Trip to a glacier.... on an HELICOPTER!

That's right!!! I got to go out on a helicopter tour to the north fork of the Yanert Glacier. It was practically free because I still kinda work for the front desk. Jake wanted to go too, but when we called them they only had room for either one large person or two very small people.... So, only one of us could go. Jake was sweet enough to let me take the seat!! (I think it also had a little to do with the fact that it was very early morning tour too!) I still felt bad leaving him behind.
This is the other helicopter flying through the high mountain passes to get to the HUGE glacier.

The Yanert Glacier is just one of many in the Alaska mountain range and Denali National Park area. Each of the larger glaciers here span 20-30 miles! It was really amazing to look straight down from the air and see all the lines and crevices in the ice, it resembled really wrinkly skin, like an elephant. Its very hard to describe just how awe inspiring and beautiful they are!
I really enjoyed the flight-seeing in a helicopter compared to a small plane, there was much less turbulence and bigger windows so we could see better and take some great photos!! I was able to get some awesome shots of the fall colors on the tundra and also of the beautiful ice blue glacier ponds. I'll be posting those photos on the facebook page soon!

I'm pushing Jake to get out on a tour ASAP because, this is one of the coolest things I have ever done!!

Silly Me!!

Yesterday, we went out to a place near the end of the park road called Wonder Lake. 6 hour bus ride in, and then 6 hour bus ride out. Fall colors were out and marvelous!! Don't have time for a full blog post on it right now but I'm feeling silly and disappointed about a photo I took, Check it out:

DOH!

How perfect and awesome would this picture be if the wolf was in focus?! Grrrrrr....

And of course he was running too fast for me to set the focus right and catch another.

OH YEAH!!

AND

I tried using Henna hair color on my hair for the second time(first try was successful) was going for a strawberry blonde-ish and I got....

....

ORANGE!

HEH.

Three great books!

Lately i've been doing quite a bit of reading and I've been lucky to find three GREAT books in a row! Thought I'd share.

The first book is called Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay. My Grandma recommended this to me and my Mom. I really enjoyed it and read it in just a few days. It was a bit heavy and at parts, a little hard to read. Its placed in France during the German occupation and details what the Jewish families living in Paris went through that fateful July of 1942. I really had a hard time putting this book down, If you get the chance to read it... Do it!

Next I read She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb, It's a humorously written book that follows the sad life of Dolores Price. It is full of love, pain, renewal, and is so accurate to the inner workings of a coming-of-age female brain, that I have to say that I was very surprised to see it was written by a man! My good friend Julie gave me this and said it is actually one of her least favorite of his books. I'm excited to read more of his work!!

This last book, my Mom mailed to me. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, is an intriguing story of love, murder and friendship about a depression era traveling circus. The first day I carried it around with me everywhere because I could NOT put it down! I was really surprised by how many people stopped me to tell me that they also read it and loved it. So, if YOU have not read it yet... you should!

Oh yeah, I just found out they are making a Water for Elephants movie!!

Way too long!

Wowee time flies! It has been way too long since my last post! We have been up to lots of fun and fantastic things lately.

I started a new job working nights, we moved to a nicer room with a restroom attached(YAY!), we decided where we are going at the end of the season here in Denali, we attempted fishing in Kenai, Saw the aurora for the first time this year, and went camping many many fun times!

Having a new room with a full bathroom attached makes me feel like:

This crazy picture is of some mountain climbers on the top of Mt Mckinley... I cant imagine what would make ANYONE want to do that!

My good friend Julie and I went for a bike ride inside the national park. It was such a gorgeous day!

Jake and I went to Kenai to visit his dad and grandpa, while we were there Russ, Jake and I drove to Homer for the day, it was gorgeous!

We attempted some dip-net fishing in Kenai. It is an interesting way of fishing that includes standing on the shore where the ocean meets river, wading in, and holding a net out and hoping a salmon swims in! Everyone around us was having great luck on the first day but we didnt have the right equipment so we did not really try. The next day Jake got some new waiters and tried again but there were no fish... so sad! But here is jake in his cute fishing outfit! Ready for next year right!?

We saw an eagle with a HUGE salmon in its talons, it was really cool.... till I scared it away! We were tempted to steal its catch since we had some bad luck in Kenai and did not catch any of our own >.<

Summer Solstice

Here some photos from our summer solstice celebrations!!

Jake had to work until midnight, I took this photo at abou 11:40 PM! The sun is still up!

Shortly after midnight as I was walking up the hill to meet some friends I spotted this gorgeous moon coming up from behind the mountains.

Mandy, Kalisha and Laura drove down from Fairbanks to spend solstice on the tundra with us! We drove to Healy, AK and took the Stampede trail road out until just before it stops being a road and becomes a trail. We found a spot near 8 Mile Lake and had a campfire all night long!

This picture was taken by Jake, its Laura, Me and Mandy, hanging out around the fire watching the sun starting to rise at around 2:30 AM!!

We made some hotdogs and Haggard, the big dog on the right of Jake) would not leave Jake alone! That dog stared at that hotdog until it was gone!

At around 5 AM Mandy gives her dog, Solo, a little love. (She's a musher, they do these things)

After a few hours of sleep its time to get up and greet the day!! 11AM comes real quick when you dont sleep till 9!

Sleepy Jake with 8 mile lake, blue skies and tundra behind him!

A day of hiking and exploring near the Savage River

So this day was really awesome, but a little traumatizing for me!! Here's some pictures from the day and then i'll tell the story!!

Jake on the shuttle bus to Savage River, 15 miles inside the national park.

So, if you didnt know it already, Jake is actually a mountain goat(see proof).

Here we were hiking along, trying to get to the top of a nearby ridge and following a footpath up the side of Mount Margaret, When this "path" turns into a goat trail up a cliff.

So what does Jake do? He runs right up it of course because that's what mountain goats do!

No problem.

And then there's me.

Right about now, i'm realizing that i am indeed afraid of heights!!

Each rock i step on falls from under my feet, Princess-Bride-style, to its doom, down a huge ravine!

Here I am, all alone with Jake 30 feet above me and a river and some other tiny looking things WAY down below me. I tell Jake i'm scared, and what does he do? Teasing me, he runs down the other way and takes a picture!
So here I am, mad and afraid!

- So, A little later -

Me enjoying a delicious sammich after a big climb!

Next to a frozen river... still frozen in June!

Jake checking out the scenery!

They DO exist!

This is a mother grizzly and her three year old cub. The ranger we spoke with told us that she had chased off this cub's brother only a few days ago and was currently trying to send this one out on his own too. Mama's boy! We were elated to see these two bears! Enjoy!