ALASKA

Alaska was just a dream.....well, I had put it on my vision board a year ago and thought about it, you could say I dreamed about it...thinking about hiking to the top of an Alaskan mountain to see a beautiful caribou - that's what I would think about when I'd dream of going to Alaska.  Then the perfect trip opportunity landed in our laps.  

IT WAS INCREDIBLE - A REAL DREAM COME TRUE!!!

(I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true.)

We flew into Anchorage Alaska on the same flight as Paul and Dena on Aug 31st.  We headed straight to the Anchorage Alaska temple where we met up with our hosts, Chris Ann Pace and her husband who we referred to as President Pace.  President Pace is the stake president and he and Chris Ann had hosted Paul during one of his trips as an area authority. 

We went straight from the Temple meetup to Whittier, Alaska, where we traveled through the longest tunnel in north america.  It is a one-way tunnel, so you can only go through on the hour and half hour.  It's got a lot of other cool features like jet turbine ventilation and designed for -40 degree temps and 150 mph winds...it's cool.  And dark.

We got to the dock and the water was bright green/turquoise/gorgeous! It was chilly too.  We set off for a couple of days on the Prince William Sound!  (It was crazy to me that we went straight off of a plane and straight on to a boat...in the ocean.  I was slightly terrified.)

True to our host's personality, they took us straight to Davey Jones's Locker where we spent our first night.  Now-I  was terrified because I thought I was going out into the middle of the ocean to sleep at sea and probably die.  BUT-Prince William Sound is a gorgeous place where land is always near and the landscapes are breathtaking.  We slept in a cove where the water was glass.  Now, sleeping on a little boat with 6 adults made for a kinship and a tightship.  Chris and I got to sleep isle floor - and honestly-that was the best place for me.  I couldn't roll off of anything and I put an extra sleeping bag around me and I felt cozy.

This is the beauty we woke up to - Dena and the landscape - we such a happy greeting in the morning.   

First item of the morning was breakfast.  We headed out of the cove and went and grabbed the shrimp pots we had put out the night before and hauled them into the boat.  We learned about how the shrimp have translucent eyes and when they come into the light their eyes go dark and they go blind.  Sad for the shrimp, but an INCREDIBLE fish taco breakfast never to be forgotten!  YUM!

When in Alaska...do as the Alaskan's do!

Beautiful Alaskan Morning!

We headed to land to see what it's like...look for Salmon in random rivers, etc.

We're on a little raft with a motor.

Watch out for bears!  (I was a little scared of bears.)

So we spent Aug 1, fishing with no Halibut success.  I was bummed.  I want to catch a halibut that weighs more than me someday....

However, we went fishing for Rockfish and I was the first to catch one and I did catch the most.  I'm not prideful, these are the facts people, the FACTS.  They were so fun to catch and I tell ya what, that was my favorite fish I ate on the entire trip.  They were SO TASTY!

Dinner was caught, our day was done and we had the tastiest little fish fry on that boat!

Aug 2nd - I woke up to misty mountains to greet me on my birthday!

More shrimp pots!

A successful day of halibut fishing!  

President Pace took us to the chicken hole where there were smaller halibut and let us pull 'em in with in an hour or two.  I was blessed again the be the first person the catch a fish (happy birthday to me!) and I caught a good amount too.  It was so cool.

President Pace is holding one of Dena's catches.  He would use that metal hook to hook the fish and grab it out of the boat as soon as it was close enough.  Then he'd throw it into the fish hole!

This weird lookin' thing is a common skate.  It was my weirdest catch of the day.  It was hard to reel in but so fun to see!  We let him go!

FISH ON!

President Pace filleted all of the halibut before we headed back to Whittier to eat some Chinese food at one of the only restaurants in Whittier.  It's just a really small place with very little options - but quaint and cute.  That night we headed back to Palmer to the Pace's home.  Two nights on a boat, check!  I conquered a fear and had a whole lotta fun doing it.  I don't know why I can't find all of the pics - but during our time on the boat we saw porpoises, orcas, seals, otters, sea lions, jelly fish, etc.

August 3rd we headed to do some river/stream fishing and find ourselves some salmon!  This was my first time donning on waiters.  

Twinners

Lovers

I got the only Salmon that day.  It was so thrilling!  I got another one on but lost it.  I felt seriously so sad....but I get it.  I get the thrill of fishing...sort of like gambling..ha ha ha...

I had lots of help taking care of my precious and pretty little fish!

So....President Pace has a really cool little plane.  He took us each on a flight-seeing adventure.  I honestly didn't want to go - I don't like heights....or anything that could kill me....lol. But I did. I went.  And it was incredible.

I saw moose, a bear, doll sheep, and I even flew over a caribou farm.

GLACIERS

We did a little "bar hopping" - that means we touched down a few times and then we parked because I needed to visit nature...and well I DID.  Honestly - I had to relieve my waters.  There was no TP, so I used leaves. Memorable.  Me.  Alaska. WE bonded.

Chris buckling in for his own flight seeing adventure.

We spent a day at an old gold mine.  It was gorgeous. 

I don't remember what we are doing in this pic.  But don't we make a great couple?  I seriously LOVE living every day with this man!

We hiked through some cool stuff to find our fishing spot.

It paid off!  Chris got to catch a salmon!!!

We spent a fun afternoon driving to and exploring Talkeetna, AK

This was our last evening in AK. It was just a dream come true!  So fun with my fav people!