Squirrels, Cairibou and Bears .. oh my!

Last weekend Brent and I joined my parents and some family friends on a camping trip to Denali Park. We camped at a campground about 29 miles into the Park and we stayed there for 4 nights. During the day we would hop on the buses that take the tourists in for sightseeing and we would get off the bus where we wanted to go hiking and off we went. This blog will show some of the animals that we saw. Luckily a majority of the bears (with the exception of one) we were able to observe from the bus. It was incredible to see all the animals. One afternoon when we were watching a large caribou Mary Vail and I kept hearing from Mark and Brent about how great of a shot they could get on it. Good thing it was in a national park, they will have to wait until this fall to get their shot at a caribou. Enjoy the pictures.

Happy Solstice!

On Saturday, June 21st, the longest day of the year and the sun does not go below the horizon. A tradition in Fairbanks is going to the Goldpanners baseball game. The game started at 10:30 pm and is played without artifical lights. We had a great time. There was an alumni pitcher from the Goldpanner's who came back and pitched for the team, keep in mind he was 62 and was throwing strikes against kids who could be his grandkids. We had a lot of fun and are looking forward to next years game. (Note: This picture was taken at midnight and the sun was still shining.)

Dog days of summer.

Friday was a nice and sunny day. Brent was going out bear hunting in the evening so we decided to take the boat out for a drive to make sure it was ready. We took Roscoe along for his first boat ride and he loved it. The weather was awesome and it was a great first boat ride of the year.

We have neighbors.

Earlier this spring we noticed a robin building her nest in the eaves of the garage. Whenever I would go out and water the lawn she would fly away from her nest. When we got back from our fishing trip I went out to take a look and check on the status of the nest and I saw 3 beaks with their heads poking up out of the nest. Mama bird has been keeping busy flying around the yard and catching bugs to feed to her hatches. It has been fun to watch them, before long they will be learning to fly out of the nest.

Gallon of gas $4.04; Cheeseburger and fries $10.25; Fishing charter $90; Cooler full of fish - PRICELESS!

Brent and I made it down to Chitina, Alaska for our second annual Copper River Red fishing - and we were able to net 26 red salmon and 1 king salmon. We actually caught 5 kings; but we are only allowed to keep one. Brent got the first one and the debate was do we keep it and know that we cannot get another one or try for a bigger one? We decided to keep the first one and the picture is of Brent and the king salmon. I ended up catching another one shortly after that and of course I have to say it was bigger, take a look at the picture and see for yourself. Of course we will have the ongoing battle of whose fish is bigger. But it will keep us going back each year. Overall we were very lucky to catch the fish that we did, in coming back on the boat we were told that some people were out all day and only caught 2! We chalked it up to the determination of keeping the nets in the water and the fact that Brent dropped his favorite pocket knife in the river just after he caught his king. We decided that it was an offering and it paid off.

There are some people who get permits and do their fishing with the fishwheels, it was neat being able to see them in action. Attached is a picture of the fishwheels in action.

Watch for them on the circuit in 10 years.

I had Kendra and Kara with me last weekend and we went to the driving range for the first time this summer. I finally was able to hit my new clubs that I got at the end of last summer - I can't wait to go for 18 holes this weekend. Kendra is doing great and was hitting some close to 75 yards. And Kara was just happy to be able to put the ball up on the tee. And when the bucket of balls ran out, and no one else was at the range, I let the kids run out and go pick up the balls.

I hope that I'll be able to hit the course weekly this summer ... I need to break in my new clubs.

We're grass parents!

Finally, after 10 days of watering we finally have signs of sprouts of grass. It must be like what the kids with the Chia (sp) Pets feel like. I am just glad that I didn't kill it - that would be hard to try and explain to Brent after he came home from his shift at work. I don't know if it was the combination fo it finally getting to 70 degrees and a rainstorm that came through last night? But whatever it is, I am glad to finally see some green. Hopefully by the end of the summer we'll be able to walk barefoot through the grass.