Thunder Mountain

Chris and I had a real treat this week when our managers found out with only 24 hour notice that an inspector was coming to the Bed and Breakfast. One of the rooms had a bathroom fan that broke a few days prior, and they didn't have time to fix it before the inspection. Our boss was worried that if the inspector went in that room and saw the broken fan it would reflect negatively on the property so he called Chris up and asked if we would be willing to spend a night in the room and check out late the next day to make sure the room was occupied during the time in which the inspection would take place. Of course spending a free night in a quaint B&B room with a large featherbed and jacuzzi tub and huge hot breakfast made to order is quite the favor to be asked of young married couple, but he's the one who pays us so we obliged and took one for team.

Our large adventure this week was hiking up Thunder Mountain and having a great camp-out on top. As we were hiking up through the layers of the mountain we were seeing continual reminders that fall is upon us. There are plants that are browning and clearly dying, and others that make the mountain seem covered in flames with the bright yellow, orange, and red leaves. The highlight of the trip was probably all the mountain goats we saw, both during the evening and the next morning. For those of you who don't know Chris is part mountain goat and has been told ever since he was 12 years old that his ability to get around on mountains eerily nonhuman. (If you don't believe me, go hike a mountain with him, you'll see what I mean soon enough.) His favorite animal has always been mountain goats, but this is the first time he's ever seen them up close out in the wild. Needless to say no kid was ever more excited to see Santa than Chris was to see these furry friends. We also saw a ton of bear tracks, but to tell you the truth I wasn't too bummed when we never saw the culprit, this wasn't the kind of place where I would want an encounter.

The trail was only a little more than 2 miles to the top of the mountain, and it ascended almost completely through the rainforest until the last couple hundred feet to the peak. When we reached the top just before dusk (we started late in the day after Chris did homework), we were rewarded with a view of the setting sun over the city in the valley, and the towering snowy mountain peaks behind us.

There were signs of goats aplenty on the way up.

At the top overlooking Douglas Island and the channel.

You can't tell from the picture, but it was biting cold out by this time.
Here's Chris cooking me a hot dinner while I stay huddled in the warm tent.
I sure love him.

Chris saw this one from a distance and crept up on her.

"These goats and I were both surprised when I almost ran into them." -Chris

"It's never a bad day waking up to this. Beautiful wife in the beautiful mountains." -Chris

At the summit! 2900 ft.

Handstands at the top. It's a thing.

Just a little one.

Contemplating the Heintzleman ridge... do we have time before work?

Already seeing snow on the mountains.

Chris is still stoked about the mountain goats.

We had a neat opportunity on Saturday when Chris had a friend who contacted him about a chance to help some elders in the MTC. As a part of their training, some missionaries are starting to Skype members living in the areas they are called to in order to ask questions, but also to practice giving a lesson. Chris and I were both able to sign up as volunteers and Skype with two sets of missionaries. It was fun to see the excitement in these young men's eyes as they are preparing to go forth with the work of the Lord. It made us think of both Joseph and Hannah who are out serving, and reminded us how thankful we are to already have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Skype lesson with the elders.

Speaking of bear encounters, a coworker gave us a can of bear spray a few weeks back when he moved back down to Idaho to go to school. Though we've never had a need to use it (before or after receiving it), it does give us a peace of mind we didn't know we were missing while out exploring in the wilderness. And speaking of a peace of mind - Grandpa Andrew this is specifically for you! - Chris and I also bit the bullet and bought a personal locator beacon from ACR. This GPS-enabled beacon has only one function: S.O.S. Extend the antenna, press the help button for 1 second, and your location is transmitted to a satellite (same ones used by the US government and military) and then to the nearest search and rescue facility within three minutes. The unit continues to send a signal and blink a strobe light for over 24 hours. Grandpa Andrew carries one of these in his airplane, and after speaking with him we realized he was right when he pointed out that although these small devices are pricey, the worth of our lives is far greater than anything we could spend on a PLB. Though we hope we never have to use it, we recognize that our lifestyle puts us in many situations often where if something went wrong, this device could be the difference between life and death. Anyways, we hope this is the best couple-hundred-dollars we carry around with us that we'll never actually use. And now you all know that we're getting soft and are starting to think more about consequences in life, and though it's not slowing us down any, it is keeping us more safe in all those "what-if" scenarios. 

Our healthy eating is going well - we are keeping each other accountable and that is huge. One night I had a dream about doughnuts. Chris and I were walking down the road and every single building was a different doughnut shop: Dunkin' Doughnuts, Krispy Kreme, Johnny O's, Daylight Doughnuts, Breeze In. etc, So obviously when I woke up that's the only thing I wanted, though I'm sure I would have settled for a cupcake if Chris would have compromised, however he kept me going strong and I overcame that sneaking temptation - #husbandpoints.

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Mendenhall Glacier Kayaking

Our friends, the Wellings, were kind enough to once again let us borrow their kayak on our day off this week. It was a shorter day on the water than the day we went sea kayaking, because we paddled the Mendenhall Lake up to the glacier--and the water was freezing! However, the frozen fingers were worth the views as we were able to get close to the face of the glacier as well as it's many icebergs. Paddling around here is a new experience for us--our inner riverguides are used to being able to set our paddles down and still float downstream on the river. Sadly, that's not how it works on a lake. But the good news is paddling on still water builds character and muscle all while letting you take in views you couldn't see any other way! The deep blue and white shades of the glacier and icebergs are stunning against the gray silty water and the low rain clouds. The trees on the banks of the lake are exploding into fiery reds and yellows indicating that fall is already upon us.

An iceberg window

Other than that it was a pretty slow week filled with lots of work (both of us), schoolwork (Chris), and playing in the kitchen (me). We've felt the need to temporarily eliminate sugar from our diet (for REAL this time - ending with a permanent and significant decrease of sugar intake for the future), and eat more whole foods as opposed to processed foods that are so conveniently sold in a price range that targets broke college kids like us. It's hard to believe how much sugar is in so many things until you read the ingredients on the labels (for clarification, we know there is natural sugars in fruit, and we are still eating fruit). As part of the change we've had to become creative with our food, because heck, it's not a doughnut so we need more than some gross kiefer to keep us satisfied!

Remember to pray and remember to play (and eat),

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Bear Redemption

First things first, Chris finally got his redemption of capturing pictures of a bear in the wild! Our weekly glacier went from wonderful to amazing when we saw a beautiful cinnamon-colored black bear that the locals have named Nicki walking around. We were able to watch her for about 45 minutes as she walked around, caught a salmon and ate it for dinner, and then finally scampered off deeper into the woods.

Nicki hunting in Steep Creek

My favorite view of the night.

We used Wednesday to get in a large-mile day of hiking. The Treadwell Ditch Trail on Douglas Island isn't very well maintained once you get a few miles out, but it was a good trail to just knock out miles. It's a level path that follows an old ditch that was used as a flume for a mine back in the day. It's nicknamed "Juneau's Best Training Trail" because of it's length and little elevation change. We hiked 22 miles in one day, and that doesn't even include the walk to the trailhead from the bus stop! It was nice to be able to set up our tent that night, and we have to admit how much we've missed camping. On Thursday we only had about 5 miles back to our bus stop, and though we could feel the miles we put in the day prior, we also couldn't stop our minds from dreaming of the PCT. We know it's going to be hard - but we also think we can do it. And we are excited for the opportunity to try. 

Devil's Club - don't touch!

I look great in candid pictures - I just wanted to drink, but Chris wanted a photo at our turn-around-spot for the day.

Our route - Chris thinks you guys like looking at maps.

On Saturday, we went on a day date to downtown. We decided it was time to splurge a little and buy ourselves a locally-caught-fresh king crab's leg meal. And it was delicious! It was fun cracking open the shell and finding the fresh meat inside. This life by the ocean is pretty fun.

Can you imagine the size of this crab?!

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Observation Peak

It's a good thing Chris is normally focused on school, because when he isn't we almost get too ambitious with our adventures. This week was full of trails, mountains, and sore legs.

Monday morning we had the chance to bike out to Herbert Glacier. This was a beautiful wooded trail and was just hilly enough to make biking fun. We enjoyed getting splattered by some mud, and loved seeing the glacier at the end of the trail. (Chris's edit: we wanted to see some wildlife, but Dani screamed so loud down the hills we only saw a porcupine. Haha!) (Dani's edit on Chris's edit: everybody knows things are more fun when you scream - this is taught in Roller Coasters 101 and applies to many other facets of life as well.)

Herbert Glacier

On Tuesday we went to Glacier Gardens - the local botanical gardens. We were taken on a short golf cart ride through the woods, and saw some really beautiful flowers. The owners put a lot of work into the planting and care of their plants, and we couldn't help but think how much Grandma and Grandpa Andrew would love to see this place. Their specialty is finding fallen hemlock trees and putting them upside-down in the earth with their roots splayed out in the air, so they can plant flowers on top. Pretty neat.

Wednesday was our big adventure of the week. It was forecasted to be a perfectly sunny day, so we planned a big loop on some mountain ridges near Juneau. We started with the Blackerby Ridge, summited Cairn Peak, descended and summited Observation Peak, descended again and traversed the Salmon Ridge, and then joined the Granite Creek Basin trail at the top of the Mount Juneau Ridge and hiked into town. We fell in love with hiking ridgelines on this trail -- it was awesome to hike in the rainforest, ascend through the alpine, scramble to the top of two peaks, and be able to see endless mountains and glaciers in every direction. We couldn't have asked for better weather either. These are the same mountains that most times we can't see the tops of through the clouds for days on end. It was 16 miles, over 9,000 feet of elevation gain and loss, and coming down Observation Peak was the scariest descent I've ever experienced in my life. This trail was beautiful but it was not for the faint of heart.

Started at the north trailhead, up Blackerby ridge, west up Cairn and Observation, south across the Salmon ridge,
zig-zagged on the Mt. Juneau ridge, and then dropped down into Granite Creek Basin.

Hiking into the alpine

Cairn Peak is on the far left, and Observation is just to it's right.

Cairn Peak overlooking Douglas Island, the channel, and beyond.

Lemon Creek Glacier between Cairn and Observation Peak.

At the top of the world! Elevation 4610 ft

Mountains as far as the eye can see.

The descent from Observation - this facial expression says it all, this was NOT our favorite part

Granite Creek Basin

Huckleberries

Thursday and Friday we stayed home and cuddled, not because Blackerby Ridge took it out of us (this is a half truth), but because the harsh rains and winds definitely necessitated such activities.

On Saturday Chris had the opportunity to go fishing with the rescheduled Elder's Quorum trip. The bishop's boat was leaving early enough in the morning that Chris would get back in time for work. He had a great time on the water, and though he didn't get lucky enough to catch a halibut he did catch some Coho salmon.

Sunday evening we had our friends Ben and Camille over for dinner. We cooked up the fish that Chris had caught the day prior and it was great just talking to them! They are surely friends cut from the same mold as us, and we love getting together with them because of all we have in common.

Since it was the fifth Sunday this month we had the opportunity to go to a combined adult class instead of sitting with our nine year olds during Sharing Time this week. The counselors in the bishopric gave an amazing lesson on the importance of marriage and family, and highlighted the relationship that a husband and wife have. I am so grateful to have a husband who loves our Heavenly Father and me completely. The sealing powers of the temple are real. But so is the adversity of life. I know that when we stay rooted in the Gospel of Christ that we can overcome all challenges. We can love deeper and we can be the light that we all want to see in the world. I know that when a family prioritizes church attendance, personal and family scripture study and prayer, and Family Home Evening they will be blessed.

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Hatchery

Here's a short post for you, as this was a pretty lazy week for us and we really didn't do much.

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to go on a tour of the local hatchery. It was interesting to learn about the life cycle of a salmon and have an opportunity to see salmon in all the different stages of their life. We were lucky enough to be there when they had the huge king salmon in the fish ladder and were helping them to spawn. We also got to touch some of the other sea creatures in a tide pool "petting zoo" of sorts.

Swimming up the fish ladder!

The fish ladder behind us.

These pools are where they let the salmon mature.
Right now they are the size of minnows. 

Saturday we had the day off for a ward activity -- Chris was going to go fishing with the Elder's Quorum and then bring their catch to the church to provide dinner for the ward, but the weather was so windy that it was cancelled. The winds were so strong that the swells were too dangerous for fishing. So went on a bike ride out to Skaters Cabin, near the Mendenhall Glacier. It was a fun day biking around, and we also had the opportunity to go out for sushi and a movie. It was a great date!

Do it for the picture! Chris getting the shot of a Bald Eagle hunting.

We also got the salmon back that Chris caught and took to get smoked. Alaska Seafood Company prepared the fish, smoked the fillets, packaged and froze them for us. We've tried them and we love it! We're excited to try new recipes with smoked salmon.

Smoked salmon on bagels with cream cheese.

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew