Hiking in Alaska

During the Cold War, these early radar detectors were put up in Nome to alert the US of a Russian invasion. These massive structure are still standing today. We could see them out Doug's front window. There are 4 of them identical to this one, sitting on top of the highest hill in Nome. We decided to take a drive to see them one night. It was a beautiful night, we saw a herd of musk ox on the way up. There is a huge crows nest at the top of the smaller structure, you can see Doug climbing to check it out.

This is the view of Nome from the radar towers. It was beautiful, and windy that night. Bonnie was flying into Nome that evening. For some reason, Nathan told me she was getting in around 9:30. We went to the radar towers around 8:30 thinking we had plenty of time. We kept getting calls from Bonnie, but the reception was bad, we thought she was calling from her layover in Kotzebue. After 30 minutes of trying to connect with her, Nathan realized, she was in Nome waiting for us to pick her up. We jumped in the truck and raced back down the mountain to pick her up. We felt terrible, the terminal closes about 10 minutes after you deplane, so she had to wait outside for us. Some welcome to Nome, haven't seen you in a while. Sorry Bonnie. Luckily Grami is wonderful and thought the whole thing was funny. We are so luck she is easy going and wonderful.

When we got back to Anchorage, we went hiking with Nathan's grandparents, Grami, and his aunt Mena and Uncle Denis. We went to a place right outside of Anchorage called Flat Top. We didn't get anywhere near the top (it is about an hour and a half hike-and that is if you are not a great grandparent, 8 months pregnant or under the age of 5). It was very cloudy so we didn't even get to see the top. We had fun hiking and saw a lot of people on their way up and down the mountain.

Everest found a flag in Denis's garage and just had to take it with us. He is obsessed with the American flag. He wanted to bury it so people knew we were Americans. It is amazing how entertaining a flag can be for a 4 year old.

All the gang (minus Nathan, Leaf, grandma and grandpa), checking out the view, looking for moose and taking a rest.

Later that evening we had a fire on the back porch. Denis and Mena have an amazing house with beautiful windows all around. This picture was taken around 10:30 or 11 pm. The sun is starting to set a little. In Anchorage it was darker than twilight, but not quite dark from about 12:30 to 4am. It was really cool, but weird. We definitely stayed up much later than we normally would.

Everest on a walk around Denis and Mena's house (I think). I wish I would have taken more pictures of thier plants. Due to the many hours of sunlight, some of the veggies and flowers they grow are HUGE. Mena had rhubarb growing in her yard, the leaves and plants were enormous!