Harriman Fjord

So I could write a book about this trip! To begin with, we wanted to do something fun for Kari's 30th birthday. Originally we had thought about climbing Mt. Rainier but when it came down to it we wanted to do something Alaskan! So we got online, did some research and found a Kayak expedition into Harriman Fjord in Prince William Sound. We found the trip now we just needed a guide or someone to show us the way. After a tone of research we found the best possible guide! His name is Ryan Collins with Paddlers Realm http://www.paddlersrealm.com/ ...he's the best! Anyhow, Saturday we all met at our place, Ryan came over gave us some pointers and dry-bags to pack to depart the following morning. This trip consisted of Kari, Rachel, Rachael, Erin, JT, myself and our guide Ry-dog "screen savor". ok
Day 1: We all met at the Carrs, drove down (in the pouring rain) and dropped the gear off for the boat. The ride was about 1.5 hours and I couldn't believe all the gear fit into the kayaks. We kayaked about 8 miles to our first camp which was a black sand beach below Cox Glacier. This was phenomenal, the sound of the ice caving off reminded me of thunder!
Day 2: We got up, packed up and paddled through a bunch of icebergs to a beautiful waterfall. This was a bigger day, I think we went 12 to 14 miles. We found a little hike to an old cabin and reached our second campsite called "viewpoint"...the name says it all!
Day 3: We did a day paddle to Surprise Glacier hiked up on a waterfall, and watched this massive tidewater glacier from up close! At one point we paddled through a slushy which was super cold. That night we made dutch oven peach cobbler for Kari's birthday, sang to her and had some candles.
Day 4: We packed up and paddled out to a really nice beach. At the beach the sun came out and we all laid on the sand and just enjoyed it. We got to our camp a little early but that was fine because we all just wanted to relax
Day 5: Packed up paddled to another hike to an old mine. Then we paddled out to our pick up and drove home.

We had all types of weather, great company, and amazing natural wonders.

Homer of a weekend

Well this Friday Kari and I went for a trail bike/run, then did some preparations for our upcoming weekends kayak adventure. Friday was one of those amazing days in Alaska where its warm with not a cloud in the sky...these types of days will make leaving AK super hard! Saturday we went to a birthday party for Neil and had some very tasty hamburgers (thanks Neil and Emily).
I also wanted to include a couple of pictures from our trip down to Homer AK with Kari's parents. We ended up having great weather, a few rain showers and some wind but nothing that terrible. The drive down was enjoyable and we saw a bunch of wildlife like moose, otters, bear, eagles, rabbits, and most important halibut. Steve and I went for a 1/2 day charter and caught our limit (2 each). We were about an hour and a half out, and on the way out we had 4-5 foot seas which made the ride a little bumpy. A few people got sea-sick and lost their lunch...but not Steven and I. We were catching "chickens" in the 12-20lb range and ended up having about 35lbs of meat. This was a super fun trip!
We stayed 2 nights, the first night Kari and I slept on the beach, well actually we slept in the back of the 4-runner, and the second night we stayed in the little apartment above the charter and had a nice BBQ on the beach. This truly was a Homer of a weekend.

Bear

Kari's parents came into town and we went out and enjoyed some of the nature that Alaska has to offer. We really didn't have to go far! On Friday we were sitting in our living room and I noticed a big black bear crossing the street. She was just taking her time enjoying the weather. After she crossed the street I noticed a cub that ran back into the woods. It was a fun little treat to be able to see a big bear right outside our window. BEAR...BEAR...BEAR. Kari and I jumped in the car and found her digging into a neighbors trash looking for something good to eat; Momma was hungry.

One thing I forgot to mention about our weekend at Big Lake was this amazing wetsuit that I got to sport. I was able to squeeze into it and barely got out of it playing in the water. I decided to do a quick photo shoot to show off the goods!!! Dang I make this look good. Ha!