What a Weekend - Fall in Anchorage!

Saturday mornings are special times to me, especially through the end of September when the Farmer's Markets pretty much end.  This Saturday was no exception, and when my 8 am yoga class was over, I went across the street to the Spenard Farmer's Market.  I like to buy from several different people, and you can tell the lettuce and tomatoes were coming to an end, even supported by greenhouse growing.  The broccoli still looked good, and Alaska's real strength is incredible carrots and many different varieties of potatoes - little purple ones, red ones, a blush color, etc.  Nice golden beets, swiss chard, and naturally I bought too much considering we're leaving for the east coast for 2 weeks on Thursday - but we'll eat as much as we can before then!  And another quart of honey, which I've been using to make homemade granola, as well as in the other usual things - tea when I have a sore throat!

So no more Farmer's Markets - outside anyway - there is one indoors at the Sears Mall on Wednesdays all winter.  We also got all of our winter clothes down from our "attic storage" - a concession to living in an apt. and finding a place for everything -- so all of my warm clothes are lined up in my closet now, and summer is officially over.  We went for a bike ride in the afternoon with Lance and Mary, but no pictures - a beautiful fall day, and the mountains are beautiful enough to bring tears to your eyes.  Then we had dinner at their house and walked to the first concert of the season for the Anchorage Symphony!  Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Flat Major, Op. 83 with a visiting young Russian pianist, Ilya Yahushev, and Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique.  What a full day of many different activities, and we are grateful all over again for our lives here!

Today was another hiking day from the South Fork trailhead in Eagle River, aiming first for the Hanging Valley trail, but we were lured up over Hunter's Pass by two hunters - who told us they didn't shoot anything but found blueberries!  We hiked up the nearly vertical trail for 30 minutes or so, and we did find blueberries, but only enough (maybe :-)) for breakfast!

Picking low-bush blueberries - the leftovers from summer! 

Hiking up Hunter's Pass from the South Fork Trail

Down on the main trail again, we continued on towards the Hanging Valley Trail to see how far we could get.  The trail is fairly wide and well-maintained (some very muddy spots) for the first two miles or so from the trailhead -- once across a built little bridge over the river, the trail narrows and eventually separates and turns off to a narrow herd path making its way up to a "hanging valley."  It was a good time to climb it -- the guidebook says that the trail can be very dangerous in wintertime, as the area is prone to avalanches.

The main trail continues on to Eagle and Symphony Lakes but the Hidden Valley Tarn is said to be a great destination with outstanding views - maybe next time - we had to turn around before we got there to get back home in time for a scheduled webinar for me -- maybe if we hadn't made that detour for a 1/2 cup of blueberries!  We'll go back here again and explore more.  It was absolutely gorgeous and a fast and easy way to get into the mountains only about 30 minutes from home.