Visitors from Indiana!

 This past week has been such a treat for us!  I hate moving away from Alaska, but sometimes the things we hate can bring us something good out of it.  In this case, spending 19 months with our church family in Indiana has made us some new friends that we didn't know we had!  Tim and Darlyn wanted to come up here for their 40th Anniversary, so we let them stay at our free "B&B".  It was SO MUCH FUN having them here!!!!

They got here on Saturday morning.  I figured they would be too tired from traveling to do anything, but they didn't want to waste any time in exploring Alaska, so we just started them off with a short trail right up the road from our house.  Since Darlyn is more out of shape than I am, she was already huffing and puffing.  I told her that was just the appetizer.  But I knew it was also an appetizer for me too cuz I am not in very good shape either, and we had a lot more hiking in store for us before they were gonna leave.

Sunday afternoon, we took them to Hatcher Pass.  More hiking, but not too bad.

Tim & Darlyn

Darlyn brought her granddaughter's stuffed kitty with her and took photos of it everywhere she went.  Her granddaughter didn't even know that she took it.  I thought that was a really cute idea!

On Monday they left for their own little adventure at Denali National Park, and they got back on Wednesday.

So on Thursday we didn't think they'd want to go very far after that big trip, so Chuck took Tim golfing in Palmer and I took Darlyn to Anchorage.  She wanted to do some shopping so we went downtown, and then we spent some time hiking around at Earthquake Park, and then we went to Point Woronzof to gaze upon "Sleeping Lady".

Sleeping Lady

At Earthquake Park you can walk down to the swampy edge of Knik Arm (a part of Cook Inlet), and from there you get a gorgeous view of the Anchorage skyline with the mountain backdrop.

From there we walked along the stony "beach" of Knik Arm for awhile.  And then we got in the car  and went "moose hunting" by the airport.  Usually I get lucky finding moose in that area of town, but not that day!  Darlyn wanted to see a moose so bad.

I think it didn't help that our weather got "hot".  Moose generally stay deep in the woods when it's hot out.  But, we were so glad to have that turn in the weather because it's been a cold summer this year, so it was just nice to finally have some heat and sun.  But keep in mind, for us, when the temps get up in the 70's, it's "Alaska hot".  This weekend our temps actually got up to around 80, so for us that's sweltering, but at least Tim finally took his coat off!

On Friday we went to Seward.

We stopped at a potty place and this raven seemed almost tame, so Chuck was feeding him some peanuts.

As we were coasting along Turnagain Arm (another part of the Cook Inlet), we stopped to stretch our legs and soak in the view.  Then we noticed we got there just in time to see the boretide come in.

Then we noticed there were people actually surfing on the boretide!

How cool is that?

We walked around Seward for awhile to see what there was to see.  Darlyn did NOT like the smell of the fish at the docks!!

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures in Seward cuz I've been there enough times.

But on the way back, we went to Byron Glacier; somewhere I've never been.

So this one was new to all of us.

More hiking to wear us out!  (poor Darlyn)

The blue part up the mountain is the actual glacier, which would be quite the climb.  We just stayed in the bottom part and enjoyed the snow patches.

On Saturday, the original plan was to go to Matanuska Glacier, 

BUT - it turns out that they changed their policies there.  You can no longer go there and do your own exploring.  What they did is double the price and your only option now is to go on a guided tour.  

I AM SO BUMMED OUT ABOUT THIS!!!

So because of that, we tried out Byron Glacier instead.  It was a neat place to go, but I am still really disappointed that we couldn't take them ON Matanuska Glacier!!

So on Saturday, we drove them to the Matanuska lookout place.  I forget what it's called, but it's some kind of place where you can look at it from afar.  I'm glad we didn't have to pay for that cuz you can get even a better view of it just from the highway.  Going there just to look at it from afar was even worse for me cuz it was like it was saying "nanner nanner boo-boo" at me.

I cannot express enough how disappointed and bummed out I am about this change.

Anyway, here is a picture of Matanuska Glacier from afar - the glacier that I will probably never walk on again. (sniffle, sniffle!)

But on the way to the glacier, we stopped at the little town called Sutton!  We have passed it many times, but never bothered to stop.  It turns out they have a lot of little interesting historical buildings there.  Who knew that this tiny little town had so much history behind it?

On the way back home we stopped at King's River, just to stretch our legs and soak in more scenery.

"Kitty" had another photo opportunity here.  He's been posing and getting his picture taken pretty much everywhere!

Saturday seemed like a long day, but they still wanted to go to Thunderbird Falls, so that's where we went before going home.

Darlyn wasn't too thrilled about going down to this bottom path, but Tim talked her into it.  Both of us had a hard time but thankfully neither of us fell in the water.

On Sunday we knew that their time was running out, but Tim LOVES to hike, so we did some more!  This time we climbed the Butte.  It was freezing windy at the top.  Darlyn was laughing at her shirt flapping in the wind.

After we came back down we got a big laugh out of this sign because me and Darlyn are SLOW hikers compared to the guys. They often had to stop to make sure we were still behind them.   So we got our picture taken with the sign.

Monday was their last day, so guess what Tim wanted to do!  

Yup, more hiking!

So we went to Eklutna Lake.  In the past, I've been part way down the trail that runs along the lake, but climbing the Twin Peaks Trail was new to me.  I knew it was gonna be a steep climb, but I didn't realize how LONG of a climb it was gonna be.

The trail is supposedly 2.6 miles, but when it's all a steep climb, 2.6 miles feels more like 20.

When we finally made it this far, Darlyn said she didn't wanna go any further.  It was "Alaska hot" that day, so we were hot, sweaty, and TIRED.

While we were sitting there catching our breath and taking a break, Tim continued on up the path by himself a little ways.  For an "old guy", he sure has a lot of energy.  It started to rain before he came back, which cooled us off nicely.

Good view of the lake from up there though!

Eklutna Lake

Well, Darlyn never did see no moose, and she was determined to see one, one way or the other.  So before they went to the airport they stopped at the zoo to see one!  And I have no doubt that "kitty" got her picture taken with it!

Anyhoo it's been a very full week, and a very fun week!

I just love those guys!

(I miss them already!)