vacation

well, its been a wonderful week in my home town....

now the house is quiet and the pooches and cats are sleeping soundly with both eyes closed as they are no longer worrying about being run over by kids with stomping feed or adults with sloshing wine glasses.

we have just wrapped up a weeks worth of pure playing and sight seeing here in our new home state with our good friends the morris's and we had a fantastic time. we packed in the quintessential mini-tour of alaska, giving them a fast but furious taste of what this great state has to offer.
our tour itinerary went something like this:

day one: we headed off to hatchers pass in the rain and drizzle. we had a day hike through the clouds to gold cord lake. the kids (3, 4 and 7) were troopers and made it up the slick rocks to summit in the clouds just in time to see a small opening of sunshine while we refueled for the walk down.








day two: we headed to girdwood to the forest festival and to hear new monsoon. yeah! some familiar live music, sun, hula hoops, and people (hippies galore) having lots of fun. i got to meet a fellow blogger judy who was there with her beautiful artwork.
we took the tram to the top of the mountain and the views were truly amazing. what a beautiful day we had. we ended with dinner at jack sprats yum.
day three: we headed for homer to stay at waterman creek guest house. we hung around looking at the amazing views of kachemak bay while feasting and running around. fine dining, fine wine, fine views. we had tired and (slightly) cooperative kids after such a long car ride. homer is abundant with lupine bigger than any of us has ever seen.
day four: bishops beach for rock skipping and seaweed collecting. wellies are fun, and eagles are cool and plentiful here. jen and i escaped to the homer day spa for the most incredible 2 hours of pampering. oh my god. homer will never be the same for me. (or my wallet). what a delight. more good food, and did i mention more wine?

day five: sea kayaking at petersons bay for the morris's (sans children). they saw sea otters and puffins galore. kids, jeff and i explored the pratt museum, which is very cool indeed. we walked in the woods and hung out at the harbor snacking on pizza while waiting for jen and andy to return.
day six: piled back in the mini van, we were seward bound. we love seward, you all know this by now. we also love the jacobys who always invite us in and treat us right. lydia was so kind to let us all invade and play in her domain. we had dinner at the salmon bake and the whole "porch" to ourselves with our noisy brood.
day seven: jeff, jen and andy went cruising with kenai fiords tours and captain rich out to aialik bay and glacier. the grownups had fun while leslie and i gave thanks to those who care for kids for a living. we dont know how you do it!
day eight: sea kayaking for jeff, jade and i with kayak adventures worldwide . what a beautiful, calm day we had in resurrection bay. the water was truly glass- like. we loved our guide "wolfy" who was mellow and easy and also a panic fan. (how did we manage that?) jade did great in the 3 seater kayak and thought the whole thing was pretty cool. we had a snack on waterfall beach and headed back. day eight was packed as then, the morris's and kids all boarded the alaska railroad coastal train and headed back to anchorage at 6 pm. while jeff and i drove in peace and solitude and ate a decadent dinner at orso. we had king crab, scallops and rockfish, and spinich and arugula salad. and wine, did i mention wine?
we picked up our tired friends at the train station just in time for the sun to slowly sink into the horizon (blazing with sunglasses at 10:20 pm) and headed back to palmer.
whew. tired yet?
day nine: oh why not? how about catching the last of the talkeetna moose dropping festival? what time do they drop that moose, anyhow?
there was ice ax ale at the west rib tavern, yummy. we took the long route home over willow fishhook back down hatchers pass past independence mine. WOW. the views were outstanding.
back at the palmer house we had some dinner, packed up the kids and suitcases and took off for the airport where i left 4 tired, but happy friends who boarded the red-eye bound for denver.

pretty good week, eh?
hey guys, thanks for making the journey to see us. we had a blast!!
see you next in akumal?

now, who's next?? come on up. we'll make it worth your while.