Happy Huntsman

When we decided to come to Alaska this summer, we pondered the idea of staying for one winter. We have since chicken'd out, but we wanted to see what winter here was like so we found a place in Fairbanks that will let you go into a freezer set at 40 below. They had a frozen banana that you could hammer in a nail with.

We decided that looked fun, and we tried our hand at bear fishing. We each caught a few, but the signs told us we couldn't fish within 300 feet of the gulch. Salmon are born in fresh water, and most swim to the ocean for the majority of their lives. Then, after 5-7 years at sea, they swim back to the original spot of their birth and spawn, and die. They are instincively led back to sometimes within 50 feet of where they were born before they die. These salmon were hatchery salmon and were trying to swim back in the fish hatchery, but the hatchery is only allowing a certain number back in, and the rest are left to feed the bears, seagulls, eagles, ravens and other wildlife of the area.

We went to Valdez to go camping and when we got there, we decided to go see the Alyeska pipeline terminal. We were driving down the road and we saw a sign that said, "Bears in area, do not approach". Well, let's just say we approached.

Last Monday we had a day off. We were feeling like we needed to get out and do something outside. We decided to rent bikes and ride the coastal trail. The coastal trail goes from downtown Anchorage to the Anchorage Airport, 12 miles away. It was a blast. We probably only did about 10 miles of the trail, and then we turned around to check out the Chester Creek trail that runs through some of the parks in Anchorage. We saw a moose and two calves that crossed the path about 50 yards in front of us. She stared us down as we quickly came to a stop and yielded to her and her young ones. It was raining the whole time and there were some awesome puddles to splash through. By the time we made it back to the bike shop my clothes were all muddy in the back and our butts were sore! I still can't sit on a wooden chair without grimacing. The rest of the week we just caught up on some much needed sleep. Next week we have our last 4 days off of the season probably as a lot of the colle...

We did it. We bought our plane tickets and we're heading east. We were going to road trip to NYC in October, but with gas at nearly eleventy billion dollars a gallon, we decided to just fly out to the east. The other day I was looking for plane tickets and trying to figure out how to get in everything we wanted to see, but not wanting to rent a car for 2 weeks. So we found a flight that leaves from Salt Lake, goes to Baltimore on Sept. 30th. We'll hang in DC for about 3 days, take a train up to NYC and hang with Andy and Stef for a few days, then train up to Boston for 4 days, fly out of Boston to Buffalo to check out Niagara Falls and then drive to Palmyra to see the Sacred Grove and other church history sites. We then fly out of Rochester a couple days later on Oct. 16th. We are so excited. If you live in the east or have been there please let us know things we must see or do. Hope to see some of you while we're there!

So for the past couple years, my boyhood passion for fishing has returned and I just love to be out there holding a rod in my hand, tossing the line in a small river or stream. When I was little I had my Dad to take me to the prime fishing spots but now that I'm on my own I've struggled to catch fish. I guess I need to take some lessons from my wife. We went fishing in Chesterfield Reservoir in Bancroft, Idaho in June. I was so excited to teach Rachael how to fish. She had never caught a fish (that she remembers) before. We were out there about 2 hours and I had gone to the car to get another lure to set-up my pole because whatever I had wasn't working. When I came back Rachael was standing up and her pole was bent almost in half! She was working a fish back to shore... Great job Honey!!!!!!!!!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I (or both of us) have had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. That's it!!!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, summer is half over already and we have been so busy. We got to Alaska May 6th and Rach had training for a couple weeks. We then did two tours each before flying to Spokane for my friend, Andy's wedding. We flew overnight sleeping for an hour on the Sea-Tac airport floor. While in Spokane we went to the historic Riverfront Park and fed the Garbage Eating Goat. (see pics above) We then borrowed Andy's car (he was on his honeymoon and we jumped on the opportunity for a free rental car) and drove to Pocatello for Rachael's sister, Tauna's wedding. We drove through Coeur D'Alene and McCall down to Caldwell for a night at my sisters and then on to Rock Springs to hang with the Huntsmans and fit a golf game in. We got to Soda Springs and had a bridal shower for Tauna and then went to Pocatello to get ready for the wedding. After the wedding we headed back to Spokane to drop off the car and fly back so we could get back to work. We've done a few tours s...