Fabulous Friday: A welcome sight

I got a little nostalgic on our road trip from Eastern Idaho to Eastern Washington. Maybe it was just my thirst for a view that wasn't snow-covered, but I kind of love the rolling, sage-brush and tumbleweed covered hills of my youth. The windmills keep springing up like dandelions. Every time I go home there are more.

Now that I'm back and almost unpacked I'm resolved to post a little more often. Plus I have tons of pictures from my trip to share, so stay tuned for that. And probably some serious snow photos soon too as this is the third snowiest winter in Alaska on record. Oh goody.

Cheers have a wonderful weekend!

A sunset walk in Idaho Falls

Joshua and I took a sunset walk in Sportsman's Park in Idaho Falls on New Year's Eve with his brother and his finance. We were doing an engagement shoot for the other couple (more pics to come), but we passed the camera to them for a moment to get a vacation picture. It's it lovely?

We've been having a very relaxing and fun vacation. A great way to kick off 2012.

Happy New Year!

Alaska Christmas

 

Davin got a Kindle Fire for Christmas in Alaska and the next day we hopped on a plane to visit our families and friends in Idaho and Washington. Travel photos to come.

Josh and Davin watch a movie on the iPad while waiting for our flight in the Anchorage airport.

Snowy days

Davin played in the snow until it was dark yesterday. After a failed attempt to make a snowman on my part — snow wouldn't pack — I gave up and took pictures.

Golden Birthday: 28 on the 28th

We went to the Whale's Tale for wine and food Saturday to celebrate my birthday. This is the fabulous new wine bar in the bottom of the Captain Cook with wine vending machines. Yes, you read that right. SO fun. My husband gave me that awesome bedazzled birthday cup for the occasion.

 Crayons on every table. For the kid in all of us.

Oh goodness, scary eyes.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween. Davin did pretty well on his Trick-or-Treat adventure. He was a penguin, but people kept asking if he was an "Angry Bird." Sign of the times?

If you look back, you'll notice there was no snow when we carved our pumpkins just Thursday. That is no longer the case.

 Over the weekend we went to the Monster Ball at the Museum where our friend dee-jayed the event.

Can you guess what our costumes were?

City moose everywhere

We read that the Aurora Borealis (aka Northern Lights) was especially active last night — even reports that it could be seen in the southern United States. Did anyone see it? We decided to drive up to Flat Top and see if we could see them. It was too cloudy, but we did see these moose on edge of Hillside Road. We've been spotting them all over town the past couple days, including a monster sized male a block from Davin's school this morning.

Nearly three years in Alaska and I've yet to see the Aurora. The city is too bright to see them, so we have to look outside of town. It's on my Alaska bucket list.

Ekluna daycation: A hidden paradise with ice cream

 

Perhaps it was the angle of the sun on one of the last warm summer days or the way the color of glacial melt is oddly similar to that of tropical waters, or maybe it was just my imagination. Regardless, for a brief moment on Sunday, laying on my back on the rocky beach, I closed my eyes and transcended to a tropical beach. Ekluna Lake is not very far from Anchorage, and standing on the beach I was trying to figure out why, why, why we had never been there before.

After taking a hike at Thunderbird Falls, we weren't done with our Sunday afternoon adventure and decided to drive on to Eklutna Lake. We passed the campground, stopped in the day parking and wandered on to the trail, which opened up to the beautiful site below. 

We also discovered the sweetest little ice cream shop, Rochelle's. They offered Alaskan flavors such as Fireweed & Honey and Birch Walnut. They also had classics like oreo and chocolate mudslide, and serves burgers, fries, onion rings and a variety of drive-in style fare.

 

You might be wondering where I acquired an additional child. If so, he's my son's best school buddy and a regular fixture at the Potter household these days.

Thunderbird Falls

I've driven past the exit for Thunderbird Falls pretty much four times a week for the last two years. Despite the sage advise from my grandmother to go there, we didn't make the trip until last weekend. I figured if my friend's willful three-year-old could do the hike it would be super easy and flat. So the first big hill surprised me, but it wasn't bad after that. The 20 minute drive northwest of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway is totally worth the crashing sound and refreshing view of the 200 foot falls. There is an upper viewing point and a short trail to stand near the bottom of the falls where I could actually feel the mist. It was a great afternoon trip that took us on to an Eklutna adventure. More on that later.

Word is the falls freeze in the winter creating beautiful nature-made ice sculptures. Perhaps we'll have to venture back for a cold weather hike in a few months.

A hipstamatic fair time

I realized on the way to the Alaska State Fair yesterday that I had forgotten to put the Scandisk back in my point and shoot. So I decided to document our day at the fair with the Hisptamatic app on my iPhone. Hipstamatic is kind of one of those guilty pleasure things that I hate to admit I like. Like the Kardashians and Katy Perry. The photos look cool. In fact I got far more comments on one of these pics on Facebook mobile upload than expected. But I prefer a truer image. I wouldn't submit it to the Pulitzer committee of anything ... But it did make a fun set of pics to remember our day.

 Davin and his best buddy.

 The rat race.

 Award winning giant cabbage.

 To the birds.

 Cotton candy.

 The masses.

 It was windy and chilly, but my Alaska jacket from Homer kept me warm.

One non Hipstamatic for the mix, the kids while by on the highest part of this ride.

Friday Fun: I'll be at the fair

The Alaska State Fair begins this weekend and that's where well be on Saturday. Working the Moose Calendar booth for the ADN (for the free tix of course!) Umm ... elephant ears,

It's been a busy week. First full one on the new job. Everyone is so nice and the coffee is so much more amazing than anything I ever saw in a newsroom.

Hope you all have wonderful weekend plans! Happy Friday.

Fourth of July celebration

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. I did. We barbecued with friends, baked shortcake and zucchini bread, and rented the latest Harry Potter movie. On Monday we rode the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail on bikes to the city celebration a Delaney Parkstrip. We decided it's about eight miles of cycling round trip. Festival food, military bands, and carnival games for kids. Above Davin nears the top of the rock wall.

 On the way downtown we saw parent geese attending to their young all around Westchester Lagoon.

Camping well and fishing ... unsuccessfully

We went camping next to Crescent Creek again a couple weekends ago with our friends Meghan and Joel. And out friend Tony came up and too and taught us to fish on the Russian River. Unfortunately the fish weren't biting that day. But we had a wonderful time anyway and got to try out Josh's new hip waders (Happy Father's Day).

 Modeling the hip waders in Crescent Creek.

 How do you entertain an 11-year-old for hours on end?

 Give him an ax and a dead tree.

 The crew on our 2.5 mile hike to the fishing hole.

 Tony crossed the river to fish.

 Josh casting.

 Joel making blueberry pancakes on the fire.

 Meghan and Joel, the newlyweds.