Summer 2014

Wow! We are having another great summer in Alaska and it's flying by even faster than the last one. Since we last posted we have been all over the state for fun and work and had some great times with friends and family. We have traveled almost every weekend, packing in as much as we can during our short summer!

First, over Memorial Day we joined some new friends on a three night sea kayaking and camping trip in Prince William Sound. We had great weather, much better than our last PWS kayak trip! We spent two days paddling among icebergs and calving glaciers in Blackstone Bay and our third day paddling to Surprise Cove.

The day after we returned from our kayak trip, Nate headed to the field for three weeks. Again this year he lead a giant bird survey in interior and south-central Alaska. The work required waking at 1am (about sunrise) and riding in helicopters to ever changing locations to count birds. It was exhausting but very rewarding work. While Nate was gone, Jennah stayed busy with weekend adventures near Anchorage including paddle boarding and even a couple mountain bike races.

In late June and early July we took a week to complete a bicycle tour of southeast Alaska. We drove to Haines (16 hours one-way) then hopped on the Alaska Marine Highway (ferry system) to Juneau, where we spent two days.

After Juneau we spent two days in Sitka. Then we followed the same route back home. Although the trip involved a lot of driving and bike packing was harder than we expected, we enjoyed seeing this incredibly beautiful part of the world. This multi-day trip was just a tiny blip on the AK  map and really made us appreciate the immense span of this state!

The third week in July we were happy to have Jennah's parents, Kathy and Jeff, visit us for ten days. We enjoyed showing off Anchorage, Girdwood, Seward, Talkeetna and Hatcher's Pass. A highlight of the trip was spending two nights at Kayaker's Cove, a rustic hostel in Resurrection Bay out of Seward. We kayaked and enjoyed soaking up the sun for two days in perfect weather.

Over the course of the summer, somehow, we found the time to fix up our yard. The following photos show its progression from before planting grass to today. It still needs a lot of work, and a deck, but we are happy with it so far.

In August, Jennah will be going to Fairbanks twice for continuing education classes and Nate will be doing a few field work assignments - in Kodiak! We are also looking forward to celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary at Hatcher's Pass on August 8th. Times flies!

Happy Summer!
Jennah and Nate