Chinook Pass and Boulder Cave

This was a great hike! Sheep Lake and Sourdough Gap...beautiful lake, amazing views and great wildflowers...


















And Boulder Cave...a bit further east from Chinook Pass on Hwy 410

Denny Creek/Melakwa Lake

Even though I swore off hot hiking...Mt St Helens is back in 7 weeks so no rest for the overheated! It helped to start early in the morning but it was still HOT on the way down. And, scenic as always!

Back to Alaska

Jay and I headed up to Alaska this weekend for our first trip together since we moved three years ago (both of us have been separately). We went for the wedding of our friends Steve and Jamie. They arranged for everyone to go on a glacier cruise on Friday from Whittier through Prince William Sound. I can't believe we lived in Alaska for years and never did this before!! I highly recommend it for everyone!

The train passes us while we wait for the Whittier tunnel to open in our direction...

Otters!

Jimmy, Jay and Steve

Approaching the Beloit and Blackstone Glaciers, at the head of Blackstone Bay

Beloit Glacier

Blackstone Glacier

Heading back towards Whittier

Here's the tux shop where Jay picked up his tux in Anchorage. We decided that tux rental occured in a costume shop because in Alaska, a tux IS a costume! :-)
Steve and Jamie got married in the town of Girdwood, about 30 miles from Anchorage along the Seward Highway
Girdwood is also the "home" of the recently indicted Senator Ted Stevens, who is at least still loved by someone...

Steve and Jamie at their rehearsal dinner

With Steve's niece, the flower girl...

The Chapel Our Lady of the Snows

Jay and Brian protect Steve and Jamie from the paparazzi

The reception was at the Alyeska Hotel, which is a ski resort in the winter. I rode with the wedding party up the tram while they took some pictures in the chilly fog!

Protecting Jamie from the not-so-summery weather!

Hmmm...a bit foggy to see the view (it rained pretty hard in the afternoon and evening, and in the morning there was fresh snow on the mountaintops!)

This is what it WOULD look like without the fog (photo from previous visit in 2005)

Steve and Jay enjoy King crab legs!

We approve of newlyweds leaving in pickup trucks!

After the wedding, we went down to Kenai to visit our friends Matt and Heather, who recently moved there from Fairbanks. It was great to see them and meet their daughter for the first time! They also took us fishing, always exciting! Especially since we could see salmon jumping all over the place (sometimes between the boat and the line...exasperating). We still managed to bring home a big box of fish...mmmmmm....

On the way back to Anchorage, we stopped at Portage Glacier, which has receeded noticeably since we last saw it 7 years ago. In 1911, the glacier ended where I'm standing to take the photo.

On the trip we saw 1 cinnamon colored grizzly bear, one black bear, 2 chipmunks, 2 harbor seals, 12 sea otters, lots of birds and dogs, but NO MOOSE! But, at Earthquake park in Anchorage we did see some moose tracks...