Welcome to Alaska (We've Got Crabs!)

Little welcome mats of Alaska...

This is the sign that welcomed us into Alaska, crossing the border from Yukon in Canada.  As you can see, we were socked-in by fog.

This is Brian, smiling as he welcomes (or, extracts) all the crab meat that a colleague gave him from his crab pot he recently pulled from the water.  Free dungeness crab!

While I appreciate their kind gesture, I'm not quite as excited as Brian :)

We're officially Alaskan residents now.  We got our driver's licenses and license plates a couple weeks ago.   Now the clock is ticking toward our Permanent Fund checks!  (We have to be residents for a year first, and then we're eligible.)

Klondike Road Relay 2012: UAS Road Scholars

This past weekend was the Klondike Road Relay from Skagway, AK to White Horse, Yukon.  The race is 110 miles, and the "UAS Road Scholars" completed it in under 20 hours with 10 runners, divided between 3 cars.  Brian ran the 8th leg of the race, 12.4 miles, and he had the fastest mile pace of everyone on the team (I think 8:47/mi. average).  The course is full of hills, some of them very steep and long!  

The race began at 7:30pm in Skagway, and ended around 2pm the following day in White Horse.  I drove the third car, with runners 8, 9, and 10, and we had a really fun time.  It was the first Klondike for everyone in the car, and they all ran really well!  

This is Brian returning from a pee in the woods....I took this pic to capture all the pretty Fall colors!

Thankfully, his leg of the race was in the daylight and without any rain!

This is what the relay stations looked like (all 10 of them)

Getting ready to give Brian a good send-off!

There he is going strong, and approaching Angela's camera like a hungry bear :)

This still makes me laugh out loud.  Angela (leg 10), was about to run into the photo frame and went into an instant limbo to avoid getting in the shot.  I love it!

Brian had some great views to enjoy during his run.

This is Angela, taking a picture of the canyon she got to run through on her leg of the race.

Brian, Heidi, & Angela - all three newbies to the Klondike and they did a great job!  And they were a fun car to be a support driver for :)

A great way to spend a weekend!

The race was a neat experience, and we had a great time bonding with everyone.  I got to know some people better and got to meet some new people, too, which was a lot of fun and made me feel a little more settled.  After the race, everyone went out for dinner/drinks and then a few of us went to some nearby hot springs in White Horse late at night (Brian opted out, but I had a blast!).

And, in total for the weekend, I saw two black bears run across the road up ahead of our car.  (Not close enough to actually be in danger, but close enough to watch and say "Oh my gosh, a bear!")  Still getting used to that...

Campin' and Kayakin'

Last night we went on a last-minute camping overnight with some new friends, Amanda & Ryan.  

Amanda is the Psychology professor at UAS and her fiance Ryan is a geologist, working at the Kensington mine.  They moved here from Lawrence, Kansas.  They called and invited us Thursday evening, and Friday afternoon we were out at the campsite enjoying an incredible view together.  Thanks to Ryan, we had a great spot almost to the end of "the road" out here.  It took about an hour from our house to drive there.

We rented sea kayaks from the UAS Rec Center (Brian & Amanda get a discount), strapped them to the roof of Ryan's truck, and then very carefully walked/slid/anchored them down a steep drop to get to our site.

Hope you enjoy these beautiful snapshots of our time!

Here's Brian playing frisbee with Ryan, and Amanda's dog Shera (yes, princess of power) desperately wants in on it.

This is Ryan's dog, Booter.  He enjoys long walks on the beach and pristine mountain views.

Taking in the view, and shootin' the breeze...

Booter also likes posing for pictures...

...and standing guard at the tent.

Booter, Ryan, & Brian

It was great to get to know some new friends and enjoy a little time "out of town" for a bit.  And I learned that sea kayaking is fun, as long as you let your body totally relax and just go with the flow....a good exercise during this transition time :)

Familiarity & Newness

A couple highlights from this week...

Our friend in Eugene, Michael, took it upon himself to round up this collection of Eugene goodies to send along to us through a friend of his that was coming through Juneau on the ferry.  SO NICE to have familiar, feel-good items sent our way :)

 And here are some shots from today's new hike, overlooking the Mendenhall Glacier and Lake...

2012 Olympic Track Trials

Because we essentially missed all of the Olympics this year, I'm extra glad we made the effort to go to the Track & Field Trials when they were held in Eugene.  

We had seats very close to the track, on the non-finish-line side, and it was awesome!  We got to see women's pole vault, women's discus (which turned out to be very exciting, actually), men's shot put, and a few sprints.  Men's 100m, Women's 400m, and Men's 400m.

When the winners did their victory laps, we actually got to give them a high-five and offer our personal congrats!

This is the reigning gold medal discus thrower.  Her coach was sitting near us, so when she came for pointers, we got to listen to him talk to her.

All the other athletes jogged their victory lap...except the shotputers :)

It was a neat event to experience; the security was like TSA and the energy in the stadium was palpable.  Lots of tight muscles to admire, too, along the way :)  Go Team USA!

The Family/Friend Tour comes to a close

For the rest of our Midwest tour, we did:

• visit all remaining grandparents...
• have a lovely visit with Lew & Val, including going to the Newport Aquarium, playing lots of Quiddler, spraying ammonia and warding off the raccoons with Rush Limbaugh radio, sharing a meal with their friends Carmen & Deanna, and trading ZB/Massage sessions... 
• and we went to our friend Travis' wedding in Missoula, catching up with all kinds of old friends from FPC and the YMCA...

And we loved all of it!  Now if only I had photos of it.... :)

Regardless of no photos, just wanted to say a big thank you for helping make our summer a wonderful one!

Nationwide is on your siiiiiide!

After Louisville, we returned to Lew & Val's for the rest of our Ohio stay.  One of the days, I drove to Columbus to have lunch with Caroline at her work, Nationwide Insurance!  It was great to see her and visit, even for just a lunch break :)

Thanks for extending your lunch hour, Caroline!  Loved getting to see you!