the way out (around mile 53) we quickly realized that the park was no longer our own. We managed to see tons of sand-hill cranes in the air, preparing to migrate for the winter. We came upon a grizzly sow with two cubs, one I aptly named Blondie. The cubs put on quite a show as they played. As we drove closer to the entrance, we saw a few moose, both bulls and cows as it is rutting season.
After leaving we headed south to Talkeetna and stayed at a friend's house. For those of you who remember Northern Exposure, this is the little town it supposedly took place. It felt nice to sleep in a bed and have a shower.
Sunday morning was sunny and we headed toward an excursion toward Petersville. The drive was beautiful as it was clear, sunny and warmer. The fall colors were at their prime and clear views of Mt. McKinley. Can you have too many pictures of this great mountain? We drove 30 miles in, taking about two hours before finally turning around.
I've created web albums of all these events which can be viewed here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/julie.saddoris or click on the link at the right.
Next up, a cousin's wedding in Ohio and then down to Atlanta to visit with friends, where the weather is much warmer. Our autumn equinox was met with termination dust on the mountain, I believe winter is fast approaching. Time to clean up the yard, put the bike away and get ready for winter. I hate to admit that I'm not as eager for snow this year as I have been the past two seasons. Maybe because summer was so nice this year.
