Yesterday at breakfast Jo said he and his friends were going to hike at Wickersham Dome (around 27 miles from Fairbanks) later in the day, and invited me to go with them. It was a gorgeous day, it sounded like fun, and somehow I'd never hiked there before, so I said yes! (Mom has hiked there, and did the 14-mile round trip in one day..wow. O_o) As ( Read more... )

We're back home, and it was such a gorgeous sunny drive! You could see pretty much everything..the glaciers in the mountains around Valdez and in Thompson Pass, Hayes and Deborah, the Alaska Range glaciers, etc. I was really sad to leave the glaciers behind..I loved being surrounded by them every day lol. We ate lunch at Delta (about an hour/hour ( Read more... )

Yesterday morning Jo had to do something for work, so mom and I took Ryan to see Valdez Glacier Lake and the fish hatchery at Allison Point. The tide was SUPER low! The hatchery breeds salmon and lets them go, and in a year or two they return to spawn..there were lots of fish, but there's a weir preventing them from going any farther (a guy at the ( Read more... )

Since we ended up having no plans yesterday, we did random stuff around town, like booking a kayak trip at Valdez Glacier Lake (today), a bike ride (tomorrow) and a cruise to Columbia Glacier on Thursday with another company (the other company called and said they're definitely shut down this week). We also visited Valdez Glacier Lake, and watched ( Read more... )

The smoke from the Munson Creek Fire (by Chena Hot Springs) was really bad yesterday, but that didn't stop me, mom, Ryan, Jo and Sid for going on a drive up the Steese Highway, to about mile 57, where we turned off the main road and drove down to Nome Creek. Mom and Ryan found that spot when they first moved here, and wanted to get some rocks there ( Read more... )

Today I went kayaking on the Chena River with mom, Jo, Ryan and their friend Daniel (along with everyone else in Fairbanks :P). It was rather warm, but still a nice day to be on the water. It's always interesting seeing the houses and stuff along the river you don't see from the road, and I love seeing and hearing the birds. It took about 2 1/2-3 ( Read more... )

Today I went back to Murphy Dome with mom and Ryan and his friend to pick cranberries..we had no trouble finding those, they were everywhere! I thought I had found some blueberries, and when I asked mom if she was finding more blueberries or cranberries, she was like "you're not picking juniper berries are you??" OMG NOOO haha fail :P (no wonder it ( Read more... )

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Today mom and I went kayaking on Piledriver Slough with Bonnie (we went geocaching there a couple years ago too)! She and mom and a falling-out for a couple years, but they suddenly seem to be fine with each other again lol. I missed hanging out with her, so that was cool. It takes 2-3 hours if you're just lazily floating along, which is enough for ( Read more... )

It is..REALLY weird being 30 years old now. O_o I remember turning 20 was weird, but 30 is even weirder haha. It was another nice day as we drove up to Portage Glacier..I think that was at least my fourth time taking the boat out to the glacier (it has definitely changed since I was first there in 2009!). What better way to celebrate than standing ( Read more... )