Alaska, Land of the midnight sun!

Oh what a GREAT weekend! I cant even begin to tell you how WONDERFUL it was to get away with Jason and see and do new things! I know that for a lot of people 20 hours of driving in two days doesn't sound like fun at all, but honestly Jason and I never see each other ever and we never get a chance to do anything, not to mention the fact that I never get any time off. This weekend was MUCH needed and so greatly appreciated!!

Unfortunately on Sunday when we got up it was pouring rain, we didn't let it get us down though we hit Starbucks and then the road! I'm not kidding we were BARELY out of Anchorage and we saw a Mama moose and her babies.. her little little babies! They were sooo cute, I so badly wanted to see little baby moose and there was two of them! Jason said they looked about a week old!! I got one picture but when Jason pulled over they ran into the woods! We drove maybe another 10 minutes, still in the pouring rain and all the sudden I was like "JASON BLACK BEAR!!" There was a freaking black bear on the side of the road, I couldn't even believe it! Of course Jason pulled over and I got a few pictures before it took off, I mean rain of shine this trip was starting off in the best way ever!! Jason and I were pumped!!

Regardless of the fact that it was raining it was honestly a great drive, our next major attraction was the Matanuska Glacier! It was so hard to get good pictures of it because it was such a crappy day but its pretty amazing. Glowing blue snow.. I mean how often do you get to see a glacier? However when we stopped at the look out to take a good look at the glacier there was a bird stuck in the front grill of the truck! I almost cried I couldn't even believe it! Than I caught the plague from the public park washroom. Fuck.

The rain and fog continued, it wasn't the clearest drive but it was still great. We hit dirt roads which I think is unbelievable and if you can imagine we also had no cell service most of the time, which is fine because I didn't care about my phone but I kept thinking if god forbid something happened we would be soooo screwed!! There was literally nothing for millions of miles at a time! If you can imagine it we also hit snow, lots and lots of snow! I'm not talking just a few feet here and there, I'm talking about FROZEN LAKES with tons of snow, I'm talking winter in almost June! I guess when you're at an altitude of 3500 feet that happens, I was in shock!

Speaking of being in shock gas was $4.78 which is absolutely unbelievable! Jason almost had a stroke, believe it or not though the truck averages 18.7 miles a gallon which is pretty awesome so we didn't spend a fortune on gas which is always great! Naturally as you can imagine being in the middle of no where we also had no radio stations, and as you can imagine if you know me at all no radio stations of course means a front seat dance party at which I am of course the DJ! This only lasted so long though before Jason totally took over! Jason recently found a way to download free music for our Ipods and therefore my "recently added" play list is some of the songs Jason downloaded for his Ipod but put on mine! WELL.. it was like reliving my childhood.. Beach Boys all the way! I kept looking over to make sure it was Jason singing along and not dad!! Haha!

We saw quite a bit of wildlife, unfortunately not brown bears, caribou or elk but still lots of wild life! We saw stopped somewhere in the middle of no where because a Mama moose and her baby were on the side of the road. She stood out there and then listened and walked into the middle of the road, she stood in the middle of the road until here baby crossed and then she crossed too, it was so cute!! So Jason pulled over and went to get out and she put her ears back and looked fierce! Jason naturally got back in the truck and left her alone, they are absolutely not to be trusted when they have their off spring and on top of that the moose around Anchorage are a lot more socialized than those anywhere else, therefore a lot more friendly.

There were ton of waterfalls as well, one in particular was restricted access by the military since 1954, obviously that meant nothing to Jason.. he's such a rebel! Illegal activity doesn't scare him at all, haha probably because we hadn't seen another car in at least an hour!

We decided to stop at Birch lake for Jason to do a little fishing, it was starting to clear off and was only sprinkling and as we were driving by there was a bunch of people fishing and catching little fish so we figured why not, it would be a good chance to stop and stretch out legs anyways. It was a really beautiful lake, tons of cabins on there. It reminded me of Gull Lake where Jason and I rented the cottage so many years.. I really miss our time there! Unfortunately Jason didn't catch anything but it was still nice to stop and get out.

Now this next little tid bit about our trip is a big one, I know many of you are going to be extremely envious and I'm not going to lie I cant blame you! Are you sitting down? Jason and I went through THE NORTH POLE! Seriously, look it up! North Pole, Alaska! Right before Fairbanks! I didn't meet Santa because as you can imagine we are well into the year and he is so busy. But the North Pole was pretty awesome, statues of Santa everywhere.. Santa's house which as you will see in the picture is quite amazing, the towns street lights are also all on CANDY CANES! I mean besides the obvious cold, who wouldn't want to live in such a magical place?

Finally we made it to Fairbanks. I'm not going to lie the place was a dive! It is significantly smaller than Anchorage but it was a dive.. There was absolutely nothing there, everyone besides those in the military looked sketchy if not stumbling drunk.. I couldn't believe it. To be honest that is was I feared Anchorage would be like before we arrived. At this point we were starving though so we stopped at the restaurant we had picked out in advance.. haha well wasn't it a surprise! First of all we stood in the door FOREVER because the waitress/hostess/bartender was having a hard time multitasking. We finally sat down and the first thing I noticed was that the menu was not the same as the one we viewed online and neither of the items Jason or I had selected were not on this menu! Apparently their Sunday menu is different from any other day, its more family oriented, she said it not me. So we ordered something else. Honestly this restaurant was the epitome of a small town restaurant in that the owners LITTLE girl was running around the restaurant aimlessly with a baby doll that had no clothes on and her mother was plying her with food to get her to sit down and shut up, I couldn't believe it.

We left the restaurant and drove around town, my opinion definitely didn't change! I was more and more thankful that we are here and not there. After our little venture we headed to the hotel, which was in a super great location, right across from the Fred Meyers and literally right next to the on ramp towards Anchorage. We stayed at a Best Western Plus which was great because it wasn't directly in the city like the other hotel we had debated and I wasn't so worried about the truck being jacked in the night! The hotel was GREAT! The best was SUPER comfy and we were so happy to get in bed after such a long day! It was also great to have the really good black out curtains which were much needed on account that Fairbanks is in the interior of Alaska and therefore they are already at 21 hours of daylight.. let me tell you its something to wake up at 4:15am and it be complete daylight out! Hence, land of the midnight sun!

The next morning when we got up it was so great to see the sun!! We woke up a little late and got ready, had breakfast at the hotel, hit Fred Meyers to get gas and some premade sandwiches for a picnic and were on the road! The interior of Alaska gets a lot more rain, sunlight and heat and therefore is so green, it was great! Its amazing how different areas in Alaska can look, Ive never seen anything like it!

We arrived at Denali only two and a half hours after we left Fairbanks and let me tell you it is absolutely amazing!! If you come to Alaska it is absolutely IMPERATIVE that you see Denali National park! Here is a link to some information, its pretty amazing! The park is over 100 million acres!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denali_National_Park_and_Preserve

At this point in the year you can only drive your own personal vehicle into the park 15 miles rather than the 30 miles you could have last weekend. We we drove in and it was great, we saw a moose cross the road! We got to the 15 mile mark and stopped and had some lunch and did a little hike! It was pretty amazing, we actually got to see Mount McKinley! Mount McKinley is the highest Mountain in North American so therefore most often it is behind the clouds, 90% of people who visit the park don't get to see the mountain!

We did a little hiking which was great, Jason finally saw some Dall sheep which was another thing he could check off his list! They were super far away but he had binoculars so that was great!

Overall we had a really amazing weekend, even the drive back was great! It was so great that it was sunny! Honestly we couldn't have asked for a better day! Everything was perfect!

Jason went back to work today and I'm just getting caught up on things around the house!! I'm going to attach a few pictures I took on my cell phone and then send you all the pictures we took through snapfish. I uploaded them earlier and will send them off right after this!!

Check these out in the meantime though.

 See REAL WINTER! Almost June!!

Haha Jason peeing.. never fails!

 Oops!

So that is our trip!! I hope you all enjoy the pictures!!

Back to reality tomorrow.. ugh!

Long Weekend?

Just wanted to give you all a heads up!! Jason and I are heading out of town as of first thing Sunday morning! We are heading down to Fairbanks and than Monday we are going to make our way to Denali National Park!! We couldn't be more excited!! Not only am I sooooo excited to have a 3 day weekend but we've been pretty stationary for awhile which you all know is not like us at all and I'm getting antsy! I'm really looking forward to the 8 hour drive to Fairbanks! Jason has already done a bunch of research about the drive and the park and tonight we completed the search for "must know information" with where we will eat! Haha Jason has picked a BBQ joint and his meal!!

Anyways its been a super long week and I work for a bunch of lying rat bastards who said that they actually wouldn't be back until tomorrow but were caught driving around the properties checking shit out today.. who the fuck are they? I HATE GAMES! If they knew they were coming back why the hell would they lie? More than that why wouldn't they call and say they are back and is everything OK and did anyone need anything? Christ this is their second 3 week vacation in the last two months!! She screwed herself though because she is going to be back in the office on Tuesday after being away for 3 weeks and she isn't going to have a clue! I'm going to book every move out I can for her just because I'm a bitch like that! I hate that they cant just be half decent people, EVER! On a good note I will be off on Tuesday, she will be at Town Square on Wednesday and then Thursday Ive scheduled a bunch of stuff and she doesn't work on Friday or Saturday.. genius.

Well Jason and I are both working tomorrow, yes we are both working the Saturday of a long weekend.. that's just how it goes! Jason is still quite sick, it doesn't seem to be going away and he swears its because he doesn't have any Buckley's! I filled mom in today though and shes going to rectify that! Jason said tomorrow we are grilling with Rob and Jason so I didn't think I would have time to blog before we leave but I promise to make the effort on Tuesday. Kevin's wife wanted to go out but I think I want to stay home and do nothing so if that's the case I will make sure to post all the pictures and blog about what I'm sure will be an amazing weekend!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RJ & DYLAN!!! WE MISS YOU GUYS TONS AND LOVE YOU LOTS!!

Trout..? Prime Location!

Good Morning all!

So first and foremost I am making a promise to respond to all my outstanding emails today, I'm really sorry to those of you who are on the list of unanswered emails but the office has actually been busy and as usual there is just never any time at night so today is the day that I make the time for it!

Not a whole lot has been going on, work as usual! Last night Jason and I went on a walk.. he is starting to feel better but my kidney stone pain has inevitably turned into a kidney infection that I seem to be maintaining with gallons of water and some "rest" or best I can. I'm confident its going to go away! Anyways last night we set out to walk the creek because Jason heard rumors that people were illegally fishing in the creek and of course he needed to check it out! We did not find any illegal anglers but we found TONS of really great fishing spots and while Jason was scoping that out I was teaching myself to whistle, unsuccessfully!

Today I plan to answer emails as previously mentioned AND I plan to call Lululemon and rip them a new one for not refunding my money yet for their fuck up of a lifetime with my online order so I can place yet another order! Although the longer I have to wait the more discouraged I feel. I plan to invest in a new North Face jacket this week as well, because its still winter weather here.. and no I'm not kidding. All you assholes can stop going on about how HOT it is at home and how you all have SUNBURNS! The extent of the heat that I get is from warm sweaters and blankets!

This weekend is a 3 day weekend for me! This will be the first time I have had two days off in a row since I started this job! We were hoping to get down to Fairbanks and hit Denali National Park but I don't know what is going to happen. We had started planning but than Jason might have to work Memorial Day now.. go figure! He said he will know by tomorrow so we'll see! It would be so great to take a trip somewhere.. we never stay in a place very long and being here and having a "real life" is getting old, I need some adventure!

Anyways I have to get ready for work, it better not rain until I get there or I'm not going to be impressed! I will leave you with some pictures of our adventure last night, hope you enjoy!!

 This is Jason over the weekend while he was still sick! Poor thing laid on the couch most of the afternoon drinking hot water and honey!

 The water is going down in the river but its really flowing! The river is so long and winding it surprises me how fast the water is always moving.

 This thing is cool, if you can see it looks like a fishing rod, there is a hook at the top and the chairs are shaped like fish! So it looks like the fishing rod catching fish when it is really a street light! Haha only in Alaska!

 Jason checking out prime Trout spots! He needs to scope out his potential fishing spots! Haha he was going to work today to ask Josh did he want to go fishing tonight!

 Jason and I at the Campbell Creek, May 21, 2012.

 I just LOVE that face!

 Taku Lake!

 Check out the beaver dam we found! Its right on the side of the lake! I don't think I have ever seen one this close up until now.

 This little buggers are crafty, and destructive.. there are trees down everywhere around here!

Alright I'm off to get ready for work! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! More blogs to come I promise!!

Day off? I forgot what that was for a second...

Well hello all.. its been awhile! Don't worry there hasn't been anymore earthquakes!! However Jason is quite sick with a cold and I believe that I am suffering from some pretty bad kidney stone pain! Jason's been sick for quite a few days now and Friday night we were at Fred Myers grocery shopping and I was like.. OH GOD NO.. the pain from kidney stones is pretty distinct! I was having such a good night too!! Jason went out to watch the Celtics game with the guys from work, I came home and ordered Guido's pizza which is my favourite and laid on the couch watching whatever I wanted and vegging.. it was GREAT! So yesterday wasn't such a great day, Jason and I both worked, Jason went fishing after work and I came home and made dinner and then we went on the hunt for Buckley's, which you cant get here! Big surprise! Not to mention I have to get up and pee every 6 fucking seconds but whatever.. I feel better than I did!

That's really about it going on, we both worked all week and didn't really do much else. Went to the gym and stuff. Jason and Josh went fishing last night which was hilarious because Jason came home and said "the guys beside us caught a big fish and we caught nothing, my feet got wet and my line on my new rod is shit!" LOL so Josh writes and says that Jason was using corn as bait and he must have gotten that off "fishingtipsforsuckers.com" I laughed sooo hard! I think I will probably laugh about that all week to be honest.

Nothing exciting going on today, we got up this morning and went to Bed Bath and Beyond in hopes of investing in an eye mask to be able to sleep but I cant find one I like! I had one before, Tasha you remember the one you sent me with Penguins on it? Well I cant find it anywhere and I also cant find one like it, I'm pissed. So then we went to go to the lake so Jason could try his rod again.. its still shit! But we found a couple of garage sales on the way and Jason is all about the garage sales these days, Kristy and Aunt Bren, you would be so proud! After that we went over to Sportsman's Warehouse because whats a Sunday without that store? And now we are home doing nothing!

I'm making Mexican for dinner, homemade burritos, rice and nachos! Burritos with spicy chicken, Mexican rice, cheese, black beans, home made guacamole! SO EXCITED! Jason wouldn't go to one of the millions of Mexican restaurants around here so I'm bringing it to us! I did all the laundry and stuff last night so I can do nothing!

Honestly working 6 days a week is fine but being on call 24/7 sucks! It seems like Ive been getting calls ALL THE TIME about the stupidest shit, the same lady calls every morning.. its ridiculous! I'm so done with it! I am so happy that today I have nothing to do, I can just do whatever I want at my own pace!

Anyways I'm going to crochet for a little while, but I will leave you with some pictures Ive taken over the last couple of days! Hope you enjoy!!

 I mean of course they are Canadian, why would you bother fishing with anything else?!?! Haha Jason and I loved this!

 Sitting outside the grocery store waiting for Jason, not a bad view now is it?

 Literally where we are there is a panoramic view of the mountains, its pretty amazing.. crappy days though! Haven't seen the sun in awhile!

 Jason spotted someone had got a weight stuck on this branch and he was trying to get it.. check out how hes holding onto the tree for dear life! haha

 Jason's new rod has the worst line ever, he couldn't cast out more than 6 feet! He's holding out for some Trilene blue, haha tell me where he gets that from??

 Just handing out.. I was a little ways back.. I didn't fit in at all.. one it was cold and Jason neglected to tell me we would have to hike into the lake, so I wasn't dressed for it at all, haha carrying my orange snake skin purse, at least I had a Starbucks, Jason knows how to keep me happy! :P

 See that thing that you had to walk on to get to the dock.. YA RIGHT! I wasn't going on that thing!

 The lake was beautiful, lots of beautiful homes on it! A couple of float planes too! I REALLY want to take a float plane ride so bad!

 I don't think you can see it but when I took the picture there was a little otter swimming around here! IT was the cutest thing ever!

 See the lake was beautiful, it was Sand Lake I believe! Makes me miss our summers at the cottage on Gull Lake, we've talked about that a lot lately...oh memories!

So I hope everyone has a great weekend! I will blog again soon!! Miss you all tons!

Details Now Available....

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/alaska-earthquake-rumbles-beneath-anchorage-awaking-residents-wednesday


http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/alaska-earthquake-rumbles-beneath-anchorage-awaking-residents-wednesday

http://www.adn.com/2012/05/16/2466929/magnitude-46-eathquake-centered.html

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!

I FINALLY manage to get some sleep after two days of not sleeping and I get woken up first thing in the morning to a ridiculous EARTHQUAKE!! The bed was shaking uncontrollably, the medicine cabinets were opening and slamming shut, the windows were rattling.. I woke up totally dazed wondering what the hell was going on. We get earthquakes here all the time, sometimes a couple small ones a day but that one was by far the worst Ive felt. Nothing seems to be broken so that's a good thing, but I could have gotten another 45 minutes of sleep.. I'm not impressed.

Yesterday was a good day, a slow day at work! However I had a WONDERFUL surprise when at the office working my usual day off on yet another night of no sleep.. check it out..

Barb sent me the most beautiful flowers and a wonderful card.. absolutely made my day!! Sometimes its the unexpected things in life!! Thanks again Barb! I love you!!

Last night we had dinner and went to the gym, and I must tell you the most interesting thing happened last night! We went to the gym and I was doing cardio and all the sudden out of the mens changing room came these two old men.. and I mean old.. and they were both wearing jeans that were way too big with suspenders and one of them had their pants rolled up because they were too long. Honestly I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.. I instantly saw Papa in his Jeans that were too big, rolled up at the bottom and his suspenders. I just stared at them, I watched them walk all the way out the doors, I couldn't help myself.. a little part of my wanted to cry because somehow even after all this time I still miss Papa so much it hurts and thinking about him isn't always easy.. but I couldn't help but smile, I could hear him in my head commenting on how dapper they looked, something smart ass and classic. We came home and I did laundry and made lunches, had a bath and couldn't wait to get into bed! I actually managed to sleep pretty well last night, until about 7am this morning.. when the house started shaking!! Kevin just wrote me and said it was a 4.6 magnitude.. little is what he also said, but it didn't feel little!!

So today should be a long day, Cynthia is taking the day off apparently.. I got up to a message on my facebook wall letting me know! Its actually suppose to be nice out though which is great. Jason said he is planning to grill tonight but our taxes are all fucked up STILL so I think he was also going to try and get an appointment to meet with the accountants tonight, this whole process has been the biggest bunch of bullshit Ive ever encountered in my life!

Anyways I have to get ready for work unfortunately.. LONG WEEK.. but its hump day.. haha for those of you who don't have to work Saturdays like I do! 

Preview!

So I thought I would give you a little preview of pictures to come!

The neighbours cancelled for dinner last night so Jason and I went to Wild Wings for dinner which honestly wasn't all that good! After that we went to REI.. another outdoors store that everyone around here talks about! After that we decided to take a drive to Earthquake Park and although I took a bunch of pictures on the camera in the truck I took a few on my cell phone to post until I upload all the other ones!

So here they are, this is the view of downtown Anchorage from Earthquake park! I will make sure to upload the pictures from the camera in the truck soon and send them via snapfish like I usually do!

Hope you enjoy and everyone has a great day!

PS - make a point of checking out this website I'm going to post below.. bear attacks at Turnagain Arm.. so close to here.. I don't see a lot of hiking in my future!

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/