the best week i've had in a long time

was just a few weeks ago when my mom and brother came up to anchorage for a visit. we had such a good time. nice weather, lots of laughs, projects, fun day trips, and the discovery of a new, favorite quote . . .

"there is no charge for awsomeness . . . or attractiveness" ~po

thanks again mom and nolan for making the trek here. i love you both so much!

they arrived late on a friday night and we weren't in bed until after 1am i think. but, they still got up to join me for the alaska run for women . i felt compelled to be a part of it and i'm glad i did. being around hundreds of other strong survivors was a pretty powerful feeling. one of these days i'd like to run it. this year was just a nice little walk though, even in the rain. a couple of little boys were sporting shirts from save the tatas and it was just too cute to pass up a picture.

without the help of my mom, the garden would have never happened. i have this lovely little greenhouse, one of the real attractions to the house when i bought it, yet really didn't know where to start. my mom led the way and we spent a day reconditioning the soil with new manure and compost and then planted lots of yummy stuff. lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, squash, strawberries, peppermint, stevia, rosemary, lavender, and chives. It was great working with the dirt and giving these lovely little starts a home to grow. wandering around bells nursery and alaska mill and feed is never a bad way to spend some time either. thanks to nolan i didn't have to break my back carrying the big bags of manure and compost either.

i didn't want to put my family to work for our visit, but i can't say that i'm sorry they were willing. mom and i feel the same way about projects. fun fun. while nolan is super tolerant of us both, he does not share the same idea of fun. but, he was awsome and super helpful. we spent two good days working on the garden and deck awning and then it was off for some fun adventures and sights. my mom learned a lot from watching her contractors build her hay shed so she was able to help me with a better design for the awning frame than i had on my own. and again, with nolan's help, i didn't have to break my back. the project was, of course, not as simple as i had thought it would be, but after a long day, we had it completed. that same day we also got some cinder blocks to build a little fire pit, so we finished things off with some friends, a bbq, and a fire (no pictures of that though, darn).

our big adventure was monday. we took a beautiful drive to chickaloon to go on a rafting trip with nova river runners. before the raft trip we killed some time wandering on the beach at king mountain state park. mom found a little tree that 'had no chance of survival' which was growing between two rocks. so she saved it and brought it back to my backyard for planting. i sure hope it grows. nolan and i got a pretty big kick out of her little recue project. she wasn't quite as amused as we were. can you tell by the look on her face? (dillon and cerra, i know you can tell) damn she is a cute mama, isn't she?!

we rafted through lion head canyon on a stunning summer night. the trip started at about 7:30 pm. With a stop for a hamburger cookout, we were off the river by almost midnight. It was sunny and amazing with some of the best views i've ever seen. one peak we saw was actually called mt. awsome. so cool. and we were joined with some really cool people too. one of which was super cute (and nice) chris lowell currently playing 'dell' in the tv show private practice (grey's anatomy spin-off). he's the one in purple with his arm around nolan. since mom, nolan, and i are all water babies, this was definitely a highlight of the whole week. the rapids were up to class IV and although the water was nearly freezing, literally, it was one of the best rafting trips i've ever been on. we were outfitted in dry suits, with warm clothes underneath, so it wasn't too bad. nolan and i even went for a raft side swim at the end of the trip. strange to be in such cold water, yet be completely dry. i will definitely go on this trip again. notice the big rock . . . its a lions head. the snout is up at the front and the eyes are just underneath the little hump on the top. can you see it?

we spent a day down in girdwood taking a walk on winner creek trail and having a nice lunch at chair 5 restaurant. mom and i shared a musk ox burger. mom walked the little dogs, calling out 'mush, mush' to get them going. see what i mean about how cute she is?!

before heading home we took a quick detour through the whittier tunnel. its about a mile long straight through a mountain. it leads to the port where an estimated 50% of alaska's cargo comes in. the tunnel is pretty impressive, but sadly the town was not. we took the 5:30pm tunnel in and had just enough time to see the whole place, buy some fudge, and catch the 6:00pm tunnel out.

another day we headed to hope, a cute old alaska town at the water's edge. we took an awsome walk on the beluga trail and found more spectacular views. we also found a little spot by the river and spent the rest of the afternoon painting rocks, which we brought home to put in my garden. topped the day off with dinner at tito's discovery cafe.

and what trip to alaska would be complete without a moose. this is just a couple of many that we saw roaming the city this week.

the last day, nolan and i dropped mom at the mall for some souvenir shopping while we took one last hike on the hillside at wolverine trail. it was beautiful.

there is always something beautiful to see in alaska, so if you need a break from your daily grind, i hope you'll think about a visit up here. my home is always open.

peace and love.