Ryan and Ashley came to visit

We had so much fun with Ryan and Ashley. They were here for a week and we crammed in a lot of fun activities and family time. Ashley did such a great job blogging about it, just head to their blog if you want to see. You can get there from our blog list, of course. Ryan and Ashley are a wonderful couple and we love them very much. Just wish we all lived in the same culdesac. They probably don't, but I do!

Prudhoe Bay

On Saturday, August 1st, Lindsay and I got a very unique opportunity to go north to Prudhoe Bay which is at the top of Alaska. Michael works at BP, as you know, and they have a program where, by lottery, employees can win trips for 2 family members to go to the North Slope and have a tour. It's nice to see where your loved one actually lives and works when they're gone to that mysterious place called "The Slope". Even though some employees have worked there for years and have never won the lottery, Michael lives under lucky stars and won his very first shot at it! Lindsay and I were the lucky ones who got to go.

We left Anchorage early in the morning on a 737. On the flight we were given the biggest cinnamon rolls I've ever seen. They were huge!

It took an hour and 40 minutes to get to Deadhorse, AK where we landed and began our tour. We saw a lot of caribou,

some Arctic foxes, and a couple snowy owls, but mostly saw a lot of buildings with acronym names, and flat flat flat tundra as far as the eye could see. When we got off the plane, I was struck by it being the absolute flattest place I've ever seen. They took us to one of the main living areas for the workers there, saw one of their rooms (like a dorm room with a shower and toilet shared between two rooms), some recreation areas (foos ball, pool, computers), ate lunch at the dining hall, saw the gym and weight room. We had to be quiet in the sleeping area because it's a 24/7 operation up there, and people were sleeping. We saw lots of interesting plant type buildings, who knows what they were for or what they were doing! How they get oil out of the ground exactly and the whole operation is a big mystery! All I know is that we saw the start of the Trans-Alaska pipeline, where all the oil from all the fields congregates and heads out for the 800 mile trip to Valdez. It is an amazing feat, with everything that it entails. It's a very secure place as well, reminded me of a military base. Lot's of checkpoints and security.

This is a parking area. Those cords hanging down? Those are electric plug-ins. In the winter it is so cold, all the vehicles either need to be plugged in or left running. Otherwise they will not start again.

Although there is the new, there is still a lot of old equipment that has been used from the beginning of the project - in the 70's and 80's.

This hovercraft was so cool. We watched it come on shore and then "drive" right into a garage!

Lindsay and I are standing on the shore of the Arctic Ocean! Anyone for a swim?

Huge weights are used to help dampen vibration in the piping when the wind blows.

The beginning of the pipeline. From here it travels a zig-zag course sometimes above and sometimes below the ground.

This is a "pig" shown inside a section of pipe. It travels inside the pipeline testing for weaknesses, corrosion and such.

The 800 mile pipeline stretches from Prudhoe Bay south to the terminal in Valdez.

Part of the site from the air.

We flew over areas of interior Alaska were fires millions of acres are burning, started by lightning strikes.

The trip was capped off on the way home with just spectacular views of Mt McKinley from the plane. It was just right there out of the plane windows. The pilot flew circles around it, first one direction, then the other. It was weird doing those kinds of maneuvers in a jet liner, we're so used to going in a straight line from point A to point B.

They also opened the cockpit door and let us go up and chat with the pilots and see the cockpit while we were flying. That was awesome!! Our turn was when we were approaching Mt. McKinley, and to see it out the cockpit windows straight ahead, was amazing.

The tallest mountain in North America.
20,300 feet "peaking" out of the clouds.

I wish my pictures had turned out better. I'm not very good with our camera. It was telling me things that I didn't understand. I wish Brad would've been there to take them. Especially the cockpit one. It was so dark in the plane, and so blinding white outside, I knew it probably wouldn't work out very well. He would've been able to adjust things to make it perfect. Oh well.

Thanks Michael, for letting me be a "hanger on"! It was a great trip. It was an experience few ever get to have. And a fun day to spend with Lindsay.

Dipnetting 2009 - skunked! (Well close enough that it stunk...)

Some of you may remember our post of dipnetting last summer and our bountiful harvest! We were looking forward to repeating that experience this year, as we ate the very last package of salmon from last summer just a couple weeks ago. We wanted to fill the freezer and share with friends and relatives. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it was not to be.

That's not to say that we didn't have a great time camping with our family though! We have good friends with a house in Kenai. They are remodeling the house to sell, so it is unoccupied. They were kind enough to let us camp in their living room. It was fun to play games and sleep all together on the floor. It was eventful only in that as we were drifting off, we heard Lindsay say, "do you hear that?" then, "What is that??" then, "Does anyone else hear that???" Finally it was determined that there was a large moth waging a fervent battle with the window. Fearing the moth would fly at her in the night, and since it was then bothering Kevin too and realizing something would have to be done - Brad whomped it quite decidedly with his book. Ah, peace reigned. Michael slept through the whole thing, including the whomping.

The next morning we got fishing reports from people who were at both fishing spots, the mouth of the Kenai river, and the Kasilof river. Reports from both places were very bad. Nobody was catching very many fish at all. We decided to go to the Kasilof since it was closer and we had some other friends who were going to be there as well. It is an adventure, driving on the sand - the deep sand. I always get nervous that we're going to get stuck, as if that meant we'd be stuck there the rest of our lives. People were getting stuck, but they always get out eventually. I don't think anyone is still stuck there today! Michael caught a fish within 30 seconds of putting his net in the water, but that was his one and only. Brad caught a fish after about an hour, but that was it. We finally packed it in, went back to the Thomas's house, ate lunch and headed for home. Last year it was raining, which really added to the muddy, sandy mess in the car and everywhere. It took a couple weeks for my car to stop smelling like fish. This year was much cleaner and faster, but our freezer is, alas, empty.

Michael was our fire maker...


Little Ladder-ball action...


Sleeping formation... for protection from moth monsters and the such.



Kevin with shields up.


30 SECONDS! (and that was it?)


30 SECONDS! Big expectations Kevin!



Cook Inlet Ward Young Single Adults (a few of)


Fishing at low tide.



Sarah disentangling a small flounder from her net.


Sarah Owen, Kevin & Michael


Sarah can do it!

Looking back at the beach from the fishing spot.



Julie & Lindsay observing the activity and waiting for the bounty of fish to arrive.



Michael's sister Nancy with friend salmon. (Poor little critter!)



Three fisher-type-persons =)



Some fish were caught none the less. Over a couple of days. Most of these are Nancy's. Michael & Brad each caught one. We didn't stay but a few hours.


Two master filet-ers. (two of the YSA)


Brad's sand cruiser.

So Long Kobi...