The best of September - October

I've felt a few little earthquakes since I moved to Alaska, but nothing of great significance until late September when Anchorage was rocked with a magnitude 6.2 earthquake. Luckily there were no major injuries and only minor building damages throughout the city because the quake was really deep (64 miles). I was sitting at my desk talking with two of my coworkers that share my cubical area, Phil and Travis, when all the sudden there was a big shock that caused me to hop up in my chair a bit and a few things to topple on my desk, then a few seconds later that was another big upwards jolt and I realized it was an earthquake. I immediately set into a mini panic attack and started word vomitting to Phil and Travis, asking if we were going to die, if I should get under my desk, why we were swaying so much, and any other question I could think of on rapid fire. They were much calmer than me since they are from California, so this earthquake was not a huge deal.

We sit on the 6th floor of our office building, which happens to be built on rollers. So for at least a minute the building was swaying back and forth significantly (significantly to me at least haha). Finally we started slowing down and I was able to regain my composure, but I was definitely freaked out, especially for my house! I always get nervous thinking about earthquakes because everyone here says Anchorage is due for another big earthquake since its been 50 years since the devastating 9.2 one, which was the 2nd largest ever recorded in the world.

The weekend after the earthquake, I was planning to do the most ambitious hike I'd ever done - 26 miles of Crow's Pass from Girdwood to Eagle River. My hiking companions were Jodie and Alex and we joked the week leading up to it that if there was another earthquake we would be pretty safe in the middle of the wilderness! Since it was a one way hike, we needed to stage a car at the end so that we could get home. So the day before the hike, Jodie and I drove my car to Eagle River Nature Center and I started getting really excited seeing the beautiful fall colors.

Beautiful birch trees at Eagle River Nature Center

I've hiked the first 3 miles of Crow's Pass several times and it is by far one of my favorites, but I was definitely nervous to do it carrying a 30lb pack, the last weekend in September with nighttime temps expected to be 30s-40s, camping overnight in bear country with no cell service, and walking 13 miles each day. It took me several days to figure out what was important enough to go in my pack, I ended up bringing several layers since I knew if I got cold it was game over. Another friend of ours, Thao was planning to hike part of the way with us to a cabin to meet up with some friends. So the 4 of us drove out to Girdwood at 7 in the morning to begin our adventure.

Jodie, Alex, Thao, and I about to start our journey

We made it up most of the major elevation gain during the first 3 miles and I was able to balance with my pack alright. We then dropped Thao off and had a short snack break before continuing on since we had quite a ways left to go for the day. After another couple miles, the scenery started changing into lots of beautiful autumn colors of the brightest yellows and oranges. We crossed a gorgeous waterfall with incredible glacial blue water and ventured onwards into the beautiful mountains. Since we were in the middle of bear country, I kept my jammy pack (fanny pack with speakers) going so that we didn't accidentally surprise any bears. I can't believe we didn't see a single one! I'm obviously totally ok with that.

Colors are changing

Amazing color waterfall

Beautiful trees and mountains

Trudging along after about 10 miles, the packs are getting heavy

Simply incredible colors and views

Coming up on a stream... bad news lies ahead

So I was most nervous about the river crossing at the halfway point of this hike. From what I read online, it is a just above freezing cold river from the glacier melt and can vary in depth with a strong current. Since we were hiking at the end of the season after all the snow melt it was supposed to be a bit shallower. The river is at the 13 mile mark, so we had debated doing it either first thing in the morning or last thing at night. We each brought a pair of tennis shoes to cross in so that we didn't have to get our hiking boots wet. Once we got there, we were all really beat but decided to cross that night and set up camp on the other side with a campfire. 

The signs warned all hikers to unbuckle their packs so that if you slipped you could quickly ditch your pack in the current and try to get up. All of this had me really terrified to say the least. The water was about mid-shin to just below my knee deep and maybe 100 yards across. Other hikers had told us it can be much deeper, up to your waist and even higher in early summer! After a brief pep talk to myself, I stepped in with my hiking poles to steady me in the flowing water. I immediately hated the situation as it felt like ice was piercing my legs. About 30 seconds in I was halfway across and I thought my feet might actually fall off and I nearly started crying. Jodie and Alex had already made it to the other side and watched as I started cursing like a sailor trying to hurry to the other side without falling. I'm pretty sure that was one of the most miserable minutes of my life so far. After drying off with my shammy towel and warming my bright red feet / legs, we built a campfire and set up the tent. There was not much wood around so our fire was short lived, but we were exhausted so called it a night soon after eating.

The most beautiful camping spot

We encountered several more river crossings the next day, but they all had shaky logs and ropes to prevent you from having to get in the water. I was so focused every time trying to stay balanced and not fall into the ice water. It was a long day, and the last 4 miles required some Jodie gym-jams to keep us all going. It was such a relief to take off the pack once we got to Eagle River and found my car.

Alex crossing

Jodie crossing - don't fall!

My google plus account enhanced this photo when I uploaded it,
turned out pretty cool

Waterfalls

The last crossing on a shaky log

Enjoying the scenery

Beautiful birch trees

Powering through the last couple miles

Birch trees galore

Nearing the end of our beautiful hike

Beaver attack

We then had about a 2 hour drive back to Girdwood to pick up Alex's car and then drive home. However, we got a surprise treat while driving down the Turnagain Arm. We noticed a couple surfers and kayakers out in the water and then spotted the bore tide behind them! I've never seen the bore tide before so we drove ahead to the next pull off and stopped to watch it pass. 

The bore tide is a huge wave or series of waves created from a rush of seawater returning to a shallow inlet. The one in Turnagain Arm is one of the largest in the world and climbs up to 6-10 feet tall and can reach 10-15 miles per hour. It takes an extremely low tide and about a 27-foot tidal differential (between high and low tide) for the bore to form here. There is one every day, but they are biggest in the days surrounding a full or new moon. It's crazy to think that people surf these waves in 40 degree water!

Bore tide coming in

Bore tide series passing us

Photo found on the internet of people surfing the bore tide

The days quickly shorten in the fall, losing 30 minutes of daylight a week. But the sunsets and sunrises are so vibrant in the fall / early winter and I love taking walks after work to the grocery store or around my neighborhood to watch the sky light up. Also, the Harvest Moon is huge for a week or two in late fall while the moon is close to the horizon. I'm not sure why exactly, I tried to look it up and was very confused. Anyway, I would glimpse it while driving and tried several times to pull over and capture its massive-ness on my phone, but I totally failed. So I had to pull a much better quality photo from the newspaper that shows just how huge the moon was!

My attempt at photographing the harvest moon

The much better newspaper quality harvest moon photo

Anchorage sunrise

Pink mountains at sunset

Lights up the sky

Another day another sunset

I love October, not only because its my birthday month, but because the weather is usually amazing, the food menus change to delicious fall food with an abundance of pumpkin flavoring, and Halloween is just around the corner. I love decorating for Halloween and I was so antsy this year I think I took out my decorations in late September.

My new witch

More halloween decor

I got a lot of birthday love this year from my friends and coworkers! Since several of us have October birthdays, we had a party downtown at the Crow's Nest restaurant to celebrate. I discovered my new favorite cocktail, the gimlet, which I continuously called the gremlin throughout the night and now always haha. Emily threw me a pumpkin carving birthday party because she knows how much I love to carve pumpkins. They are the best in Alaska because they last for several weeks and even up to a month outside because the cold weather preserves them. Since I didn't want too much attention, I just had a couple of girlfriends over for snacks, pumpkin carvings, and Jodie made me a hilarious birthday cake. It was a great low key 27th birthday.

Pumpkins ready to be carved

Final products

My pumpkin

Delicious gluten free cookie cake

Grocery store was out of "2's" so Jodie improvised... " > 17 but < 28"

It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to get myself for my birthday, and then I received my annual Anthropologie birthday coupon in the mail and decided I would buy myself some fun hats from there. I lost my favorite navy fedora so I'm trying to reinstate my hat game. I bought 3 new hats and have gotten the most use out of my beret.

My birthday beret

A couple days after my birthday was the first big snow of the year! It was exciting and I was getting really ready for winter. I had my studded winter tires put back on the car and got out my winter coats and boots again. Little did I know it was going to be the warmest / least snowy winter in Anchorage in a very long time :(

First snowfall on my front porch in October

The broadway show Les Mis came to Anchorage this fall as well. My brother is obsessed with the music and I really enjoyed the movie so really wanted to check it out since there is rarely entertainment like that in Anchorage. So Erin and Emily came with me for the show!

Ready for Les Mis

Pretty good seats

So Halloween finally arrived and I think I nailed it on my costume this year. I decided to dress up at work as Flo from the Progressive commercials. Later that night I changed it up and dressed up as the black swan ballerina. Emily was a cat so we decided to pose together as our black "animals." I made some pumpkin rice krispies because I love anything and everything pumpkin and probably ate half of them myself! So tasty.

Flo from Progressive

Black swam and black cat

Pumpkin rice krispies

In preparation for the holidays I decided I needed to start eating and being healthier. My mom had just ordered a fitbit and was telling me about it and I decided to get one as well so we could compete and motivate each other. I love it and am able to compete with my friends and coworkers all the time now. I also went to see a nutritionist to evaluate my overall diet since my stomach had been upset lately and I was trying to eliminate gluten. She highly encouraged the gluten free diet and basically told me I eat nowhere near enough vegetables. I should be eating 2 servings of veggies with every meal and fruit doesn't count. This has really revolutionized my eating and I'm now always thinking about how to get my veggies in with every meal.

Asaparaus, shiitake mushrooms and poached egg dinner

Snap peas, brown rice, and salmon dinner

Eating more veggies

My new fit bit!

I had a work training course in Houston and decided to extend my layover in Denver for a couple days and visit my friend Ashley who has lived in Colorado for a few years. My flight was overnight, like all Alaskan flights so I got in super early in the morning and watched the sunrise from the tarmac. I luckily got a little bit of sleep thanks to Dremamine, my new lifesaver on flights. Ashley showed me around her cute barn house that she renovated and then we set out for a hike in the Flatirons. We started off in tank tops, then added another layer as it started to get chilly when we stopped moving for a bit, then by the time we got down it was so windy I added a sweater. We drove over to Pearl Street for some lunch and shopping and it started snowing! Not just a little snow, but dumping snow! I was hoping to enjoy the nice warm weather Colorado had been experiencing, but instead got stuck in a blizzard! It continued to dump snow all day / night and got down to 0 degrees.

Arrived in Boulder super early in the morning

Ashley's barn home

Hiking in Boulder

Pretty cool trees

Flatirons in the background.. getting colder

Snowing on Pearl Street

Dumping snow, 2 inches in an hour

We decided to warm up with a trip to Boulder Brewing Company for some beer tasting. We ended up just getting the huge sampler tray so we could try everything. They were all pretty tasty, except the one brewed in a whiskey barrel, I'm not a whiskey fan. We then returned to the barn, which was covered in snow and decided to cook some chili and stay in for the night. The barn is heated by a wood pellet stove so I was a little nervous of freezing with the cold temperatures. But surprisingly that stove keeps the place pretty warm! The next day we went out to breakfast where I discovered my new obsession with pesto as an omelette topping. I've now started adding pesto to my omlettes at home, so tasty! We then walked around the mall for a little shopping, since as I've mentioned, Anchorage does not really have shopping malls. I found the most amazing Christmas tree decoration made out of drift wood. I wanted to buy it so badly but I knew I didn't have a way to take it with me on the plane to Houston and then back to Anchorage, so I'll have to live with just the memory and photo :)

Boulder Brewing Company

Sampling Tray

Warmed up with our beers

Barn covered in snow

Wood Stove Heater

So much snow!

Driftwood tree :)

It was so fun to see Ashley in Colorado, but it was definitely a quick trip. I then continued on to Houston for my training. I got to see all my friends in Houston and spend some time with my brothers in College Station for an Aggie game! It was fun to see them, but I had to wake up at like 4am the next morning to drive back to Houston and make the trek back to Anchorage, made for a long 19 hours worth of travel.

Got to see all my brothers

Love you cousin

Reunion with some of my friends

Halfway renovated Kyle Field

Triathlons and Fall Beginnings

I did a sprint triathlon two years ago down in Houston and my goal for 2014 was to compete in an olympic triathlon up in Alaska! I had my sights set on Tri the Kenai down in Soldotna (a small town in the Kenai Peninsula, a couple hours south of Anchorage). I chickened out the last couple weeks before the sign up deadline and decided I wasn't in good enough running shape, so opted to do the sprint distance instead. I convinced some of my girlfriends to do it as well!

The triathlon was on Sunday, Sept 7... so Emily, Bethany, Lindsey and I rented a hotel room on Saturday night so we could get into town early enough for bib pick up the day before, which was hilarious! Bethany has the same last name as another competitor and their bib numbers got switched. Really not that big of a deal except that Bethany was given number 6, which is part of the elite athletes (Numbers 1-10). So for the rest of the weekend we bragged about how we were among the elite with Bethany :) Our friend Kristina also came along for the weekend fun and acted like the team mom! She was so sweet and made signs, cheered us on, and had plenty of snacks and treats before and after the race. Since we got there in the afternoon we decided to have a little weekend fun and hit up the cutest little lunch spot at Veronica's Cafe. They had lots of gluten free options for me and even gluten free cookies so I could carbo load like everyone else. Then we familiarized ourselves with the triathlon course and enjoyed the remainder of the beautiful sunny day.

Veronica's Cafe for pre-race day lunch

The next morning we got up early and headed over to the race after a nice big breakfast. The tris in Alaska are different than what I'm used to down in Texas; due to the cold, the swim is held in a pool versus open water. All the racers were spaced out to 2 people per lane and given an approximate start time to show up. Once someone finished their swim, the next person in line went to that lane to start. I don't think I really liked this style because the participants were consequently very spaced out versus the mass start and the constant competition of people around you. On the other hand, I didn't get kicked once :) and it was fun that I got to start within seconds of Emily and Bethany so we got to swim together for a bit!

Transition zone ready to go

Emily and I pre-race rocking our tri suits

All of us gearing up for the swim

Here we go!

Bethany and I in lanes next to each other

I finished 2nd in my age group for the swim (so close to 1st boo) and then headed out to the bike. Luckily I grabbed my windbreaker bike coat because there was a chilly wind that day despite the sunny skies. I passed a handful of people on the 10 mile loop bike ride, but I was a bit nervous to ride too fast since we were biking along the shoulder of the only highway that runs down to the Kenai Penisula so there was a bit of traffic and lots of small gravel rocks. I actually kept my thicker tread tires on my bike because of the road conditions, so my time wasn't amazing. But it was still a wonderful ride with a spectacular view of Mt Redoubt volcano along a quarter of the way.

Bethany is excited to bike :)

As I was switching into my running shoes, Kristina and Matt (Emily's husband) were right there cheering me on with their signs! I needed the extra encouragement for the 5k run along the cross country ski hills since running is by far my worst sport of the 3. I managed the first lap fine and caught glimpses of Kristina and Matt again to get me going on the last lap. Again, it was kind of odd running through the hilly trails and not seeing many other people at all. I think I passed 2 runners and 2 others passed me. Besides that it was just me and the trees haha.

First lap of the run done

Coming up to the finish line

Finished!

Yay! Another tri in the books

Tri the Kenai finishers

It was such a great feeling to cross the finish line and say I'm now an Alaskan triathlete! And what a wonderful weekend with the best cheerleaders and friends. It was a small event with only 300 athletes total, but I ended up 6th in my age group and felt super accomplished!

Snack time

We did the tri on the last warmish weekend of the year and I was excited for the change of seasons. Fall really is a beautiful time in Anchorage. I'm not used to bright colored falls, so the range of yellow and orange brightness here is spectacular! Especially when the beautiful summer flowers linger into fall as well. To get in the fall spirit, I obviously decorated my house and decided to bake a fall pie. Emily and Matt have a cherry tree in their backyard so let me come over for some cherry picking. The cherries were perfect tart pie cherries and I labored away depitting them all for a pie. I even had enough to put more cherries in the freezer for another pie down the road.

Fall time

Bright summer flowers handing around

Emily's cherry tree

De-pitting my cherries

Cherry pie from scratch

Jodie plans an annual girls trip with our coworkers at the end of summer / early fall and this year we went to Seward. I was so excited because the Harding Ice Field hike was on my Alaska bucket list and my friends Katie and Patrick did it earlier in the summer and said it was definitely a must do. Jodie, Erin, Jenna, Kristen, and I started off our weekend at a crepe restaurant where I was lured into the rhubarb crepe which was delicious! I ate the entire thing. And I was obsessed with their awesome long Polish pottery stoneware with beautiful blue and yellow patterns. I've been on the hunt for my own and will for sure be registering for some on my wedding someday :) Flash forward to the future since I'm so far behind on my blog... Erin ended up finding me an incredible Polish pottery piece for christmas at a specialty store in her home town in St. Louis! I guess I made a big enough deal that she remembered! It is amazing!! And so is Erin :)

After scarfing down the crepes we headed out on the beautiful day for our hike to the Harding Ice Field. It was a tough 4 mile hike up with 3500ft of elevation gain, but it was stunning and I couldn't wait to get to the top. After lots of scenic photo /rest breaks, Erin and I finally made it behind the others to the incredible ice field. Essentially it's like an ocean of glacier ice as far as you can see. In the ice ages, the whole world was covered with ice fields and as we are exiting the ice age, the glaciers are receding, but several are still connected on top of mountains by these giant ice fields. We stayed at the top for a celebratory glass of wine and spotted two black bears! I had my bear spray ready to go though, just in case. After hiking 4 miles back down, it was nearly the end of the day so we essentially passed out back at the hotel.

Getting ready to hike

Beautiful day in Seward

Porcupine in the path

Erin's longest hike ever

Exit Glacier

Getting close to the ice field

Erin and I

Harding Ice Field!

Cheers at the top

Jenna and the ice field

Goes on for days

Black bear sighting

Trekking back down

Fireweed turning bright red as it dies

Last fireweed flower of the year

The leaves are changing

Such a pretty hike

The drive back to Anchorage was oh so pretty, and I made Jodie and Erin stop a couple times for me to take some photos along the highway. What can I say, it's one of the prettiest drives in all of Alaska and to see the changing fall colors makes it even more incredible.

On an unrelated note, I have to mention that I tackled a huge life fear this year. Anyone that knows me, has most likely seen me around dogs... I'm terrified, absolutely terrified. I'm perfectly willing to admit that this is an irrational fear I have, but its one that I can't control ever since I was really young and my neighbors dog knocked me to the ground. My blood pressure / heart rate spike, I stiffen up, and I am very visibly uncomfortable... I swear dogs can sense it and come straight to me. And as much as people insist that their dog is different and so sweet and wouldn't hurt a fly, I'm very used to having to explain that their dog is actually just like every other dog I encounter and I'm terrified, don't take it personally.

Anyway, I was getting tired of the pestering by family and friends that didn't understand my irrational anxiety, one of them even suggested I go to therapy. So rather than that, I turned to the trusty internet for help. I read all about cynophobia - fear of dogs, and surprisingly there are plenty of adults that share this same fear and experience the anxiety and dread of social situations involving dogs. The interesting thing is, almost everyone can admit their fear is excessive or irrational. I read one particular blog of a man that went to see a therapist who suggested immersion therapy and he was cured of his fear in just a couple weeks! I decided that I would give his method a try, what did I have to lose?

First step was to find a trusted friend with a dog that was willing to work with me for several weeks. I decided my friend Emily would be perfect because she has a somewhat older dog, Sasha, that could be my training dog. Emily was so very patient and I can't thank her enough for helping me in this endeavor. Our first meeting was about an hour where we sat outside in Emily's backyard with Sasha on a leash and me about 10 feet away. The whole purpose of this exercise is that I was always in control and only did what I was comfortable with, Emily never brought Sasha towards me or unhooked the leash. A couple days later I went over again and got within 2 feet of Sasha for about 30 minutes, still not quite ready to pet her. By my third "therapy session" I pet Sasha very timidly on her back and Emily kept the leash tight to have her head away from my hand. This continually progressed until I was comfortable enough to be around Sasha off the leash and even feed her treats for sitting and staying. I think the pinnacle of my training was when I held the leash myself! Yes you read that correctly, I walked a dog! We even encountered a moose on our walk, which distracted Sasha, but I was able to remain calm enough to get her back on track.

Dog therapy in progress - walking Sasha

Moose sighting on the walk

I'm still pretty sure I will never get a dog myself, but I'm now much more comfortable around dogs and my anxiety doesn't spike when I go over to a friends house with dogs like it used to. It's a wonderful feeling :)