Our Life in Alaska and Beyond

After spending some time at the AWCC, we went over to the BBVC. It's a really nice visitor center with some really cool displays and exhibits. Also, the girls had been working on their Jr. Ranger booklets and they were able to turn those in and get some really cool patches. Great job girls! Enjoy these pics from this beautiful Alaska summer day! 

Both of these patches are so cool! The BBVC Jr. Ranger patch, and the Chugach National Forest Jr. Ranger patch.

The next day (which was also Robyn's 7th birthday! We celebrated with cake a few days later.) we drove with Mike and Kay to Whittier and went on a glacier cruise. It was fun driving through the tunnel, and then we had a gorgeous day on the water. We did the glacier quest cruise with Phillips Cruises & Tours and we saw so many beautiful glaciers and actually quite a bit of wildlife too! It was a fun time! Enjoy these pretty pics!

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These are all the pics I took with my big camera at Lake Clark National Park. We saw several bears, with an experienced guide with us at all times. I never felt in danger at all, and absolutely loved the time we got to spend here. It was an amazing experience, and I hope I'll be able to visit again someday! 🐻❤️🐻

Crimp Ear

The main reason Chrissy came to visit us was so that we could visit Lake Clark National Park. This trip took several months of planning, and was so, so worth it! It was short (only 24 hours), but probably the best 24 hours of my life, no joke! It truly couldn't have been better and I loved every second. We took Ruby (part of her 12th birthday present) and Scott stayed home with Noelle and Robyn. It was very expensive, but in my opinion, definitely worth it, and definitely something I want to do again. 

We stayed at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge, which I highly, highly recommend. We flew from Anchorage on the morning of July 4th on a little float plane, and landed on a lake near the lodge. We then got on a little boat, and then we were taken on a 4-wheeler to our cabin and the lodge. From there we started our bear viewing (with a very experienced guide), with breaks for lunch and dinner, and then out again after dinner for more bear viewing. We slept very well in our cabin that night, and the next morning we got to do more bear viewing, followed by breakfast, and then sadly it was already time to go home. The next time I visit I would love to stay longer. But I have no complaints about this trip and really feel that we just lucked out with beautiful weather, lots of bears (no cubs, but that's ok), an incredibly knowledgeable and kind guide, amazing food (I don't think I've ever eaten as well as I did on this trip), and super comfortable accommodations. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This first post will be all of my cell pics, and then I'll do a separate post with all the pics I took from my big camera. I also have some great videos on my IG! Enjoy the bears and the beauty of Lake Clark NP! 🐻🏔️

About to get on our float plane at the Lake Hood Floatplane Base in Anchorage. We learned this is the busiest and biggest seaplane base in the world!

Scott had Juneteenth off work so we decided to spend the day at Eklutna Lake. It was the most beautiful summer day, and it ended up being one of our favorite days ever! We first spotted a black bear off the side of the road on our drive up, then we all went on a pretty 7 mile bike ride along the lakeside trail (even Robyn on her princess bike!), then we went back to our campsite and had quickie pies and s'mores. While we were right in the middle of eating, a black bear started to come towards our campsite! Scott quickly helped the girls get in the car, and I tried my best to gather up all our food. (I had read that's what you're supposed to do if a bear approaches you while eating.) The bear kind of started getting close to our campsite and Scott honked at it. Luckily the bear moved on with no incident, and I'm so glad we were all safe. We're just doing our best recreating in bear country, haha. But this definitely made for a very fun and exciting day at Eklutna Lake. We finished up the day by going down to the lake and and playing in the water. Scott even got all the way in, lol. Enjoy the pics! 🐻

We love summers in AK! On the first Saturday in June we decided to go to ERNC. It ended up being a great day for wildlife! On the drive there we saw a huge bull moose on the road (I have a cool video I shared to IG!) and then we also saw a moose near the pond while hiking. (We just did the easy Rodak Nature Loop.) And then while driving back we saw a mama brown bear and yearling cub just off the side of the road. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my telephoto lens, but we still got some good pics. Enjoy! 🫎🐻

The littles somehow forgot their jackets so Scott and I gave them ours, haha.

We went on the "orca quest" wildlife cruise out of Seward with Major Marine Tours. It was a shorter one (four hours) and it worked out great for us! It was a little chilly, but we brought hats and gloves and stayed warm, and luckily the water wasn't too rough and none of us got sick either! We ended up seeing quite a bit of wildlife (including lots of orcas!) and it was so fun! We also were in Kenai Fjords National Park for part of the cruise. So beautiful! Enjoy these pics!

Resident orcas. I rented a telephoto lens which was so fun to use!

Right on Scott's birthday (we celebrated with his party a few days before) Scott took the day off and he and I hiked/ran Lazy Mountain. The kids were still in school and it was a beautiful day to get out and enjoy nature! We ran into a little bit of snow towards the top, but we were able to trek through and we made it all the way to the flag. We also saw a moose and a porcupine just off the trail, which was so fun! Enjoy these pics!

This is one of my favorite hikes, with the prettiest of views!

We went for a nice walk around Reflections Lake on the first Sunday in May. It was still early in the season and not super pretty yet, but so nice to get out and enjoy nature. 🌱🐿️

Cute little squirrel

We hiked the Butte with Heather while she was still here for work, and it was so fun! Definitely not ideal conditions (a little snowy and muddy), but we still had a great time. It's always good to get outside and enjoy the fresh air! Afterwards we had Heather over to our house for dinner and games. It was so fun! Thanks for visiting us Heather!!

So cool to see this eagle pretty close to us while hiking! 🦅

January in AK can be pretty dark and slow, but we always try to make the most of it. Here are a few highlights! ❄️

With all the snow we got plenty of sledding in! Sledding at the littles' school here. 1/6/24

A few December favorites from just before moving to AK!

We had dinner with Mike and Kay and also went out to Antelope Island! Always so fun to see the bison! 12/3/23 🦬

Scott was able to again travel to St. Paul Island for his work at the beginning of December. He was there for about a week (the girls and I were still in Utah), and I loved all the pictures he sent. He had never been there at this time of year, and it was so beautiful! He saw many Northern fur seals, which were so cute! Enjoy these pics!

 A round up of favorites from Aug. '23!

Noelle and Robyn performed with the Farmington High Nixelles (drill team) at an FHS football halftime! They had so much fun and did so good! 👯‍♀️ 8/11/23

During the summer of 2023 Scott and I talked about moving back to AK. A job came up at Scott's old workplace and he decided to apply, and he ended up getting it! It was very difficult telling our families, and putting our home up for sale, along with just the thought of moving thousands of miles away, again. But we truly believed it was what was best for ourselves and our girls, and went with it. (Now writing this over a year later, it has been so good, and we truly love being back in Alaska!) Everything happened so quick and before we knew it, our house was on the market and all our stuff was on its way to AK. With all of this going on, we tried to fit as much fun as we could into summer/fall, and spend as much time with family as we could before moving. 

This trip to Great Basin National Park is one of those things we really worked to fit in. We love visiting National Parks, and we had never been to Great Basin before (surprising because it's so close to Utah!) Chrissy also wanted to visit, so we planned a camping weekend trip for all of us to go together, and it was so fun! After visiting, I think Great Basin NP is very underrated. It is so beautiful and so amazing! And not crowded at all! I easily say I would love to go back and visit again! 

We left after work/school on Friday, and the drive really wasn't too bad. We got to the park right around sunset, and it was so beautiful! We camped in the Upper Lehman campground that night and it was so pretty! Our campsite was right next to Upper Lehman creek, and I loved listening to the babbling water, haha. We also had nice weather that night, and the kids loved tent camping! The next morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise, and then we checked out the visitor center, the girls became Jr. Rangers, and we took a tour of Lehman caves. It was cool, but honestly, I'm not (nor was anyone else in our group, lol) super into caves, and it got a little boring. I'd skip the cave next time, but I loved every other part of this park. There were also some apricot trees near the visitor center that were ripe, so it was fun to snack on those. 

That afternoon we drove further into the park. It was so beautiful! We had a reservation to camp that night at Wheeler Peak campground, so we explored the campground a bit, and then hiked the Bristlecone Trail, and the Alpine Lakes Loop. Noelle and Robyn weren't feeling the best, so Scott went with them a little early back to the campground, while Chrissy, Ruby, and I finished the loop.  We then had dinner at the campground, however, it started raining while we were hiking and eating, and then the littles still weren't feeling great, so we actually decided to head back home that night rather spend the night in a wet tent. It ended up raining a lot, so we were glad we took off, and then Noelle and Robyn both ended up throwing up too. We think it was altitude sickness that got to them (we were hiking at over 10,000'!). We ended up getting home pretty late Saturday night, but overall we still had such a wonderful trip! Enjoy these pics of beautiful Great Basin!

Arriving in Great Basin. Love this pic so much!

Our family had plans to go to Fish Lake at the beginning of August and we decided to go a day early and spend some time at Capitol Reef NP! We did a similar trip the year before, and it was so fun! We did a few little hikes, admired some ancient petroglyphs, saw lots of deer, and camped in the Fruita campground for a night. It was also Robyn's 6th birthday so we sang to her and celebrated with s'mores around the campfire. So much fun!

It was a little windy and overcast when we first got there, but overall we had great weather! These first few photos are from exploring near Panorama Point and Sunset Point trail.

One of the last things Scott and I did on our couples trip to the PNW was go whale watching out of Port Townsend. I was really hoping to see orcas, and we did!! We saw a family of four, the T123s! This is a family of Transient (Bigg's) orcas, including 38 year old Mom T123 (Sidney), 23 year old son 123A (Stanley), 11 year old daughter T123C (Lucky), and 5 year old daughter T123D (Darcy). I love all the research being done, including how to protect these whales and their environment, and I love how this included our boat staff being able to recognize this group right away. We didn't see them do anything crazy like breaching, but it was still so fun to see them on this beautiful day. 

Our tour also included a stop at Friday Harbor for lunch. It was a really cute town where we walked and shopped for a bit. We got a NYC style pizza from the rudest chef/employee ever, but it was ended up being one of the best pizzas and salad we've ever had, haha. While here we also saw a group of three missionaries and I always laugh when I think about the first two easily riding their e-bikes up this pretty big hill, and then the third one huffing and puffing his way up on a regular bike, lol.

After lunch we got back on the boat for a bit and we saw some sea lions and a tufted puffin! It was a fun day, and luckily no one got seasick!

One of my favorite parts of this whole trip was hiking to Cape Flattery, the northwesternmost point in the contiguous United States, located on the Makah Indian Reservation. After driving to the end of the road, you hike down to the very most northwest point along the coast. It's a beautiful hike, and the big highlight was seeing a gray whale! Scott was absolutely ecstatic to see a whale, and he "already had a video going!" and he got a little clip of the gray whale spouting. Just past the edge of the coastline it was very foggy, so we didn't have great visibility, which made it extra special to see the whale. 

There are some cabins you can rent through the Makah Tribe, and I really wanted to stay there, but unfortunately they didn't have availability while we were there. I will plan to book earlier next time! There is also a Makah Museum/Makah Culture and Research Center that I really wanted to visit, but it was closed the day we were there. We will visit next time as well!

Scott and I got to spend about a week together exploring Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park, and a few other spots along the way as well. I'm going to split it up over a few blog posts, but overall we had so much fun on this couples trip. It was so nice to spend time with just the two of us. 👩🏼‍❤️‍👨🏻 We got to do some bigger hikes that we wouldn't have been able to do with the kids, and it was a little easier to fit more stuff in. Huge thanks to both sets of grandparents who watched our girls. They had so much fun together!

First up is Mount Rainier National Park. This was a bit early in the year to visit, and if we go again I'd definitely want to go later in the summer. We still got to do a few hikes, and we had a fun time, but later in the year would have been a better time to visit. Portions of the park are still closed this time of year due to snow coverage, and I would love to see more of the park. We got rained on pretty much the whole time (it is a rain forest, so that was expected, haha), and unfortunately it was cloudy with poor visibility so we never actually saw the mountain, but that was ok. Mount Rainier NP is beautiful, and I loved all the green and waterfalls! 🌿💧

Silver Falls Trail, 6/18/23

During the kids' spring break we went out to Antelope Island with Grandma and Grandpa Hadley. Scott had to work, but I took the kids and we had a great time. We saw lots of bison, went to the visitor center, and also walked around Fielding Garr Ranch, which was something I had never done before. It was pretty neat. Near the ranch we also saw a Great Horned owl, which was very cool! Enjoy these pics!

Such a beautiful, clear spring day! And early enough that there weren't too many bugs!