TheLaska....Part Three

Time to wrap up our amazing trip to Alaska...

5/15/2006

I'm back on a plane leaving the greatest trip ever! My days are all mixed up because we haven't actually slept yet (except for a few minutes on the flight from Anchorage to LA) plus we had a pretty busy day yesterday. Scott and Mindi made us eggs and french toast for breakfast then we packed up lunches and drove out to some "moderate" hiking trail. Moderate according to whom? It ended up being somewhat difficult and we might have made it to the top if it weren't for the 30 pound bag we were lugging and the mosquitos that were the size of small birds! Instead, we hiked back down and had a picnic at Kincaid Park with Mt. McKinley as our backdrop. We did a little more hiking and called it a day.

Since it was Mother's Day we figured we'd better find something good for our moms so we went shopping in downtown Anchorage. We found some great souvenirs and cute gifts then made our way back to the house.

After getting cleaned up and resting a bit, we all started dinner. It turned out to be delicious!! Grilled salmon, corn on the cob, a tasty salad - yum! We played CatchPhrase before heading to the airport for our flight that left at midnight. I wish we could have stayed a few more days but now it's time to start thinking about my next adventures. Moving, the big interview, the cruise, and then Italy! I'll worry about catching up on sleep later.

Goodbye, Alaska!

**I think if I could re-live any month of my life (with the exception of the month I married Brad, I would do that over in a heartbeat) the month we went to Alaska would have to be it. Not only was our trip to Alaska incredible, but three days after that I went on a cruise through the Caribbean with my dad, stepmom, and sister for a week. THEN a few days after that vacation I flew to Italy for a couple of weeks with my mom's side of the family. May of 2006 was certainly a whirlwind adventure filled with wonderful memories....if only I'd started blogging earlier.

TheLaska...Part Two

Back to our Alaskan Adventure....if you didn't read the post yesterday you may find yourself a tad lost, so get on it.

5/14/2006

Where to start?! The past two days are days I hope I NEVER forget. We got up Thursday morning, ate a little breakfast, and drove about an hour and half to Talkeetna. It was this tiny little town with no more than five or six streets. We went to Talkeetna Air Travel (or something close) and they told us we could go ahead and go on up. So Brad, Stephanie, Scott, myself, and another couple get in this seven passenger plane with our pilot, Bill. We finally take off and the first part of the flight we were flying over Musket (I think) and we could spot a few houses. There were three rivers that came down from the glacier we were headed towards. There were just enough clouds out so we could just barely make out Mount McKinley but other than that it was gorgeous!

When we arrived at the base of the mountain the snow was pure white and every so often we could see glacial pools that were electric blue. They didn't even look real! I didn't really grasp how big this glacier was and how high we were until Bill pointed out these climbers who were camping out in the middle of the glacier. They looked like ants, no - smaller. The crevices that looked like divets in the snow were actually one hundred or more feet deep!

We landed on the glacier and were able to get out and walk around. I still can't comprehend the magnitude of this thing. What looked like one mile away was actually five. We took some pictures and got back in our plane. I sat in the back on the way home so I could see out both sides. Just stunning.

The plane got stuck in the snow

After our plane ride, we found a local pizza place, ate dinner and headed on back. Scott, Brad's uncle, ended up having to work at the hospital so we just came back and crashed (which was good since I woke up at 5:45 am the next morning).

Our third day was again, incredible. The four of us (Brad, Stephanie, Scott, and myself) drove to Seward, which was about a two hour drive through the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen! Mountains covered in snow, lakes that looked like mirrors; it truly looked like something out of a movie. When we got to Seward, the first thing we did was visit The Alaskan Sea Life Center. We saw sea lions, fish, giant crabs, puffin birds, and a lot of other interesting creatures.

After The Sea Life Center, we headed over to the Kenai Fjords Tours to check in and look at all of the boats. The town had about 3,000 people; it just seemed like this perfect little fishing village. We started out our trip sitting on the top deck at the back of the boat. It didn't take long for us to get inside to thaw out. The first part of the trip was relatively uneventful. The scenery was incredible but all we really saw were a few mountain goats. The boat dropped everyone off for lunch at a cabin on Fox Island. We had a really great salmon meal then walked around the beach.

After getting back on the boat, things got exciting! We joked all day about wanting to see whales not thinking it would actually happen. From what we were told, it was too early in the season for that. First we saw several doll porpoises but that was nothing compared to the pod of orca we saw swimming in a cove. The captain stopped the boat and we watched the pod for a while. A few minutes later two humpback whales came along, too! We had whales to the left, right AND in front of us. Then one of the humpbacks jumps out of the water like he knew we were there and he wanted to put on a show. It was unbelievable! Something you'd only see on the Discovery Channel.

A little later we saw a large group of sea lions all laying out on a big rock. They didn't even seem real. We saw two or three big groups of sea lions throughout the ride. On the way back to Seward, there were a few more mountain goats, several bald eagles, and a couple glaciers. When we were pulling into the harbor, a large sea lion that had a big fish in its mouth was taunting all of the seagulls. He'd jump out of the water and fling the fish around while the seagulls were dive bombing him to get a piece. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

Oh! I completely forgot what kicked the whole day off! We woke up to a moose wandering around the backyard! It was awesome! I'm out there in my pajamas, a towel on my head at 6:15 in the morning taking pictures of a moose. He ended up jumping the fence and went strolling down the middle of the street. We knew it was going to be the best day after that and it was.

Unfortunately, Scott got called back into work so after dinner we went to the hospital to take him some spaghetti. He let us sit in the helicopter he flies which was amazing. By the end of the evening, we were spent. We went back to the house and crashed...again.

Another Bingham Adventure......Before I WAS a Bingham

I've had this backpack that has moved from place to place with me ever since I left college. It was the backpack I used my junior and senior year but once I moved to Dallas, it rarely got used. And yet I still tote it around from place to place. Two apartments in Dallas, our first house, two apartments in Germany, hotel in Germany, hotel in Dallas, now our corporate apartment and soon to be our fabulous new townhouse.

I finally decided to dig through it and here is what I found: a shopping guide to Italy, a lint roller, a picture of Brad when he played baseball at Northeast, a notebook I took on my New York and Chicago trip in 2005, a fruit roll up, and the best part - a mini journal from our trip to Alaska.

Brad and I graduated in May of 2006. A few days following graduation, the two of us as well as Stephanie and her boyfriend (at the time) hopped on a plane for Alaska to visit their Uncle Scott that lived in Anchorage. It was one of the most incredible trips we've ever been on (and we've been to some pretty fantastic places) and I love that I thought to jot some memories down. I figured I'd post what I wrote on those pieces of copy paper for all of you to read. This was Jen, pre-blog days:

5/11/2006

Well, we're here! The trip wasn't the most exciting since Brad and I were stuck in the emergency aisle with only two seats for both of us to "sleep" in; not to mention we were there for FIVE hours! But it is going to be more than worth it! Not sure what all we're going to do yet but possibly a trip to the zoo, maybe Mount McKinley, a boat ride, and who knows what else? We'll see.......

5/12/2006

Yesterday was amazing! We got up and had brunch at a local cafe' where we met Mindi (Scott's girlfriend). Then Scott drove us around town and we went to a neighborhood area that overlooks the whole town. We could see mountains in every direction and the ocean in the distance. Since we might not get to see much wildlife we took a trip to the zoo. Then we drove along this windy road to a town where people can ski when the snow is good. We had nachos and hot chocolate at Chair 5 Lodge. The locals are all really nice!

From here we drove a little further where we took a one-way tunnel into Whittier. It was this small fishing town with nothing but boats and a few local bars. Of course we stopped and had a few of the Alaskan brewed beers. :) Delicious! Since the tunnel was about to close we headed back towards Anchorage. Along the windy road we saw about twenty bald eagles fishing. It was incredible!

We met Mindi and her friend from high school at this really great sushi place. I think we ordered just about everything they had on the menu. I tried cold sake for the first time - it was actually pretty good. It's crazy here because the sun doesn't completely go down until about midnight. We left the sushi place at 9:00 pm and the sun was still high in the sky. Crazy. But we rented a movie, got ice cream and called it a day. But tomorrow should be even more incredible!

**Ok, so it appears I was about as long winded in my writing at 21 as I am now. Soooo, as not to bore you with a ridiculously long post, we'll break this up. Stay tuned for the rest of our Alaskan Adventure.

Trick-Or-Treat!

"Bing-bong, yeah it's me, just give me the candy."

Part of me feels like I'm getting old - I was more excited this year about staying in and just passing out candy to kiddos than getting crazy. However, I'm clearly still a kid at heart - I guess you could say I don't hate costumes (pretty much anything with a theme and I'm in) and I'm like a 5 year old when it comes to candy. I have no self-control.

This year we spent the evening with our dear friends, Micah and Aaron, up in Oklahoma....I mean North Frisco, but same thing, right? We grilled burgers, drank wine, passed out candy and watched the (unbelievably disappointing) Rangers game.

Micah and Aaron just became the proud parents to this little cutie. She's an 11 week old Italian Greyhound named Lily. I'm going to guess she weighs 2 pounds...about 54 pounds less than Miss Stella, but wouldn't you know they became the best of friends.

After a few strange looks from the mothers in the neighborhood, Micah and I decided to nix the wine glasses and switch to plastic Rangers cups. Too bad it didn't bring them good luck.

The game may not have had a good outcome but our Halloween certainly did. I say that now but when the 12 candy bars I ate last night catches up with me, I'll be singing a different tune.

I hope all of you had a very Happy Halloween, too!