This isn't redundant ...

This sign hangs over the soup aisle at my friendly neighborhood Carr's store (Alaska's Safeway). I guess they just wanted to be thorough.

Open eyes

It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget how geographically amazing, beautiful and strange this place I live is. But over the last two weeks, I've had several reminders that I'm in Alaska:

1. EARTHQUAKES: Last week we were rattled with two earthquakes. First was a 4.9 magnitude on Tuesday just 15 miles from Anchorage. Everyone at work jumped as the sound of a semi-truck slammed into the side of our building, but really it was the sound of the earth moving. It shook for several seconds, but no damage was reported anywhere. The second was a 5.4 about a 3-hour-drive north. It woke us up Saturday morning at 4 a.m. I had to get up and to see how fast the local news reported it online.

2. WIND: We had a windstorm Friday with gusts up to 70 mph in places that knocked down trees and knocked out power through much of Southcentral Alaska. Some more remote locations had no power for days after the storm. We actually rarely have much wind at all here, but it contributed to a strange week.

3. SNOW: Termination dust capped the mountains Sunday. The official sign that summer is over. The sight makes skiers cheer and lovers-of-summer like myself pout. We also had flurries in Anchorage Sunday. Nothing stuck, but it reminded us that it will soon. The photo above was taken Sunday traveling south on the Glenn Highway. (Note to my mother: Don't worry, I was in the passenger seat.)

4. FOG: I'm kicking myself for not photographing the eerie for that shrouded the 3 feet over the baseball fields the other day. It looked like the opening scene of a scary movie.

5. DARKNESS: The Fall Equinox passed the other day, and with it, my ability to drive to work without headlights.

Hopefully I won't wait for the next round of earthquakes to open my eyes and remember the beauty and wonder of my surroundings.

Home on the Range

Davin gets two hours of guitar each week at school. Last weekend he got to check out a school guitar for the weekend to practice and show us what he's learned. His teacher is raving to other teachers and parents about how quickly he's picking it up. He even gave me a refresher course on chords.

Cotton candy, giant cabbage and the gravitron

The Alaska State Fair is know for it's giant cabbage competition with a record of 127 from our intense growing season. But Thursday night, we went to the event in Palmer for the rides and the food. Above is a view of the grounds from the Ferris wheel. We ran into Davin's friend from school and her dad and hung out with them at the rides.

Here, missy got told she was just barely too short to make the cut for the Apollo, a ride none of us adults were brave enough to try.

 

So instead I braved the Gravitron with the kids and my stomach -- and equilibruim -- was angry with that decision. So was Davin's. But his friend was so non-phased she was riding upside down.

However, it was nothing a little over-price cotton candy couldn't cure.

Planes, trains and ... bicycles?

We hit the bike lane and didn't start up either car for most of the weekend. Saturday we cruised downtown to the Fourth Avenue Marketplace for a late afternoon lunch of festival food. Sunday we braved the hills to midtown for lunch at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican place, Burrito King, and a matinee of "Dinner for Schmucks." Afterward, we passed the apartment and decided to keep riding for some time. Downtown we watched the airshow pass overhead. We continued through the Alaska Railroad Depot to Ship Creek.

Ship Creek as seen from the deck of The Bridge restaurant ...closed until further notice.

The old fish processing plant looked like it had seen better days.

Introducing the newest project: A food and wine blog

Joshua and I are co-authoring a blog called New Castle of the Pope -- the English translation for Châteauneuf-du-Pape, one of Joshua's favorite wines. He is a certified wine sommelier from his restaurateur-ing days. Every time we're out at a wine bar, wine store or fine restaurant the conversation turns to the history of this wine or the special way the grapes are fermented in that one. 

He ends of giving servers history lessons that help them sell and people at neighboring tables help deciphering the wine list.

Joshua seems to have journalistic-like instincts for taking a subject that is often overcomplicated and elitist, and making it simple, digestible. With his breakdowns, I, the girl who used to answer what kind of wine I liked with "mostly whites," feel I can hold my own on the topic.


So the idea is kind of "Wines 101." A primer for those who want to enjoy wine and feel like they know what they're ordering -- and a fun read for those already will versed on the subject.

We're also going to write occasionally about food, because the two are really inseparable. Look for a wine of the week, wine terms, restaurant reviews, pairing ideas, and more. Please check it out and let us know what you think.


Find it here: http://newcastleofthepope.blogspot.com/

Thanks! 


Oh, and don't worry. This blog won't change -- I'll still be writing about my Alaska adventures here.

Camping on the Kenai

Thanks to all the of the thoughtful people who gave us Target gift cards for our wedding, most of them went to camping equipment. Joshua and I packed up the Subaru for an adventure Friday night. We had no idea what we were getting into.

We drove just past Cooper Landing and bought a regional map marking area campsites. First we checked Russian River Campground: 44 sites. All full. So was the next stop. And the next. All the campgrounds for the next hour and back. We know, because we checked.

So we drove back to Cooper Landing crossing our fingers for good luck at the Quartz Creek Campground just before Cooper, that we blew past two hours earlier thinking, oh, let's go further to somewhere we've never been. Now we were humbled. We would be happy for any campsite at all.

They were full. We stopped and asked locals locals where to camp. They suggested all the places we had already checked. At past 11 p.m. we were losing hope and trying to think of any way not to drive home.

Josh kept driving down the road off Quartz Creek near beautiful Kenai Lake and randomly turned down a bumpy deserted powerline road.

There, in the middle of nowhere, were two vacant campsites with firepits. No amenities, but at nearly midnight and losing daylight, it was perfection. And it was. Soon our brand new tent was up without too much trouble for the first time set-up and the fire was blazing.

The rest of the weekend was smooth sailing with bike rides, walks, tending to the fire and lots of mosquito swatting. It was refreshing to get out of the city and iPhone range for a couple days.

The Kenai River looks bright turquoise from glacial melt.

 Alaska's fireweed was in bloom everywhere.