vacationing

summer fun has taken over computer time, and that my friends, is a beautiful thing.
last month, we ventured to colorado for some much needed sunshine and music. it was a blast. we're home now and playing hard!

last week we took a trek up the gold mint trail on our mountain bikes. although we didn't make it all the way to the glacier, we had fun trying. (btw, fun=huffing, puffing, moaning and groaning)
now our friends kellie and tony are here checking out the great state of alaska. our first day we headed to archangel to go hiking.
it is truly spectacular up there.


makes ya feel sort of small, dont ya think?




on monday we headed down to seward.
k&t went out on a boat to tour kenai fjords national park. they saw glaciers and whales galore and had a good old time. the next day, we headed out towards caines head where we had reserved derby cabin.
the setting was beautiful.

(and so are these kids.....)
this flower, the chocolate lily, (also called the diaper lily, or outhouse lily) -not so beautiful. give it a sniff some time. yuchhhk!
here's derby cabin.
les and i took a water taxi to arrive with the kids and all the gear, while t&k and rich and jeff hiked the 4.5 mile trail that is only accessible at low tide.


and because we didnt feel that a measly 4.5 miles was enough for one day, after they arrived, we trucked up to fort mcgilvray at the top of caines head.
our small persons, (whom we affectionately dubbed "bear bait") were troopers.
they hiked about 5 miles to and from our cabin to the fort, and only needed lifesavers to sustain them.

although there was plenty of evidence of bear in the area, we did not see any, i am certain they saw us!

later, we ate and drank. (what else do you do when you're camping?)
dont knock the boxed wine- it travels well.
rich dubbed it "cardboardeux."
here are our colorado friends, trying on alaska for size.
they look good, right?


...and i cant get enough of these two friends.
tony, aka polar bear falbo, taking a midnight dip in resurrection bay. nothing goes better with boxed wine than these.

and i leave you with this.
seems like there is always naked, nudie, cold water swimming when the falbos are in town.
and here we have the great yet elusive, alaskan yellow-duckie joining them for a dip in the glacial stream.

what else is there left to say, really? this is the time in alaska to live it up!