Smitten Kitten

It's official, were kitten smitten.

Mt. McKinley

Only 1 in 3 people visiting Denali National Park ever actually get to see Mt. McKinley in her entirety. Due to its sheer magnitude, clouds often 'bump into' the mountain and tend to hang around for long periods of time, creating a cover over large parts of the mountain.

So when we woke up to a clear blue sky day Saturday morning we decided to take advantage of it and set our sights on Denali.

The drive was absolutely stunning, the mountain playing peek-a-boo with us the entire time.

4th of July at Winner Creek Trail

It was an absolute stunning day in Anchorage. What better to do on an absolute stunning day off in Alaska than hike? So we packed up the Subie and headed for a trail head about 90 minutes south of Anchorage.

Winner Creek trail partially follows the original Iditarod trail through a plush rain forest that is North America's most northern rain forest.  At the end of this easy hike is a hand tram designed to carry goods and people across the Winner Creek Gorge. This was the turn around point for our hike, but not before taking our turn across the gorge on the hand tram.

Yes, even Bosco crossed the gorge in the tram car, although he was probably the least excited about the stunning views and rushing waters below.

After we returned to the Alyeska resort at the trail head of our hike we trekked straight up the ski hill until we found enough snow for a muddy, but otherwise well constructed annual 4th of July snowman.

Bucket wanted to wish you a happy Independence Day! I hope there were better fireworks that those we had in Alaska (aka the land of unending light).

Bucket

Brian & I are insanely similar in so many ways but there are some major contrasts about us as well. One would be our taste in food. We are almost guaranteed to not enjoy the same restaurant to the same level as the other person. Movies would be another since I hate scary movies and this, of course, would be Brian's favorite genre.

In our family I am most certainly a dog person but my husband is a cat person.

I have never been the biggest fan of the feline persuasion but Brian has been wanting a cat for a while now. I asked him to wait until Bosco & I got to Alaska before getting one. Now that we're finally settling into our new home, we began casually searching for the perfect kitten to add to our family.

Tonight, after a short trip to the local Animal Control our newest addition to the family walked into our lives and our hearts.

Introducing Bucket:

**The story behind Bucket's name is this: when my oldest niece was about 3 years old, she was (and still is) obsessed with cats. Not being able to have a real cat herself, she toted around a backpack filled with beanie baby cats instead. All of these cats came with their own names from the manufacturer, but Emily had renamed them all. One day (& I swear I will never forget this day) I asked Emily to tell me her cats names (I had just learned at this point that they all had their own names, and Emily is famous in our family for her unique naming abilities, but that's another story). There was Lillie the white cat, Brownie the dark brown cat, Cousin the light brown cat, Cally the calico, Twin the other, identical calico, Stripey the tiger striped cat and so forth. She was going down the line with seemingly normal cat names when all of the sudden she pulled one of the cats from her bag and proudly announced that it's name was Bucket. I lost it. I have no idea why this struck me as being SO darn funny, but I was crying I was laughing so hard. All the kitties had 'normal' cat names, but this one was Bucket? So after that day, I've always said that if I ever got a cat their name would HAVE to be Bucket. Thankfully, I have a husband with a good sense of humor who let me name our first cat this unusual moniker.

Flattop Mountain

It feels like it's been raining since I arrived in Anchorage - which was good my job hunting as I managed to land a job in less than a week - but no so great for hiking and exploring the surrounding beauty. 

So when the rain clouds lifted this afternoon, Brian and I took the chance to hike Flattop Mountain. It is apparently the most hiked trail in the state and even as we were sitting at the summit at 10:30 at night, we were surrounded by dozens of people.

Although a steep incline with some scrambling near the top, the short and sweet hike followed by spectacular views make it more than worth the trek. We were thankful to have done this highly recommended hike. And on such a spectacular day! We were lucky enough to catch a peak at Mount McKinley on the horizon. Sadly my little iPhone camera did not quite capture the beauty of this place. I need to remember to get my little point & shoot out more.

Adventuring Out

While I take looking for a job very seriously there are only so many things I can do in a day to advance myself. So after shuffling through the morning job postings, Bosco & I decided to venture out into Eagle Creek to take a walk on the historic Iditarod Trail.

Beautiful! Then again, I'm not seeing much around here that isn't beautiful.

Not more than half from the parking lot (after already having hiked over 7 miles), I stopped to snap this little picture.

I'm finding my little iPhone 5 camera to be an injustice to the world of Alaska. It does nothing to show the actual beauty of this place. Well that was a sidetrack... the real point of this story is that as I was once again admiring this little area, a movement caught my eyes. A small, juvenile black bear was contently doing his bear thing in the tall grasses. Well crap. Where was momma? Not wanting to linger in this area any longer, I unharnessed my bear spray, removed the safety for only the third time in my life, and began down the trail again talking calmly, but loudly to my new little friend. Unfortunately for me, the only way back to the parking lot that contained my little Crosstrek was to proceed slightly closer to the juvenile. So I checked my surroundings, feeling fairly confident I wasn't about to be ambushed from a short distance. Anything like a pissed off mother bear would have to step into the opening, which was large enough thankfully that I would at least have some reaction time with the bear spray, even to a fast approaching black bear. Fortunately wherever mom was, it wasn't close enough that she wanted to come hug me and cover me in adorable black bear kisses.

Crisis averted. I also think it's time to retire my bear spray and start carrying a real gun. Bosco, I don't think we're in Montana anymore.

Later that night I met up with a friend of a friend from Missoula for a hike up Near Point Peak, on the southern end of Anchorage. Although I had already put in 8 miles that morning on my Dew Lake Loop hike I wasn't going to pass up the chance at a guided hike from a local. So Bosco & I packed up again and headed for the trail head.

Near Point added another 8 miles to my day with a 1,900 ft gain, but the views at the top did not disappoint.

Thunderbird Falls

My first hike in Alaska! Besides the day we spent buying my new car it's been doing nothing but raining here in Anchorage. This morning, during a brief pause in between the raindrops, Brian & I headed out for a quick hike to a beautiful waterfall a few miles outside of Anchorage.