Fall 2016

Happy holidays friends and family! This is our Christmas letter to you - we hope the season finds you healthy and happy.

Well, as promised in the last blog post, we will start with our trip to Whitehorse, in the Yukon of Canada... it was a great trip. Our friends Jessica, Dave and Elizabeth rented an RV with us and we drove it the 13+ hours to Whitehorse. When there we met our friends Chad and Clare. The fall colors were in peak, the weather was crisp, but comfortable, and the trails were in great condition. Whitehorse has over 300 miles of singletrack ranging from mellow to challenging, all within its city limits.  Carcross, just to the south, also has some fun trails that are a bit more challenging and designed more as downhill trails. Rather than choose the best from a bunch of photos, we recommend you watch the video Nate made of our trip by clicking here.

We've been doing a fair amount of local exploring, so it's a good thing we have such an incredible backyard to enjoy. The following photos are from Symphany and Eagle lakes in Chugach National Park.

We tried to do as much mountain biking as possible, including on the Kenai Peninsula trails. The following is from the Johnson Pass trail where it goes along Trail Lake.

The only other big trip we have taken was to Oregon in late October. Jennah was there for two Pilates instructor classes on subsequent weekends (she is now certified in STOTT Rehabilitation Pilates), so Nate came to visit during the intervening week. We spent a few nights in Portland, and a few in Bend. We really liked Bend. We rented mountain bikes for two days and explored the surrounding trails for a total of 10 hours between the two days. The trails are not technical, but are super fun. I guess our photos from that trip are somewhat limited. Here is one of the bike Nate rented...

And here is Jennah on one of the best trails we have ever ridden - hence the smile!

Bikes, coffee, beer, skis - not sure there is anything else...

Just before Oregon, Nate spent a week in the Twin Cities for work. It was a good opportunity for him to see his Grandma and Aunt and Uncle, but he wishes he had more time to see them and the rest of the Minnesota family. Nate was able to rent a bike and get around the city a little bit - which by the way has a great trail system. The weather was really good while he was there, too - October is the best time of year in Minnesota. Nate never explored Minneapolis as a kid, probably for good reason, but it was fun to check out the city which seemed to be doing a lot of things right.

After returning from Oregon, Alaska was fully into winter. We haven't done anything too adventurous, or left the state recently, but we have been trying to get outside as much as possible. Here are some photos from Thanksgiving Day, and our bike trip at Eklutna Lake. It sure was a cold one!

The weekend following Thanksgiving we went up to Trapper Creek, about 2.5 hours north of Anchorage. We rented a cabin and planned to do some fat biking, but there wasn't enough snow, so we did some hiking around Byers Lake. The following photos are from that trip.

Finally, on December 1 we got snow, and it stayed cold. It has also been staying cold ever since. We are very hopeful for a cold, snow-filled winter that will enable us to ski, and fat bike, and enjoy the outdoors more than in the past few years. 

It has been pretty cold up here lately, and dark, which is why we haven't taken too many photos - either it's too dark or our phones die because of the cold, or both... We have gotten out in the sunshine a little bit here and there.  

Here are the pups during a fat bike ride in Chugach State Park, just west of town. 

And Jennah from that same ride, with Simi racing her.

Sanuk and Jennah during a hike along Turnagain Arm.

Sanuk during a sunset run along the beach at Kincaid Park.

Nate wrapped up a work project that took him to Cooper Landing every 2-4 weeks for the last year. It sure was nice to have this office every few weeks.

We are looking forward to a 10 day trip to Maui and Molokai in early January. This is our annual trip to Hawaii, and the two islands both of us have not been to before (Nate went to Maui in college). It is a great time to soak up Vitamin D, get some color on the skin, and relax in warm weather before the last half of winter. Stay tuned for photos from that trip in the next blog post.

Until then, happy new year from the Jones family in Alaska!

Most of 2016

Hello there! It sure has been a long time since we last posted on this blog and we've got a lot to cover. Its been a busy spring and summer - maybe the busiest ever. Alaska Wilderness SUP has been very successful and it has kept Jennah occupied every moment she isn't being a PT. May through July were beautiful up here, very warm and sunny. The last month or so has been quite rainy - so I'm taking advantage of a rainy Sunday morning to start writing this blog. In Alaska you feel guilty if you don't make the most of every sunny summer day. So, when we had weeks on end of nice weather, we just didn't stop. One day the forecast was for rain, so I made mental plans to take it easy after work that day. But, when I walked outside it was clear and beautiful - and I had this weird feeling of being upset at the nice weather because now I didn't have an excuse - I had to go out and make the most of it!

In April and May we spent some weekends at Eklutna Lake, paddleboarding and biking.

The 26 miles round trip was a long run for the little Simi, and Sanuk was even worse for wear.

One day while Nate was waiting in a car in a parking lot he looked over and saw a tourist reading a tourist magazine about Denali National Park and to his surpise, there was a picture of both of us! This was taken of us while we were in Denali for our anniversary last year, but we didn't know we had our picture taken and no one asked us for permission...

Over Memorial Day weekend we joined 4 other friends and rented a yurt in Kachemak Bay State Park, across the bay from Homer. It was an awesome trip of paddleboarding and hiking. Check out a video by clicking here.

Our friends Dave and Elizabeth have a small raft with a motor that was very helpful when the winds and current were not in our favor. 

Awesome Memorial Day weather has been a welcome trend the last few years - and Simi loved soaking up the sun just as much as we did.

We also celebrated Jennah's birthday that weekend. 

As you might expect, we've done a lot more paddleboarding this summer. Simi loves to SUP! He is getting to be pretty good on the board, but he had to go through a learning process, as this video shows. 

One weekend in May we went down to the Kenai and did some early season mountain biking. The weather was incredible! It was almost 80 degrees while we hung out on the beach at Kenai Lake and watched the midnight sun set.

We've been doing some bike races around town - its a good way to get a workout. Here is Nate during a race (photo credit unknown).

For his birthday, Jennah got Nate a packraft! Its the blue one in the photo below. In July, Nate did another Crow Pass / upper Eagle River packraft trip with our friend Kyle.

Jennah's weekends have primarily been consumed by paddleboard business activities, but we've gotten out and enjoyed some weekends biking and hiking with the pups.

One day we decided to ride up Powerline Pass, which is just outside of Anchorage. It was a hard ride as you can see from the last photo.

We also rode Devil's Pass, which was a new one for us, and is tons of fun!

On July 23rd, AWS put on the first annual SUP n RUN, which was a 1 mile paddleboard and 4 mile run, or just a 2 mile paddle. It was a lot of work, but a huge success. We are looking forward to putting it on again next year, and maybe even doing a SUP race series.

Also in late July Nate's parents and Ed and Mary came to visit. We got to spend an evening with them at the Dale Clemens cabin.

We went for a hike with the dogs along the bluff at Kincaid. There were paragliders floating in the breeze - it looked like lots of fun!

We also rode Lost Lake in July, one of our favorite bike rides anywhere, with a group of good friends. 

And again in August!

There were huge salmon berries, raspberries and lots of blueberries along the trail and near the Dale Clemens cabin. 

Jennah has successfully gotten almost all of our friends to buy a paddleboard! Which is great, because now we have groups of friends to do awesome adventures with, like floating the Kenai River. This trip is becoming our go-to, it is super fun!

Jennah and Elizabeth on the Kenai.

Here is Jennah showing off her new SUP skills. 

Two weekends ago we joined some friends and floated Campbell Creek, here in Anchorage, and the Portage River, located about an hour south of town. Check out a video of both trips by clicking here.

Last weekend we took advantage of amazing weather and headed south to the Kenai Peninsula. We rode Lost Lake trail (see above) and then hung out on the beach. It had to be 80 degrees out, it was very nice! We also did some late evening paddleboarding on Kenai Lake.

Last night Nate hiked (most of the way) up South Suicide peak near Anchorage with a friend. It was a great night for a hike. This pano is looking south over Turnagain Arm, with Cook Inlet to the right and the Kenai Peninsula in the background.

We finally closed on the sale of our home in Estes Park, Colorado. The process of evicting the renters and closing on the sale has taken all year and we are excited to be done with it. But, no more home in Estes Park...

Our next post will include photos from our much anticipated trip to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, to do some mountain biking. We are renting an RV with 3 friends, and meeting 2 other friends there for the week following Labor Day - should be lots of fun! Stay tuned...