Running

So I started running in May.  Nothing crazy.  I will never be fast, I will never run far, but I am really beginning to enjoy it.  I worked my way through the couch to 5K program and have actually gotten to the point that I enjoy it.  In fact in October I ran my first 5K...

It was a beautiful Cleveland morning.

So now I'm contemplating running the 10K at the Cleveland Marathon...

Well, I'm back.  I was working on my Alaska posts and got behind.  I felt like I needed to finish that set of  posts before I could move on to something else, but I just didn't feel like it.  I felt bad because I hadn't finished the story so I didn't write anything else.  Then as more time passed it became more and more futile.
Maybe I'll finish the Alaska posts, maybe I won't.  It's my blog, I can write what ever I want.

Go Kiss a Moose

After Talkeetna, we were off to Anchorage for a short day. 

It's really quite a pretty town

with good food

huge flowers

and whale bones.

When we left Anchorage for Alyeska, we stopped at the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center.

Happy Birthday, Talkeetna Style

I hate it when a birthday present works out perfectly, because for the next birthday, no matter what I do it will be inadequate.  Some how next year I will have to top this...

He got to ride a moose

and then a train. 

 Got to see Denali

while hanging out in Talkeetna.

Had a caribou for dinner,

 saw a moose up close

 Saw Denali from the hotel room window, in the middle of the night

and had reindeer sausage biscuits and gravy the next morning.

What do I get him next year?????

30 Percent Club at 20,000 feet

It's not quite what you think.  

 After our tour of Denali National Park, we spent the night at Grand Denali Lodge.

Then we took the train from Denali to Talkeetna.

Where we saw this....

 and this

this

and even this.

This was the view from our room at the Talkeetna Lodge.

Thirty percent of the people who visit Alaska never get to see Mt. Denali because it is usually cloudy and rainy during the tourist season.  We are now members of the exclusive 30% club!

Gypsy Soul

So I have a gypsy soul, I love to travel.  I used to have a goal of visiting every state before I was 30.  I failed.  I came close, but I didn't quite make it.  I did make it to Alaska though.  After the first trip to Alaska, I had to come back.

Cleveland to Fairbanks.  Yeah that was a long day, nuff said.  But it is worth mentioning, there is a Frontera Grill in O'Hare Airport.  We also learned that self-scanners at the grocery store in Alaska aren't quite as efficient as they are in the lower 48.

We spent day two in Fairbanks where we visited the El Dorado Gold Mine.  One of us was a little better at panning for gold than the other, but neither of us were as good as my mom.  Between her and my dad, they had enough to put it in a locket.

After the gold mining we got to stop and see the Alaska Pipeline.  No matter what your feelings on oil drilling are, the pipeline is an engineering marvel.  It's over 800 miles long and can expand and contract up to 4 feet a mile and sway in an earthquake.

Then we rode a sternwheeler down the Chena River

And stopped by Susan Butchers place. 

The third day started with a train ride on the Alaska Railroad.  We traveled on the train from Fairbanks to Denali National Park.  The train ride was amazing and the park took my breath away and we got to have reindeer sausage for breakfast (what you thought I might have a blog post without a picture of food?)

We saw moose from the window of the train.

After arriving at Denali, we had a tour of the first 60 miles of the park, on a bus.

Where we saw a marmot

A moose

 And lots of grizzly bears