Chilly, Chilly Willy the Penguin

It's hitting 50 deg F at night... kinda reminds me of the brisk nights in Sequoia Nat'l Park back in June! *sigh* When do we get to go back!?!? Maybe next time I'll post pictures of the mysterious creature known as a bear-ver... half bear, half beaver. I have proof.

7 yrs ago...

Seven years ago this month... somewhere near Iraq -- I had just 1 month left before I got to go home to Ang & a blonde-haired crawling 6-month old Laney! My how time crawled that month. Like all old people say, "seems like yesterday."

Our Forests Are Safe

Meet your U.S. Forest Service's four newest certified Junior Rangers: Mya, Laney, Logan & Gib. Here is the official swearing in (I kid you not!) by one of the Park Rangers at the Sequoia National Park during our camping trip!

All of them completed their field research workbooks, earning the basic Junior Ranger badge along with the first level, the Jayhawk badge. Additionally, Logan showed great determination and amazed the ranger by completing the second level (the Arrowhead badge) for a total of three phases completed in just two days. The astounded ranger said, "I think that's the first time I've seen anyone do THREE at once, Logan!!"

Great job, campers!

High Mountain Park, or the Other-other White Meat?

We went up the hill into the mountains for the first time today... Wow! We've been missing some beautiful scenery only 15 min away! It was nice to be among the tall pines, and smell that awesome evergreen smell. It was a crowded little town, with tons of little league baseball games in progress, but it was on the small, quaint, ski-town level. We can't wait to show our summer visitors the infinite view from the mountain road pull-off just a little further up the road. Amazing. We'll definitely be going back more often!

We got tacos from a local tiny restaurant there, which interestingly enough had a slight slope to it. Yes, the building itself leaned, as if the earth had settled and was now out of level. It's weird to stand inside somewhere and feel yourself being pulled by gravity to one side... Maybe this disturbance in the universe is enough to throw off people's brains, their thoughts, their accuracy on the job? You be the judge. Anyway, I ordered 1 beef and 4 chicken items to go (tacos, taquitos, etc). What I received was 5 beef (or was it pork?) items. As the hungry two of us sat down to feast at the park (the kids had McD's miles before that so it was just us two), we realized the lack of chicken-esque meat in any of our mexi-treats. "Maybe it's just all dark meat" we supposed, trying to believe they really hadn't gotten our order 80% incorrect! Nope, that's definitely darker than any chicken I've seen. So I went back and got more food for free, brought it back to the park and we finally ate -- effectively doubling my personal quota of beef (or pork?) for the week! Ang was just happy to eat real poultry after the mix-up!

June 06 - Twin Peaks Trail

15 minutes away from our house on the way to Anchorage is beautiful and secluded Eklutna Lake, home to a bunch of great trailheads. Mark & I decided to hike the Twin Peaks trail hoping to reach the saddle, apparently called "Twin Peaks Pass" that overlooks Palmer and the Valley including the Knik Glacier and Lazy Mt. We didn't bring a sherpa (experienced guide w/ sandles & loincloth) so we found ourselves gaining impressive altitude up Pepper Peak (yes, Mark, I found out it's real name, I think) but woefully out of reach of our intended Twin Peaks Pass. So we accepted this change in plans and enjoyed the awesome view... we actually climbed up higher than the Pass so that we could see over it from along the ridgeline. A couple hours after starting at the bottom (900 ft Elevation)... 2 burned out legs, a pair of Powerbars, and 1 empty camelbak later... we reached our summit of 4,575 ft!

More Lazy Mt Pics

Our favorite Picture Rock, early in the climb.

Yes, the trail goes up and up. Not too steep, but a constant pitch.

Kids Hike Lazy Mt.

Can you believe it? Lu, Logan, Scott & Laney climbed well over half-way up Lazy Mt. to an altitude of approx. 2200' (started at 800'). Awesome job, Laney & Logan--very impressive endurance! What an incredible eagle-eye view of the surrounding mountains, town of Palmer, and beyond! The cool breeze made the "oppressive" mid-70 deg sunny weather... well, even more beautiful. We see it day after day, talk about it as a common landmark--it was great to actually climb our hometown mountain. We are blessed to live among such splendor. (Click the Title link for trail map & info).

Climbin' the Butte

We climbed The Butte today! The Bodenburg Butte in Palmer is about 900' high, and overlooks the Knik Glacier (visible in the distance), Pioneer & Matanuska Peaks, Lazy Mt., and the Valley. What a vantage point. The kids did such a great job hiking the trail... we used the "West Trailhead" for the first time and it was nicely constructed with gravel, benches, erosion grates, and stairways. Very cool for little kids. We found lots of fresh wild raspberries. Gib & Sadie stayed home with Mom and had salmon & halibut lunch waiting for us when we returned!

More Mat. Glacier...

Here's some more of us at the glacier overlook. The whole trip up the Glenn Highway is unbelievably scenic, and it was fortunate we brought the sunshine with us!

Matanuska Glacier

We took a lunchtime road trip an hour northeast to the Matanuska Glacier. We enjoyed a picnic in the sunshine and 62F degree weather at the overlook. More importantly, the kids enjoyed runnin' around.