Back on the Hiking Trails (February 26-27, 2011)

We were able to get out this weekend for some hiking, which we haven't done in a while. On Saturday we journeyed over to the Wildlife Refuge. It was extremely windy and we saw no animals. It could be that they were hunkered down, out of the wind. On Sunday we spent the day out at Skilak Lake hiking the Skilak Lookout Trail. We have done this trail before, but never during the winter. It was quite the hike up, trudging through the snow, but the view was worth it. The sky was extremely clear, allowing us to take in beautiful views of the Kenai Range to the east and the Aleutian Range to the west (This is the range we see from our house, just across the bay. It includes the three volcanoes, Redoubt, Illiamna, and Spurr). The trip back to the vehicle was quite fun as it was mainly down hill, allowing for some luges on the seats of our pants. No animal sightings here either, but a lot of moose scat and tracks.

Our Trip to Anchorage (Feb. 17-20, 2011)

We went up to Anchorage on Thursday for surgery. At about two o'clock, they brought me into the operating room to have a cyst/polyp removed from my right vocal cord. Jon was able to watch the entire procedure live on a television. After trying to pluck the cyst off, they ended up cutting it off. The surgery itself only took about 10 minutes. Things seem to be healing well. My right vocal cord is definitely sore and I can only use it so much for the time being.

While resting in Anchorage we did get to a store we've been wanting to go to for awhile. The store sells products made from musk ox wool. Musk ox, which apparently is not related to oxen at all, but rather goats, shed their fur once a year in the spring. The wool is called Qivuit. It is known to be light, but very warm. It is also very expensive. Natives collect it from various herds and farms throughout the state of Alaska.

The weather has been nice this weekend. Not much wind today making for a calm ocean.

Spending Time in Homer (Feb. 12-13, 2011)

In case some of you may not know, Jon and I went up to Anchorage on Monday of this past week to see an ENT about my throat, which has been hoarse for the past 6 1/2 months. After numbing my nose and throat, he put a thin, long tube through my nasal passage and down my throat to look at my vocal cords. It was actually quite neat because I couldn't feel any of it and Jon and I both got to watch this on a TV screen because the tube had a tiny camera on the end of it. Anyway, I have a small cyst on my right vocal cord. He says it is benign. I will be going in for surgery this Thursday to have it removed. If all goes well, I should sound like my old self again and hopefully will regain my ability to sing. Please keep us in your prayers, as I am a bit nervous. On the up side, our trip up to Anchorage gave us an opportunity to take in some beautiful sitings of Dall sheep. We saw them on our drive up and back. The first group was only about 30 feet above us on the cliff and as we approached, one even turned and looked at us for a bit. The second batch was not even on the cliff, but right along side the road, feeding on various grasses and forbes in the ditch. The Anchorage area currently does not have much snow, making foraging very easy for the sheep.

We had a wonderful, carefree weekend away from home. On Saturday morning we headed down to Homer to celebrate our 2 year anniversary! We had three different snowshoes hare sitings, eleven moose sitings, and two pheasant sitings. Pheasants are not native to Alaska. They were introduced here a ways back and they have been able to live off the land. We stayed at one of our co-workers cabins about a block away from the beach, making it easy to access various places in town. We discovered some cross country ski trails and took some of those in on Saturday afternoon. For dinner we ate at a new restaurant to us called Cafe Cups. To be Alaskan, we both tried a seafood fetticine, which included all the seafood in the house: cod, rock fish, clams, prawns, and scallops. On Sunday we walked to Two Sisters Bakery and had the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had (and this is coming from someone who really doesn't like pastries). For you Hinckley folk, they were much better than Tobies! The beach was rolling in the waves with about 4-6 foot crests. It also offered some gorgeous views of Mt. Augustine. Before leaving Homer we did a bit of snowshoeing up at Carl E. Wynn Nature Center. The weather was brisk but clear and sunny the entire time. The two of us completely disconnected from work, which was a nice change.

New Ski Route (February 5-6, 2011)

We went for a ski Saturday morning on a new route. We skied some of the trails at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge; Cheechako, Howling Hill, Nordic, and Raven Ridge Trails. It was a 4.6 mile ski. The weather was a bit chilly with a temperture of 6 degrees, but the skies were clear with no wind. Our bodies stayed plenty warm when we were moving. The trails were very peaceful, not seeing a single human being during our time out there. We did however spot one friend. A snowshoe hare was nestled between two black spruce trees. He watched us for a few moments, then, as though knowing we weren't a threat, it turned its head to the side, took a yawn, and closed its eyes. It was a beautiful sight. We wished it good luck as we skied away.

On Saturday evening we attended our first Kenai River Brown Bear Junior A Hockey game of the season. They were playing against Fairbanks and did not play as well as they should have. Third period ended with a 5-5 tie. This lead to overtime with no one scoring, which then lead to a shoot out. The bears lost in the shoot out.

On Sunday we joined one of our coworkers and his family to take in the Super Bowl Game. Go Packs! Our coworker use to teach in the bush and was showing us a lot of the stuff he brought back from there; arctic fox fur, feet from a snowy owl (they are allowed to hunt them in bush AK- their talons were once used for sewing needles), polar bear teeth, walrus tusks, and seal skin boots. We got to try on his jacket made of wolf fur, beaver fur, wolverine fur, and sheep skin. It was like a furnace. He said he wore it in -50 degree temps and never got cold. The jacket looked exactly like what you would picture an Eskimo wearing, with the huge bushy hood. It was amazing to hear about the things he learned from the Native Alaskans about using the resources you have. It is all very practical. What smart people!

Jon continues to coach the peewee hockey team. For those that don't already know, I am dancing with a local adult dance company, Peninsula Artists in Motion. I've been dancing with the group for a month and I'm already involved with four dances. It's wonderful! Jon and I are also taking yoga classes twice a week, Vinyasa yoga and Yin yoga. This is Jon's first time taking any type of yoga class and he is doing very well. He actually told me after the first class that it is more of a work out than lifting weights. That's pretty cool coming from a former college football player. We are both enjoying the classes and the instructors are terrific!