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By kilax, July 7, 2016 5:32 am

We’ve been back from Alaska for a week now, and I think I am done with my touristy posts, but here are a few final thoughts that didn’t fit in to those (somewhat) focused posts!

• Everyone enjoyed having the extra daylight (due to the very late sunset and very early sunrise) and it kept us energized to stay up later and do more. It was perfect for vacation! However, at any given moment you had no sense of what time it was (so we rarely ate at “normal” times). You’d think it was 3:00 pm and it was really 8:00 pm. Or the opposite. And we definitely hit an afternoon slump every day from staying up so late. It was nice, but odd. We probably would have become more used to it, if we stayed longer.
• And… staying up so late there has really affected me and Steven back home, three hours ahead in central time zone. We’re having a hell of a time getting back to a regular sleep schedule. We’ve been staying up way too late and having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. Getting back to a regular work schedule this week will help… I hope!
• As is usually true on most vacations… it was nice to spend so much time walking! If only my daily life was like that. It definitely will never be, with where I live.
• A few people warned me the bugs would be horrible but they weren’t. Alyssa’s mom attributed this to the weather.
• The weather was AMAZING. It was never warmer than low 70s, and there was never high humidity or a high dew point. You could be comfortable most days in shorts or jeans, and short sleeves or a jacket. Perfect.
• I LOVE the outdoor culture there – the hiking and adventurous aspect of it. However, I would never fit in with the hunting/fishing/etc. portion of that outdoor culture. It was (understandably) very prominent there.
• I completely forgot about what was going on at work while I was there. Success! A family member brought work up and asked me about it, and I responded “I am on vacation and trying not to think about it… and truly can’t remember [what my projects are].” Hope it wasn’t rude, but eh, work’s not my life and it was nice to have a break from it! It’s not something I talk about with most people. I try NOT to talk about work, even when I am not on vacation.
• As I mentioned, I was sad to come home, and a lot of that was feeling like there was so much more we would have liked to do there. I am determined to get back some day!
• File this under “duh,” but some things (mostly food – at restaurants and grocery stores) were more expensive, because, duh, it costs more to get them there. It was actually a good thing I packed so many snacks after all, ha! I thought we got really good value for the things we did though (minus the aquarium in Seward, but those places are always expensive).

View of Eagle River from Mt Baldy

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By kilax, July 6, 2016 6:24 am

Raspberries!

Yay! My favorite fruit!

Things I am NOT so excited are growing in my yard – poison ivy. I am not sure where it is, but it’s gotta be out there.

Before we left for Alaska, Steven had really odd reactions to bug bites on his arms – swelling, some drainage (ew), and it was somewhat spreading like a rash… and getting crusty. Awesome…

I went to the pharmacist and described it to them (as a reaction to bug bites) and got Steven some allergy medicine and cream to help with it. The medicine seemed to dry it up and we figured it was all good.

Then the same thing happened to me when we got back from Alaska. Which is funny, because I was teasing Steven about it happening to him because of his “weak genes.” “You can’t handle living out here in the woods! Neener neener!” But wait a second, now my skin is reacting the same way? What the heck?

So I figured it was some odd bug bite my body had to get used to. Spider bites (ick) I told myself. “That must be why my body is reacting differently.”

Then yesterday, as the spot oozed again, I thought, “Wait. Maybe this isn’t a reaction to a bug bite at all” Light bulb moment! I took a photo of it and sent it to the family poison ivy expert – my mom. “Does this look like poison ivy rash to you?”

She didn’t even text back. She immediately called “Whose arm is that? I hope it’s not yours because they definitely have poison ivy.”

Dammit. It’s mine. (My leg, actually.)

My mom is allergic to poison ivy and has had some HORRIBLE reactions to it, including getting it on her face and in her eyes last year… so I trust that she can spot it. Blah. Now, to try not to scratch it…

But hey, at least if it happens to me and Steven again, I’ll think of it first! And know not to tease him since I had the same reaction!

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By kilax, July 5, 2016 6:26 am

While I was cycling in Anchorage with my dad and brother-in-law, Steven was visiting Independence Mine Historical State Park, outside of Palmer, with my family.

Independence Mine was a hard-rock gold mining operation that ran from 1897 until 1950. Sixteen families and over two hundred workers called it home, and occupied its 16-22 (sources vary on the number, ha) buildings. When operations ended in 1950, it was presumed they would start up again, but they never did – leaving the buildings somewhat well preserved. It was designated as a state historical site in the early 1980s.

The preserved apartment house

And… a not so well preserved house

There are plaques put up explaining what certain buildings are, and how hard-rock gold mining worked (you blasted out bits of rock then tested it for gold)… but basically, it’s a old gold mine turned playground. Ha! I bet my nephews loved it. There’s 1.5 miles of paved trail throughout the site, but several miles of hiking trails that lead to alpine lakes and great views.

The terrain was what Steven commented on to me the most. He said it was a lot different than what we had seen in other parts of Alaska – it was more rocky, and it made him think of the Lord of the Rings movies. I can see that!

He toured the mine a bit, then took a hike up a steep hill to get some of those views.

Seriously, Alaska, is any of you NOT stunningly beautiful?

I think it’s really cool that this mine was turned in to a historical site for all to explore – you definitely remember more getting up close (and even going in the buildings) than seeing it from afar!

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By kilax, July 4, 2016 5:20 pm

It doesn’t feel like Independence Day to me! For years we’ve spent Independence Day with my family on the Mississippi River in Iowa, but none of us are there this year (except maybe my parents?) since we were all together a week ago, in Alaska.

It feels odd to be at home today!

Coming home from Alaska on Wednesday was a bit of a downer. I had previously wondered if I’d feel a bit overwhelmed having another wedding to go to the weekend right after Nick and Alyssa’s, but it was actually really nice to have something fun planned since we had nothing else going on (besides housework and errands, of course!).

The wedding was for my favorite coworker, and was in Appleton, Wisconsin, at the beautiful campus center for the town university. My coworker was the only one I knew at the wedding, and I had a blast meeting a lot of the people she’s told me about over the years – we had a lot of fun conversations and enjoyed connecting with people.

And I had a blast in general. I really enjoyed their ceremony. Her uncle was the officiant, and my coworker and her husband (!!!) wrote a lot of ceremony/vows and I loved how personal and sweet it was. I had a stupid smile on my face for the whole thing. Probably for the whole night, really. Everything was so thoughtfully done (for example, she had a goody bag for every hotel room, but made sure our room had vegan snacks in it… and she made sure I had a vegan meal and vegan treats on my plate!) and I got so much joy out of seeing her and her husband so happy and loved. It feels good to see the people you care about so happy. Awwww.

And one last thing – their DJ was AWESOME. He played the piano and sang at the ceremony, then sang some of the songs at the wedding – and I even saw him playing the harmonica once! He rocked!

I feel honored we were invited and am so happy we were able to go! It really helped me get out of my post-trip funk! Now if I could find something to prepare me for an almost full week of work… ha ha ha.

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By kilax, July 3, 2016 5:53 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running up and down the mountain in Alaska / biking in Alaska / swimming with Anne!

Monday | June 27, 2016: 4 m run
Loc: Eagle River, AK, Temp: 58°/60°, Time: 41:52, Pace: 10:27 avg, Difficulty: hard then (un!)easy, Felt: decent
Tuesday | June 28, 2016: 21.75 m ride (w/Dad & Will) + 1.4 m hike + 3 m run (counting as tempo)
Loc: Anchorage, Temp: 63°/65°, Time: 2:05:38, Pace: 10.4 mpg avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good
Loc: Mt Baldy, Temp: 68°/68°, Time: 21:08, Pace: 7:02 avg, Difficulty: easy/hard, Felt: okay/out of breath
Wednesday | June 29, 2016: rest
Thursday | June 30, 2016: 5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 79°/78°, Time: 46:41, Pace: 9:20 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: hot, upset stomach toward end
Friday | July 1, 2016: teaching strength class + 800 m breaststroke swim (w/Anne) + 6 m run + 4 m run
Strength: body bars, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good to be back!
Loc: Grayslake outdoor pool, Temp (air): 61°/61°, Time: 22:36, Pace: 2:36min/100m, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Loc: hood, Temp: 66°/66°, Time: 56:48, Pace: 9:27 avg, Difficulty: hard, Felt: hot, sore quads (again)
Loc: hood, Temp: 67°/67°, Time: 37:56, Pace: 9:28 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, enjoyed the breeze
Saturday | July 2, 2016: 3 m run 
Loc: hood, Temp: 67°/70°, Time: 29:18, Pace: 9:46 avg, Difficulty: hard, Felt: hot and physically tired
Sunday | July 3, 2016: rest

Notes:

• My Monday run was up toward the top of the mountain (Mt. Baldy) our rental house was on in Alaska. It was a challenging run – 850 feet up in two miles! But the view was amazing and I got to see a moose up close!
• Cycling in Anchorage on Tuesday is definitely one of my favorite memories from the trip, and I am so happy I got to do it! Speaking of cycling – my RAGBRAI packet came this week! WOOT WOOT! Four more weeks!!!
• I ended up running down Mt. Baldy (on the roads) around 11:00 pm on Tuesday (the night before we left Alaska). Man. What a run. It was 1260 feet down. It was at 5K pace, but not quite 5K effort. But I still hit lactate threshold and my feet were BURNING. Fun and scary all at once! I knew it would kill my quads and it did – I was really feeling it on Thursday’s run (and Friday’s and Saturday’s).
• Bobbi was telling me about corn remover bandages so I got the Dr Scholl’s brand to try and HOLY CRAP guys – it works! Whatever they put on the bandage softens up the area around the corn so you can take it right out, pain free. It will likely come back, but now I can remove it. SCHWEET. Cause I have to say it – I paid for these bandages on my own and this is my unbought opinion.
• Friday was my first time using my Garmin watch to count laps in a pool. I was pleased with how well it worked and how easy it was to use! Anne and I plan to swim more this month!
• Monthly recap time! May was such a crap month I was determined to make June better, and I did! June left me feeling much happier. In June I ran 180 miles and cycled 74.9 miles (6 indoor rides, 2 outdoor rides). I taught 6 strength classes and 2 fitness boxing classes, and did 5 strength sessions at home. I went hiking once (that I am counting from our trip anyway – there were a few other things I never turned my watch on for) and on one walk. My coldest outdoor run was 54°F and my warmest was 89°F.

Link to Training Week 349

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By kilax, July 2, 2016 10:11 am

It’s hard to believe it’s already been a week since we were in Sterling, Alaska for Nick and Alyssa’s wedding! And we’re actually off to another wedding today!

A few people have been asking me if I was going to post some wedding pics, so here ya go!!!

Remember the story of when we went shopping for Alyssa’s wedding dress?

I don’t recall if I’ve told the story of how Nick and Alyssa met. They were both working at places that sold Michelin tires and were sent to South Carolina for Michelin training (in fall of 2013). They connected at training, but Nick didn’t get her number or anything. So when he got back to Iowa and couldn’t stop thinking about her, he emailed the places in Wasilla, AK (her home town) that sold Michelin tires and said “If a girl named Alyssa lastname works there, will you have her call this number?” And he only knew her last name because he saw it on her certificate of completion for training. Creeper! Ha!

And she obviously responded to him! I saw Nick quite a bit during this time when he was first texting and calling Alyssa, then taking trips to Alaska to see her (he’d fly through Chicago) and I had never seen him so happy. Aww.

Alyssa moved to Iowa to be with Nick in May 2014. And the rest is history! They’ll continue to live in Iowa (they actually closed on a new house right before their wedding – exciting!).

Back to that Michelin training though. Some of Alyssa’s coworkers from the shop in Wasilla were at the wedding and had some funny things to say about training – “We don’t let women go anymore!” (jokingly) and they wrote in their wedding card “that damn Michelin training.” Ha ha. I can see why a shop wouldn’t want Alyssa to go – she is a hard worker but also a lot of fun to be around!

On to the wedding! The wedding was held at a place owned by a guy Alyssa’s dad works for. I think the guy uses the places for retreats, etc., and Alyssa’s dad has helped build some of the cabins/buildings there. Alyssa’s family let ALL of my family stay in these cabins, giving us a place to stay for a few nights, for free. They also rented us a huge 15-passenger van to get around, and hauled all our luggage, separately, for us. Very, very generous. We’re so thankful to them for making things easier for us (especially when there was so many of us!).

So they gave us the cabins… and they all used campers. As did many of the other guests. Some camped in tents, too!

The ceremony was at 2:00 pm. There had been a chance of rain but there was an indoor backup plan for it. It looked like it was going to be clear so the ceremony was set up for outside, then as we sat there waiting for the start, a few drops came down… but that was it! Phew!

The ceremony was held in the space behind the cabin we stayed in (which is also where Alyssa prepped!), and overlooked the Funny River.

The ceremony was short and sweet. Alyssa was crying when she walked down the aisle, so that made me cry a bit. Ha ha.

Me and Stefano at the ceremony

They did photos after the ceremony. I am excited to see how they turn out! We’ve gotten a photo of me and my three siblings at all our weddings, and I’d like to do something with all of them. Fun fact: all four of us have had outdoor weddings!

Mom, Alyssa, Nick and Dad

Alyssa and her mom and dad

The Bridal party – Jacob (Nick’s best friend), Anthony (our brother), Nick, Alyssa, Kathi (Alyssa’s best friend) and Brittany (Alyssa’s best friend). Nick’s boys walked Chevy (Alyssa’s dog down the aisle).

View of the back of Alyssa’s dress

Alyssa’s mom’s dad is very in to cooking, so he prepped all of the wedding food, with a bit of help. Starting around 4:00 pm, trays of foods were brought out – salads and a variety of local meats (I think caught/hunted by the family) – salmon, caribou, moose, etc. It was amusing for me to see which of my family members would try the local stuff, and which passed.

The whole wedding vibe was very casual, which was fun. It was like we were all hanging out having a huge fancy picnic together… and with some adorable puppies!

Chevy, Autumn, Hooch & Moose

Main building where the food was, and tent over the dance floor.

Me, our nephew James, and Christina

They did the traditional cutting of the cake,

bouquet toss,

garter toss,

and first dance together, and groom/mother dance, and bride/father dance.

An eagle showed up at some point during the reception, which is a common sight for Alaskans, but we all gawked and thought it was cool. Must be some sort of wedding blessing, right?

The DJ played a few songs after the first dance, then I plugged my phone in (eek – there is some nutso stuff on there) for music. And there was a bit of drinking, games, and s’mores around the fire. And I think some people were even fishing? It was fun – there were lots of options for what to do!

After 10:00 pm, I took my nephews to our cabin to try to get them to sleep. Ha! Fat chance when it’s still light out until past midnight and they can hear people outside having fun. Poor guys. They tried the best they could!

I really enjoyed spending time with Alyssa’s family and getting to know them (it helps to put faces to names)! I had met her mom twice before, but felt like I really got a chance to talk to her on this trip (well, when she wasn’t running around being the wedding coordinator). I hope I’ll get more chances to see her when she visits Iowa… and I hope we’ll be back to Alaska!

And I’m so happy to officially call Alyssa my sister now! It was exciting when I tagged her in a picture on Facebook earlier this week and her last name was changed! We’ve loved her since we first met her and are thrilled to have her be part of our family.

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By kilax, July 1, 2016 4:13 am

I was really REALLY hoping I’d have a chance to cycle while we were in Alaska. I thought about researching it before hand, but decided to wait and see if anyone was interested while we were there.

On our first day, walking around downtown Anchorage, I saw a bike shop (Downtown Bicycle Rental) and pulled my snister’s husband, Will, aside with me to check it out. We got the spiel about their tours and rental prices and took a brochure. I was excited and told my dad and Will (and a few others) I’d really like to rent a bike and check out some of the trails in Anchorage.

Then we got to the rental house and it had TWO bikes! The owner said we could use them and my dad bought a pump to put air in the tires. No dice – the bikes were NOT in riding shape. (Which is probably a good thing – riding up the mountain we stayed on would be impossible, and riding down would be too dangerous.)

On our last day (Tuesday), my snister asked if I was going to do the bike tour. I felt bad breaking away from the group for several hours, but everyone was totally cool with it, so Dad and Will and I drove to downtown Anchorage, back to that shop.

The shop was hoppin’ when we got there! But they took care of us quickly. It was funny when one of the workers gave his overview of the route and alternative routes. You could tell he’d given it MANY times before and had it memorized. And I don’t mean he was saying it like he was bored – he was just talking fast and enthusiastically!

Their prices are reasonable – $16 for three hours (plus a price per the hour if you go over), and $32 for the day – and it includes a helmet, pannier, repair kit and map. They had a big selection of bikes. You can pay extra for bikes with more features (shocks, etc.) which we did (we got two bikes at $25 and one for $20). We weren’t sure if we were going to go off road on to trails, so we all got mountain bikes. Which was weird for me – I am SO used to my road bike, riding a mountain bike feels so squishy.

We didn’t sign up for a tour, and got to go wherever we wanted with the bikes for three hours. The shop is very close to the north trail head of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, so we rode to that. It’s a paved trail, about eleven miles long, that goes from the northeast to southwest corner of Anchorage, around the airport.

The ride varied from open routes along the water (stay off the mud!) to shaded areas in the woods. We saw the mountains (apparently you can see Mt. Denali but I didn’t), various birds, a guy giving a group a presentation while an eagle rested on a perch next to him, and lots of interesting airplanes. The ride was somewhat flat with a HUGE hill at the end when you get to Kincaid Park.

I has a grin on my face the whole time because I was enjoying it so much!

Click to see larger

From Kincaid Park (after having a nice conversation with some other Iowans – I asked where they were from because one of them had a Quad Cities shirt on) we took a few of the bike paths next to roads. I noticed that about a lot of places we went in Alaska – there was almost always a path along the road. There was even one that went from Anchorage all the way to where the rental house was in Eagle River. I am not sure if the intent is for it to be used for exercise, or if it’s for transportation for people on ATVs and dirt bikes, but it really gave me the impression that Anchorage (look at all those trails!!!) is a place you can travel far on, safely(!!!), on bike or foot.

We however, did not go too far – just over twenty miles in just over two hours (stops not included). We went through town a bit then got back on the coastal trail and went back to the rental place.

It was such a treat for me to enjoy Anchorage on a bicycle, with two of my favorite riding companions! I can’t wait to ride with them again at RAGBRAI in four weeks!

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By kilax, June 30, 2016 9:17 am

Steven’s been a fan of the Discovery Channel show Gold Rush (which is set in Alaska) for a long time, so when we found out we were going to Alaska, we knew we had to make plans to pan for gold!

We researched a few places, and ended up going to Crow Creek Gold Mine in Girdwood on Monday. The set-up is neat – it’s a mining area that was active starting in 1897 and well in to the 1900s. There aren’t records for all of the years mined, but during the mid 1920s to 1940s, the mine averaged 700 ounces a month, which in today’s prices equates to over a million dollars earned a month! The largest nugget ever found there was the size of a chicken’s egg and weighed four and a half ounces. (<– this information is from the handout I grabbed on site.)

Crow Creek is now a national historic site, and the Toohey family has been taking care of it since 1969. Some of the original mining buildings still stand, and some of the buildings are replicas. The grounds are well maintained with beautiful flowers (we couldn’t believe how many different flowers we saw in Alaska!). And of course, there are stunning views of nearby mountains.

But we weren’t there for history or beauty. We were there to get RICH! Ha!

Quite a bit of our group went. Monday was the day we all started to split up and do different things depending on people’s interests and when they were leaving town, but I am not surprised we had a big group – who isn’t interested in finding GOLD?! I was surprised Alyssa (my new(!!!) sister-in-law) had never panned for gold before! I asked her if that was really dorky and if her local Alaskan friends would make fun of her for going. No comment, ha!

From L to R: Aunt Sue, Mom, Steven, Me, Snistina, Will, Jacob & Katie. Missing: Nick, Alyssa and the boys.

The mine is open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm and it costs $20 to pan (they provide all of the equipment and a lesson) or $10 to get in and tour/watch others pan. You have to have a car to get there – it was a bit of a drive through a beautiful (of course) forest to get there.

After paying and eating the lunches we brought, we got our lesson in panning. There are four steps:

1. After putting your “material” (soil) in the pan, swirl around water and empty it out. Repeat until the water is clear.
2. Pick the “big” (size of a fingernail) rocks out of your material.
3. Tap the side of the pan to make the gold go to the bottom. Gold is heavier so that’s where it will settle.
4. Swirl around water in your pan, carefully removing the non-gold material from the top until all that’s left is the gold on the bottom.

Our teacher showing us the four steps of gold panning.

We were all given a small bag of material to practice with, that was guaranteed to have three to five gold flakes in it.

And sure enough, I found three in mine!

After your lesson, you do a short (less than ten minute) hike down to the creek to pan on your own. They have shovels, buckets and sluice boxes you can use if you want, or you can just use your pan. When we were grabbing our shovels, the worker gave a few of us an advanced lesson, showing how we could start working with more material in our pan than what we practiced with.

Steven got to work right away, finding a “good” spot to get a bucket of dirt from to pan. And it must have been good – he actually found two tiny specks of gold!

And… I think he’s the only one who did find anything  (correction:) Steven and Will were the only ones to find anything, beyond what was given to us to practice with. But we all had a lot of fun panning, and playing in the dirt and water.

We ended up panning and checking out the buildings for quite a few hours. When my mom and I were walking back from the river, we noticed the Alyeska ski lodge way off in the distance. I remembered seeing an ad for riding the tram up there and decided to call and see how much it cost – $25. Kind of steep, but I figured the views would be neat from up that high, so after we finished panning, Steven, myself and my aunt rode the tram.

Red arrow pointing to the ski lodge in the mountain

From the lodge you could see the river and little mining village where we just were! You could also see some of the glaciers in the mountains (neat!) and Turnagain Arm. And, a bit of snow! Ha, we were NOT dressed to be so high up in a mountain, but it was fine, because we didn’t stay up there too long.

On the ride down, we saw a lot of people hiking the switchback trails up the mountain. I’d definitely like to do more hiking the next time we’re back! And more panning. Maybe we should just spend a month doing both! Hike and pan a little, hike and pan…

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By kilax, June 29, 2016 9:14 am

Both suitcases look like that! And there’s a Starbucks carry-on…

I feel sad leaving Alaska, which isn’t surprising. We were here for such a short amount of time! Hopefully we can come back in the future. I think my ideal trip would be a few weeks long and involve hiking, running or biking all over!

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By kilax, June 28, 2016 11:55 am

I decided to run up the mountain (Mt. Baldy) we’re staying on to get to the trailhead and check out the views yesterday.

Oh my gosh, the incline. I was happy there were lots of reasons to stop and take photos so I could catch my breath!

I was telling myself the whole time “I am not doing THIS again,” ha! But the views going up and when I got up there were really cool.

When I got to the trailhead the pitch of the incline decreased and I could breathe again! Yay!

Almost immediately, I saw someone on a horse on the trail ahead.

Wait a minute. That’s not a horse! My brain just told me it was because that’s what I’m used to seeing in Illinois. It was a moose!

He was trying to go the opposite direction down the trail from me so I backed in the brush to give him some space. I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to do around a moose (just bears, ha!) other than give him space, so that is what I did.

Unfortunately, I still freaked him out, so he ran up the direction he came from, and went up a hill. Then I continued on up the trail, but only for a bit – I figured the fact that I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do around a moose meant I shouldn’t be out there much longer on my own!

When I came back down, the moose was making his second attempt to exit the trail. A slow second attempt. Ha. I waited for him to exit. I was actually kind of scared to get too close to him!

Then he left the trail, made a left turn, and immediately went up the steeper trail option.

Bye, moose!

I was super jacked up after seeing him. I was really hoping I’d encounter some wildlife in the wild! Yay!

The run down the hill was a lot of fun – and a bit scary! My uphill miles were 12:43 and 11:51, then 10:08 and 7:08 on the way down! I think I should have someone drive me to the top of the mountain so I can run down really fast. Then obviously, pick me up at the bottom and drive me back up.