Alaskan Adventures Part II

Ok here's the rundown on the rest of our AK trip. Sorry it's taken so long - it took me well over an hour just to upload all of these pictures so beware - this is a pretty long post. Possibly my longest ever.

I told you about our Seward day trip Wednesday in the last post. Thursday was Jeff's big chance at fishing for king salmon on the Little Su. My Uncle Neil, who is a big game guide, arranged a charter for Jeff, Creighton (Shasta's man), Grandpa and himself, and it turned out to be quite a trip. Jeff nearly got himself thrown out of the boat when he pulled out a banana about an hour into the trip. I've been fishing for years and had no idea that a banana to fisherman is like sunlight to a vampire - you just don't go there (of course I'd never think of eating a banana on a boat with fish slime either - only my husband). Anyway, after properly disposing of the cursed fruit the guide was convinced Jeff wouldn't get a bite all day, but lo and behold he had 6 strikes (more than anyone) and finally pulled the last one in for the day weighing in at 24 lbs. That's my man. Unfortunately since he was the last catch of the day he used up all of his film taking pictures of everyone else, but I've included some fun shots below.

Grandpa was the first catch of the day.

Creighton and his prize - the biggest catch of the day at 26 lbs.

My hottie - post banana fiasco.

So I had to include the typical AK highway view - riding the butt of some slowpoke RV. There was hardly any traffic from Anchorage to Seward, but RV's comprised 90% of it.

And here's another cool shot off Turnigan Arm - Jeff where is your coat??

While the boys were fishing Shasta and I dined at the Glacier Brewhouse, one of our favorite AK restaurants, then hit the tourist shops on 4th avenue before ending the afternoon with a 6 mile walk on the coastal trail. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but the coastal trail is one of my favorite places in Anchorage. I used to rollerblade and bike it all the time when I lived there. The only bad thing...there are no bathrooms along the entire 17 mile stretch.

Friday Jeff and I met my good friend Archie for a 80th birthday breakfast out in Peter's Creek. Here's a picture of us talking outside the restaurant -what a view.

We had a few minutes to spare after breakfast, so we shot over to Palmer so Jeff could meet Jeremy, one of my best friends Courtney's husband. Courtney and I have known each other since 7th grade, and she was in my wedding in 2003. Since then I've been to see her in WA several times, but our husbands have never met. They seemed to hit it off so next time I visit in WA I'm sure Jeff will be with me. Here is he with Courtney's middle child Sydney.

After our rendezvous in Palmer it was back to Anchorage for a dinner with the girls before our first big reunion event. I was actually a goodbye party for Shawn's mom, who is moving to OK, but all the girls showed up so it ended up being our own little reunion.

Here is Kate (aka Audrey Hepburn), me and Jeff. Kate and I were friends and stand partners all through high school. We sat in the back of the orchestra together, fervently discussing X-files and the chemistry between Mulder and Scully when we should have been practicing (thus why were in the back of the class!!). And for perspective, I've posted our most recent pic, and then one from 1998.

THEN

NOW

And here are Jess, Shawn and Jess Sanders. Jess and I had a blast in HS - we just had a really good time together. I spent the most time with her my junior year, which was perhaps my favorite HS year of all. And Shawn - gosh we've been friends since 5th grade. I remember she was the first person I met, and dorky me kept buying her stupid trinkets because I was so desperate for a friend. How sad is that! Thankfully she looked past my dorkiness and we've been good friends ever since. She was also an amazing host while we were in town for the weekend, offering up her house to us if we needed it and driving us all over creation. THANK YOU SHAWN!! The person pictured on the far right is Sanders, who I didn't know very well in HS, in fact I was pretty intimidated by her, but we had a great time at the reunion and I look forward to staying connected from here on out. If only I could go back in time 10 years and be the person I am now then. I was such a dork - not that I've changed that much, but at least people don't intimidate me like they used to.

THEN (Shawn is 3rd from the left, I'm on the right)

THEN (Me, Jess and April - who wasn't at the reunion)

NOW

After our girly reunion we headed over to the 1st official reunion activity at the Homestead Lounge. Because we'd already been in town for dinner, we were some of the first people to show up at 8pm. I'll have to say I was a bit skeptical about the whole evening. It was a pretty shady bar - I mean I'm no expert on them, but it was connected to a bowling alley if that tells you anything. And then we walked in and one of the reunion coordinators brushed passed us, throwing over her shoulder that "I'm just here to drop off the balloons, I'm not staying. All of the cool people are at Garcia's eating - we'll be over later."

OKAY. Well I guess we're not cool then - more on that later. Anyway, undeterred, we made our grand entrance, and proceeded to reconnect with some really COOL people. It was actually a ton of fun. And my husband, who went to college with a guy I graduated with named Jensen Young, went around introducing himself as Jensen, which was hilarious. Jensen had a very distinct voice, and was tall and lanky, but when Jeff introduced himself as him all everyone could say was "wow you look really different.!!" It was classic!! Here is my one shot of the evening - stolen from my friend Kami's myspace page of course !!

(L-R)
Sara, Audrey, Kami, Me and Court. I think we look pretty cool, don't you??

We ended up staying until a little after midnight, after Jeff had introduced himself to everyone in the room. He met his match with my friend Monica's husband Brad, who was also going around introducing himself as people from our class. The only problem with Brad's picks was that the people he kept introducing himself as kept showing up. But I knew Brad and Jeff were kindred spirits after that - both 6'5" and the life the party.

Saturday we flew out to Eagle River for a gathering at Monica Steiner's homestead. Monica had the infamous reunion parties all through college, and it was really cool to be back at her house. It hasn't changed much since the last time I was there (5 years ago?) and made me really feel like we were back in the good old days again. Monica and I actually flew down to college together - she went to Emory and I flew into Atlanta with her so my grandparents could take me over to Mississippi. I think I cried all the way from Anchorage to Minneapolis - thank goodness she didn't remember that!! Monica and her husband Brad (Jeff's kindred spirit) live in San Francisco, so we'll definitely have to get together again soon.

Here's some of the gang: (Top Row L-R: Melissa, Monica Bradley and Monica Steiner, Bottom Row L-R: Jess Semmler, me and Kate)

The boys - Brad, Brad and Jeff.

We had to split early from Monica's to meet Mindy and her party at Mooses' Tooth - akin to Mellow Mushroom in AK. Mindy does intelligence for the Air force, which I think it so cool. Her husband is also in the air force. They're a neat couple. Mindy joined my youth group at church in 10th grade, so that's how we first met. And I'm not sure how I met Monica Bradley, but I've known her forever too. Our parents taught together, and we had fun hanging out in HS and college.

Here we are, (L-R) Mindy, me, Monica, Shawn and Shasta.

The big formal was Saturday night. After much deliberation I decided to recycle one of my black dresses - a good choice I believe. Here we are at my grandparent's before the event. I think we look pretty hot for a bunch of 20 somethings, don't you:)

Here are some shots of the evening and a funny story about the guy in the back of this next picture. To set the tone, we were definitely not in the cool crowd in HS, and I include myself in this grouping. I had a lot of friends, but was definitely a dork. Anyway, the guy in the red tie, Richard, was kind of quiet in HS, but he's definitely blossomed since then. Well after our formal dinner we started trying to move everyone out onto the dance floor, but no one seemed very interested. To hype everyone up the "cool" people started a dance contest. They put on Vanilla ice, and one of the "cool" guys started shaking it down with some Vanilla Ice moves. So he wraps it up and everyone is cheering, and then Richard hits the floor, and totally blows this guy OUT OF THE WATER with the worm, a ton of footwork - you name it he did it, and rocked at it. It was a total Napoleon Dynamite moment - he had the crowd roaring. I hope someone captured that on their phone and sent it to u-tube or something - it was truly classic moment.

Jeff and his kindred spirit.

Me and Court - and some perspective.

THEN

NOW

We spent most of the evening breaking it down on the dance floor, if you can't tell from the pictures. Jeff danced so hard he made himself sick. He really wasn't drunk, it was a combination of the 90 degree temps in the room (remember no AC in AK), his fish dinner and too much dancing. But after clearing his stomach he was back on the dance floor - what a trooper.

The party ended at midnight, and the cool crowd hit the bars while our group landed at the Village Inn for some breakfast and dessert - yummy!

Sunday we managed to drag ourselves up in time for the 11 o'clock service at my old church. That took me back a few years too. Aside from adding some new projector screens nothing has changed there as well.

We hung out with Archie for a little while before heading out to the last event of the weekend - a cookout at Mirror Lake. It was great seeing everyone's families, I can't believe how many of my schoolmates have kids already.

Hanging out at the campground - doesn't everyone look all warm and cozy:)

Me and Kami

Me, Britt, Shasta and Monica. Britt and I grew up right around the corner from each other - I actually think I've known her longer than anyone. She's a PA in New Hampshire now and married to a very cool guy named Andy (in the bottom picture). We'll definitely be seeing more of them.

So my summary of the reunion - we had a blast. It was great seeing everyone and reconnecting with old friends. And what they say about 10 year reunions is very true - you pretty much hang out with the same people you did in HS.

We may never be the cool crowd, but we are definitely the FUN crowd, which is exactly where i want to be!!

We're Back!!

Technically yes, we're back in Atlanta, but my body still feels like it's caught somewhere between AK and GA. We pulled in at 6:30 AM Monday morning after not sleeping a wink on the 7 hour direct flight from Anchorage. Well at least I didn't sleep at all - Jeff claims he got a few hours of shut-eye. I was supposed to show up at the office that morning, but thankfully my boss is wonderful and let me "work from home." After crashing for about 6 hours I finally drug myself out of bed around 2PM to catch up on emails.

So was the 4 day flash trip to AK worth it (6 days if you count traveling to and fro) - ABSOLUTELY!! We had a wonderful time hanging out with my old friends from HS, and the reunion was fun too. It's a lot to cover in one blog, but I'll give it a shot.

First of all, I must brag about my wonderful grandparents who opened their home to us, let us borrow both of their cars and eat all of their food. How generous is that? Thanks to them we didn't spend a penny over $200 on the bulk of the trip. Thanks Granny and Poppa - we're so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents! It was also fun staying at their house, as it brings back so many memories of growing up in AK.

Here's to Granny and Poppa!!

Wednesday we took a day trip down to Seward - one of my favorite coastal towns. Might I add that I neglected to check or even ask about the weather before the trip, so we were completely unprepared for the abnormally cold temperatures for this time of year. I don't think it ever made it over 65 while we were there. It was fairly rainy and overcast for most of the drive down to Seward, but we still got some great shots of the Kenai Peninsula. Can you imagine having this kind of view everytime you hop in your car?? I totally took it for granted when I lived there.

Note the snow still coating the mountains - that is very unusual for this time of year. Typically if there is any snow by now it's just at the very top of the peaks, not cascading down the sides like that. Anyway, Jeff and I dined at this trendy little brewery right on the harbor in Seward. We split some fried halibut - not my favorite fish but this batch was delicious! We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around the harbor and town, freezing our asses off, but loving every minute of it!

Jeff and his dream sailboat (If it wasn't so overcast you'd see a mountain in the backdrop behind him).

I then took Jeff to the spot where my brother Curtis, who was 3 at the time, wedged himself in an old piece of pipe casing on the beach and we had to call the fire department to come get him out. They've since filled in the hole with concrete - go figure.

Here are some fun pictures from the beach. I think it was snowing at this point - seriously.

On the way home from Seward we hiked up to see Jeff's first glacier - Exit Glacier. It was a beautiful excursion.

That's all for tonight - I'm fading fast. More to come tomorrow...

We're Off

To the land of the midnight sun - better known as Alaska for all of you southerners:) Check back for some pictures next week.

The Past 2 Weeks

Have been insanity at the Smith house. Two weekends ago my parents came over to help us finish up the porch, and thanks to my dad, aka the ironman, this time we almost really did. It is now completely screened in, and save some staining to be done on the side decks and a few bits of touch up painting, it is finally almost finished! We also celebrated my grandfather's 80th birthday with some good country barbecue. My boss told me a great way to fix it - boil your meat first, for a good 3 hours, to remove all of the fat, then throw it in the crock pot to simmer in the BBQ sauce of your choice all day. It was DELICIOUS!!

Jeff and Dad hanging the gutters - what a mess that was!

I love my parents!!

Happy Birthday Pawpaw!!

Last weekend we made our first attempt at a garage sale - and an attempt is really all it was. After 8 hours in the hot sun, we walked away with oh about $200 - $60 of which we made outside of the garage sale itself. Needless to say it wasn't the most productive day, but our neighbors were in on the fun, so we enjoyed camping out in each other's driveways all day. And our neighbor Danielle was our best customer - had it not been for her we really wouldn't have made anything!! Evidently our friends Amy and Michael Whitlark had a garage sale the same day and made nearly $600. I'll have to have to hire Amy as our coach next time around. I did learn one thing from our experience...I spent ALL WEEK pricing each and every item, and not one person paid any attention to my "labels." They all asked me how much I wanted for everything regardless of the neon price tags under their noses. I also didn't advertise the sale enough. I bet we didn't have more than 25 customers all day. Oh well - you live and learn. At least Goodwill reaped the benefits of our sorry sale!

Our neighbors (L-R) Nick, Rob, Danielle (proudly displaying one of her purchases from our rack) and Jeff.

Nick perusing the goods.

Since we sealed up our porch from the bugs, our favorite evening pastime has become eating dinner on the porch and then lounging on the 7 foot swing Jeff built a few years ago. It doesn't get much better than this!

Bailey loves it too - he's an indoor cat and this is as close to real outdoors as he'll ever get.

Even our resident rabbit has been taking advantage of the lazy summer evenings...here he is just a few feet from the porch, not a care in the world. Must be wonderful!!