My sincerest apologies

I apologize.

For the sheer length of this post. I mean, what is happening! I had quite a few people tell me that they wanted to see more photos of the great Alaskan get-away, but I took it there...went 50 feet further, around a corner and through a tunnel. I kept editing and editing and when I was uploading I couldn't believe I threw down over 30 images.

Sickening, right? Bored yet?

So, if you're so over Alaska and all things winter, feel free to skip this post. I'll get things back to normal next week. But for now....

...let's see...Oh, yes. We left off in Seward. Which I love. Much.

Here's the main street with Marathon Mountain in the background

(Haha...I was roaming around town taking photos while the boys were waiting to be picked up about 5 miles away...whoops!)

I also hit up the Alaska Sealife Center...awwwww....

This guy was totally flirting with me. I could tell. He just kept swimming in front of me and coming back...twirling...I liked him. I named him Simon.

Got lost and ended up in a cargo loading area. Driving Paul. I'm sure nobody saw me.

leaving Seward, headed back to Anchorage

ARCTIC MAN!!!!!!

and a wipe out...ouch...

The skiers would basically disappear off the top of the hill and reappear WAY down at the bottom as a little tiny speck. Insane speed.

Over 7,000 people bring their sleds to the middle of nowhere for this competition and to ride.

and this is how we made our morning coffee. In Paul. Did I get a photo of our living arrangements for the weekend? No?! Why would I? Honestly...pathetic...

Ricky got stuck.

Playing around

Bummer-blew out a tire on the way from Valdez back to Anchorage. Oddly enough, we were driving right by a bicyclist when it happened. It was super loud, poor biker...that's what you get for exercising! ;-)

We came back from Arctic Man Sunday and Nick and I had all day Monday to roam around and do whatever. We decided to drive to Whitter so I could drive through the train/traffic tunnel (Nick did it two years ago when he visited).

Ricky had an awesome ride for us to take for the day: meet The Bruiser.

Mr. Nick had to check the oil at nearly every stop.

Epic.

Every 15 minutes traffic is stopped so a train can go through the tunnel. On the half hour, traffic flows one way, on the hour, traffic flows the other.
A two mile long tunnel through a mountain for all road travel to Whitter...

A hospital that was built for use in WWII but was never actually used.

Checking the oil

I likes.

Back for our last night!

Where I got SO CLOSE to a baby moose-on our last day. How lucky was that!!!!

Yay---what a great trip!!!!!

photo post

Preparing for the rest of the week's adventures today, so here are some images from the past two days (most taken on Mr. Nick's point&shoot as I wasn't daring enough to take Mark out in the wet slush...)

Meet Paul, our faithful cube van.

View leaving Anchorage

Stopping at Turnagin Pass for some blizzardy fun

I heart Seward

Where I dropped the boys off at the Lost Lake trail...then proceeded to pick them up at 4, when they had been waiting there since 2...whoops...

Ahhhhh...Seward...and sea lions...

that kind of day

The kind where the snow falls gently outside while a steaming latte sits next to the laptop. Soft music wafts through the coffee house and every now and then a blast of chilled air is felt as a new customer walks in, stomping the slush off their boots, and settling into their own state of bliss. Yes, I found my very own safe haven. Like a beacon in the night, I can spot a coffee house from miles away.

Yesterday was an eventful day. Just after we woke up and settled on the couch with our own cups of Foldger's best (oh, by the way, we're rewinding and are at Ricky's at this point in time...) we remembered how poorly the three of us together manage time. That said, we spent the better part of the day having breakfast (love dive diners) and staking out REI. It was early afternoon when we thought we should pack up and get the heck out of dodge...so we loaded up the 'snowmachines' (as they call them up here) and took off south.

Ricky has amazing patience when answering all my questions. Some dumber than others, he always has an answer: Yes, Reindeer sausage is actually made out of Reindeer; No, we will not see penguins; No, there is not an alarming rate of people-killed-by-moose-rammings; No, I'm not a complete idiot for not packing hiking boots; Yes, moose will travel in groups, but only when they're not alone...you get the idea. Me asking questions is the majority of most of our car trips, I think Mr. Nick finds them amusing and not old or tiresome at all...tee hee...

Anywho, we stopped at Turnagin Pass to take the sleds out and play a little. I say 'take the sleds out' because we're driving around in a cube van, not a vehicle and trailer. I was a little apprehensive as the visibility was terrible at best, and I had no idea what the lay of the land looked like. Even with tinted goggles the fact it was snowing fairly consistently and it was completely overcast made it hard to see the different between a cornice and a flat area or if there was a drop off. Crazy. But, better to try now than wish you would have later, right!? I rode with Nick and it was SWEET! Nothing like snowmobiling around home, the snow was soft and all over the place. Ricky said that we were on probably 12-14 feet!!! I tried it myself and got stuck twice, which doesn't take much. It was fantastic (I'll post all photos later-forgot my card reader back at the homestead).

After playing around for a while, we packed up the sleds and drove into Seward (not 'Steward', 'Stewart', or 'Seaweed' as Ricky has continually corrected me) for dinner and to stay overnight. As I'm typing this, the boys are out riding somewhere along Lost Lake trail (three people on two snowmachines is not optimal for fun riding) and I'm back in Seward, occupying my time as I see fit.

Boring post with no images, I know, but I just had to give an update for those curious about Alaska vacations. Seward is an awesome town--nestled between the mountains right beside the Resurrection River, it's a fantastically photogenic. However, today is incredibly overcast with dense fog, but I hold out hope that it will clear soon so I can go exploring!!!

Destination...Alaska!!!

It wasn't what one would call the best start. 

About 11:00 Saturday morning Mr. Nick and I decided we should look up our intinerary for our flight which was to leave Sunday at 3:30. Funny thing is, we couldn't find them. Anywhere. We even called and apparently our reservations were never finalized.

Sweet.

We quickly jumped online to find new tickets-for our same flight it would have been nearly double what our other tickets were supposed to be. After being incredible disappointed at the thought of not being able to go we found tickets near the price of the 'originals'. Hitch was, we needed to leave for the airport in about three hours.

Well...we made it. Sure I completely forgot to pack a few key items and some of the things I had planned to accomplish before I left still remain on my To Do list, but...we made it!!!

Here are a few pics from a hike we took today. It started to rain/sleet/snow, so we didn't get to go rock climbing like we planned, but we still got a cool view...

Ricky showing Nick some climbing skills

My hiking boots...were left at home.

...the Borns will have to do...

Cruise for two? Ummm...yes please!?

A couple weeks ago, when Mr. Nick and I were talking on the phone, he casually brought up that he had been entered into a drawing for the local BNI group and had won one of the grand prizes. Thinking it would be a 21 speed bike or a fruit-of-the-month club membership, I was casually interested. And then he said he won a cruise for two. As in, the two of us. Hot dog!

Thank you, Dr. Misner, you are my hero. ;-)

We left early (like, 3:00 a.m.) for the airport Friday morning and boarded the ship in Miami a bit after noon. We arrived in at the Nassau, Bahamas, port at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Relaxed on the beach all day--hello fantastic warmth! Sunday was all on the boat and we got back to Miami mid-morning on Monday.

Fantastic whirlwind vacay...

sporting the beach kicks...

Good-bye Miami...

...and hello Nassau!

beach bums

after we got back to Miami we had time to kill so we toured the Everglades on an air boat...then tried the local fare...

still had more time before going home so we hit up South Beach!

thanks, Mr. Nick!!!!