Lake Chelatna Trip - June 2009

Hi Everyone.....

Well, it has been awhile hasn't it??? I know...I'm bad....and I promised! Now I am having to remember how to post something! Anyway, onto something interesting!

I finally had the pleasure of visiting a friend's remote cabin up at Lake Chelatna! How exciting....an hour long float-plane ride, landing in beautiful teal blue water, to a beautiful location of serene and quiet. Just my kind of thing.....ahhh.

The cabin was built in 1970 and is 'perfectly rustic'. While dreams of updates swirl around, I don't think it will loose it's charm. We flew out on Thursday and fortunately, I didn't get sick in John's plane, and arrived back on Sunday. I was in desperate need of a shower and a nap by then. We were visited by a family of porcupine, loons, beaver and jumping fish, very little sunshine and some rain. No bears, although the overturned fire pit and fresh claw marks on the cabin were a reminder that they aren't too far away. And fortunately, the bugs were not as bad as I had imagined. I think everything imaginable for keeping the mosquitoes away is in use at the cabin! You can check my web album of this trip here: http://picasaweb.google.com/julie.saddoris/LakeChelatnaJune2009#

Many of you have been wondering how the MS 150 bike ride went. Well, I can say it was one of the toughest things I have ever done. It was mentally challenging to say the least. I made it from Hope to Seward in 7 hours, that's 80 miles. The last hour or two was in the rain. I didn't ride the way back on Sunday and said I would never do this ride again, it wasn't fun. Well, of course, I am signed up to ride this thing again! It's even later in September which means a better chance of rain. Wish me luck.

Speaking of bike rides, I did get talked into riding a 120 mile ride from Houston, north to Talkeetna, and back, in early May. Only three weeks to train for this, after sitting inside all winter (and it was a long snowy winter). This ride benefited the Special Olympics and we couldn't ask for better weather, or a better view of Denali all the way up and while at the lodge. You can see pictures of this ride here: http://alaskadigitalvisions.com/photos.htm. Look for the section with Special Olympics pictures. There are a couple of me at the lodge under #16 and 17, lodge 1 and lodge 2...that is me in the light blue shirt with members of our team. Great ride....

We had an early spring, and lots of sun and warmth. But the past couple of weeks have been cooler than normal and full of clouds. While I was downloading pictures and typing this, I watched the clouds gather on top of the mountains, real dark, saw some rainbows...pretty neat. But now it is clearing and I see there is fresh snow at the peak of one mountain and a light dusting on the top of another! I hope this isn't the end of our summer....I just picked some fresh spinach from my garden!

Well, I think this will be all for now. I'll try to post more...often! :) Hope to get out more with the camera than I have been. Oh, and I finally experienced my first earthquake in Alaska...exciting...on the 3rd floor in a meeting with a client. It was a good one at 5.4 that lasted a good while.

Ciao for now!
Julie