Parents Week

Mom and Dad finally came to visit me in Alaska! It was a short trip, but I secretly love being a travel agent so we had a full schedule!

Day 1 we explored around Anchorage. Mom and I rode bikes along the coast before taking Dad to the fish hatchery to see many King Salmon making their upstream run in Ship Creek. We finished the day with freshly caught Sockeye Salmon and salad from my garden!

The following day we headed south to Seward, one of my favorite little Alaskan towns. Mom and I hiked to the Harding Ice Field, a 600 square mile ice field that makes up the majority of Kenai Fjords National Park.

On day 3, we were thrilled to wake up to sunshine, a rarity in Seward! We toured the Sealife Center, another favorite place of mine, before jumping on a water taxi to Bear Glacier. We hiked and then kayaked into a camp near the glacier where we spent the night. Mom and I kayaked all around the glacier and the icebergs that have broken off of it, taking care not to get to close as they break and move often. We were fortunate enough to be able to camp in big weatherports keeping us very dry during a night of rain. After a nice morning kayak, we headed back to the mainland where we then drove to Soldotna for a fishing adventure.

 I made Dad get up at 3AM to get to the Kenai River before all the people and then proceded to out fish him, winning our bet and getting myself a plane ticket home in the fall! I guess it was a better day for me than him, but fortunately Dad fishes for the fun of it, while I only fish because I love Sockeye Salmon. The Kenai is a big river and is very famous for the big run of salmon. Thousands and thousands of people head there during the month of July and early August attempting to fill their freezer or just get a great Alaskan experience. It is outrageously busy! Sockeye, much to our dismay, don't always come upstream at the same time, making fishing for them a bit of a guessing game, trying to figure out when the big run will happen. The 2nd run this year, for whatever reason, was quite small and not intense, hence our bad luck. After returning to Anchorage, I went on one last hike with Mom before bringing them back to the airport.

Kings stuck below the dam

Trying to jump

The dam was just too big and none were able to make it up. (see fish on right hand side of dam jumping)

Alpine Fireweed, an Alaskan classic

A small herd of mountain goats on our way to the Harding Icefield

Lots of views

Looking out at the icefield

Harding icefield and Exit Glacier

Selfie with Mom

Mom enjoying the views

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Dad makes it to camp 

Some really blue ice

Ice and Sun

Approaching Bear Glacier

The edge of the glacier. Mom and I witnessed the glaicer calve once!

Teetering Icebergs

Our Tent

Day 2 of kayaking brought some wetter weather and some really cool clouds

I found some jellyfish!

Catching Salmon

 It was so fun to have visitors! Thanks Mom and Dad for the fun times!

Girl Time

The 2 week camp we have in which all the U.S. Ski Team ladies, plus a few other fast chicks come to AK are 2 weeks I look forward to every summer. Not only do we get to train super hard, do some epic workouts, and ski, I get a chance to catch up with ski friends from around the country. We spent the first week training around Anchorage and the second week we went to the glacier for a week of skiing. Thanks teammates and coaches for taking awesome pictures.

Our last day we persevered through some cold rain for a 3+ hour ski. Talk about tough babes!

Gathering at the junction

Every year, we have had an international guest join us for camp. This year we were lucky enough to have Norwegian National Team member Celine Brun-lie to join us. Celine is a great skier and awesome person. I glad to have had the opportunity to learn from her and make an international friend! She also made us tasty Norwegian treats!

Brown Cheese, berries, waffles, best breakfast ever!

Eagle glacier, looking good as always. 

Group glacier pic

The clouds closed in on the facility just as we were making our way up from Girdwood. The helicopter then had to land on the middle of the glacier and leave us there. We were abandoned on the snow for 45 minutes before Erik would come rescue us on the Pisten Bully, but no fears, we danced our hearts out to stay warm. 

Zuzana Rogers, our PT (wearing the fast and female hat above) joined us on the glacier. I have never seen someone who takes their vacation to work. I am ever grateful for her help and the support from Advanced Physical Therapy of Alaska!

Sadie and I keeping each other warm waiting for Erik

Rain Train on Eagle

We had lots of days of crazy clouds

Our dryland was highlighted by some excruciatingly hard bounding intervals

Bounding really hard

and some skating

We also had a fun race/interval workout on the glacier. Here we are charing the big hill on the sprint loop. 

Awesome Girls!

Always having fun!

We rollerskied to the top of Hatcher's Pass.

There were a bunch of cracks opening up on the glacier so the crew installed a fixed line and we would rope up to ski from the building down to where the ski trails were. It worked great and we all stayed safe!

More crazy clouds!

We had an ingredient exchange to spice up the food on the glacier, making for some tasty meals!

One of the cracks opening up. eeeek

After camp, a few of us headed to Holly's cabin in Hope where we enjoyed a relaxing day in the sun!

Holly's amazing cabin!

The road from the top of Hatchers Pass

The bear made a stop by as well. Unfortunately, this bear become too humanized and had to be euthanized. Don't let bears eat trash!

I have been known for hating salads pretty much my whole life. Sadie really took care of me and made this salad for me the last night.

But don't worry, since I have started my own vegetable garden, I have become more fond of real salads. Here is the first salad I ate from my garden!

The gourmet dinner my cook crew made on the glacier

On a recovery hike in Hope!

Fireweed Season!

Awesome Views. Thanks Holly for hosting. 

Till next year Eagle

Special Thanks for Erik Flora, Don Hearing, Mike Matteson, and Andre Lovett for working so hard to make the glacier possible. I had a great 2 weeks this season skiing and made some huge gains! Girls Camp was great. I am happy, fitter, and tired!