{Life and Pictures} Summer Adventures

I have now posted an "introductory" blog post. However, that post did not live up the the 300 word expectation, so I'm going to try again. :)
 Summer is over, but I'm going to give my summer in review (with pictures, because I love pictures!).

The biggest thing for me this summer (which also took up most of my time) was my vacation. I went to Aniak, Alaska for a month! (Go ahead, say "WHAT were you in ALASKA for?!") Well, my aunt lives in Alaska. AND two of my little cousins! So I went to the END OF CIVILIZATION to babysit for a month. And I had so much fun. Trust me, being away from my family for so long was hard, and I definitely couldn't have done it if I hadn't been with family as well. My aunt does come to visit, especially more recently since my cousins have been born, but the two weeks she usually stays really isn't enough time to get to know someone very well. Off I went to adventure in the wilderness :) I left Kansas in the afternoon and finally landed in Anchorage Alaska (where my aunt and her family met me) at about one A.M. our time. They are three hours behind us. From Anchorage to Aniak is about a one hour flight, but my aunt graciously met me in Anchorage for a mini-vacation. This also meant I didn't have to stay the night by myself at the airport. (Flights to her village only go at certain times.)

A little about Aniak: 
Aniak is only accessible by plane, boat, or in the winter snow machine. Yes, they do have electricity, but life is VERY different there! Aniak has a population of about 500. And, yes, like the map shows, the runway of the airport is longer than the village :)

Virgin Creek Falls Trail

At the top of Mt. Alyeska

Pictures from our mini vacation about 30 minutes outside Anchorage in a town called Girdwood.

This was just along side the road.

This, also, was just a stream along side the road.

This was near Girdwood glacier. There was about 2 feet of snow still on this road. Yes, it was June. :)

This picture is of Prince William Sound in Whittier Alaska. My younger cousin (Jena) and I climbed down these rocks to get a better view for me to take pictures from. I had JUST finished warning her to be careful not to slip when I lost my footing and splashed into the water. Things to be thankful for: (1) I caught myself on a rock, and only got one foot/some of the bottom of my pants, and my sleeves wet. (2) I barely got my camera wet (I was still worried- it was salt water. But my camera is still functioning!) (3) I got to experience the ocean with all 5 senses.
I still had to walk around for the rest of the day in only a t-shirt. It was much too cold for that!

The dike in Aniak.

Okay, so after four days, I had adjusted to a new time zone and we flew to Aniak. This spring, when the ice on the river broke up, it moved up the dike toward the town. The picture above was the amount that was still left after about a month.

The Cabin:
My aunt and uncle built their cabin. (It's the second little clearing from the left) As in, bought a saw mill, cut down the trees and built their cabin! It is only accessible by boat or snow machine. This year, they added indoor plumbing! They heat and cook with two wood stoves. (They also have a small propane cooking stove that can be used if they don't want to heat up the house. But it is difficult.)

Woodstove cooking- rhubarb pie. (ignore my bad photography!)

Adventures:

Bald eagles nest

This is down the hill from the cabin. Their "dock". It was about 75o that day, and my little cousins were going swimming.

Bear claw print in the mud. (With a little-girl print in the middle)

While I was there, they had "record high" temperatures- 89o. But there was also some cooler days. Nighttime was always chilly.

Baby moose. This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip. I saw about 14 moose the day I took this picture.

My cousins watching their "pet moose" (it was young, and wasn't very scared of humans. So it would come near the cabin often.) The green nets are mosquito nets.

Mosquitoes:
This summer was one of the worst summers in awhile for mosquitos. As a result, we didn't go outside very often without our trusty mosquito nets. They are NOT fashionable, but it was totally worth it. At night, when the house was quiet, you could HEAR the mosquitos buzzing outside.

Nighttime:
During the winter in Aniak, it gets to the point were there is only a few hours of dusky-daytime. During the summer, it's the opposite. I was there for the longest day of summer. There wasn't actually any DARK. It got dusky for a few hours, that was it.

The End of My Adventure:
After a month, I was soo excited to go home. I left just after lunch from Aniak. Then I had a 12 hour delay in Anchorage. By myself. My aunt had signed my up as an "unaccompanied minor", which means they made sure I got to the right plane at the right time. (They also gave me free movie players!) Anyhow, I had to have a guardian to sign me in at the Anchorage airport. My aunt TOLD me that she had a friend who was going to meet me at about 10 P.M. to sign me in before my flight. I innocently got off the plane, trying to figure out what I was going to do for 12 hours (toting a 50 lb bag.). As I got off, I saw someone video taping the people getting off the plane. I COULD NOT figure out who was being video taped on a plane coming from a village of 500?! (the most exciting thing in Aniak is the "4th of July parade". Which consists of about 5, undecorated four wheelers. I'm not kidding) :) I was soo shocked to see my dad waiting for me. :) Yes, I was REALLY close to crying. He has a video :) He took his first trip to Alaska for 24 hours to pick me up, so I wouldn't be by myself for that whole time. We tandem biked around Anchorage, and went to the botanical garden. Then he took me out to eat at a really nice restaurant. (Which was pretty funny, we were a little bit more casually dressed than the other diners :) We had a 9 hour delay in Seattle, Washington. We flew in at 5 in the morning, and walked to the space needle, where we had breakfast. (Which is what he originally wanted to do. I had told him I wanted to see the space needle, so he decided to take me!) We finally got back to Kansas in the afternoon. He was gone for exactly 48 hours! :) 1 month, 2 cousins, 6 airplanes, 16 moose, 800 some pictures later, I was finally home! I'm not sure if I'll do it again next year. But I am so glad I did this summer.

This was a few hours before we got there.

Anchorage, AK

Space needle at sunrise :)

Aside from that? My summer has been usual :)

Thanks for hanging in there!
~Bethany

This was from my aunt's front yard. As close to "sunrise" as I saw.