Oh, the trees, and the mountains and the waterfalls!

Denali (Mt. McKinley) visible behind a thin veil of clouds to the right of the tall spruce tree

Homer trip 2011 has concluded after clocking 1200 miles on our odometer.  We had a blast.  When we left Fairbanks on a blustery day, and the first day of the Moose Mountain forest fire we just drove to Denali National Park to spend the first night - a mere two and a half hour drive.  It was a pleasant experience overall, despite the swarm of mosquitoes we battled and the temperatures dipping into the low 30s (2 C).  The second night we spent by Kenai Lake, a beautiful, turquoise lake on the Kenai Peninsula.

Small Fish at Kenai Lake

Someone had left behind a rather elaborate fort built out of driftwood.  We had fun playing on, in and around it.

We left Kenai Lake behind, and we were on our way to Homer on the Sterling Highway, when we noticed  Small Fish looking out the window, singing her heart out.  She made up her own lyrics evidently inspired by the incredible environs of South-central Alaska:  "And the trees, and the mountains and the waterfalls!" That was pretty much the whole song on loop, but it was so cute that it eventually became the soundtrack of this road trip.  Whatever we saw, or experienced we attached to these lyrics (eagles, oysters etc.) and that is the story behind the title of this post. 

Homer was everything I hoped it would be and then some.  We had our own private beach front  for two days on the Homer Spit, a 4.5 mile piece of land jutting out into the Kachemak Bay.  We watched the tide come in and out, collected sea shells, dug up mussels and steamed them over campfire, fished for salmon, and made s'mores.  The children spent the entire time on the beach, their faces donning permanent smiles framed by sea-wind tousled hair.

Homer Spit: The girls playing in the sand

Fresh Kachemak Bay oysters on Big Fish's plate

A couple of surprising lessons learned: 

1. Big Fish, who normally is an aficionado of creepy-crawly seafood, had a hard time savoring the world-class, fresh Kachemak Bay oysters caught locally, perhaps because J informed her they were served raw.  I am not a fan of sea spiders, bivalves or clams, but I ended up eating half her order in part to encourage her, and in part to experience Homer at its best.

2. Small Moose is scared of barnacles.  He had a blast on the beach on the first day, until Big Moose pointed out all the barnacle covered rocks in low tide.  It was actually a little funny because my poor little guy was truly terrified and refused to partake in anything too far from the campfire.  

From Homer we took the ferry to Seldovia to take a stroll and to eat lunch.  Seldovia is a quaint fishing town with a charming, historic boardwalk, and is only accessible by sea or air. 

With the Time Bandit from Deadliest Catch in Homer

Seldovia street corner

"14 Day Parking Only" -things are a little slower in Seldovia

 On the way back home we stopped in Anchor Point just a few minutes from Homer to play with friendly bald eagles on the beach, and had a great view of volcanoes Mt.Iliamna and Mt.Redoubt.

Big Fish, Big Moose, Big Mountain (Mt.Redoubt) -Anchor Point, AK

Small Moose playing with bald eagles

Big Fish, Small Fish in Anchor Point

As a special treat, Denali (Mt. McKinley) was very much visible and glorious so we stopped for some pictures. 

Morning in Palmer

Small Moose and J at Denali lookout

We came back to Fairbanks and into 90 F (32 C) heat.  It is a little funny to think we were bundled in jackets, hats and mittens at various points on our journey.  Big Moose wants to move to Seldovia and make a living as a ship captain.  I miss Homer already as well. 

Summer Kick-off 2011

The birch trees are gracefully turning vivid green with new leaves:

The sun is still out at 11 pm:

 

We are once again able to marvel at the beauty of our valley without the need for heavy protective gear:

Tomorrow we are heading South to Homer on the Kenai Peninsula for a one-week RV road trip.  

View Larger Map

I am busy cleaning and packing, and feeling a little bit behind.  Small Moose's name day yesterday, and the cake he requested for the occasion set me back many hours -seriously.  This gelatin-laden, 5 layer cake took me 5 hours to achieve, during which time I swore silently that I would never, ever let my kids choose some random cake off the cover of a cook book.  But then, once done, I was ready to do it all over again when I saw the smile on Small Moose's face:

 

 

 So we're off on our trip, ready to see Awesome Alaska (Big Moose is thrilled that we will be driving past 4 volcanoes: Mt. Spurr, Mt. Redoubt, Mt. Iliamna, and Mt. St. Augustine).  We'll be back with lots of pictures.  Until then: Happy Summer to you all!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!

Thanks to all of you for playing, posting, visiting.  I enjoyed reading your comments.

So that you can experience the suspense of the process with me, here is how it happened:  We had a total of 8 posts.  In order to save time (as it is past midnight here), trees (as in avoiding paper) and the real reason folks: effort (as in even trying to find paper in an office regularly ransacked by children) I decided to use random.org instead of doing a traditional paper ticket draw.  I got a random number between 1-8 to correspond with the number of comments.  And what did I get?  The result is on the right highlighted in blue:

It is the number 7, or post number 7, which means the winner is (drum roll):


~~~~~~~~~~~~Congratulations Sabine!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You are the winner of the first official This Alaskan Backyard giveaway, and the recipient of a weird but cool lot of Alaskan souvenirs.

In fact, Sabine you won twice.  As it happened, it occurred to me that some of the posts technically did not qualify for one reason or another, for things like opting out "hey I am just saying 'hi' but not interested in the giveaway" so really there were 4 posts that were actual entries.  So I did a redo just to humor myself.  Just to see if the result were any different on 4 unique numbers.  Well, guess what, this is what I got:

the number 3.  Which is still Sabine, as hers is the 3rd qualifying entry.  So dear Sabine, send me a message on FB with your address and your gift will be on its way :-)

A little bit of Alaska -from me to you.

(Magyar verzio a szoveg vegen :)

This is the first This Alaskan Backyard giveaway.  It is my way of saying "thanks" to you all for joining us on our journey.  Oh, but what to give when there is so much to choose from!  Well, one lucky winner will take it all, and the prizes are as follows:

The items I chose are pretty random, chosen in part for their Alaskan-ness and in part for their mail-ability.   First in this group is an Ulu or "Legendary knife of the Arctic" as it says on the box, made of  U.S. Stainless steel with a lifetime guarantee.  The carved wooden handle shows a fancy moose with a quintessentially Alaskan landscape.

All right then, this is pretty awesome so far!  Something to skin chicken with for dinner or cut hair in a pinch.

The second item for the lucky winner is........Alaskan wild blackberry tea.  This is REAL berry tea folks, picked from the wild river valleys and lush tundra of Alaska.  Brew up this bad boy, and dream of the wild Alaska landscape from which it came from as you enjoy with friends and family.  10 teabags to savor.



OK, so Ulu -check, berries -check, what else goes with this Alaskana theme?



Well, you guessed it: a book on something few know about Alaska outside of Alaska: outhouses. 
Yes, ladies and gents, this book takes a whimsical look at an often-ignored aspect of life in Alaska and answers such age-old questions as why are outhouses adorned with a crescent moon? and how do you use an outhouse at fifty below?  Titled Outhouses of Alaska (by Harry M. Walker) it is a good read to enjoy while sipping your Alaskan wild berry tea. 






Read of the Rhoads for example, whose plush, floor-to-ceiling carpeted outhouse bears the sign: Spiffy Bippy:  All Plushy....but no flushy!  By the time you finish, you will wish for an outhouse to make your very own!....well, almost.

And the final gift in this bunch is an Alaskan bumper sticker.  If you are Alaskan, Alaskan-at-heart, or know someone who is and would like a bumper sticker to show it, this one's for you:

Well, there you have it: the first giveaway from me to you:

So here is how you enter:

STEP 1: sign up as a Follower (if you haven't already done so, if you have then sign in with your user name so I won't have to figure out which one of 5 Anonymous posters is the winner :)...and by the way: don't think of yourself as a Follower, but rather as a reader.... :) and if you're worried that annoying email and spam will follow your post: don't.  Being a follower does not automatically sign you up for updates and such.

STEP 2: leave me a comment by Wednesday, March 23rd midnight Alaska time.  What kind of comment you ask?  Well, tell me which one's your favorite gift and why.  That's how easy.  Accepted languages: English, Hungarian, French and whatever else Google translator can handle. 

On 3/23 I will randomly choose one lucky winner either by enlisting J's help and by doing an old fashioned paper ticket-draw, or via a random number-generator site.  The winner can then email me their address privately so I can mail them the goods.  There you have it folks, comment away and Good Luck!

Hungarian version:
Csatlakozz a bloghoz mint "Follower" es kommentalj itt lent.  Annyit irj, melyik lenne a kedvenc szuvenired, es miert.  A szerencses nyertest sorsolas alapjan dontom el, es a fent abrazolt 4 ajandekot kapja meg.  Eszkimo Ulu kes, alaszkai pottyantos budikrol szolo konyv, alaszkai szeder tea, es alaszkai autos matrica.  Postan kuldom, sok szerencset!  Hatarido: Marcius 23. ejfel, Alaszka ido szerint.

Northern Lights Revisited

Bathroom with a view -March 9, 2011

This is my second post on the Northern Lights.  I decided to revisit the topic because last night I saw perhaps the best show I've ever seen in the 10 winters I've spent here.  And yes, I still have the same point-and-shoot, just because Ashton Kutcher pretends he uses one at his yacht soirées on TV it's still cheap in every way-camera I did in my first Aurora post, so there is a limit to what I can do for you on this blog.  And yet the lights were so very amazing for a 30 minute period yesterday (a fact I discovered while brushing my teeth and peering through my bathroom window) that I threw on my coat and boots in a hurry and raced to the deck.

Off my deck, and over the neighbor's house

Now, I've always heard that the lights can make some sort of a celestial sound, but I believe this to be an unsubstantiated urban legend.  I listened very closely last night while the lights were wildly dancing overhead -filling the sky with green and red- but once more I heard nothing.  Actually, there was a moment when I got super excited upon hearing an electric, static-ish sound that was eerie yet in my imagination easily attributed to something outer-spacey like the Northern Lights....... However I soon realized it was the sound of approaching truck tires on a nearby road.  So no sounds for me, but the lights were very intense, and showed that seldom-seen red lace around the edges just to make me happy.  So here are a couple of pictures of one of the most beautiful phenomena in nature we are privileged to see on occasion in Alaska.  Take that Ashton Kutcher!

PS and off-topic: stay tuned for my Alaskana gift-giveaway to come in a few days :)