The seasons are changing here in Anchorage... its now in the 50s-low 60s almost exclusively. My fall / winter clothes have been great for the past month and will probably suffice until it starts snowing... which apparently is in late October. I don't think I'm ready yet! Luckily I have a trip planned to Houston the first week of November for training so I'll have to do some winter clothes shopping then.
The weather did warm up a bit a few weekends ago, which was perfect since I had booked a kayaking trip with a few of my friends from work in Whittier. On our drive to Whittier we saw some Beluga whales in the water! My first whale encounter in AK. I definitely want to do a whale watching cruise at some point to see them up close. I'll keep that on the to-do list to entertain my visitors next summer :) It was a bit chilly that morning in the mid 40s, however the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky! It actually warmed up into the high 70s by the afternoon! I started the trip with lots of warm layers and waterproof coverings, but ended up in my tank top and rain pants at the end of the day.
This was my second time kayaking in Prince William Sound and first time in a double kayak. It felt much sturdier than the single, or maybe I am just a pro now :) It was a neat trip, we kayaked to a salmon run and saw some salmon swimming upstream. It was fun to try to trap and catch them out of the stream. We also saw a pair of bald eagles! I was so so excited and I hope to see them a little closer eventually. It was hard to capture on my little waterproof camera in the kayak but I could definitely tell they were bald eagles. There were lots of waterfalls along the water, even one that we could kayak behind which was fun. We also saw sea lions popping their heads up every now and then. I didn't realize how big sea lions were until a week later when I saw their full bodies at an aquarium. Yikes!
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| Alaskan Sea Kayakers in Whittier |
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All geared up in our waterproof gear and skirts to
keep the water out of the boat |
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| Erin and I in the kayak |
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| A beautiful day in Whittier |
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| The base of the salmon run, where the freshwater stream meets the ocean |
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| Our guide showing us how to catch the fish with our hands! |
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| Trying to catch the salmon |
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| Erin caught a bunch |
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| Cool rocks along the stream |
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| Erin, Steph, Steph, and Steph haha... Just call us all Stephanie |
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| Waterfall at the top of the salmon run stream |
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| Lovely day |
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| Spot the bald eagle |
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| Bald eagle taking flight |
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| Steph not doing her share of paddling :) |
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| Taking it easy in the kayak |
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Paddled up close to the waterfall for a light splash,
it was getting pretty warm! |
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| Getting a splash |
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| Paddled behind this waterfall, so pretty! |
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| View from behind the waterfall |
A couple weeks ago, my group at work went on a teambuilding overnight trip to Seward. Seward is about 2.5 - 3 hours south of Anchorage. It is famous for the really deep fjords that were carved out by icebergs and glaciers many many years ago. We spent the first day at the Alaskan Sea Life Center, which is essentially an aquarium with lots of fish, sea mammals, and a few birds. We got to do a "behind the scenes" tour and interact with the sea otters. They are such funny little creatures! They move about so effortlessly in the water like fish, yet hobble along on their stomachs on land as well. The trainers let them out of their cages for some tricks, one in which they kissed our shoes. We got to pet them, which was weird cause they have fur but are so smooth and slimy at the same time. We also got to see some puffins and a family of sea lions. There was a newborn 2 month old sea lion, at a whopping 75 pounds! The dominant male sea lion was over 2500 pounds and had to be kept in his own cage.
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| Map of Seward, AK |
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| Sea Lions playing in their pool |
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| Sea Lions playing in their pool |
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| Puffins |
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| Trainer letting the sea otter come out for some tricks |
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| Petting the sea otter |
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| Super high speed video of sea otter doing tricks |
The second day of our teambuilding event was spent on a Halibut fishing charter. Unfortunately, it was a stormy day with gale force winds and big waves so we couldn't go out to the prime fishing spots. I took a Dramamine so I wouldn't get sick in front of all my co-workers haha. It made me very sleepy so I took a few naps inside on the boat since it was raining and cold. We did catch some fish though, lots of rockfish and a few halibut. We split it all up in the end so I have some halibut in the freezer :) I was also introduced to my new favorite food on this trip, Alaskan king crab legs!! Sooo tasty.
I'm nearly finished with my house and I'm so excited! It's a relief to have everything in order and ready to go for the winter. I just need some manly muscles to come help me put my new area rug underneath my couches haha. I'll include the last of my house photos, which is basically the whole downstairs, on my next post :)
I've been feeling a little unmotivated to work out outside lately because of the rain. But we've had a few nice days when the sun finally peaks out, and I've gone for a few jogs and bike rides in the neighborhood. The bike ride I went on with my friend Stephanie was a little ambitious and it ended up getting dark before we finished! We saw a female moose grazing on the trail and had to back track out of her view until she moved along her way. Then right after I complained that I've only ever seen female moose, we nearly rode right over a huge male moose with big antlers. Luckily, he was sitting next to the trail and not up on its feet, so it didn't chase after us. At least I don't think he did but I didn't look back, I've never peddled so quickly haha. Definitely not in Houston anymore! Before it got dark, we found some wild raspberry plants and made a pit stop for some berry nutrition.. they are oh so tasty!
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| Found this running trail in my hood |
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| Picking wild raspberries |
I had my very first visitor this weekend! My sweet friend Aubrey came up for some end of summer adventures. It was so great to see a familiar face here and it made it feel a little more like home. She was here for a short time but we packed a lot into the weekend. By far the most exciting for me was white water rafting at Six Mile Creek. I've never been white water rafting before (another check off the bucket list) and it was AMAZING!
Since the water is so cold, we wore "dry suits" that had latex and neoprene around the wrists and neck to keep the water out. We got all suited up and listened to the safety talk, in which the guide essentially scared me half to death. I'm already a bit of a nervous nelly, but I soon became terrified as he was explaining all the risks and what to do when you fall out of the boat. I'm a really strong swimmer due to my many years of swim team, but apparently the current and eddies are quite strong here. We did Class 3, 4, and 5 rapids, so pretty much as hard as they get! I'm so glad the safety talk didn't scare us off, because it was definitely the most exhilarating thing i've done here so far.
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| Our raft crew and guide in our dry suits |
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| Listening to the safety talk.. everyone looks serious and Aubrey is laughing! |
It began with a swim test across the river to practice swimming 45 degrees upstream and float down feet first. As soon as I dove in, my hands were immediately freezing and I was moving nowhere as I tried to swim. My first thought was OMG there is no way I'm going to survive this... But we all passed the swim test and anxiously got into the raft with our awesome guide Tommy. He was so helpful in letting us know what to expect and teaching us how to paddle. I volunteered to sit in the front of the raft since I don't wear contacts and could handle all the splashes in the face.
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| Prepping for the swim test |
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| Brrrr |
We managed to get down about 15 rapids only falling out once! It happened so fast that it's hard to recall how exactly we fell out, but we all managed to stay right next to the boat and easily get back in. Afterwords, Tommy told us that he had been making it a little rough on the Class 3 & 4 rapids in the beginning to see if we would fall out and to prepare us for the Class 5 rapids at the end.
Besides during the initial swim test, I wasn't cold at all because it was so exciting! After the last big rapids, Tommy had us all get in the back of the raft and do a "wheelie" where we popped the front of the raft up and floated for a while vertically haha. Aubrey and I jumped out of the raft at the end and floated for a couple minutes in the river. What an incredible experience, floating down a river in Alaska in September!
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| The first canyon of rapids |
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| Getting ready for the first rapid |
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| Our guide told us to pose for the camera in sync like a Viking Warship... however we failed for the first photo stop and looked like a drunken spider with our paddles totally out of sync |
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| We did it! |
We finished up our rafting day by checking out the town of Hope, Alaska, an old gold rush town with a population of about 50 people. We found the one and only restaurant to grab a drink after our exhilarating adventure. To round out a true Alaskan experience, we had some delish Alaskan food that evening back in Anchorage (aka king crab legs) and took a road trip along the coast to check out some glaciers the next day.
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| Welcome to Hope, AK |
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| Nomming on some king crab legs |
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| Driving along the coast |
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| Portage Glacier |
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| Bergie bits falling off the glacier |
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| Huge glacier |
On to some Alaskan daily facts. There is no AC in the houses here! I couldn't believe that moving up from Texas, but there have only been a few times I've really felt that it would have been nice to have. Usually my standing fan cools the bedroom at night. However, now there is not really a need for it at all as my house has been between 63-67 degrees the past couple weeks. I refuse to turn on the heater until October! Let's see if I can last haha.
Something kind of strange here are the flights into / out of Anchorage. The flight times are most popular around midnight or in the wee hours of the morning like 2am. Usually when you arrive at other airports during those terrible hours, everything is closed and deserted as you walk to the baggage claim with only your fellow passengers cause the rest of the airport is empty. Its quite the opposite here, the airport is bumpin at midnight! The security lines are long, the food places are open, and people are everywhere. I guess since its such a remote area the flight times work best like that, but its pretty nuts. So when you come visit me, don't be alarmed if the only flights you can find get in at 1am :)
