First Snow

I think October 16 is early for snow even for Homer, Alaska. Thankfully we got a few inches, so the kids could play in it (and eat it) before heading off to school. Not sure why kids love to eat snow so much, but I've pretty much given up trying to stop them. Before admitting defeat, I showed them where the neighbor's dog pooped in our yard thinking that would surely deter them. They both agreed not to eat that snow, but the rest was fair game as far as they were concerned. We still had a few lingering raspberries on the the vine, so they picked the raspberries, mashed them into a bowl with some snow and proceeded to eat it with spoons.

The sky was so overcast that that we couldn't see the mountains or water, so I took a picture looking North. It was spectacular and a good reminder that there is more to look at than just the mountains.

Snow = sledding, so obviously we gave that a go. It was very muddy since the ground is not completely frozen yet, but an insanely fun time nonetheless. As the temperatures droppped and things started to freeze, Kate could not wait to get on her ice skates. We bought her the skates in May when we told her we were moving to Alaska (that seems like a year ago now), and she has been waiting to test them out ever since.

This is frozen mud in the cul-de-sac in front of our house, but she really couldn't wait. The next day we headed to the ice rink for a quick lesson.

Birdman said he had fun too, so we hope to try it again next weekend. I actually had a preview of the ice arena Friday night when I joined the Homer Broomball League. It was the first time I've had a sitter and been out after dark in months. It felt great to chug a beer and hang out with adults not to mention try a new sport and get some exercise. Broomball is a bit like hockey, but you wear shoes and run on the ice. The ball is a little softer and larger than a softball, and you're allowed to kick it (good for me and my soccer mentality). You are also allowed to bat it down with your hands (who knew). Ultimately though everyone uses their broom (stick with rubber wedge on it) the majority of the time.

Since I was hoping to meet friends and hang out, I left the camera at home, but took a quick photo before leaving the house.

Our new love of ice sports continued today when the kids made up their own hockey game on our frozen mud pond using sticks and a smashed tin can.

 

Our fall has been busy exploring even before the snow started to fall. We've spent quite a bit of time at the city's new park. The Homer community came together and built the park in 7 days last spring.

Of course the park comes complete with Marimbas (above) and a million dollar view (below).

We were unable to find a play structure for our yard before the cold weather set in, but Kate doesn't seem to mind. You can find her on our little swing any time of day and in any weather.

Kate has joined Girl Scouts and I would imagine the Alaska Girl Scouts to be crazy tough and cool. She earned her first badge doing beach clean up. Her stretch of Bishop's Beach was quite beautiful.

It took a good 15 minutes to even find a piece of trash. The 50 foot tidal range makes for wonderfully wide beaches at low tide. After hunting around the sticks and kelp at the high tide mark, the girls were able to find some styrofoam, bottles caps, plastic wrappers etc, but it was still a pretty small haul.

James and I have spent a few mornings on the same beach enjoying coffee and the view.

We even manage to get in a few planks here and there to keep us fit. Well, James does anyway.

This fall, I was lucky enough to accompany Kate's class on a field trip to Beluga Lake in town. The lake is used for float planes in the summer and fall and I hear there will ice skating and car racing (?) in the winter. The class tried a little pond dipping and we walked through the slough, a tidal, muddy marsh connecting the lake to Kachemak Bay.

We've also spent time at the local Pratt Museum learning about homesteading, walking their trails,

and feeding the fish.

Hickory is on it's way home, so undoubtedly my next post will include activities with Brian. I think if he wrote a blog it would be mad interesting. Their most recent trip was to remove, replace, and maintain buoys, but also included watching the crab boats leave Dutch Harbor for the start of crabbing season on Oct 15, searching for a fisherman that went overboard setting a cod pot, and rescuing the crew of a downed helicopter from a beach with grizzly bear in site. And that's just what I've heard about through our brief email connection. James loves to hear stories about Brian and Hickory boat. He was running man zebra overboard drills the other day during his "rest" time.

The kids are beyond ready to see Brian and could use some real rough-housing. Today we went on a nature walk with some friends in the morning and the kids could not stop with the pig pile.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Seward

Seward looks pretty close to Homer on a map, but the Kenai Mountains and Harding Ice Field prevent a direct route. Brian's boat had to go to Seward for emergency repairs, so we took the opportunity to go visit him and see the town. It is still only a 3.5 drive, so not bad if the children keep their hands to themselves. Side of the road pit stops are common with James, but when they look like this, I don't mind. Glacier fed Kenai river, home of world class salmon fishing and toddler pissing.

Brian's parents traveled to Seward with us, It's almost comical because I can't even count the number of times they have come to visit and Brian's schedule has changed and they miss him completely. This particular trip was even more of a clusterf##% as they had planned for a relaxing 5 day trip on the Alaska Marine Hwy with Brian as he traveled with our car and dog from Seattle to the Kenai peninsula. The emergency repairs to the ship trumped the shipment of our car. If it wasn't for Chick and Pat, our dog and car would still be in Seattle. I do love that they will roll into our driveway with huge smiles on their faces after caring for and cleaning up after our dog during a 5 day ferry ride followed by a 4 hour drive in my car that smelled 50% dog kennel and 50% vomit.

Needless to say we were all happy to visit Seward and Brian. We planned for a day trip into Prince William Sound to see the Kenai National Fjords and all the wildlife and calving glaciers it has to offer. Unfortunately, the rain set in a day after we arrived turning the visibility to nil. We canceled on the boat trip (I must try again next summer) and forged on with our plans for the Sea Life Center and a quick hike to Exit Glacier. I have no photos of the Sea Life center, a relatively cool aquarium, because I was chasing James the entire time.

I did manage to get a few photos of Exit Glacier with my phone or point and shoot camera. Although is was mid-September and I had been in Alaska for one month, I still had not unzipped my new camera. It was rainy and I was still too scared.

This glacier is extremely accessible because it's only 1/2 mile from a parking spot. This made a very doable, round trip hike for the kids.

There is a chalkboard at the trailhead for hikers to note wildlife seen along the trail. There was a black bear spotted the day before, so we were all on alert.

The edge of the glacier is marked every year and it is amazing to see how much the glacier retreats each year as it continues to melt.

As we hiked back from the glacier the views seemed to be even more spectacular.

 

As it was still raining nonstop on day three, we went for a diner breakfast and quick drive. The diner was in an old train car (Seward is the start of a rail line into Alaska's interior). Oddly enough, the Train Wreck favored New Orleans jazz and zydeco music for breakfast. I enjoyed it.

We let James take a few photos.

Bacon

After breakfast the sky seemed to clear up a bit, so we walked through the harbor.

By the time I was ready to pull out of town, I could see blue sky and the mountains head straight up from the road. They were there all weekend, we just couldn't see them.

Of course, we never tire of watching silly otters feasting on clams.

I was happy for the break in the weather so I could drive home. This is where I had the ephinany to start blogging. The blue sky was a quick phenomenon as the rains started up again that night. A week later, the only road to Seward was closed due to flooding and the bridge pictured below collapsed.

The entire Kenai peninsula was declared a state of emergency. We took on water in our basement, very annoying since we still had many unpacked boxes sitting down there, but Homer was much better off than Seward. Again, I am trying to keep it in perspective. I know excessive rain beats a tsunami or earthquake. I have all my brochures on how to prepare for both disasters, but I still haven't stock piled batteries, water, etc for what is potentially a not so unlikely event here. Who knew the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire extended all the way to Alaska?

 

At the diner we all passed around paper and wrote a poem together about Seward:

In a train between the mountains and the sea, we see snow. It looks like marshmallows.

It is fall and yellow and red and orange mixes with all the green!

But the clouds fall slowly down the mountain, covering everything in white.

We see snow and smell rain.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Sea Kayaking

The other day at the grocery story, the checkout clerk apologized to me when she found out I lived in town. I guess not everybody values the paved road, mailbox, and proximity to people and things. I understand though that people do not move to Alaska to live in a neighborhood. I see the appeal of settling down in the middle of nature and the middle of nowhere...I just don't want to do it with two small kids. There is a new reality show about a family who lives completely off the land. It would probably be interesting anyway, but they are literally right down the road from us, so I find the show fascniating (Alaska: The Last Frontier on The Discovery Channel)

http://dsc.discovery.com/show-news/alaska-the-last-frontier-premieres-thursday-at-10pm-ep.html

Since I am not a homesteader, but a temporary resident, I have a few things that I would like to see and do while in Alaska. In fact, the more I read and learn, the longer the list grows. Perhaps I will devote an entire page to my Alaska Bucket List later. Within the first 2 weeks, I was surprised I still had not seen a moose, but happy to report I did do some sea kayaking. Here is my list thus far:

• kayak majestic waters without being upended by a whale. (Not sure if this fear is irrational or not, but either way it lives in me.)
• see a moose
• watch a bear eat a salmon out of the river (I might settle for watching a bear lumber along with her cubs)
• catch a fat halibut
• catch a sizable salmon
• experience the northern lights
• learn to cross country ski
• see the start of Iditarod
• hike to a glacier (next post)
• sail among fjords and calving glaciers
• sleep in a yurt
• pan for gold (and find at least a tiny nugget)

I took a sea kayak tour because my kayaking experience is limited to ocean kayaks and warm water. The frigid waters and presence of whales give me pause enough to shell out the money for a guide. Whale sightings in Katchmak Bay, near Homer, still seem to be cause for excitement, so I don't think my whale fear is grounded. The water is cold though, and sea kayaks are much tippier than an ocean kayak, so I was glad for a guide and his advice. We (Christy and I) signed up for the trip with one day's notice because the weather looked good and the ship was in i.e. we were able to pawn off childcare duties on the guys. Christy is an aquaintance from New London and her husband is on the ship too. They transferred here last summer and it was nice to see a familiar face when I arrived. Her knowledge of the area, especially shady rentals and landlords, was invaluable to us.

View of Mount Iliamna from boat ride across Katchemak Bay

Getting ready to launch kayaks from the beach on Yukon Island

The total trip was 6 hours including transportation across the bay to our starting point and lunch. We paddled around Yukon Island, a Maritime Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Actually, the paddling was somewhat minimal. We did a lot of floating and taking in scenery, but that's okay too. We saw several silly sea otters frolicking on their backs, even more giant jelly fish, some bald eagles, a puffin or two, and lots of bull kelp. Since this was my first sight of bull kelp I thought it was cool. I tasted it as I saw others do the in the Alaska videos I rented before coming here. Not bad, and supposedly very nutritious. The weather was high 50s or low 60s and the guides said it was one of the best days they had all year. We had a clear view of the mountian range stretching all the way to Cook Inlet. The range includes three volcanoes (Mounts Redoubt, Augustine and Iliamna).

Huge jellyfish

Playful sea otter

Elephant's rock

One of our guides lives with his dog on a nearby, remote island seven months out of the year and paddles 25 minutes to Yukon Island where he works as a kayak guide. The other was a recent college grad from Michigan who traveled to Alaska in an 80s VW van with friends. They headed the Kenai Penninsula, found Homer and decided to stay awhile. Everyone in Alaska has a story and most of them are interesting. I think I will write a post (or maybe a book) on people we've met and their path to Alaska.

Continuing around the island...

..and spying bald eagles

Posted with Blogsy

First Impressions

 

I've been in Alaska a little over a week and so far so good. Homer is a lot less redneck and much more northern California that I would have expected. I have been pleasantly surprised by the people, restaurants, and activities for young kids. I will clearly need more colorful knit clothing to fit in. The other day, I was trying on some fall footwear that was admittedly a little funky looking. Kate looked at me and said, "Oh great now you're going to start wearing big earrings too." I spit up some coffee (they have great coffee and an insane amount of it here) and vowed to keep the little loops I've been wearing for 10 years. The farmers market had ukeleles playing last week and marimbas this week. I saw a bumper sticker that says, "Homer is a quaint fishing village with a marimba problem." ? More to come on bumper stickers later.

 

Dancing to ukeleles at the Farmers Market

 

Our house is good and the view is phenomenal. We have plenty of storage for Brian's toys and junk, and I figure location is most important. We are lucky to live on a paved road and to have a mailbox (more uncommon than you might think). We can walk to a little park and a restaurant or two, so I am trying to overlook any other shortcomings the house may have.

View from porch

House

I still haven't seen a moose, but the ship has a morale boat that we can use, so we went out yesterday with another family. I was hoping to catch a fat halibut, but for now I'll settle for the 20 legged starfish I pulled up. We also saw some whales spouting and one breach. We got close enough to Gull Island, a bird rookery, to see puffins and to make me want to hurl. The seagulls crap all over the rocks and you can smell it from a couple football fields away.

 

Starfish looked cooler when laid out on the side of the boat, but it

slipped off too quickly.

Kate started school last week and loves that she can take off her shoes at school and has two recess periods. The parent handbook says prolonged outdoor activities will be canceled if the weather reaches -30 and to dress accordingly. This made me both laugh and cry at the same time. Actually, I don't think the winters will be unbearably cold, just long. The average high for the winter is 32. I suppose that's why they say the roads are so icy.

In this photo, the kids are wearing their Xtra Tuf boots that Brian had waiting for them when they arrived. Think of it as receiving both a lei and sunscreen upon arriving in Hawaii, functional and fashionable. I think I will do an entire post on Xtra Tufs and/or Homer fashion later.

Brian loves the ship as you can imagine. He drinks coffee and hangs out professionally. True they do dangerous stuff in the Bering Sea, but they also fish, hunt, and see cool stuff. He found several large whale bones on his last trip, so I am expecting some scrimshaw in the near future.

Brian's boat (CGC Hickory)

 

Posted with Blogsy