wow...

i can't believe how long it's been since i was last here! i've taken lots of pictures i wanted to share, but just couldn't since i haven't finished alaska yet. so, here's what i'm going to do: by popular demand, i'm going to finish alaska, and "back-date" them to the date on which they should have been posted. i may post something current, too... with the proper date. and i'll probably post some old stuff that happened between july 2009 and now, also with the proper date. so it might look a little confusing for a bit... but i'll catch up. one day. i just didn't want the one or two of you that actually read this blog to give up on me. not just yet, anyway. =) (and some of you owe me a blog entry or two yourselves! you know who you are!! =)

(the last post on here for months was titled 07.21.08, posted on 07.21.09. things will be randomly posted between now and then... rather than chronologically posted. sorry!)

happy bmt birthday, alpineman!

happy 16th bone marrow birthday, alpineman!

family reunion

We went to Oklahoma for our annual "goof off"... my parents and i were lucky enough to stay here... isn't it beautiful!!

They have a hummingbird feeder on the back deck

way cool... i've never seen this before!

welcome to oklahoma! =) this was a "shortcut", it actually was part of the directions on the gps!

we went on the boat to look around the lake

had a great time... as always with these folks. see you next year in virginia!

the cardinals try it again

I was glad to see that the cardinals had another baby, and i caught them at a very neat moment! The mom and dad were making a lot of noise, which caused me to have a look. I managed to catch the baby taking what i assume was his first flight! It didn't last long...

weeeeee!

you're going the wrong way!

so he didn't go far, and ended up hopping around the front of the house

mom and dad were never far away

and dad even brought the baby food every little while!

I do not know what became of the baby... but after seeing the fate of the last one, I decided to believe that this one eventually just flew away. Yeah, it's hippie... yeah, it's girlie... yeah, it's my story! I get to write my own ending. =)

hair!

so, i cut my hair! well, i didn't do it, but a friend did. i don't generally do anything stylish with my hair... it's looked the same for years... but i do generally let it grow until i have enough for Locks of Love, then i cut it, donate it, and grow it again. this is definitely my longest donation to date: 15 inches! (when you stretch it out, anyway)

07.23.08 - Ketchikan

So, Ketchikan was our last stop. It was probably the most touristy place we stopped, but we still had a good time and it was still beautiful! Bec and I went on a Rainforest Canopy and Zipline adventure. It was very scary at times, but very fun!

So, this was our first ride on the zipline. It was a short line, but it gave us the opportunity to learn how to use the hand brake!

This was the view from one of the first platforms. I'm not sure which mountain that is in the background, but I happened to catch an eagle in the center of the shot. I was so nervous at that point... I'm SURE the eagle was just a bonus! It was a beautiful view from near the tops of the trees, for sure!

This is one of the 8 ziplines. Yes, it is hard to see where you will end up. But you just do it, cause there's no other way down! (well, no other pleasant way down)

And one of the 3 swinging bridges... those were pretty scary because you move so slowly. One of our guides was behind me and knew that I was a bit uncomfortable, so he did the nice thing... and bounced on the bridge as hard as he could! While it scared the snot out of me, I guess it made walking across it much easier, since it didn't normally shake like that. =)

Back on solid ground again! There were lots of totem poles in Ketchikan... carved from western red cedar and impregnated with oil so they are rot and termite resistant.

They are also not made in China. =)

The next stop was the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. It was a little cheesy, but certainly entertaining... they split the crowd and involved us by having us cheer for "our" designated team - either Canada or US. We had fun by heckling the other crowd, and they had fun by doing silly things that also showed off their lumberjack skills.

I think we were not supposed to take video, but here's a video to show just how fast they were!

While we were out doing some window shopping, we saw this beautiful dog... the owner was taking tips so people could have their picture taken with the dog. I guess I cheated. =)

On our way out, we got a glimpse of more totem poles at a totem pole park...

... and jellyfish...

... and our final look at Alaska.

07.22.08 - Icy Strait Point

Icy Strait Point is a small port... only one ship is scheduled on any given day due to the small size of the nearby town of Hoonah. Hoonah has Alaska's largest population of the Tlingit people.

On the way to our first adventure, we saw a black-tailed deer.

This... was our first adventure. All of us tried it - and all of us enjoyed it!

Icy Strait Point is home to the world's longest and highest zip line! Per the website embedded above, it is 5400 feet long, takes you for a 1300 foot drop at speeds up to 60mph over about 90 seconds: 20 seconds of pure terror, 10 seconds of holy wow, 50 seconds of exhilaration, and 10 seconds of aniticipating how you are going to stop!

Here's my uncle, getting ready to fly! You literally sit in this swing-harness, and you have to put your feet up on the door. Then it opens... and there's no stopping you!

Our second adventure was kayaking! This was fun... it wasn't as adventurous as expected, so Bec and I were a little disappointed, but we were glad that it wasn't any more strenuous than it was. We were kind of tired by the time we got back to the boat. We were in tandem kayaks, which was fun! We saw a bald eagle up close, but it was really difficult to get a decent picture with the crappy underwater camera I had, instead of a digital. Wow, the difference a good camera makes!

Our guide... I hate that I can't remember his name! He is a Tlingit and told us some of the history and traditions of his people.

Our big boat from a little boat! (and we were running late! we had to push it to get back before the last tender left! since we were so close, bec and i decided to try and be the LAST ones on the boat. i think we worried my mom... and we were close... we tried lingering behind to ensure being last, but they had two lines to get back through security and onto the boat. they rushed us to the back of the shortest line... even moving slowly here didn't make us last... but we were close! and the txts i got from my mom were hilarious! i guess it would have stunk to try and arrange travel from Icy Strait back to the ship. oh the fun... =)

I think this was actually taken on the way in... you can see the tender boat at the dock. But this is a view of the port taken from our balcony, and if you look closely (or double-click on the picture to enlarge it), you can see the zip line cables! It ended not far to the left of this picture.

More humpbacks demonstrating that thing they call bubble net feeding! This was taken on our way out of port.

For your enjoyment (I hope!), here is my ride on the zip line: