Post - The Hopeful Life

As the summer comes to a close up here in Talkeetna, Wes and I are preparing to move on toward our next adventure with bittersweet feelings. When we arrived back in early May, we weren’t sure what the next few months would bring, but Talkeetna and its people have definitely exceeded our expectations. It is proving harder to leave this place than we originally thought. Tomorrow morning, we are heading up towards Denali National Park and starting our road-trip back down to Redding, California. We lost Kelly. Not literally, she’s still around, but she and Nick are venturing to Maui for the winter. Being just the two of us now, I hope we can survive backing up the trailer without murdering each other. Kelly was always a good mediator.

At this very moment, the three of us are hanging at the trailer. Wes just asked where his hats are even though I just told him an hour ago that they are now under the bed. As we bicker for a few seconds about that, Kelly admits that she is really going to miss us. I am not so sure. We are going to miss her though. Wes said if Kelly hears of a body on the side of the road that needs identifying, it will be his. Luckily, she replied that he’d already be dead so it wouldn’t matter to him anymore and she would then need to protect me from being caught. Soooo there’s that. Problem solved.

We are getting ready to head into town for dinner and some drinks at the Teepee and Fairview with our neighbors and friends, Arwen and Dave, and whoever else decides to come play. Last night in town so we gotta do it right! Hopefully, Hurricane Hope stays under a category three tonight. She’s been gaining strength the last few nights so it’s getting kinda scary. Ask Vincent (Wesley). However, no one has evacuated yet regardless of last night’s solid category two. Not my fault, there was flip cup and beer pong involved.

Viva Las Vegas Prom Night at The Fairview Inn with Nick and Kelly. PC: The Fairview Inn Photo Booth

To pick up where I left off, Prom was a blast from what I remember. Nick made Prom King and the whole town was pretty much there. Aunt Julie gifted me her kaleidoscope goggles which were a big hit. That’s about all I can recall. We basically spent the rest of our time this summer hanging out around Talkeetna with friends. We made a couple of trips to Hatcher Pass, which was one of my favorite places that we visited. Tons of awesome trails (that kicked our asses) and as a post-hike reward, or self-torture, Matt and I took a very quick dip in the sparklingly blue alpine lake. A tad chilly. We rented one of the cabins at the Hatcher Pass Ski Lodge for a night once Kendra and Rhino made their way back up from Anchorage too. Such a beautiful place with beautiful people.

Marmots everywhere on Marmot Mountain, go figure.

April Bowl Hike with Denali, Hunter, and Foraker in the background

Lunch at the Hatcher Pass Lodge with Matt and Sam.

Our cozy little cabin. PC: Kendra Wilson

Nick, Kelly, and I made it to the Alaska State Fair for a day and saw the record breaking 2,051-pound pumpkin. Also, saw my first lumberjack show, which did not disappoint. Wes’ parents, Mary and John-Jack, and his sister, Meghan, arrived in August for a week and we had fun showing them around. I mean, there isn’t too much to do up here in Talkeetna, but they were able to see Denali through a flightseeing tour with K2 and they had fun ziplining. We also took a quick trip to Denali National Park and 49th State Brewing in Healy. Saw a moose. We had quite a few laughs in that week. Meghan got to know the Fairview Inn, where we danced our butts off on one of the most random and fun nights out this summer.

Wes, me, Meghan, Mary and John-Jack at Christiansen Lake.

49th State Brewing, home to the magic bus. #alexandersupertramp

Wes and I took a second trip back down to Seward for about three days and it was awesome. We ate some great food at The Cookery. Fresh halibut and steak with half-priced oysters. Yum! I love everything about Seward. They even have public campgrounds right on the water where you can watch a raft of otters float by. It doesn’t get better than that. We got the hookup not only for the Stoney Creek Zipline, which is a sister course to the zip where I worked, but also for a Kenai Fjords Tours boat trip. In addition to humpbacks, fin whales, seals, otters, sea lions, and many adorable puffins, we also saw a pod of resident Orcas! I can cross that off my list! I was so excited that we saw them and it was amazing. They swam right under and around the boat for nearly half an hour. Spy-hopping, breaching, and entertaining us curious humans. It was an experience that I had been anticipating for a while now. Still excited about it!

Crazy clouds at Resurrection Bay, Seward.

Delicious meal at The Cookery in Seward.

Hey there…Puffins at the Alaska Sealife Center.

While we feel that we have done a lot with our time here this summer, there is still so much to explore and we are already talking of when we can come back to visit. Planning to meet up with new friends in the near future. Leaving is always hard and we will miss the friends that we have come to spend so much time with this summer, but new adventures await and we are excited to have the opportunities that we do. Although we are missing Kona, we are heading to Delaware for the winter. Delaware? Where, why? To work at my mom’s super successful restaurant, Egg, and hang out with family and friends. Duh. And to save some money. We were supposed to be growing up this year, but then our dear friend from Kona, Dave, bought a boat and he NEEDS us to sail around Fiji with him next summer. Soooooooo yeeeaaaaah, we kinda have to do that. But first, we need to survive the road trip…

Late night puzzling with Arwen and Dave!