Rendezvous Peak in the Arctic Valley

This is a favorite hike and one we hadn't done in a while.  We thought we might also get blueberries, and we did see people spread across the hills, but we didn't see any where we were hiking.  When we got out of the car, it was 50 degrees (down from 65 when we left Anchorage), and the wind was just howling, so I'm not sure what the wind chill factor was - I do know that we scrounged around and found anything that we could that had gotten left in the pack or the car from last year -- a winter hat for Brian, a pair of gloves for me, and we both had brought rain gear that sufficed for wind gear!  

And yes, that's a patch of snow there on the side of the mountain - never melted during this summer, which is fairly typical, and this was also a cool summer.  The pictures don't even nearly do the wildflowers justice.  Rendezvous is a fairly mild hike with a pretty gradual rise and then very steep sections near the end. 

There are stunning views as you look back over the city of Anchorage and Cook Inlet -- the Arctic Vally is about 20 miles north of the city. 

It's always steeper to get to the top than I remembered, but not as steep or as difficult, actually, as the High Peaks that we climbed in the Adirondacks, which were more of a challenge to pull yourself up over ledges and boulders.  It was really blowing at the top, and there is this circle of rocks piled up that Brian hunkered down in here for a snack and some water . . . wish we'd thought to bring hot tea -- who knew?!

This was actually last weekend, but I haven't had time to load the pictures or even find the camera, which as it turned out, was still in the car with something thrown over it, hiding it!   This weekend was busy with Freshmen Convocation, and although we thought we'd do a hike today or possibly go out on Kakwik for shrimp, we settled for a bike ride.  We've been doing a loop up and around the university on a paved trail that we'll be skiing on in just a few months -- last year was November 4th, so only two months away - hard to believe!  Still, it's starting to feel like soup weather -- it must be, as I made soup twice this week!  And blueberry cobbler tonight, but I had to buy the blueberries!

A Preview of Grandchildren?

Lance and Mary, our landlords, have grandchildren visiting, and they went out on Kakwik with Brian while Judy was working.  They had a great time "driving the boat" and cooking out on the grill on the back of the boat - also pulling up shrimp and the unexpected octopus!  They'll be going back to Texas soon with lots of stories of Alaska - I bet they'll go to see the beaver family that we've been visiting on Ship Creek and they're off to a cabin north of here for a few days now.

We decided that Alaska is a great place for your grandparents to live and be able to come and visit, but we may be pretty old by the time we have any grandchildren who can do that since none are in the picture yet!   And Brian decided it must be pretty tiring, judging from the day he had and the energy THEY had!

No pictures of this, but we rode our bikes to both of my offices to time how long it would take the other night, and we may ride there this morning as a commute to try it out.  It's a short commute, about 25-30 minutes and about 20 coming home - more downhill.  The question is, what kind of shape do you arrive in to look presentable for a workday and how much (crap!) do you have to carry?!  And of course, today it seems to be rainy since we wanted to start today! Well, commuting is commuting - one doesn't pick the weather!

A Weekend in Alaska

Saturday was Farmer's Market day at Spenard, the first one since we've been back.  This is our favorite Farmer's Market, and we bought swiss chard, fava bean tips, lettuce, tomatoes, snow peas, scallions, a Christmas cactus, fresh flowers, and who knows what else?

After bringing everything home, we got ready to go to Kakwik and Prince William Sound for our first overnight together on the boat -- after a hike first in Whittier up Portage Pass.  The hike affords a great view of Portage Glacier and then a trail down to Portage Lake, with an even closer look at the glacier.  Hiking in Alaska describes Portage Pass as "a gap gouged out of the earth long ago by a lobe of Portage Glacier and opened up for hikers by the glacier's retreat of the last century."  It further says that the Alska Gold Rush brought prospectors in the 1890s, and steamships dropped them off at the foot of Portage Pass, where Whittier is now.  Prospectors headed for Hope and Sunrise on Turnagain Arm, hauling their gear up the glacier with ropes and pulleys.  We were there on a beautiful day, thankfully, but the guide book tells us that wind blasts of more than 120 mph have been recorded through Portage Pass.  

The Town of Whittier and Prince William Sound looking back from the trail

A first look at Portage Glacier from "the knob" on top 

A closer look at the glacier as we drop down towards Portage Lake - a ferry takes tourists out to view the glacier

After the hike, we were close by the marina in Whittier, Alaska, and unloaded our supplies for our boat, Kakwik, to go out overnight on the Sound.  

We didn't take off til about 5 pm, so we wanted an anchorage close by.  Shotgun Cove is a relatively short ride, about 1 hour, and a beautiful anchorage.  We grilled salmon along with vegetables that we brought from home, accompanied by a little wine!  No stars - it's too light by the time we're ready to go to sleep! 

Sometimes Judy gets to be "Captain!" 

A boat we're steaming by on our way to Shotgun Cove -- the Sound isn't what you'd call crowded!

Brian sets the anchor

Brian rowed to shore so we could take this picture of Kakwik anchored.

This is what we're looking at while we're hanging out at anchor!

Judy fixing breakfast "on board"

Brian pulling shrimp pots - we got plenty for dinner and the freezer

Coming back into Whittier

Back to watch the closing of the Olympics after a nice walk on the Coastal Trail with all of the families out on a glorious night -- hard to complain about the weekends here!  

Home Again, Home Again (Jiggety-Jig?)

We've only been home for three days, and it's been great to be back in cooler weather (but a beautiful 72 degrees and sunny yesterday!), with our usual haunts for evening walks, friends we hadn't seen, etc. And we haven't seen even one moose or bear yet -- what gives?

Dinner last night with Mary and Lance and out for an evening walk at 9 pm - we couldn't believe it was that late already -- and it was hard to go inside at 10 with it still light and so nice out.  But we are back to work -- also today to the dermatologist, dentist (temporary cap came off Monday on the way to work), and chiropractor -- getting put back together in one day!

Brian's lining up his work contracting now that he's back, and we have such an appreciation for the friends that we left back in Utica and our friends here in Anchorage -- what a life to be a part of TWO great communities!

Last Thoughts from Back East

After not finding our camera (it was on the boat after all) and taking pictures with the I Phone, we finally downloaded what had been IN the camera and want to share these last pictures from our trip.  The Boilermaker was another hot day, and my sister Carole and I watched from the sidelines at a key viewpoint up in the golf course, top of a hill and almost halfway into the 15K race.

Wendy Sanders waves at the top of the hill! 

Brian stops for his friends just before us; Al, our son is still running just behind him

April turned to wave just as I took her picture!

After the Boilermaker, we joined Brian's family at the Sauquoit Town Park for a cookout!  It was great to see them, and a nice breeze kept the heat away -- Peter could go swimming and play basketball for entertainment while the adults visited!  

Kim and Peter having a "mother-child moment!"

Janet serving "birthday cookie cake"

Carol, Paul & Brian line up for a picture

And finally, the last 2 weeks we worked on Colin and April's bathroom, which had been ripped out to the studs, a 1905 condominium in Utica, supposedly the "first ever" condominiums in the U.S.  Colin and April dealt with most of the rip out and disposing of the lathe and plaster, and we did a rush job, with my brother Dan's help too, of putting up the sheet rock, leveling and installing the floor, putting in a ceiling exhaust and an outlet, taking out a steam radiator, tiling the area around the bathtub, and installing a new sink and toilet.  April and Colin will finish grouting and doing the final coat of paint!  They'll have to send a "finish" picture, since I forgot to even take one after the sink and toilet went in -- tired, hot and sweaty, and only hours from departure -- the last move was home for peaches and ice cream before bed and picking up the car to leave for home!  

Still Sailing!

Tuesday morning there were severe weather warnings including hail, thunder and lightening, and severe winds, so we left our island anchorage by 7:15 am and headed for Cape Vincent.  Winds were maybe 15-20 knots and pretty big waves, so we had a short but somewhat strenuous sail, arriving in Cape Vincent about 9:30 am.  The rest of the day turned out to be very windy but also very hot, forecast in the high 90s.  We ended up most of the day lazing around the boat and jumping in the water periodically, but we did replenish supplies, visit the bakery with the best croissants ever (and air-conditioning), and later took a long walk.

We were able to find a shop (The Belle Epoch) that used to rent bikes and now just loans them out, as we wanted to take bikes on the ferry and go over to Kingston.  Since it was so warm and thunderstorms still forecast (though they never happened!), we decided to wait til the next day and took the 9:30 am ferry.  You take the 10 minute ferry with your person, bike, or car to Wolfe Island and then bike about 7 miles across the island to a 25 minute ferry (free!) that takes you to Kingston, Ontario.

Ferry from Wolfe Island to Kingston - larger than the one from Cape Vincent!

We stayed at a bed and breakfast on Wolfe Island 3 years ago and had a wonderful time -- you can ride bikes all over the island with very little traffic, go over to Kingston for lunch or dinner, and of course, there's water, water, everywhere!  The other really interesting thing was that we'd been there just the year before and no windmills -- 3 years ago, all of a sudden, 72 or 78, I forget which, windmills all over the island -- I don't remember the details now, but we got a tour and were told about them.  They really look quite majestic as you bike through the island.  You can't see them well in this picture, but we stopped to take a picture of the horses with windmills in the background on our bike ride.

We had lunch in Kingston at the Kingston Brewing Company and tried a couple of the local beers, then bought some reefing line in case we needed it for the mainsail.  It was a hot bike ride back, and here is Brian waiting for the ferry to take us back to Cape Vincent -- we couldn't wait to jump in the water!

We left Cape Vincent this morning a little before 9 after breakfast and a walk.  I avoided getting that last cup of coffee and croissant from the little bakery in Cape Vincent, but I heartily recommend that you go straight there if you're in the vicinity.  It took me an hour before I could stop regretting that I'd never tried the almond croissants!  Good wind and low waves today, a good sail back to Henderson Bay where we were meeting friends, John and Donna O'Hara on their boat Syncopation.

We met up with them about 12:30 pm and swam and talked and ate and drank.  Grilled chicken and vegetables on a grill off the boat -- the O'Hara's and Brian swam with their two dogs, Bosun and Tiegen, to shore.  The O'Haras had to go back home, and then we had the prettiest sunset to end the day -- with fresh perked coffee.

Exploring Lake Ontario!

Long Point State Park was okay, but nothing special -- we did meet a couple who volunteer and stay in their travel trailer as a part of a retirement plan - originally from Rochester, they now live in Florida but have come to this park every summer for at least a week for 45 years.  We did snorkel around the point, which was pretty interesting but mostly for various weeds and small shells and fish.  We left there Friday morning headed for Sackett's Harbor motor-sailing again - very hot day, drifted the last 3 hours in sight of Sackett's swimming, napping, reading, etc.

Sackett's Harbor is a very historical village for the war of 1812 and has many special events this summer for the bicentenniel.  We've gone to the waterfront battlefield before but never took the "tour" of the commandant's house and grounds, which was only $3.  VERY hot day, and you can see from the pictures, northern NY is hot and dry, very much in need of rain and cooler temperatures.

Dressed in what we understood to be winter wear and who knows why in 90 degree weather! 

Tending to the nearby fires with a pot of stew brewing -- busy with needlework!

The militia was practicing firing their muskets - hard to see here with an I Phone picture!

Brian's sister Carol came up on Saturday to spend her birthday with us.  We went out sailing for a while and then drifted into swimming and cocktail hour when the wind died.  Came in late for showers and dinner.  Sunday morning we had coffee while we did laundry and then went out to breakfast, re-provisioned, etc.  Carol left early afternoon, and were too hot and bothered to even go out to sail.  Nice breeze in the marina and it's an interesting area with refurbished barracks, some from 1800s and some from much later made into apartments, a new restaurant, and the Madison Barracks Inn, which was full due to a lacrosse tournament both days.  The Inn is pretty and has only been open since October.

In the marina, met old acquaintances when Marie and Jim King came over to see the "Oneida Lake" boat and realized we met once before in Sacketts when we were both in Liberty Basin - probably 10 years ago - none of us have changed one bit!  :-)  They showed us a cove on the chart to come around Grenadier Island and anchor, so that became the plan for Monday.  Also met two couples from Canada sailing, one from Toronto and one from Ottawa.  

Monday morning brought a brisk wind and departure for Grenadier Island with waves 1-3 feet that built to probably 3-5 ft. and 12-18 K winds.  Sailed 4 hours and arrived about 2:15 pm, all by ourselves in the anchorage -- which is protected from waves, but not really from wind.  That was an advantage all afternoon so that we stayed cool, but a bit windy when it picked up in the middle of the night.  

A real treat -- in the dusk, three deer stepped out of the woods on one side of us, stepped through shallow waters across to a tiny island and again through water to another spit of land just across from us on the other side -- an evening show that we couldn't capture since we don't know where we put our camera - doesn't seem to be with us so all I phone pics! 

Readying Petrel for departure to Grenadier Island!

Finally under sail - a good day!