Backpacks, Blueberries, and Baby!!!

That time of year has come around once again, where those magical blue pills have surfaced for the picking and dining pleasure.  The blueberries are in up in Alaska...just not where we went!  JTJG headed out for a blueberry family expedition, gaining 1500 feet of elevation and only 3 cups of blueberries!  The blueberries weren't the deciding factor of the trip being fun, though.  After being out of town for 3 weeks prior to Labor Day, I would have had fun getting a prostate exam, if we were all together...maybe I took that a little too far.

     

  We hiked about half way up Nearpoint.  This is the trail just above my old man-cave, where I had taken Jess for her first hike into the mountains.  It was great to be out there again, blueberries or not.  We started up the trail with Jacks leading the way, as he does so well!  Seriously, he can find a path and stick to it like nothing I've ever seen.  We stopped about a quarter of the way so Jess could peel some layers and keep her and Lil Googs nice and cool on the trip up.

After a few moderately steep pushes, we made it to the clearing and began to scout out the blueberries.

Once we determined what where blueberries and what were crowberries, (crowberries, although high in Vitamin C are not very sweet), Jess was off like a kid with a new magnifying glass!  Within five minutes, I had to get up and go find her!  Jacks was keeping a close eye on her, which allowed me to get some blueberry picking in as well.  Lil Googs slept and relaxed the whole time.  I know Lil Googs finds such comfort in the belly of such wonderfulness, but I think Lil Googs really likes the calming sounds of the outdoors.

So after about a an hour and a half of blueberry picking, Jess was starting to get a little cold and we had summed up that we had either, came to early; not had the best weather for blueberries this year; or someone had beaten us to the spot.  We loaded up our 3 cups of blueberries and got ready to make like Lil Googs and...head out!  After a family photo, we started down the mountain.  Jacks took the lead as always, keeping an eye out for and dangers, such as bears; moose; or squirrels!  After a warming dinner at TGI Fridays, we got home and slept.

But that's not all...
  The next morning, I was able to get up early enough to go through and get the blueberries ready for some morning breakfast.  Pulling the little stems, discarding the crushed ones, rinsing and re-rinsing, purple stained fingers and countertops was a small price to pay to be with the love of my life and family enjoying some all-natural Alaskan blueberries!  I guess a few blueberries DOES go along way!

 Until next time,
  Lots of love from JTJG!

Setting up House!

Sorry for the delay in posts.  I finally got my computer to my Lil Bro, aka Uncle Chris, after it had been down for a few weeks.  He had it returned to me in two days!  That dude is awesome.  So we have just completed the MOVING process, now all we have to do is MOVE-IN.  This place is so full of boxes it isn't funny...seriously, stop laughing...I said it isn't funny.  We have the bunk beds(thanks to Dad and Loi!) in the spare bedroom for the visitors we can't wait to see in December.  The top bunk is currently and indefinitely being used as a storage shelf!  But we have started to consolidate household goods and set up house.  Our most exciting part so far has been the kitchen!  Along with MUCH compromise of the dishes situation, we found and bought a kitchen table.  We found it while looking for bedding for our new bed(thanks again to Dad and Loi!).  Just the perfect size for the space we had and got it set up immediately.  I actually have worked some day shifts over the last few weeks and we have already had some great conversations over dinner!  The best part however has been being able to sit across from the Love-of-my-Life and dine in her beauty and grace instead of hunched over the coffee table next to her, as she eats from the plate in her hand, while I wonder what she is spilling on the couch!  All is coming together wonderfully, and as the passing days go from hectic to normal to no sleep to grumpified then back to hecticly grumpified normally no sleep...my love for this wonderful woman is growing exponentially, as is her belly!!!  Talk to you all soon!

                                                     Lots of Love from JTJG!

Symphony Lake Hike - Memorial Day Weekend 2011

With a 3-day weekend on the schedule, we were trying to decide what to do.  I had hiked up and climbed Eagle Peak with my good friend Sethy-Poo, the year before and got to see the beautiful Flute Glacier.  I thought what better way to spend this time than to introduce the beautiful Flute Glacier to the beautiful Jessica Stow!

With our hike plans filed and emergency plans in order with my Lil Bro and Jayme(as I do with all my excursions), JTJG left the parking lot at the top of Highland Rd and headed up the South Fork Eagle River Valley towards Eagle Lake.  The hike starts out on a nice boardwalk, then starts gaining some elevation up the right side of the valley.  You hike along the right side of the valley for about 2 miles, then drop into the valley floor and have a pretty flat hike from there that crosses over to the left side of the valley.

 You pass a few small lakes on the way, before reaching...THE BOULDER FIELD...duhn duhn dhun duhhh.  We took a  little break at a small lake just before the bridge that crosses onto the Boulder Field.

 Jess got in a little nap and I got to mess with her while she did this!

Obviously a year is enough time for me to forget how much I did not like this part of the hike!  With the Boulder Field behind us, the report from some fellow hikers that the snow is still way to deep to hike to the Flute Glacier, and my feet and ankles ready to separate from my legs and head back to the car, we decided to hike across to Symphony Lake.

 This cut about 4 miles from our intended route and offered a beautiful and serene view looking back on the Boulder Field that made me want to invest in Helicopter Lessons or just put some money into my friend Jayme's current helicopter lessons and insure at least one ride a year!  We picked the spot directly in the middle of about 5 spots to camp.  We set up camp and started the process of filtering water from the lake.  Once that was done, we took a nap.  Waking from our nap, we found two sets of camper to our right and one set of campers to our left.  Obviously we had a great idea of leaving Anchorage and getting away from everyone!  The 4.5 mile hike had taken us about 6 hours. That is not a very fast pace, but the weather was great and we were in no hurry.

 The next morning brought another bluebird day and enough rest that my feet and ankles decided to hang around for the rest of the trip!  We ate breakfast and decided to head up this valley beyond the lake we were camping on.  Just a little exploration, as I have never been to this lake either, and am always in recon mode for some new ice climbs to put on the list.  We hiked about a 2 miles up the valley, passing 2 beaver-made lakes.  After the first lake, we needed to cross the little creek.  This turned out to be a formidable opponent.  Jacks took a little swim in the process, but I think he enjoyed the cooling affect it had!

 At the second lake, there happened to be a beaver swimming around doing some fishing.  We watched with the binoculars and camera to first hear his tail smack the water, then see him dive under the water.  It was awesome to get to see this part of nature, and an very nice reward for the energy it took to get there.  We found a couple of ice climbs that were still hanging around, got some pics, then started heading back to camp.

 Jacks didn't have his pack on for this little trip and is very very good at following the trail.  He pretty much led the entire trip with the exception of the Boulder Field.  He was awesome!  We stopped for plenty of pictures on the way back, but put the camera away just before the most hilarious moment for me of the trip.  The lake still had a lot of ice on it, large chunks and still close to the edge of the lake.  Jacks was just wondering up the trail as we got closer to the edge of that lake and, he must have been thinking about a drink of water and started across the rock beach towards the water.  He always would walk about a foot or 2 into the water to get a drink, but this time he found himself on some kind of hard ground and kept walking.  As Jess and I watched, we saw Jacks walk out onto a large chunk of ice that supported his weight.  The chunk of ice then began to float towards the middle of the lake.  Jacks still wasn't quite sure of what was happening and he kept walking and walked right off the ice chunk into the water!  I was laughing so hard, I couldn't get my camera out quick enough.  Jacks went into about 2 feet of water, not enough for any sort of emergency rescue, but he sure did get a nice cool off!

We made it back to camp and decided to get in a nap, eat dinner, pack up and head out.  This was now Sunday and I had to work on Monday night, so getting home Sunday night would allow Monday-day to rest and get ready for work.  We got packed up and headed out about 6pm.  I strapped Jacks' pack to mine as we crossed the Boulder Field, which helped speed up the crossing and Jess didn't take a nap this time, so we made it back right at 11pm.  We had just enough energy left to stop by the grocery store and get some food for Monday and then crashed.  We all faired well considering we haven't been getting out as much as we'd like!

 We ended up hiking just a little more that 11 miles the whole weekend and got to see so many beautiful things during the trip.  Of all the beautiful sites we saw the whole weekend, my all time favorite was getting to turn to my left or to my right and see Jessica there with me!

Until next time!!!

Lots of Love from JTJG!