Fall/Fire/Sunset/Moose

 The transition from summer to winter is happening very quickly. This time of year is most commonly referred to as "fall." But, here in Anchorage, I didn't transition from wearing shorts and tank tops to wearing sweaters-I transitioned from sweaters to puffy down coats and insulated rain boots. Thick frost is already forming every morning, and I live in fear of the first snowfall. The air smells like Halloween in Salt Lake City, and it I love it.

The evenings are especially gorgeous, because we are actually awake to see the sunset. On Wednesday evening we were lured outside, and decided to have a little fire on the beach (one of our favorite activities).

Jeff quickly put together a little meal of nuts, apples, peppers, bread, and delicious garlicky dip. We were sure to pack the Jet Boil, so we could have some hot chamomile tea to warm us up. I put on my wool underwear and layered up.

 
 As we strolled along the coastal trail, Oscar went wild off of his leash. I started to feel bad for him, knowing that winter would soon force us inside.

  September has made me fall in love with Anchorage.

 When we arrived at the beach, the tide was crazy high, and rising. We were so used to a long bit of beach from our usual spot. Now the water was creeping up over that log, and almost invaded our fire pit.

 Oscar was confused. He wondered why the ocean ate his beach.

 The tide rose just enough to almost touch Jeff's outstretched Crocs, but then hit slack tide.

 

The tide flooded our way out, so we had to scramble up the hill to the trail. I'm not much for climbing. I have a fear of falling to my death. Jeff said I should only have a fear of falling on my face into the leaves. Whatever. I was scared.

 

The sunset was quick, and we had to walk the 3/4 mile back to the car in almost total darkness. As we were remarking that we should have brought our headlamps, Oscar stopped on the trail, got very stiff, and wagged his tail viciously. Jeff and I stopped, squinted, and saw a dark shadow that could have been a bush. But it was most likely a moose.

I screamed at Oscar to come back to us, and he just got scared and moved away from us. Jeff acted fast, and scooped him up. Oscar let out a little squeal, and just then we heard a sound to the left of us in the woods. Jeff got in front of me, and we started searching for a way around these potential wild animals. We weren't even sure what we were dealing with, because we had no flash light. We could venture off the trail, and risk running into something more dangerous and not even realize it. Just when we were formulating a plan, we saw some bike lights in the distance. We flagged down the bikers, and told them there might be some moose in front of us. The slowly rode their bikes as we walked next to them, and sure enough there was a moose munching away in the woods, AND that shadow that Oscar was wagging at? Full on moose butt. Not a pretty sight. Both moose seemed completely engrossed in their eating, and paid us no mind. Thank goodness. And thank goodness for the nice German bicyclist who rode between us and the moose-butt.

We got to our car, and our hearts were still racing. As we pulled onto the road, Jeff put on the brakes just as a bull moose crossed the road. We watched it for a while, stunned at how these monsters just roam the streets of Anchorage. We had already seen a mama and baby moose on the trail a couple of months ago, plus I saw a moose at the park right by my house. At like 7pm! Some people get raccoons. We get moose.

Next time we go to the beach, I'm bringing a headlamp and Oscar stays on his leash the whole time.

xo

Alli

PS-We learned that the moose are extra dangerous right now, because they're mating. Jeeeez louise!!

Denali Bear

About thirty miles into the park, we noticed a long line of cars pulled over on the side of the road. If you frequent National Parks, you know what this means. Wildlife. Sometimes it's only a few white specks of mountain goat, or a caribou munching (we saw plenty of both of those). It just so happened that THIS time it was the holy grail of Alaskan wildlife-a grizzly bear.

We gladly pulled over, got out of the car and giggled as we watched him slowly move around and eat. He was very far away, and I wasn't nervous. I was simply stunned that we got to see one so soon on our drive. See his hide glistening in the sun?

We kicked ourselves for not bringing our binoculars, but we caught little glimpses of his cute face every few minutes.

We hung out for probably an hour or so. We didn't have to be anywhere. We ate some pistachios, and treated this moment like a good movie. I was happy to watch The King of the Forest forever. As we watched, he slowly made his way closer to us. 

This is when my heart starting beating faster. A park ranger was nearby, keeping a close eye on The Bugger, and warned us that we should probably stay in our cars at this point.

Even Oscar noticed The Monster.

Mr. Bear paid no attention to the line of cars and awe-struck humans. Jeff believes this is because the park service is careful to ensure that these beasts never eat human food. Even though the Big Guy probably didn't notice us, we all knew this was a profoundly dangerous animal. Hence the name "Grizzly."

We kept our windows rolled down for ideal viewing, and we began to hear The Hungry One digging and chewing!

Then-he started moving closer....

...and closer....

AND CLOSER!

He sniffed in the direction of the cars, and I wondered if he could smell our pile of pistachio shells, and then! He suddenly crossed the road. 

This is where I freaked out. We quickly rolled up the windows, and I whispered in fear "Should I lock the doors?! Oh my gosh! Oh my GOSH!! OH MY GOSSHHH!!" Jeff was giggling with delight, and reminded me that bears don't have thumbs-therefore it's difficult for them to open car doors.

These folks tried their best to "stay inside their vehicles." They were braver than I was.

We continued to watch Mr. Bear eat, and sniff, and lumber and then suddenly he was gone over a hill. We were pleased that we got to see a bear right away, and happily continued to drive. We knew that we were lucky to have an exciting bear show. Little did we know-we would get another, more awesome bear show in mere hours. Stay tuned...

xo

Alli

The Tennis Ball

Me Time

Jeff is out of town, which means lots of movies and knitting. These are two things I do when he's home, but now "movies" means "re-runs of Jersey Shore." "Knitting" still means knitting, but there is a ton more frogging and a lot less bragging. 

 I also get the animals all to myself. They love humans. Since I'm the only one, I get to be the meat to their sandwich. I looove 'em.

...Oscar refuses to move...

What do you like to do when you're home alone?

xo

Alli





Crescent Lake

A couple of weeks ago, we went up to a cabin at Crescent Lake. We met up with some friends, who had arrived at the cabin by float plane. Jeff and I decided to save the money, and gain some adventure by hiking the seven miles in. We hit the trail right after work, and had no idea what we were in for.

The first mile of the trail was steep switch-backs. It was tough, but I pushed through, thinking the rest of the trail would be flat and easy. Once we reached the plateau, it was easy for a bit, then we got to the "primitive trail." This portion of the trail was unkempt, had shoulder high grass, and the ground was rooty and rocky and very hard to see. We also had to walk through some rushing creeks, and my feet got soaked. It was pretty, freaking, tough.

We made it, though. My spirits didn't even get too low this time. There was a fire all ready for us. We were happy to dry our shoes by the fire, and Oscar was excited to curl up next to the heat. We were greeted with smiles and a delicious meal of reindeer chili dogs. Jeff and I aren't really eating meat, but who can resist a reindeer sausage cooked on the fire covered in chili?? Not me. Delish. The dinner on the second night was moose spaghetti-which was equally irresistable.

The next day, Jeff took a couple of our friends across the lake on a row-boat, so he was gone most of the day. I sat down by the lake with the girls, and watched our friend, Fish fish.

Yes, his name is Fish.

Here is Fish, with a fish, about to set the fish free into the water.

Here's a blurry picture of Jeff returning from his "day at sea."

Here is Oscar, anticipating Jeff's return.

Our little spot.

Our little view.

After a while, Oscar was a little unsure where to go. He is used to sleeping all day, and all the activity made him confused. He just wanted to go inside.

I didn't get any pictures of our hike out, because it was...well...intense. It was pouring rain, so our packs felt twice as heavy. We tried to navigate our way through the primitive trail, and it was even more difficult the second time. We did it though! Our spirits were bruised, but I'm almost ready to hit the trail again.

There is only a little bit of summer left, and we are going to eat up as much as we can.

xo
Alli