Hope, AK

We headed out camping again this week... this time to Hope, AK. It really could be a half hour drive but it's across the Cook Inlet so you have to drive ALL THE WAY around the water to get there, but still only an 1 1/2 drive. Hope is an old mining town that up until the 1964 earthquake that rocked Alaska, it was pretty thriving. Unfortunately it got swept away so now only 147 people reside in Hope. We have had many people tell us they love Hope, and it's a great place to bear hunt. Jeff got us 3 bear tags so I was pretty optimistic we would come home with at least one. Meg, Terrance and little Channing joined us for the first day we were there and then Jeff and I enjoyed our first campout alone, it was soooo relaxing.


The dogs face was too small to fit any human sized head it (except Channing), so Jeff had to turn sideways!!!







Jeff and I were kinda bummed Meg and Terr brought their tent and didn't wanna join us in the trailer but they sure loved their new tent and really enjoyed having there own space, especially with little Channing. After we set up camp, we walked around, started a fire and started our first Dutch oven meal, Cowboy Stew. It was pretty darn good, then of course we enjoyed our smores... and then it started raining so we enjoyed the rest of the evening in the trailer playing games.




The dogs get so excited when we go new places, they sniff and sniff and run around like crazy. They then start rolling around and act all psycho and Jeff and i get the biggest kick out of it.



Jeff doused the fire with gasoline so here he is trying to throw lit newspaper... needless to say every time he threw the paper the flame went out before it hit the wood... haha, way to entertaining to watch.



The dogs were just watching us enjoying the campfire from the trailer... it was starting to sprinkle and they are a mess when it rains... cute puppies!




The Next morning we woke up, had pancakes, bacon and eggs(Jeff really misses his mom's camping meals, so I tried to cook like his mom, but she truly is the best :).The weather was phenominal today so we decided to walk around Downtown Hope, which was all seen in about an hour!!! It was funny, all the signs for the stores and museum said, "Open most days from 12-4 pm", way too funny. Jeff, Terr, and Meg even got a tour of the historical mining museum, I on the other hand "had" to stay outside with the dogs (i'm not big into museums) We then walked back to camp, took a nap then helped Meg and Terr pack up to head home. We were so glad they came, even if it was just for one night. This is just the first of many campouts together.
The Hope social hall... let this just tell ya how happening this town is :)





Hope historical mining museum
This old guy was soooo excited to take everyone through the museum, you can tell this is his life.

This old geezer was Terr's dream come true. We had seen his pic the night before and Terr said if we go gold panning he better be there, and guess who was there the next day! Too bad it wasn't really gold panning or we would've partaken in the fun!!!


Jeff and I then took off to Bear Hunt... we drove for about 4 hours, glassing the hills and Mountain side and saw nothing (not even Moose, wolf, eagles...nothing). Jeff had got on a blog prior to us going to Hope to get a feel of how many bears are there. Some guy just 3 days before us said he ran into 2 bears just riding his bike on this trail we were on. We knew they had to be somewhere, cuz there was Bear Scat EVERYWERE!!! But it was mid day, pushin 70 degrees, so we decided to head to camp, eat dinner and then head back out that night.

Some ugly thick hunting country


If only I could read their mind.... "Bear hunting is long and boring" If only they new how fun it was to stare into binos for 4 hours


Unfortunately we had no luck our first day out. We were driving back down the mountain, Jeff looking for firewood along the way and me in a daze from being so tired straining my eyes all day... when low and behold a black bear was running down the trail 60 yards in front of us. Sadly we had to stop for Jeff to get his gun and hop in the back of the truck while I drove. We lost it around one for the bends and tried to look for it but the brush was too thick and it was getting dark. So the one and only bear we saw we didn't even get a chance to shoot. But have all summer to go again. Here was the view coming down off the mountain at 1100 pm.

Here we are back at camp waiting for our dinner to finish on the grill. We loved this time together, and loved watching the sun set... Hope isn't very entertaining but it sure is full of beauty all around.

Summer Solstice

June 21 is known as the first day of summer, and the longest day of the year. In Alaska, it seems all our summer days are long, since the sun never seems to disappear. Right now the sun is setting around 11:45 pm and rises at 4:15 am. And in between that time it's still light, believe it or not. It never gets completely dark. I really could get use to this, except that means I would have to deal with the flip side of it being dark all winter. I didn't think I had a bad first winter here in Alaska, but come February/March, my nerves and energy were shot. Those were the hardest months emotionally for Jeff and I (mostly for me, poor Jeff just had to put up with me.) Depression was definately starting to set in.
Last Saturday, Anchorage celebrated Summer Solstice and had activities going on all day downtown. Unfortunately, Jeff and I both worked the night before, so we woke up around 4 pm and were late getting to things. Chuck Liddel (UFC fighter) was here and due to us sleeping so long, I missed seeing him... I was looking forward to it. But we enjoyed walking around town, enjoyed the weather, and had a great dinner out with Meg and Terr and little Channing. Jeff and I are out to go camping again this weekend (for longer than just 24 hrs) and are excited to have Terr and Meg join us. Hopefully we come home from a successful Bear Hunt... Jeff has 3 tags we have to fill at some point in time this summer.



(I should prob mention, we love these wood carvings. they are carved with a chain saw... what amazing talent. Jeff things his mom should start doing this cuz she loves to work with tools and is super crafty and creative)
I stole this pic from someone in our ward off facebook... I never get to see the sun set cuz I work nights and my nights off I'm too lazy to get out and drive to get a decent pic at midnight.

And just a little random pics of the dogs fighting over a stupid rawhide bone... silly dogs.

Camping in Seward

Jeff's buddy Ryan invited him to go on a Halibut Charter in Seward this past week. Jeff has waited all year for this and jumped at the opportunity. Plus I owed it to him for letting me fly home to Utah so often since we have moved here. When Jeff told me it was just an 8 hr Charter I figured I would have enough to do for 8 hrs and then when he got back we could be together. It sounded better than staying home on my days off alone where I could just be relaxing in beautiful Seward. Jeff and I love Seward and we have waited since last September to go back. So here is how the very "EVENTFUL" week went...
Thursday morning I get off work at 730 am. I hurry and get to bed and told Jeff to wake me up at noon so we could leave by 1. Well next thing I know, the bedroom light flips on and Jeff yells at me "Um, it's 1 and you wanted to be on the road." Well excuse me that I slept an hour longer. Apparently he was out running errands getting things ready and tried calling my cell 4 times, but it was in the kitchen. So I hurry and try to get ready (with mild tension in the home.) Jeff leaves the house and goes to get gas. I get all packed and finishing cleaning the house and head to the truck when I hear Jeff say "We can't go." Come to find out, Jeff was on the phone with a trailer company. He had lost our only set of trailer keys... GREAT!!! I asked if he had looked in the house and he stated he didn't go inside. So I go look anyway just in case, no keys. He thought he left them on the bumper of the truck so I back track up and down the street looking. We then back track in the car and drive to Sportsmans and Walmart, where he was running errands, to find our only keys. The trailer company said it would take over a week to get the keys. Not good since we have another camping trip and bear hunt next week too. We can't even unhook the trailer for the truck either cuz we needed the hitch keys. So after 2 hrs of looking and lots of anger and frustration, I finally walk in the house, into the guest room and low and behold the keys lay in the middle of the bed. I ever so gently through them at Jeff and we both laughed and hugged and made up and headed on the road... UGH so frustrating!!! We get to Seward around 6, eat dinner and while at Dinner Ryan asks what I"m going to do for 12 hrs tomorrow while they are fishing. WHAT? Oh man, if I would've known it was a 12 hr Charter I would've just stayed home. oh well. Then we head out fishing at 9 pm. We get to the fishing spot and it is a mile off the parking lot, through rivers. You need watters to get across, Great!!! Jeff offers to carry me across but then I knew I would get cold sitting around so I offer to stay in the truck. Jeff said they would only be out and hour. So after an HOUR AND A HALF watching them fish through the binoculars and scoping out all the eagles, Jeff comes back with a beautiful Salmon. I was so proud of him. It was his first Alaska fish and the look on his face was priceless. We headed back to camp to gut and filet the fish and finally get to bed around 1230 pm.
Next morning I had to take Jeff to Ryan's campsite at 430 am. When I came back to camp I was wide awake. So I snuggled with the dogs in the sleeping back to get warm and fell asleep for only an hour. I talked to my mom well over an hour then took the dogs for a 2 1/2 hour walk along the beach and around town, dogging Bald Eagles and all. Then I went driving around for 2 hrs to look for bears and checked out some beautiful glaciers. I took myself to lunch then headed back to the camper to read and relax. Next thing I know its 3 and I decided to take a quick nap. At 4 Jeff's phone was ringing and it was him, letting me know they were back. They ended up only being out 10 hrs. I met up with them and was so proud of the fish he brought home, 2 halibut and 4 Cod. He had an absolute blast and to be honest, I enjoyed relaxing and it actually went by super fast. We then headed home so Jeff could work but look forward to camping for 4 days next week while we head out Bear hunting.
Our camp site... Ocean front baby. It is beautiful. Especially at night when you can campfire and watch the waves crash against the rocks.




Jeff and Ryan headed out to fish. What a duo!!! So glad Jeff has a friend like Ryan, we had a blast with him. Fishing in Alaska is completely different than anywhere Jeff has fished, so Ryan's expertise was greatly appreciated, and it sure paid off.


I sure enjoyed watching the Bald Eagles dive for fish whether in the water or being carried by people, they were after them. They are such beautiful birds. I spotted at least 10 in the trees.



My proud husband and his roughly 13 lb Red Salmon. Wished my camera took better pics, he wasn't too happy it was blurry :( Please note, this pic was taken at 1145 PM. Gotta love the Alaskan summers and the daylight



This is what the dogs and I did, relaxed and took lots of beautiful pics.

Exit Glacier. It was breath taking. You just have to see these magnificent glaciers in real life to realize how huge and beautiful they are.


Love that we have all this fish in our freezer. The halibut are small but it's early in the season. By the time we go next month they should be huge. Again, sure proud of my fisherman! He was so cute to watch gut and filet the fish.



Ryan being Ryan, and showing off his Rockfish.

It was fun to help out and vacuum seal all our fish. These machines are amazing.

Alaska is just so beautiful right now. The weather is so unpredictable but while in Seward it was sunny, blue skies mid 60's. I loved it and can't wait to come back when the in-laws come into town next month.