He's here!

Weston Lawrence Uplinger arrived on May 18, 2014 at 6:25pm.

He weighed 8 pounds, 1 oz and was 20" long!

35 weeks, 4 days...and counting!

Happy Easter! 

This year we went to church with Stephen's parents in the morning, got coffees at the espresso stand, and then lounged around at home for a few hours before going to my Uncle's house for an Easter feast and great family time.

Here is my Easter day outfit, the dress is actually a maxi I've had for years that is stretchy enough to work with my big bump. The cardigan is from Target.

How far along? 35 weeks, 4 days
Total weight gain: hovering around 10 lbs
Maternity clothes: Yes, definitely. Still able to use a lot of pre-maternity pieces though.
Stretch marks? Yes :-(
Sleep: Terrible! Getting comfortable is difficult, and the waking up 1-3 times every night to use the bathroom isn't the most fun!
Best moment this week: I think the best moment was when I was in church this morning and he was kicking so hard due to the loud worship music - It was easy to get over the pain as I was just imagining him dancing and turning in there praising the Lord.
Miss anything? Being able to bend over easily
Movement: Tons.
Food cravings: No real cravings
Anything making you queasy or sick? No.
Gender: BOY!
Labor signs: Braxton hicks for sure
Symptoms: Lower back pain & elevated blood pressure (not fun)
Belly button in or out? In, I thought it was getting close to popping out at 26 weeks but it's even closer now!
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or moody most of the time? Happy! I think Steve will agree though, the last few weeks have been the hardest on me emotionally and physically
Looking forward to: Meeting our baby!! Could be very soon :-)

26 weeks

Haven't done one of these yet, thought it might be fun :)

How far along? 26 weeks
Total weight gain/measurements: 5lbs
Maternity clothes: Yes, definitely. Still able to wear most of my pre-maternity cardigans and some shirts too.
Stretch marks? Still no new ones.
Sleep: Decent... Waking up 1-3 times every night to use the bathroom, I've heard it only gets worse!! :-O
Best moment this week: Ultrasound on Thursday, got to see Baby in 3D, watched him moving around. So cool.
Miss anything? Being able to bend over easily
Movement: Tons. He's been moving a lot now and you can see my belly moving as he does, it's cool and freaky!
Food cravings: No real cravings
Anything making you queasy or sick? No.
Gender: BOY!
Labor signs: none yet
Symptoms: Mild lower back pain, fatigue, and frequent bathroom visits
Belly button in or out? In, but it's getting close!
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or moody most of the time? Happy!
Looking forward to: First baby shower in a couple weeks, and finishing the paint in his room.

...Surprise!

Yup, that's right!! After trying to get pregnant for almost one year we finally conceived and are going to be parents in May 2014! We seriously couldn't be any more excited. 

Steve was out of town on business in Pennsylvania when I found out, but I couldn't wait to tell him when he got home a few days later so I called him at 4am in the morning our time (7 in PA) and asked him if he was gonna be by his phone for a while cause I wanted to send him a picture. 

Once he said he'd be at the hotel for another 30 minutes or so, I sent him a picture of 3 of the 4 at home pregnancy tests I took with 2 little positive lines. I think at first he didn't know what to think, since we'd been waiting so long to see those lines! It was the best way to start my day out and was so hard to keep the news a secret! After confirming pregnancy with my general practitioner we started thinking of ways to tell our parents the good news. My mom was kind of expecting it, but Steve's parents had no idea. 

We ended up telling our parents by putting the above picture in a frame and handing it to them. My mom immediately responded "I already knew! I could tell when I saw you last week and your chin was broken out!" (I normally don't have acne, and apparently it was something my mom got during her pregnancy as well!) Everyone was super excited, and we couldn't wait to keep telling everyone we knew.

We waited a while longer to announce to everyone, until a couple weeks after our first ultrasound on October 10th. We got to see the little embryo, confirmed conception date and saw the little heartbeat on the screen. It was the best feeling in the entire world!  We told most people in our family by sending them a picture of the ultrasound. It was great to share the news fnally!!

I posted this on facebook to announce, it was hilarious to see how many people missed the point thinking we were just doing another home renovation project, lol!

Playing catch up...

I haven't updated this blog in such a long time, I figured it was about time to get it done! I have a bunch of topics from the last 6 or so months of our lives to catch you up on :)

Alpine Lakes Wilderness - The Enchantments

The end of August 2013, 7 of our group of close friends were privileged enough to spend 5 days and 4 nights backpacking the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. We started at the Stuart/Colchuck Lake Trailhead and made our way through the loop to the Snow Lakes Trailhead, only about 20.5 miles but treacherous and grueling.

I did a lot of research reading others blogs and reviews of the hike before we set out, so I was psyched up for what was in store for us.

The first day we hiked from the Eightmile Trailhead to Colchuck Lake. Swam in the lake before dinner and then rested up for our approach to & hike up Aasgard Pass in the morning.

Beginning of Day 2

The approach to Aasgard Pass from Colchuck Lake is a bit treacherous, big boulders to climb over, under and through but we made it! And this is what it looked like from the bottom. I am pretty sure it was the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life!

Day 2 - Aasgard Pass (2,300' gain over 0.8 miles)

At the top, you first come to the Upper Basins. They are full of rocks, little vegetation and it looks absolutely surreal. There was still quite a bit of snow in areas even being late August.

We set up camp in the upper basin, night #2 and then headed down to the middle basin on day 3. We found a perfect spot to camp for the night between Inspiration and Perfection Lakes. It was high enough up to have a gorgeous view of Prusik Peak. The water was very cold, but still was fun to jump in and get cleaned up a little bit. This area was filled with mountain goats. They were pretty friendly for the most part, but we made sure we carried rocks when going to the restroom as they are after the salt in your urine.

Perfection Lake with Prusik Peak in the background

Inspiration Lake

Billy, the Goat

On the fourth day - Karla, Joey & Steve went on their own and hiked Prusik Peak and then met the rest of the group at the upper Snow Lake. The trail through the lower basin lakes is so gorgeous, the water is so clear!!! From Lake Viviane down to the Upper Snow Lake the trail is basically sheer rock cliffs. Painful on the knees and super scary, if you lost your footing you were going off the edge!

Lower Lake Basin, Sprite Lake

 Our fifth and final day we left early in the morning and hiked at a grueling speed to make it out by lunch time. 6.6 miles with about a 4,200' elevation drop. It was a great feeling when we hit the trailhead and knew we could be home taking a shower in just a few hours!!

Deception Creeks Hike

In preparation of our Enchantments Hike in August we set out on a quick overnight backpack trip a few weekends ago. We had originally planned to take #1059 Deception Creek the full 5 miles to camp at the Creek junction. After stopping at the Skykomish Ranger Station, the Ranger talked us into doing a different hike instead due to the number of hikers that were already camping on the #1059 trail.

We started out at the #1059.1 trailhead (spur to Tonga Ridge) after driving some 14+ miles on a gravel road. There were about 4 other vehicles parked at this trailhead, but we didn't encounter anyone until we reached the junction with #1059 (Deception Creek Trail) - there were a couple of campers there just as the Ranger had . The #1059.1 spur is roughly 0.7 miles, that has an elevation drop of 700'. I knew on the way down that the way out the next morning was going to be grueling!!

We continued on the #1059 across Deception Creek and then  for about 3 miles of relatively light elevation gain to the #1059.2. There were multiple blow downs and creek crossings, but nothing too difficult to get over.

Near the junction of #1059.1 and #1059 - Deception Creek log crossing

Another Deception Creek crossing

The #1059.2 to Deception Lakes is a seemingly endless array of switchbacks and elevation gain before it meets up with the Pacific Crest Trail. I thought I was going to die! ;-) After a quick break, and another 1/2 mile or so and we were at the Lakes. We camped on the "island" between the Deception Lakes and Daisy Lake. Despite the warm daytime temperature, it was very cold at night and there were LOTS of bugs also.

Deception Lakes from the camp spot

Daisy Lake

Nighttime stars!

4 year anniversary!

Isn't this so true? I am lucky I found the one I wanted to annoy for the rest of my life at the young age of 16.  Happy 4th Anniversary to my amazing, wonderful, handsome and awesome husband! You make my life so much better, you support me, you make me laugh, you make me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world! 

Lopez Island Kayaking

In mid May we went on an excursion to Lopez Island with friends, and stayed at the Spencer Spit State Park. It was opening weekend so the campground was still quite overgrown and needed a lot of work to bring it up to it's prime condition. The bonus was that there weren't many other campers there (due to early season and semi bad weather) so we had the majority of the campground to ourselves!





Lucky for us the rain on Friday and Friday night paved the way for a cleared up Saturday afternoon just in time for our sea kayaking trip around Frost Island. Unfortunately I learned the hard lesson of sunburn even with gray skies and my face got fried! :(

After kayaking we came back to the camp and made our first (of many) Dutch Oven dinner. It was a simple stew, but boy was it delicious! It's super easy for camping as you can do all the prepwork in advance (chop all desired veggies & meat, place in ziploc bag with seasoning. Put in Dutch Oven, cook for 35-45 minutes and then open a can of refrigerated biscuits - place on top and let cook for another 15-20 minutes!)



We ate more than our own fair shares of dinner  and then we walked down to the Spit and had a huge driftwood fire while watching the sun set. It was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! There is no place like Washington!!

Man Cave Transformation

This very well could be the largest and craziest transformation yet of our fixer upper house. We built a shed in the backyard, that I will write about soon. I was so excited that after 4 years of living here, we finally were able to turn our 'family room' into just that... no more man cave!

This picture collage is a mid-way shot. About half the items had been removed, and the new window is installed. You can clearly see I had painted it a bright turquoise color called Scotch Lassie by Behr (what was I thinking?). It was so bright but yet, not bright and the cement epoxy coated floors were just not doing it for me! 

I had a Pinterest board going with ideas; most of my ideas centered around the want for it to be comfortable for the guys when they came over, but still classy and maybe a little shabby chic. That being said, I decided to go with the most popular neutral right now as the base color... grey. I chose the color Sterling by Behr. It was the perfect blend of grey with a bit of blue to give it the "guy feel".

I also had the brilliant idea of painting stripes... Of course I chose the wall that is 17' long...Yes all 17' of it was taped and painted in 13.78" wide stripes! Let me tell ya, my O.C.D. came out for sure!! I tried to read up on stripe painting using Pinterest and Google, and some of the best tips came from Emily's blog. I wish I would have taken pictures during the process. 

Here is a picture of the after (the stripes turned out awesome).

We covered up the nasty epoxy coated cement floor with a laminate by TrafficMaster called Allure. We bought it at our local Home Depot. It's waterproof vinyl laminate. It feels and looks more like real wood than the Pergo in the rest of our house. It's great for the daylight basement and I don't have to worry about the floors getting wet or scuffed up by shoes coming in from the backyard.

I was excited when we bought a set of brown leather couches for the space, but I still need to find a coffee table/ottoman, a new TV stand and a rug or two to finish it off. As it stands now, I am totally loving the feel of our new family room! Definitely a huge transformation and a lot of work.

Essex, Montana

This last weekend we road-tripped to a little town called Essex near Glacier National Park in Montana. Really the only thing that is there is about 20 vacation homes, and the Izaak Walton Inn. It's a great location for cross-country skiing & snowshoeing in the winter, and for hiking in the summer (also being so close to Glacier National Park gives you the opportunity to explore there as well).

The town is accessible by regular vehicles, which can be sketchy in the winter months, or by Amtrak Train. The Amtrak train stop is just out front of the Inn. We decided to drive for this trip, as the costs of Amtrak were so high. I was grateful we drove this time, as the scenery coming through highway 2 on the way from Sand Point, Idaho to Kalispell, Montana was absolutely breathtaking and well worth the time it takes to drive. During the day and at night, it was great fun to watch all the trains coming into the train yard, and to see the helper trains pulling the ultra-long trains over the pass. The skill and timing required to coordinate the trains is interesting to watch.  It was also truly an amazing feeling to be standing just feet from the tracks and to feel the ground shaking as the trains rolled by!

We did a bit of snowshoeing right on the Izaak Walton property's trails, as well as at the Walton Ranger Station, which is just a short down the road. The hike from the Walton Ranger Station goes to Ole Creek and then the trail continues on to Fielding Picnic Area. Before we had made it to Ole Creek, we ran into some other snowshoers on their way out who told us that there was a suspension bridge - what a great surprise!!

The snowshoeing in Essex was great, and we even got a chance to do a night shoe during a snow storm. The Izaak Walton property has a "starlight" trail that is lit at night for skiing and shoeing. It was a blast. It was also super cool to stay in the caboose lodging they have. We stayed in the JJ Caboose which had a full kitchen area, bathroom, queen bed in a bedroom and full sized bed in the second floor of the caboose. It was a great alternative to standard hotel room lodging, and fun to boot!

One word resolution?

I've seen a lot of hype the past week and a half from some of the blogs I follow about creating resolutions and how there is this new trend of not creating a list of resolutions you will never keep (I know I'm guilty of that!), but creating a one word resolution. I'm not typically a crazed follower of the latest and greatest things, but I did some research on-line and found this site. I am not sure if this is what stemmed the "one word" resolution or not, but it got me thinking...What one word can I take with me this year and make it a part of my daily practice to improve on?

I completed a Beth Moore bible study last spring with my mother-in-law at our church on the book of James. There is a verse of scripture from the book of James that has really stuck with me since the study. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. (James 5:12 ESV) 


Interestingly enough, the few verses before this tell us to be patient, establish our hearts before the Lord,  not to grumble, to be steadfast, compassionate, merciful. WOW. That's a lot to soak up at one time. How many times have I condemned myself for not sticking to my vow or promise (weight-loss, chores, goals, etc)?  And then, how many times have I lost patience with myself...grumbled...gave up...lost my compassion for what I was trying to accomplish? Sometimes, I think that if I make new promises to myself or others that it will somehow have a different outcome (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't). How many times have I condemned myself or others for not sticking to a vow or promise? Why can't don't I just do what I say I am going to do? 


I talk. I plan. I discuss. I want to do so many things (serve, travel, blog, organize, craft, clean, lose weight, garden, the list goes on...) but, I think the problem is that I often have the recognition of what to do and then get lost before the doing of it. 

But above all..let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no...

So that is what my one word for 2013 is:

recognize what I want to do > make plans to do it > actually do it > keep doing it

Our Top 12 of 2012

I saw a Christmas card that I totally fell in love with after I had just purchased ours the day before. I vowed to 'recreate' it as a blog post to kick off 2013. I am a day late, but true to my favorite saying, "better late than never"...right?? Well, here it is.

Hope you enjoy taking a quick journey with us as I recap my 12 most favorite moments of 2012, in no particular order:

Mondavi Winery Napa, CA

* Road trip to Napa, California.
January 2012, we made the long trip to Napa to visit a couple of good friends who Steve plays computer games online with. I went in to the trip totally psyched for the wineries and sunshine, but little did I know we'd leave with so much more than that! We met awesome new friends and have gained a whole new understanding and love for each other (I guess 15 hours in the car each way, only stopping for bathroom breaks will do that to ya!!) The wineries in Napa are truly beautiful, and the wine was great. I can't wait to go back.

* Two new babies were added to the "Cohn Clan". My cousin Danny and his wife Cristie welcomed Lailee Gray in January, and my cousin Andrew and his wife Alicia welcomed Makenna Koren in March. Both girls are absolutely adorable and full of personality.

Denali National Park, Alaska

*9 day trip to Alaska. This was seriously the trip of a lifetime. We covered over 1,500 road miles during our trip and did not see even 1/4 of the State! Everything about Alaska is rugged, untouched and adventurous; its a place you can't really explain to someone until they've been there to see it themselves. We tried to do as many activities as possible while we were there: hiking, kayaking, glacier trekking, photo-taking, beer drinking at 9 breweries, cruising on choppy seas, and sleeping in remote cabins without electricity at 6,000' elevation. It was a trip I will not soon forget, and we are hoping to go back (maybe 2013?) to do more activities that we didn't have the time for on this trip.

*Hiking & Snowshoeing. While we didn't get to do as much of both that we'd have liked to do...We did get out a few times this year for hiking and snowshoeing when the weather cooperated. We are really looking forward to a trip to Essex, Montana for snowshoeing in February; hopefully we can get some training snowshoe trips in before we go!

*Hanging out with our nieces. We got to watch Claire and Adina a few times over the Summer and had an absolute blast doing it. They are both growing up so fast, it's fun to see their personality and interest changes.

*Trip to Hawaii. Two weeks before Thanksgiving we got an amazing opportunity for cheap airfare to Hawaii so decided to book it and spend our Thanksgiving on the beaches of Oahu. It was a great week of relaxation, un-plugging, and just getting away from all the hustle of the Holidays. The weather wasn't the best for us, but it was still a great trip and I am very grateful for the opportunity and the chance to see Pearl Harbor and be so immersed in rich history.

*Camping, camping and some MORE camping! We went camping almost every weekend of the summer. We enjoyed 3 days on Orcas Island, complete with a sailing trip on one of the most gorgeous sunny days I've seen in Washington. We camped at our special spot in Darrington for 6 weekends of the summer, and also got in 2 trips to the Leavenworth KOA.

*Steve got a huge promotion at work. I am super proud of his strong dedication and good work ethic that provides the opportunities for him to advance in his career! Additionally we both reached big milestones in our careers - Steve's been at his work for 4 years, and I've been at mine for almost 6! It's not often that one can say that these days with the turmoil in the economy.

The shed before it's roof job.

*More home renovations...This year we didn't do too much work on the house, it kind of got old after doing it non-stop for the first 2 years of our marriage/home ownership. We did accomplish a few small projects, and one major project (which leads the way to more projects!) The major project we completed was a 16'x24' shed built by Steve, with the help of family and friends. We will finally, after nearly 4 years of living here, have a dedicated 'family room' and not an inside garage storage!!! The shed will house all the tools, and boxes, that have been shelved in our downstairs family room. We are so excited to have more space. I already have a plan of exactly how to decorate the new space and will be sharing those pictures and tutorials here in the coming months. Sidenote >> as of November for the first time in 3 1/2 years of marriage we are sans roommates. It's awesome to have a full house to ourselves!! :-)

*Losing 30 pounds and doing two 5k races! I actually lost a little more than 30, but gained a bit back over the last two months; I need to get back on track! ;-) Mostly exercise and some diet changes have got me here, and will keep me going in the right direction. I am about half way to my goal!!

Oktoberfest

*Oktoberfest 2012. We rented a Kabin at the KOA and had one of the funnest weekends of our lives at the Leavenworth Oktoberfest. Our friend Ryan who moved up here from Southern California in 2010 invited a couple of his best friends to join us, it was like we'd all been friends for years even though we'd just met - that does not happen often. I cannot wait to get down to So. Cal to visit Emily & Noelle and the rest of the gang.

*Sary's wedding. My best friend Sarah got married in September and I was her maid of honor. It was a lot of fun helping her plan and design her big day, and it was one of the most beautiful weddings I've been to. The weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor September wedding, and all the details were just right.

Summer 2012 Recap

 This is my first attempt at photo journaling our busy, busy summer 2012.

(for larger view, click the photo)

Starting in the upper left:

1. Sarah Kreider's (now Macht) wedding - where I was honored to be the maid of honor
2. Stephen and Ryan on our Orcas Island sailing trip
3. Stephen with our favorite beer in Talkeetna, Alaska
4. (under the Steve/Ryan pic) Stephen and I in Denali National Park, Alaska
5. Sunset photo on Orcas Island from West Beach Resort's dock
6. Annual Camping weekend in Darrington
7. Hayden Deanne, our good friends Andy and Jasmine's newest addition
8. Sarah Kreider's (now Macht) wedding festivities!!
9. Cousins and Aunt at the Goodbye BBQ to the Cohn Compound, sharing nearly 50 years of memories
10. My niece and I before running the "Color Run" 5k on Mother's Day
11. Our wonderful Lake camping spot, visited it 3 times this Summer!
12. My little "sister" on our girls day out adventure before she headed off to WSU.

Sarah K's wedding festivities

On September 6th I get to be the maid of honor in my best friends wedding, here are some pics from a few of the festivities.

The riderless horse at Emerald Downs

 

Bridal Shower

Sarah K with a metal horse at Emerald Downs

Orcas Island ~ July

We spent the July 20th weekend in one of my favorite places of Washington State - Orcas Island. It's always a pain to get there (long drive, ferry waits, etc, etc) but once you're on the island you forget all that. Friday afternoon we arrived at the Anacortes Ferry Landing at 2pm, we missed the 3:50pm Ferry sailing by 3 cars. The next ferry was scheduled for 7:20pm, so we cooked hot dogs on our gas stove and walked around until sail time. It was a grey, but beautifully warm evening on the ferry. Once arriving at the campground we setup our camp and then headed back to a nearby town for a few supplies and dinner.

Group Photo on the Ferry

Saturday we woke up early, cooked breakfast and hung out at the campground. West Beach Resort is absolutely amazing. I hope to go back in the future and stay at one of their cabins. After hanging out for a bit, we took an interesting back roads drive to the Deer Harbor Marina for a 3 hour sailing trip.

Sailing Trip

Our Captain was a lot of fun, and the weather couldn't have been better for the sailing. The winds took us right along; only had to use the motor for a short while. Each of us got the opportunity to pull in or push out the sails, and also to the steer the boat.

After sailing, we dropped Karla and Joey off at the ferry docks to head back to main land and we went back to the campground to watch the sunset, it was absolutely GORGEOUS!!

Sunset on July 21

Hatcher Pass Lodge

I think Hatcher Pass Lodge was one of our favorite places to stay on our trip. We stayed here on Sunday night. Each unit is a private cabin, some are 2 stories tall, situated at 3,000' elevation above the treeline in the Talkeetna Mountains. The proximity to hiking trails and surrounding scenery is superb. 

Outside of Cabins 6 & 7

Each cabin is equipped with a water tank and chemical toilets , there is bathrooms and a bathhouse at the main lodge. We stayed in cabin #3 which is a loft cabin, queen bed upstairs and futon down stairs. As I mentioned before, we found Hap (the owner) and all his staff to be very friendly and accomadating. We were one of two groups staying at the Lodge that night, so we pretty much had the run of the place. It's too bad we didn't have more time to stay at the actual cabin or Lodge (between driving to and from the Glacier and needing to head on to Talkeetna the following day). 

View of the main Lodge & cabins from trail to Summit Lake

We didn't get to see as much scenery as we'd hoped as the cloud cover was pretty low (you can see in the photos). We still got to see the immediate surrounding hillsides with budding wildflower meadows and alpine terrain. It also was kind of cool to be right there in the clouds, something I've never experienced at home.

I think one of the coolest parts of this whole place is that its run mostly off coal fueled energy. It is rustic and remote - I definitely didn't have any cellular reception there. The cabin was old inside, but it was very cozy and quaint - the bed was clean and comfortable too! There is also a sauna available that is run off coal heat. We didn't have time to try it out, but if we ever go back - that is definitely on my list to do!

10pm (notice how light it still is!)

Kayaking and Glaciers

Our third day in Alaska was full of adventure (and driving). 


We left Anchorage at 8 in the morning and traveled about 1 hour Northeast to the small town of Eklutna. About 15 miles off the freeway is remote Eklutna Lake; there we used a Groupon I'd purchased to rent a double kayak for 2 hours. It was so much fun!

Eklutna Lake

The Eklutna Glacier carved this valley as it retreated; then glacial and freshwater streams flowing into the valley created the 7-mile-long lake. The lake water level is high in the fall, but can be as much as 60' lower in the Spring! We had to hike quite a distance to get to the kayak boat launch due to the low water level. Before getting out on the water, we were warned that the weather can change rapidly in this valley, bringing sudden high winds, and we definitely did experience this towards the end of our kayaking time. The Lake is quite large and even though we did not see much wildlife while we were kayaking, we enjoyed soaking in the gorgeous mountain scenery.


After kayaking, we drove up to Hatcher Pass for lunch at the Hatcher Pass Lodge, and also checked in for the night. A few reviews online mentioned that the owner was harsh and difficult to deal with, but we didn't feel that way. Hap was very friendly with us and told us that when we returned later that evening we should just open whatever cabin we'd like and check out in the main lodge in the morning. He sat at our table during lunch and chatted about the local hiking and amenities of the lodge. After lunch, we got back in the car and drove some 120+ miles to the Matanuska Glacier. (see my blogpost about Hatcher Pass Lodge here!)

Matanuska Glacier

Arriving near the Glacier, we met up with our tour group, and guide, at Mica guides and got all our gear for hiking on the Glacier. The weather was great for pictures, creating an awesome contrast against the blue/white glacier. Our guide was super knowledgeable and friendly and had a ton of great adventure stories to tell us as we went along. Mica Guides offers multiple options for hiking tours on the Glacier; we chose the 3 hour trip - which provided an hour of prep/end time and 3 FULL hours on the actual Glacier. 

The Matanuska Glacier is 26 miles long, and is the largest Glacier in Alaska that can be reached by vehicle. It is well worth the drive to get out there to see it. 

If you don't want to spend the money to go on a guided tour - which provides boots (if you need them), day packs, helmets and crampons - you can most definitely drive to the Glacier and walk on it yourself. There are few picnic tables at a view point close to the parking lot which would make a great place for lunch.

Alaska Trip 2012

I still haven't come down off our high from our recent trip to Anchorage, Alaska and surrounding areas. We did so many amazing and fun things, I can't begin to pick just 1 (or 5!) thing that I loved the most. You can start to follow my reviews of restaurants, lodging and activities on tripadvisor.com. I will also start posting some of the best highlights here on our blog (of course, with tons of pics!).

Trip history...We sat down in May and tried to think of what to do for our 3 year anniversary, and couldn't really decide on a "tropical" location to go. A few days passed and I received an email offer through our Alaska Airlines Visa for mileage award travel from Seattle to Anchorage. I went through different options using our miles, and came up with a departing date that was 2 days after our anniversary, and returned to Seattle 9 days later. I didn't quite know what there was to do in Alaska yet (I'd only heard of cruises going to Alaska), but I knew it was one of Stephen's dreams to go to Alaska. Needless to say, 25,000 miles later, trip was booked and we were going to The Last Frontier!

Here we are, June 29th - just landed in sunny Anchorage, Alaska.