Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Alaska Pics

here's some pics from our alaska trip: glaciers, wildlife, city of anchorage, city of talkeetna, dog sledding, etc.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Alaska, Day 1

Hello all!

Since many of you don’t read our blog, or my personal blogs on myspace, I thought I’d send everyone an update of our present whereabouts in Alaska….

We’re in love with this place.

Although P and I did not “plan” ahead of things to do (which really isn’t our style anyways), we came up here on a last minute desire (Thank you again, Thomas. We absolutely LOVE and miss you) and decided to just wing the trip in all.

But seriously, we LOVE this place. And I know my exposure so far is JUST the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended, hahah).

It’s everything we imagined it to be and more.

We arrived to Anchorage late Thursday night and drove our rental to this ‘lil Bed and Breakfast only 10 mins from Ted Stevens International Airport. We crashed and woke up this morning to this HUGE homemade breakfast and then hopped into our rental en route to our fist Alaskan adventure, Portage Glacier.

The drive was scenic and downright breathtaking. Surrounded by the Chugach Mountains, we drove along the Turnagain Arm and stopped along the way to view Dall sheep trekking in the rocky mountain side. I had brief “moments” where I SERIOUSLY felt as if I were in a clip from the hit T.V series, “Planet Earth”!

For REALS.

It was CRAZY.

After about an hour or so (like 50 miles), we finally reached the small town of Alyeska. It’s sleepy ski village with lots of cute and friendly dogs and their nice owners.

While here, we stopped at a candle factory/mini bookstore/coffee clutch, bought a few souvenirs, and headed to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. At this place, P FINALLY got to see his beloved “Musk Ox” and some reindeer, and I got close to a brown bear cub (Behind a wire fence of course).

It was pretty neat.

Lastly, we reached Portage Glacier after another 15 minute drive and got lost in the scene.

It was OBSCENE. SO AMAZING.

I cried because of the beauty.

The backdrop was so white that it was blinding. It almost reminded us of the snowy/icy backdrop from “Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back”. As we stood there, motionless, we could imagine these huge robots emerge like in the movie…..unreal!

We loved it. Spent a while browsing, snapped insane pics, ate some reindeer sausage, and headed back to Anchorage for a brief nap.

Tonight, it’s all about the Alaskan king crab, baby….

We have reservations for a spot downtown that was recommended by our neighbors/homies back in Portland, Trevor and Megan. The place is called The Glacier Brewhouse and we’re told that the beer is off the rocker and brewed to perfection….my mouth is salivating.

Tomorrow, we head north towards Fairbanks to Trevor’s hometown, Talkeetna, to meet his family, go dog sledding, and maybe pick up some fresh wild salmon which we will transport back to Portland. (Thanks Trevor for the hook-up!! We’ll take pics of the fam and send our love). We really appreciate the tips!

I’ll do my best to keep everyone updated.

If not, it’s cool….we’ll send everyone some pics soon!

Lots of love,

Paul and Mel

P.S. - Forgot to mention that while driving back to our place, we discovered this older couple walking their dog AND their pet reindeer (named Star).

P.S.S. - We decided that we are never leaving.

Just kidding. Or not.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Alaska & Nike 5k

2 real quick things:

1) Mel and I are going to Alaska tomorrow night for a few days. Yeah, just like that. We're headed to Anchorage. We're going to eat Alaskan king crab legs in Alaska. We're going to drink Alaskan Amber. We're gonna ride on a dog sled and pet Alaskan husky and Malmute puppies. We're going to see moose and caribou and wolves and bears. We're going to eat Alaskan salmon and halibut. We're going to see glaciers. And the aurora borealis. should be a blast. come look for us in Anchorage if we don't return once going 'into the wild..."

2) i signed up for the Nike 5k for kids. sat, june 7th...i've got a couple friends running it with me. 3.1 miles...

be good.

pauly.