Flat Top Mountain - Anchorage

This was one steep, long hike.

I was very, very tired.

That theory that it's easier to beath sea level

is a crazy wives-tale.

we did see a couple of bears down in a valley

Being Tourist-y

Heading back to Anchorage, Robert's eagle-eyes 

spotted this mama moose.....

so of course, we pulled to the side of the road, 

got out the tele-photo lens,

crawled through the bushes and mosquitoes

to get these great shots.

Sunshine, WalMike and Trapper Creek

After Talkeetna, we headed 12 miles south to Sunshine, AK

A train stop where my grandfather was the section foreman.

I felt a connection.

wait... I feel a connection with ALL of Alaska.

We stayed at the Fireweed Bed and Breakfast

 Beautiful.

Lovely.

Serene.

All except the 5,669,221,004 mosquitoes that tried to consume us.

 hiking through the woods

and along the train tracks.

Then we headed up the road to the Trapper Creek Fireweed festival

and got distracted by WalMikes.
I can't even begin to describe.
You must experience to understand.

 The Trapper Creek Fireweed Festival

didn't turn out to be quite what we expected.

But the Egg Loll was great!

Denali Zipline Tour

There was lightening in Talkeetna when we were scheduled to Zipline so we got delayed about two hours.  After watching the train... we decided to go exploring.

We walked along the Susitna River

Finally it was time to zip!!

Nine Zips

a few rope bridges across trees and one rappel down

Can you believe how beautiful this is??????  Those trees and that pond...
oh my, I want to live here.
in the summer.

This is at the end of the ziplines
see the guy behind Braden's head
that was the longest zip.
Incredible fun!!!!

Flying to Alaska

Just looking out my window as I flew into Anchorage made me happy :)

Robert and Braden doing a "selfie"

TALKEETNA

Our first stop was Talkeetna.
Is this a bear?  Nope - just a huge, hairy dog.

Shopping for knives.
and necklaces

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Talkeetna.
Small, adorable and just my kind of town.
(in the summer)

We stopped at the Roadhouse for lunch.
Original roadhouse - VERY authentic!
My mom's cousins stayed here back in the 50's

YUM!!!!
Braden had the berry pancakes and I had the reindeer sausage.

My grandparents lived 12 miles from Talkeetna in the late 30's and early 40's
This picture is my Grandmother in from of the same store

My mom went last year....

Back Packing - Silver Lake

I finally got to go on my first over-night back packing trip!!  The only slight problem was the rain.  But there was no way I was turning back.  I LOVED it.... but I do hope the next trip doesn't have so much of the wet stuff.

We started out dry.  That lasted about 20 minutes.

Kamo was a trooper!!  Even though he looked terrible
and smelled worse.  Our tent was on a slight hill so we
kept sliding into him all night.  He didn't seem to mind.

Here's another few minutes with no rain.

Gorgeous!

Another lesson learned:
take fire starter and matches that work

Good morning!

I don't look too worse for the wear.
as long as you don't look too closely.

Family Reunion - Random

 just because he is adorable.

(the baby, not the dog)

Minute to Win It

Celebrating the military men in our family

Grandma Becky giving Jaxson a summer haircut.
We spent Saturday with all the Cook family....
playing at the Moore's cabin and having dinner at ours.