This summer brought so many fun visitors up to Alaska. Next up after my parents was my good friend from Texas A&M, Katie. She teaches at American schools abroad and I got to visit her over in Dubai last year.. so I was super excited when she booked a ticket to come see me in Alaska this summer. She is one of my favorite travel buddies and I can't wait to visit her next year in Colombia!
She came up with her brother Patrick, who lives in Denver, and therefore is a super awesome outdoorsy guy. We started off strong with the ambitious Twin Peaks hike overlooking Eklutna Lake. The hike was definitely a tough one, but the views on top were spectacular. There was a lot of fireweed in bloom, which is the most beautiful flower that grows all around Alaska. It reminds of the the Texas bluebonnets, except its a super vibrant pink color and stands out amongst all the green. It's a really interesting flower because it blooms from the bottom up. And they say once the blooms reach the top, summer is over. Luckily, it wasn't even quite halfway bloomed on our hike :)
We then continued north to the cabins at Hatcher's Pass, easily one of my favorite places in Alaska. This was my third time to go and I've gotten to experience all seasons there now! We woke up the next morning and explored the Independence Mine site up the road. Katie kept referring to is as District 12 from the Hunger Games. It's crazy to imagine only 50 years ago this area was a little booming gold mine town.
After exploring the mine, we took the short hike up a hill to the spot where the old houses used to be. It was a nice switchback trail that claimed to be "family friendly" which was good because of all the hiking we did the day before at Eklutna Lake. There were a ton of earthy mounds along the trail that had me convinced we were in Hobbiton (maybe I'm a little obsessed with Lord of the Rings haha). It was such a nice surprise to find a really beautiful hidden lake atop the trail.
Katie and Patrick spent the week down in Seward while I was working. When they returned, we decided to check out a bit of Anchorage night life. It doesn't really compare to Houston by any means, but there are a few gems in Anchorage. We started off with happy hour at Glacier Brewhouse and then headed to Bernie's, which has a really big outdoor patio and we listened to two live bands! By this point it was getting pretty late, although you couldn't tell by the 11pm sunshine. So we ended up at a few other places throughout the night dancing the night away. It was so fun to catch up with Katie and show them a little bit of everything in Anchorage!
I've been taking advantage of the concerts up in Alaska this summer because I definitely miss the abundance of live music I used to have access to in Houston. One of the bars here sponsored a summer concert series and sectioned off a block downtown for the monthly shows. In July, the headlining artist was Grouplove! I was really excited and convinced my friend Emily to join me for the concert. They put on a great show and we had a lot of fun dancing and taking selfies of a selfie (a new concept that Katie taught me haha).
We couldn't get too wild that night because I helped plan a group outing the next day to go dip netting. This is quite a treat in Alaska and something I've been looking forward to for a whole year because you must have resident status to partake. The dipnetting window is really short (July 10 - July 31 only), but essentially any resident who has lived in Alaska for over a year can get a permit to catch up to 25 salmon with a big net. I'm not super into fishing because I get sea sick and standing around with a rod all day is kind of boring to me. But dipnetting seems so much more exciting!
So we rallied up the crew for a 4am departure down to the mouth of the Kenai river to catch some salmon with the incoming tide. Emily found a place to rent chest waders that allow you to walk chest deep into the water without getting wet. They were super stylin and I felt very rugged wearing them haha. I was also pretty bundled underneath since it was a chilly morning. The dipnets we used were 5ft in diameter and with pretty long poles that were definitely easy to drag around. We finally made it to the beach with all our gear around 10am and found a great spot to set up right as the tide was coming in. It could not have been a more beautiful day with the volcanoes visible across the ocean.
We didn't have a net for everyone, so I took one of the first turns out in the ocean. Since the tide was out, the sand and mud flats were like "quicksand" and my boots would sink in every step. It was a workout just to walk out into the water! I got my net set up vertically and caught a fish within 3 minutes. It starts yanking on your net and then you are supposed to flip the net down to trap it and drag it all the way into shore (another super intense workout). I was so excited when I felt it tug my net that I didn't know what I was supposed to do next! One of the experienced guys was yelling directions and I made it all the way to shore before I realized I flipped my net the wrong way and the salmon had escaped :( So on attempt number two it took a couple more minutes but sure enough I caught another salmon and super quickly flipped my net the right way. Emily actually caught two in her net at the exact same time!
I then traded my net with someone so that I could begin the scary part - gutting the fish. I still can't believe I did this myself as I'm super queezy when it comes to blood and gross things in general. But I'm definitely being more adventurous in Alaska so I figured I would try it out once. I said my goodbyes to the fish and thanked it for letting me catch and eat it haha. It was so slick and hard to hold on to, but I finally got it steady... and then off with it's head! After the head removal, you have to gut it on the bottom so that the meat stays fresh. That was actually more gross than the head removal! Then you toss all the guts back into the ocean and store the fish in a cooler.
Some people were catching fish left and right, but I only successfully caught one. It was a really fun day though, and definitely an Alaskan experience! We stopped at St. Elias Brewing Company in Soldotna for some celebratory drinks before heading back to Anchorage to fillet and vacuum seal the fish. I ended up with several meals worth of red salmon, which I've been definitely enjoying!
She came up with her brother Patrick, who lives in Denver, and therefore is a super awesome outdoorsy guy. We started off strong with the ambitious Twin Peaks hike overlooking Eklutna Lake. The hike was definitely a tough one, but the views on top were spectacular. There was a lot of fireweed in bloom, which is the most beautiful flower that grows all around Alaska. It reminds of the the Texas bluebonnets, except its a super vibrant pink color and stands out amongst all the green. It's a really interesting flower because it blooms from the bottom up. And they say once the blooms reach the top, summer is over. Luckily, it wasn't even quite halfway bloomed on our hike :)
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| Base of the lake |
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| Birch trees galore |
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| Katie and Patrick in front of the Twin Peaks |
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| Lovely hike |
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| Beautiful view amongst fireweed of Eklutna Lake from the top of Twin Peaks |
We then continued north to the cabins at Hatcher's Pass, easily one of my favorite places in Alaska. This was my third time to go and I've gotten to experience all seasons there now! We woke up the next morning and explored the Independence Mine site up the road. Katie kept referring to is as District 12 from the Hunger Games. It's crazy to imagine only 50 years ago this area was a little booming gold mine town.
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| District 12 aka Independence Mine |
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| Ruins amongst the beauty of Hatcher's Pass |
After exploring the mine, we took the short hike up a hill to the spot where the old houses used to be. It was a nice switchback trail that claimed to be "family friendly" which was good because of all the hiking we did the day before at Eklutna Lake. There were a ton of earthy mounds along the trail that had me convinced we were in Hobbiton (maybe I'm a little obsessed with Lord of the Rings haha). It was such a nice surprise to find a really beautiful hidden lake atop the trail.
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| Stroll through Hobbiton |
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| Hiking up the "family friendly" |
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| Beautiful lake atop the hill |
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| Katie and I |
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| She's so strong |
Katie and Patrick spent the week down in Seward while I was working. When they returned, we decided to check out a bit of Anchorage night life. It doesn't really compare to Houston by any means, but there are a few gems in Anchorage. We started off with happy hour at Glacier Brewhouse and then headed to Bernie's, which has a really big outdoor patio and we listened to two live bands! By this point it was getting pretty late, although you couldn't tell by the 11pm sunshine. So we ended up at a few other places throughout the night dancing the night away. It was so fun to catch up with Katie and show them a little bit of everything in Anchorage!
I've been taking advantage of the concerts up in Alaska this summer because I definitely miss the abundance of live music I used to have access to in Houston. One of the bars here sponsored a summer concert series and sectioned off a block downtown for the monthly shows. In July, the headlining artist was Grouplove! I was really excited and convinced my friend Emily to join me for the concert. They put on a great show and we had a lot of fun dancing and taking selfies of a selfie (a new concept that Katie taught me haha).
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| Grouplove! |
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| Emily's new friend |
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| Legit selfie of a selfie |
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| Our posed selfie of a selfie |
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| Joe Dirt came to the concert |
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| And this guy wouldn't stop dancing behind me |
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| So windy! And 11pm sunlight |
We couldn't get too wild that night because I helped plan a group outing the next day to go dip netting. This is quite a treat in Alaska and something I've been looking forward to for a whole year because you must have resident status to partake. The dipnetting window is really short (July 10 - July 31 only), but essentially any resident who has lived in Alaska for over a year can get a permit to catch up to 25 salmon with a big net. I'm not super into fishing because I get sea sick and standing around with a rod all day is kind of boring to me. But dipnetting seems so much more exciting!
So we rallied up the crew for a 4am departure down to the mouth of the Kenai river to catch some salmon with the incoming tide. Emily found a place to rent chest waders that allow you to walk chest deep into the water without getting wet. They were super stylin and I felt very rugged wearing them haha. I was also pretty bundled underneath since it was a chilly morning. The dipnets we used were 5ft in diameter and with pretty long poles that were definitely easy to drag around. We finally made it to the beach with all our gear around 10am and found a great spot to set up right as the tide was coming in. It could not have been a more beautiful day with the volcanoes visible across the ocean.
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| Mt. Redoubt volcano |
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| Me in my spiffy waders and dip net |
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| Super Alaskan girls |
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| Ready to catch some fish! |
We didn't have a net for everyone, so I took one of the first turns out in the ocean. Since the tide was out, the sand and mud flats were like "quicksand" and my boots would sink in every step. It was a workout just to walk out into the water! I got my net set up vertically and caught a fish within 3 minutes. It starts yanking on your net and then you are supposed to flip the net down to trap it and drag it all the way into shore (another super intense workout). I was so excited when I felt it tug my net that I didn't know what I was supposed to do next! One of the experienced guys was yelling directions and I made it all the way to shore before I realized I flipped my net the wrong way and the salmon had escaped :( So on attempt number two it took a couple more minutes but sure enough I caught another salmon and super quickly flipped my net the right way. Emily actually caught two in her net at the exact same time!
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| Emily and I dragging in our salmon - so tiring! |
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| Almost got them in |
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| Yay I caught my first fish! |
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| And then I stunned it with a club |
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| Wahoo first catches of the day |
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| Girls fishing in the Kenai |
I then traded my net with someone so that I could begin the scary part - gutting the fish. I still can't believe I did this myself as I'm super queezy when it comes to blood and gross things in general. But I'm definitely being more adventurous in Alaska so I figured I would try it out once. I said my goodbyes to the fish and thanked it for letting me catch and eat it haha. It was so slick and hard to hold on to, but I finally got it steady... and then off with it's head! After the head removal, you have to gut it on the bottom so that the meat stays fresh. That was actually more gross than the head removal! Then you toss all the guts back into the ocean and store the fish in a cooler.
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| Beheading my salmon |
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| And then gutting it |
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| Still smiling, must be thinking about how good it will taste! |
Some people were catching fish left and right, but I only successfully caught one. It was a really fun day though, and definitely an Alaskan experience! We stopped at St. Elias Brewing Company in Soldotna for some celebratory drinks before heading back to Anchorage to fillet and vacuum seal the fish. I ended up with several meals worth of red salmon, which I've been definitely enjoying!
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| Enjoying a well earned flight after fishing |
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| Successful day! |
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