myumyumyu

Most amazing weekend ever. I know every post I've had so far begins with a sentence like this, but yesterday really was the most incredible day of my life.

Let me start with Friday. Chris walked over in the afternoon and said to us, "It's so beautiful out today. I suggest you guys try to leave as soon as you can!" So I listened to my boss and left work around 3:30pm. I didn't have plans until I was going to meet Stella for dinner and a movie at Bear Tooth (a theatrepub where they bring the food to you in the theater!). It really was a gorgeously warm and sunny day, so I decided to take a bike on the Coastal Trail. I went about 5 miles, halfway, before deciding to turn around so that I could make it to Stella's on time. I got a great view of downtown Anchorage and of the airport.

Downtown Anchorage

There was a ridge near the trail from which I could see the runway of the airport and watched planes take off for a while. It was pretty awesome to have 747s flying over my head. I did manage to get about a dozen mosquito bites as I stood there though... the one day it's warm enough to wear shorts and a tank top, I get bites on every limb haha

747 approaching from the runway

747 overhead

That leads us to Saturday, which was the greatest day ever. Basically, nothing went wrong--beautiful weather, awesome company, and incredible sights.

First, we went to Happy Trails Kennels, where Martin Buser, winner of 4 Iditarods, showed us his amazing dogs. We even got to hold adorable puppies. These dogs aren't the big, fuzzy huskies that you'd imagine. Instead, they're sleek, amazing, 50-pound creatures.

Martin showing Caribou's sloped back, a sign of speed and running ability

Martin's son, Rohn, gives a demonstration with several eager dogs

Rachel, a beautiful dog with blue eyes

We stopped at a birch syrup factory for samples and some delicious birch ice cream before heading to Talkeetna. It's a small village where locals and tourists alike go to get away from the city. Courtney from my office has a cabin here, and it's also the home of the Talkeetna Air Taxi, a small Otter plane that takes you for a flight over the mountains and lands on a glacier at Denali (the native name of Mount McKinley). This flight was the best $275 I've ever spent in my life.

View from the plane

Mead, Stella, me, Charlie with plane on the glacier

360 degrees of this

Heading up to Denali

Base camp where park rangers live

Champagne all around on the Denali glacier!

I insisted on a jump picture :)

Back to the plane

Looking back as we flew away

How could this day get any better? With a full rainbow, of course.

Clouds, sky, mountains, and plains below

A winding river down below

After the most amazing sights we had ever seen, Mead took us to his friend Deb's home on Nancy Lake. We had a wonderful 10pm supper of salmon, rice, and Brussels sprouts with bacon. Then, we took a ride on her boat around the lake as the sun was setting, wind blowing our hair, our hands reaching down to feel the warm water. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day. After we covered up the boat, we went back to the house for warm pumpkin pie with ice cream and sherbet. Incredible.

We finally left and headed back to Anchorage as it neared 2am, blasting music in Mead's car like it was a college party. We got home around 3:30am, in time to appreciate the sunrise before climbing into bed around 4:30am.

Anchorage sunrise, 3:32am