peace.love.shoup

i should be in bed, but i'm still so excited about this awsome weekend i had. i've got to share it. home from nome on sunday and by monday was planning another weekend away. my friend izzy had a group of friends fall through on a planned cabin rental, so at the last minute, mike and i were able to join him instead.

i'm on a 4-10 schedule now so i'm off every friday. we left thursday after work and rolled into valdez at almost 3 am. set up camp for a quick snooze and then were up again at 8 to grab breakfast and get to the boat harbor.

we took a 35 min. boat ride to a place called shoup. it seems like a little cove or bay, but its actually considered a lake. its a protected round sanctuary with a couple of forest service cabins, a big rock in the middle of it that is home to thousands of kittiwakes and gulls (and a few of these black birds with carrot beaks, which were my fav),

steep, lush forested mountains, more waterfalls than i could count, and a beautiful glacier. the water is a silty blue-teal-grey color and although cold (about 40 degrees), felt amazing to jump into.

on the way there, our boat captain stopped to check his shrimp pots and left us with a pot full to have for dinner. yummy. they were huge suckers too and super wiggly when you touch them. it was fun to see how much their squirming could make us squirm . . . well, me squirm i guess. one of the pots even brought up a little snowcrab, but he got to go back to the sea after his photo shoot.

the cabin was nice and comfy with a heater, bunk beds, picnic table, deck, and fire pit.

izzy has a two man kayak that we brought so we took turns having some paddling adventures. izzy and i found out that leaving the cove might not be such a great idea depending on which way the wind is blowing. we found ourselves dragging the boat back along the rocky shore because our paddling was fruitless against the strong current. our couple hour jaunt turned into more like four.

mike and i took a little hike up a packed avalanche of snow covered in mulched up wood. steep climb that led to a cool waterfall and of course an awsome view. the whole way up i was dreading the way down. maybe it was self-fulfilling prophecy, but i couldn't seem to keep my ass off the ground. 10 or 12 slips and we were finally back to the bottom. it was definitely worth it though.

we also took a couple of trips over to the glacier and had such a great time exploring the huge tunnel of blue ice on one side and the raging rapids on the other.

this morning we had a curious little black bear peering in the back window of our cabin, but unfortunately i was too groggy at 6am to bother getting my camera.

the drive to valdez is about 5 hours, but is some of the most beautiful landscape i've ever seen. it was dark and foggy by the time we made it to valdez on thursday night, so when we left this afternoon, everything we saw was new. much of the drive is through the st. elias-wrangell national park. skimming through my alaska book i read that this is the largest national park in the country with literally millions of uninhabited and unexplored acres. the ridiculously green mountains, waterfalls at every turn, glaciers at every other turn, massive rock walls, rivers . . . was simply breathtaking. this will definitely be a place i will return and i'm already thinking of the friends and family i hope to share it with someday.

for you romy, i even wrote a haiku and left it in the cabin journal. its 5-7-5, right?

singing birds afar

peaceful lovely icy float

calving blue mountain

not a very good one, i must admit, but ever since our southeast trip, i find myself capturing moments this way.

a great weekend of relaxing and exploring. thanks again mike and izzy!!!