Gulkana River

We left Monday morning at 4:30 and drove about 3 1/2 hours up to the Richardson Highway (interior Alaska). We dropped off our car at the Sourdough campground and rode to Paxson Lake with some friends. We got the rafts in the water and rowed across the lake, through the outlet and into the river. Over the course of 4 days we floated around forty miles total.
We caught some grayling:

We estimate over three days that kid probably caught around 100 fish. If he wasn't fishing, he wasn't happy. Wonder where he gets that from?

Mason got stung by a bee (we're thinking he may be allergic):

There were king salmon and red salmon and Masons:

We floated through class 3 rapids. Our expressions right after the rapids:

It rained so badly the last day we rowed downstream to get off the water a little quicker (and stay a little warmer). Christina fights off delerium as we float under the transalaska pipeline:

There was an "incident" with a salmon carcass and an eagle that proved interesting. Click on the link; you'll be glad you did:
http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk248/slv3x/summer2010/?action=view&current=MVI_1842.mp4

Gardening is for the birds

Thanks to the electric company we had to do a little landscaping this last week. We pulled four spruce trees that were supposedly too close to the power lines. When Christina cleaned out the back of the truck the boys had a good time. By the way this is where our driveway meets the road.


The greenhouse has become a jungle with tomato plants growing much taller than Mason.


Good thing I didn't drop Tate; it would have been tough to find him.


This gardening stuff is for the birds:

We thought this guy was going to be Thanksgiving dinner, but he's eating us out of house and home. He also picks on the chickens, so he may have a date with the oven a little sooner than later.

the infamous kenai river

We spent a couple of nights down on the kenai river this week. It was nice to get out camping, it's been a long time. After getting the kids to bed, I went fishing with our friend Nick. I took this picture sometime around 1 am:

We floated the river and had a great time:


We even saw a bear while floating the river:

We fished a little and played a lot. We didn't catch any fish in the infamous kenai river, or the russian river. We made a hail mary attempt at a little lake on the way home and our friend Nick caught his first fish, a really nice dolly varden:

how to get in deep $h!t with the wife while she's at girls camp

Take the boys fishing and rafting every one of the three days she's gone:




Grind mortar off the kitchen floor and throw cement dust around the house, covering every dish in every cabinet in the whole kitchen with the aforementioned cement dust. How about a pathetic attempt to make things better? Get dessert delivered from the local pizza joint and tell her that her girls camp braids look great.

After the mess is cleaned up, you can lounge around in the hammock.




Better get off the computer, we're headed to the kenai for a couple of days.

company picnics are a horrible idea

Why? Why on earth is a company picnic a horrible idea? Because they make you do crazy stuff like ride mechanical salmon - The video of mason is too big to upload, but here is the link: http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk248/slv3x/?action=view¤t=MVI_1425.mp4
The video of Scott if the embedded one don't work:
http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk248/slv3x/?action=view&current=MVI_1426.mp4


Or attack people dressed up like sumo wrestlers and break your husbands nose.

Alaska warmer than Utah?

Things are finally right in the world, Utah is once again warmer than southcentral Alaska. We came back from a wedding in Utah in shifts. While we were gone, it was colder in Utah than it was in Alaska. I (Scott) caught the wedding and flew back three days later. What do you do for a last second Hancey bachelor party at eleven o'clock on a friday night? Cheesburgers and shotguns provide great entertainment!

I got back to alaska first and took advantage of the long hours by flyfishing from 11 pm to 2 am. Here's the photo I snapped at 2 in the morning after catching the last fish.

Had a great float yestderday. We're learning the ropes of getting the raft in and out of the water and running a mild, albeit tight, river. It was a scorcher at 70 degrees, and we had to use the a/c in the car - fortunately today is overcast and 60.

Southcentral Alaska is once again cooler than Salt Lake City, all is right with the world.

Manic begining to a manic summer

We hear summers are manic in Alaska, which makes the state a little bipolar in its nature because winters are the opposite. Last weekend we took the raft out, but due to a big accident on the highway, got a late start on the river. Getting off the water at 9 p.m. was a little late for the kids and our friend (also a night shift nurse) running on 3 hours of sleep.

Scott on the sticks:
Turning the front of the raft into a playpen:

Yesterday morning I got home from work, and the weather was beautiful. I had been awake about 27 hours at that point and couldn't bring myself to sleep through such a nice day, so we jumped in the car and headed north. In Talkeetna, we found a little lake to wet a line and play on the shore. Talkeetna is a community of 700 people +/- during the winter and nearly double that in the summer time. It is considered the gateway to Denali (Mt. Mckinley).

Tate did some army training, he's working on crawling:

The largest mountain in North America:

The boys after a long day in the sun:

Not the best fishing lake around, but a great place to lounge in the sun:

And a Happy Mother's Day!