Alaska: May 27-31

As we flew to Anchorage the sun hung right below the horizon the entire way making for beautiful skies.  We flew over the Chugatch Mountain Range, and made a broad turn over the inlet.  When we turned east we could see the moon just above the horizon behind us and it was shimmering off the water.  So beautiful! It really was a spectacular flight and one of the best scenic landings I've ever had. It was approximately 1:00am when we landed and Ray, Aunt Sue, and Aunt Janice picked were gracious enough to stay awake and pick us up from the airport.

Thursday morning we awoke to chatter in the kitchen and a fine breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and homemade honey and jam.  Aunt Janice took us for a tour of Anchorage and we went to lunch at the famous Sour Dough Mining Company.  We all had delicious food and enjoyed the free soft serve ice cream. We later went to the ULU Factory to see how the knives are made and how to properly use and take care of them.  We played bacci ball at Suzette/Aunt Janice's home and had smoked salmon for a snack.  Aunt Janice prepared a yummy beef stew and Jim brought some prawns.

Thursday night/Friday morning Brett and I went to the airport to pick up Brittany and Cory at 1:00am.  We saw a moose in the median and were pretty excited to see one, since they all kept saying they are all over the city.  We were pretty proud of ourselves for finding our way to the airport and back on our first day there.  But remember, it never really gets dark which helps a lot.

Friday morning we loaded up the RV and left for Seward where we had a tour boat waiting for us to go see the Kenai Fjords.  The views on the way there were amazing! There were so many perfectly clear reflections of the large mountains in the large lakes.  We wanted to stop and take pictures, but were in a time crunch to make it on our tour.

The Tour = Sea otter, orcas, blue whale, seals, mountain goats, bears, porpouses, bald eagles, etc.... We stopped to have lunch on a Fox Island and then continued on to see the Kenai Fjords which are steep mountains that go straight down into the ocean and one of the glaciers as well.  So beautiful!  I really wanted to see whales and was completely thrilled. I couldn't take my eyes off of them.  Our captain recorded the calls our pod of whales were making as they swam by and then let us listen and it was truly magical for me. I really loved it!

We drove up to Grandpa Stoals cabin on the Kenai river and arrived to stuffed smoked salmon and beer battered halibut that Jim made for us.  The halibut was my very favorite.

Saturday morning the whole family took us clamming.  This was Brett's favorite part of the trip.  We all bought licenses, took a drive down to the beach, got down in the mud, and went for it.  It was so much fun to spot a tiny hole/impression in the sand, dig down, and pull up a huge clam! It was equally exciting every time.  There were also a plethera of bald eagles on the hill side behind us.  Seriously, a plethera.  In one picture we counted 14.  I counted up to 27 when we were driving down the beach, but there were way more than that, I just gave up counting.

When we returned to the cabin they taught us how to clean the clams, so we made an assembly line of sorts, and got the job done.  Suzette made clam fritters and breaded clams for us that evening.  Jim also grilled up ribs, chicken, and bratwurst.  So good! We felt like we were constantly eating on this trip. It was meal after meal after meal, and we loved it.

We spent the rest of the night visiting and fishing.  Lots of fish were caught that evening by everybody, the biggest being a 6.5 pound trout. 

Sunday morning we stopped at Crazy Susan's to check it out.  This lady has a store full of stuff, that should be thrift store priced, but are really expensive in actuality. She had really fun dresses too! We took the drive back up through Anchorage, relaxed at Jim's house for a bit, then drove to the Big Lake to their other cabin.  We took a tour of the lake on a boat that evening and got to look at all the large cabins and the beautiful area. We had sandwiches dinner.

Monday morning we had muffins and cereal for breakfast, then played a few games of cards with grandma and grandpa while we waited for it to warm up.  After Jim finally convinced us to go in the water that had previously had ice in it two weeks before, he took us water skiing.  Brett got up on Slalom his first try.  Jim took him through a cove that was smooth as glass and he loved it.  I got up on two skis and dropped one, but didn't last too long.  We got to take the jet skis out too.  We went out on the tubes later and at one point literally flew at least 5 feet in the air. Brittany and I didn't let go, we were the only two that survived that go around.  Surprisingly, the water really wasn't that bad either.  Mom grilled us up some polish sausages that evening and they were yummy! Perfect to top off a day of fun.   

We just had so much fun and were so grateful for the chance to get to know that side of the family.  Their hospitality was outstanding and would be hard to parallel.  The constant sunlight was very hard to get used to and it never failed that at 11:00pm, one of us from Utah or Idaho would say, "What time is it? 11:30pm!!!! I can't beleive it. It feels like 4:00 in the afternoon."  It made it very hard to go to bed, and to be honest we didn't ever go to bed before midnight that I can recall.  There's no reason to go to bed when it's perfect temperature, light, and the fishing is good. That's basically the story of Alaska in the summer.  Late nights, perfect temperatures, never ending sunlight, and way too much fun!