Sailing on Resurrection Bay out of Seward

Sailing in April -- who would have thought we'd be on the water faster in Alaska than on Oneida Lake!  We sailed with our new friends Kim and Claudia today on their 36 foot Islander.  Seward is about 2 hours away, and this is their first trip out this year.  They were kind enough to take us out for what ended up being a 6 hr. sail round-trip to Thumb Cove, a beautiful spot as you'll see us anchored in the pictures.  We had good wind and sailed between 5 and 6 knots the whole way, with only a couple of tacks on the way back.

A little wine, cheese fondue with apples and strawberries and baguettes, and even though it's still cold, a beautiful sunny day at anchor keeps the boat plenty warm.  It's a two hour drive, but a spectacular trip through the mountains with Cook Inlet on one side of the highway a good part of the way and the sun setting over mountains and water on the way back.  It's daylight til 9:30 now and not fully dark even around 10 or so.

Brian is in heaven -- we had what we call an "Oh My God" weekend.  And -- keeping his wildlife count going today - two sea otters and a harbor seal in Seward in the bay and a couple of eagles, ten moose on the drive home.  We hear there are no end of picturesque coves and places to anchor in the North Gulf waters.  And . . . we're looking forward to being on Oneida Lake in another month and sailing Petrel again too!

Hiking to Mt. Gordon Lyons

Another beautiful weekend - we took our first bike ride on our tandem yesterday on the Ship Creek Trail, just checking it out.  At a certain point, it got too slushy, not dry enough yet, but we're looking for information and places that we'll be able to ride!  We also spent the day re-organizing our stuff, since we sub-leased our apartment for two months this summer while we'll be back in upstate New York. Kind of like spring cleaning!

Today we hiked in an area that we've hiked twice before, the trail to either Mt. Gordon Lyons or Rendezvous.  Our landlords went with us, Lance & Mary, and we again took the "straight up" route that you'll be able to appreciate from our pictures.  The summer route is a more gradual climb.  The snow was deeper than we thought it would be, but not so bad and intermittent with some bare spots and shallow snow.  The photo at the top, with Brian, Lance, and Judy, was taken by Mary, and that spot we're standing on is the only ground at the summit, which dropped off on all 4 sides other than where we were standing!

We saw several people skiing down, so we are thinking of going back tomorrow after work with our climbing skins, which we haven't used yet, climbing up and skiing down the notch between the two peaks!  It's still gorgeous out, about 40 degrees, and it stays light now til about 9 pm, so it's hard to come in and quit for the day!  Brian leaves for upstate NY on May 18 to see Colleen graduate that weekend from RIT, and Judy will be back between conferences for Memorial Day weekend, then back June 10 til the 1st of August.

We REALLY like it here!  You should be able to tell why from the pictures!

Our First Trip to Talkeetna

Talkeetna is a little town of about 2,000 people about 2 hours north of Anchorage.  We drove up there Saturday morning in time for lunch, and after bowls of chowder and a little local beer (Denali Brewing Co), we meandered over to the Meandering Moose Lodge, about 1 1/2 out of town.  You can also stay right in the "historic downtown Talkeetna" which is about 4 restaurant/bars, a general store/liquor store, a couple of gift shops, and a bead store - and must be a small hotel?  There are also suites above the Wildflower Cafe, where we had dinner Saturday night.  Great halibut, my favorite fish!  We had the suite at the Meandering Moose which is a queen-size bed in the upstairs of a house with a couch and chair, large private bath, nice views out the windows, and sled dog serenades from the kennels next door at feeding times and when they're getting selected for the day's training!  Seriously, Brian didn't even hear them, and they were far enough away that they sounded pretty distant!  They do run the Iditarod, and you can visit the kennels if you wish to. 

We weren't sure how much snow there would be, and on Saturday we didn't have a klister wax with us and just hiked for a couple of hours, but we went back the next day with the right wax and had one of the nicest skis of the season.  We were at Talkeetna Lakes Park, and the only ones there, so for two hours we were just skiing through woods, then popping out on a small frozen lake, then back through some more woods, out on another lake, about 4 times or so and then in reverse for about a 2 hour ski.  Nice trails through the woods that you could skate sometimes, the skis were good! 

We would go back and back to the Meandering Moose too.  They have cabins too, so maybe we'll try that the next time.  We think we've had our last ski of the season, but who knows?!  Time to move on?  Hiking might fill in the spaces til biking gets better.  Happy Trails!