Our year revolved around completing our house and shop project in Talkeetna, selling the house in Anchorage, and moving to Talkeetna. The sale and move happened in June, and the projects ... well, is a house ever really complete?
Here are some highlights of the year ~
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| Technically we unpacked the last box in the house in October when Paul completed a shelving unit for the stereo and all the various music medium we own. There are still boxes of books in the storage room that need a place to be. |
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| By the end of September, all the siding and trim was on the house and grass seed was sprouting all around. This photo was taken from the railroad tracks, looking over the swamp to our place on the ridge (house on left, shop/barn on right). |
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| Biking and snorkeling on the Big Island of Hawaii in February has become almost an annual break for us from the Alaska winter. For Alaskans, visiting Hawaii is like New Yorkers going to Florida to escape snow and cold. With one flight, we can step into a warm, lush, humid tropical setting. |
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| In mid-May I joined friends to bike the road into Denali National Park. For a short period in the spring and fall,the road is closed to vehicles, providing a good mountain bike ride on gravel roads up and over passes. Spring had not arrived yet - the rivers were still mostly ice covered and you can see the the plants had not leafed out yet. |
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| In June, just 2 weeks after we moved, I visited Alaska's Emerald Isle - Kodiak - with friends. We drove to the ends of the few roads to wander on remote beaches and saw the famous Kodiak brown bear and the less-famous bison. |
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| This was a warm, dry summer -- great for checking out many of the local lakes for cooling off in the evening. |
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| One half of my parents visited in August. The warm weather continued and we installed the umbrella on the picnic table to shade dinners from the hot evening sun. |
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| In August the Alaska Dirt Divas made the annual backcountry trip to a cabin near Eklutna Lake in Chugach State Park. Biking on a regular basis with these friends is one of the things I'll miss about living in Anchorage. |
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| We did a little camping. Over the 4th of July weekend we rafted the Susitna River with friends. |
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| Over Labor Day weekend we camped in Seward with friends. While the guys fished, the women hiked with dogs. |
In October I visited the other half of my parents in upstate NY. The fall colors were gorgeous. More about that in my last post.
