Alaska Vacation Shots, Part 3

I am still trying to get through all of the vacation shots! Here are some more:

Anchorage to Seward by Rail

Glacier on the way to Seward by Rail




Moose!


College Fjord













This is a glacier as well...


Can you see the Smiley Face in the Glacier?



Glacier Bay Photos:

Dad's ready to ring the bell -- there's a glacier ahead!

Two gulls relax on an iceberg in Glacier Bay





It's hard to get an idea as to how enveloped in beauty one feels in Glacier bay. Imagine being on a cruise boat, which is huge in itself, and watching this right outside your window. Beautiful scenery as far as the eye can see is right in front of you!

Weekend Update

We had a nice and quiet post-vacation weekend. Frank is getting along with his post-surgery pain, and can eat semi-soft foods quite well. This means, though, that our culinary adventures have been limited by texture.

Yesterday, we started out by spending some time with the yard. As many of you know, we have a "battle for the lawn" going between chickweed, clover, raspberries, and mint. So far, the chickweed is winning. However, we gave in and bought some nasty chemicals to at least keep the chickweed out of the lawn and only in our gardens and planters (those areas will have to wait for relief until fall turn-down). So I expect we will be down to mint and raspberries soon.

Because of our massive bounty of vegetables, berries and herbs, we have been trying to use them every way we can. So far, we've used the kale, chard, rosemary and fennel in kale and gruyere soup (it's soft enough for Frank to eat), and some raspberries in "raspberry semifreddo", which has the consistency of whipped cream but tastes like ice cream. Maybe later today I will try to make a raspberry pie or something.

We also went to Eagle River Nature Center for a short hike, since Frank is not to do any strenuous activity. The Nature center is beautiful and maintains beautiful trails. However, we got lost a bit on Crow Pass and had to backtrack a bit, costing us considerable time. By the time we got back to the car, we had been out for 3.5 hours! Needless to say, we were tired, and even puppy, who usually is a trooper, seems to have a sore hind leg.

Anyways, on the menu today is mulching, clover and chickweed killing, and running. This is my last weekend of non-structured running for four months leading up to the LV marathon on December 4th, so I intend on enjoying it. More photos up soon -- if there are any that you like, let me know and I'll put them up on Cafepress.

Alaskan Vacation Pictures Part 2

Whew, posting Vacation pictures takes a lot of time! More Vacation Pictures, these mostly of Hatcher Pass...


Down below in the valley is the road...

Kids walking around Solitude Lake

Another view of the road from the top of the pass

Mom and Dad at Solitude Lake

A guy was paragliding while we were at the lake...here he is waiting for the right moment to jump off.

He jumps!

Liftoff!

Rule 1 of paragliding: Do not run into the mountains.

Flying high

Another fly shot

Do these photos make you want to paraglide?

Frank, Lori and Galileo pose for the camera

Good view of the peak

Beautiful flower -- do you see the bug on it?

Fireweed along a river

When we got back from dinner, there was a huge rainbow, completely spanning the sky. In fact while my parents were up here, we even saw a double rainbow.

Alaska Vacation Pictures, part 1

When my parents came up, I believe the first day we went to Eklutna Lake and then on to Hatcher Pass...

At the lake, we went down to the water's edge and looked around.
Galileo, as usual, was especially enthusiastic and got as muddy as possible by the end.
(Another shot of Galileo enjoying the lake)
Frank and Dad enjoyed the sunshine while looking around at the lake.

After Eklutna, we made our way to Hatcher Pass in Willow. Hatcher Pass is a dirt road for some of the way, but the ride is worth it:
Fireweed on the Pass
I assume this is Queen Anne's lace, but not quite sure.
Galileo in the back of the Tracker, waiting to be let out.
Another Hatcher Pass shot

Anyways, enough for today, I'll try to put some additional pictures up tomorrow...

What a difference a day makes...

Birthday!
Last night, Frank and I went to Sullivans Restaurant within the Fifth Avenue Mall in downtown Anchorage. What, you might ask, would Frank and I be doing in a mall of all places on a Wednesday night? Good question. Frank, for his birthday, needed wool pants, and the best place to get those in Anchorage is Nordstrom, which is not actually in the mall, but directly opposite the mall. Once Frank bought his pants and I took my customary scope-out of the store, we crossed the street to go to dinner at Sullivans.

Sullivans did not open for another 20 minutes, so we decided to hang out for a half hour. The Fifth Street mall is a strange mix of your everyday mall stores combined with gift shops to cater to the summer tourist invasion. There's your Banana Republic, but also an Iditarod memorabilia store, for example. On the bottom floor, the mall officials had closed off the area in order to get ready for some massive hiking boot sale.

The restaurant itself was really nice. I know Sullivan's is a chain, but did well to hide this fact. The decor inside was tasteful -- dark wood, leather-like booths, and an open kitchen. The high ceiling and tasteful photographs on the wall contributed to the sense of elegance in the place.

The food was great. I ordered a mixed green salad with raspberry vinagrette and a filet mignon. Both were well executed. Frank had a porterhouse that tasted wonderful as well and probably the best iceberg wedge salad I have ever tasted. For dessert, Frank and I were given a wonderfully light and fluffy rasberry souffle that was incredible.

Anyways, a good time was had, if you have a Sullivan's near you, you should check it out.

Rockin' on Vicodin
As a belated birthday present, Frank had minor oral surgery to repair skin around a lower tooth. Some of the unfortunate post-op conditions:
1) No carbonation -- i.e. no diet coke.
2) Must eat soft, semi-solid foods for the first week, no straws, popcorn, peanuts, or carbonation.
3) No strenuous physical activity.
4) This is the kicker -- limit speaking as much as possible for the next three days.

I picked him up about 30 minutes ago to get a Frosty so that he could start his vicodin. It's such an impressive drug -- by the time we got home (we only live about 5 mins from a Wendy's), he was already feeling the effects of the drug. The good news is, the surgery was successful, and the patient appears to be doing just fine.

So everyone send postive post-op vibes to Frank for a speedy recovery!

Whoops

In honor of the Tour de France, here's some cycling humor one for your Thursday.

Catch-up part 1: Zoo-riffic!

I think in total I have six weeks (approx 300 pictures) to wade through from vacation, so I'll just start posting them in a series :)

Last month(!), Anne and the Nick-formerly-known-as-Ritchie-Valenz joined Frank and I down in Cincinnati for an afternoon. What fun that day was! Here are some pictures from the Zoo, which was full of good kitties:

Miss Kitty eating her tail...
Curious kitty liked my camera...
Not a Kitty, but a gorilla :)
Sleepy kitty

Fast Kitty

Attack Kitty
Lemurs say hello!

BIG sleepy kitty
Good Rhino!

Flamingo standing

The "littlest flamingo". You would not know it from the picture, but this flamingo is having a great moment. You see, this flamingo was trying to stand on a rock, but all the other flamingoes were attacking to keep him off of that rock. Finally, Mom showed up to support the little guy, so that he could stand on the rock like everyone else :)

Good puppy!
Koi Pond photo

Maggie's relatives

Nick, Anne and Frank try to find the Cat House...

The infamous Nick and Anne picture :)

Anne and I at the Zoo...

Back to AK

Hi Everyone --

Just a quick note to let you know that the North to AK clan is back in AK, so hopefully there will be some good pictures coming soon.

Also, today is Frank's birthday! Happy Birthday Frank!