Alaska (part 2)

So, where was I?

Sunday morning we left Delta Junction fairly early (which, for this trip, was about 8am) because we were meeting my dad and stepmom in Fairbanks for lunch. Our first stop was at North Pole, Alaska--which is just outside of Fairbanks. We went to the Santa Claus house, which is really just one big store with a few reindeer and a Santa sign outside. It's a really cute store, though--they've really done a good job in making it Christmas-y all year round. Of course they did--you spend more money this way! We got quite a few souvenirs, bought my MIL's Christmas present (she collects Santas, so it was an easy thing to buy there), and even arranged to have a "naughty kids" letter sent to my nephews in December. I could have spent much longer in there, but DH was itching to get out of there after a while.

We arrived in Fairbanks and went to lunch with my dad, stepmom, and a friend of theirs from home. Then we went to Creamer's Field--an old dairy farm that has been converted to a refuge for migratory birds. They may have other animals there too, but my dad's favorite are the sandhill cranes, so that's all we saw. They had a couple short trails to walk on to see the birds and the plants, so we got to walk around for a while.

Then, we went over to Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. It's a neat little park they have set up with some of the old homestead cabins from the founding of the city. They even have an old sternwheel paddleboat in the middle of the park that you can walk through the main level. DH loved the engine room, of course. Most of the big park is free--exactly my price range! At the far end of the park is the Alaska Salmon Bake, which is essentially an outdoor buffet. We retired to the RV after dinner, feeling stuffed and sleepy after a rare clear sunny day.

Monday morning we explored a little more of Fairbanks. We walked around the river area and out to the visitor center. It's a new center and it's beautiful. They have a museum display about how Alaskans in the interior of the state get through the long, dark, cold winters. (Just a hint--snow machines and dog sleds) Then we drove just north of town to where the Alaska Pipeline runs through. Drill, baby, drill! (j/k) In the afternoon we headed down to Healy, which is where my dad and stepmom are staying for the summer while they work for one of the cruise lines in the tour department.

They booked us the guest room in the employee lodge (essentially a dorm) which included meals, so we parked the RV in the parking lot for a couple days. We drove around the very small town of Healy, and finally saw some moose!!! There was a mom and her calf on the side of one of the back roads, so we slammed on the brakes and took some pictures. I was so relieved to know they did actually live in the wild! DH and I spent the night in the guest room that night, grateful for a room that was mostly dark at night.

The next morning, we had another early start. We met my stepmom for breakfast, picked up our sack lunches, and headed out to Denali National Park and Preserve. We had tickets for the bus ride out to the visitor center. There is only one road in the park, so all visitors have to take a bus past mile 15. It's an 8-hour round trip to the visitor center at mile 66. Along the way, we saw caribou, brown bears, grey wolves, golden eagles and Dall sheep. We even got to see a couple wolf pups and a grey wolf chasing two caribou. Everything was fairly far from the road, but we managed to take about 500 pictures over the course of the day. We didn't see any moose in the park, which was very surprising to the bus drivers who said they normally see many moose per trip.

Even more rare than wildlife sightings is a Mt. McKinley sighting. I know, it's a big mountain, it doesn't move, shouldn't you always be able to see it? Well, it tends to be shrouded by clouds about 2/3 of the time during the summer. So, it's always a gamble as to whether the mountain will be out for viewing. We were lucky enough to be there on a day when it was partly visible. We could see both peaks of the mountain, but not the base. You would think that living in Colorado would make me less excited to see mountains, but it definitely has not. It was absolutely amazing!

The next day at Denali was even more exciting. It was another early morning as we were booked on a "Living Wilderness" tour to a dog sled facility. My dad was the bus driver for the ride out to the facility. It was fun to see him in action--he's a very good driver and funny with his little jokes and stories along the way. When we first arrived, we listened to a young guy talk about the trapping that he and his family do to make their living (well, other than the money they get for the tours, I'm sure). The talked about how all the synthetic products in the world wouldn't keep them warm in the -50 degree winters, so they have to use fur and hides for outerwear. The hanging furs bothered me at first, but when you hear how they need to use them for survival, it really helps resolve the moral dilemma.

The best part came after the trapping talk--the doggies! We rode out to the dog sled facility and the dogs were already in their harnesses. They were so excited when the bus pulled up and we all got out. It was so much fun to see how much they just love to do their work. One younger dog couldn't stop jumping up and down while he was waiting for us to get ready to go! We couldn't pet or play with the working dogs for liability reasons, but there was one dog, Licorice, who came up onto the bus to say hello. Licorice just didn't have the drive for it, they said, so she's now a pet.

Once all the dogs were connected to the lead, it was time to go! We rode in a modified Chevy Nova (essentially the floor of the Nova with some wooden benches on it) while the dogs pulled us around the facility. They obviously were having fun pulling us around and they weren't even working that hard with 7 people on board. I thought it was interesting that the dogs weren't the huskies that you see in pictures--they just looked like mutts. They are bred for endurance and speed, so they are a combination of many breeds. All but the youngest dog (Noah--the jumper) had raced in the Iditarod at least once.

After the dog sled, we rode the bus back to Denali for lunch before our next excursion. While we were eating, I was telling DH that I was tempted to come up with ways to tease my dad while he was driving since he didn't tell anyone on the bus that I was his daughter. So DH said, "wouldn't that have been a great way to tell him you were pregnant?" I nearly lost it right then and there--he doesn't normally talk like that. I mean, I have come up with so many ways to tell people over the past two years, but he's never brought it up on his own before. I guess taking the summer off to relax has helped him as well.

The most nerve-wracking but thrilling part of the trip was yet to come. That afternoon, we flew in a small 8-seat plane up to circle the summit of Denali. I'm a pretty nervous flier, so I wasn't sure how I would do with this. I had quite a few panic moments during the flight up to the mountain. When we had to put our oxygen masks at 12,000 feet (unpressurized cabin in this tiny plane), I nearly asked the pilot to turn around. I am so happy I didn't--the mountain was great. Once we got above the cloud layer, we could see the top of the mountain so clearly. Even though were were over 3 miles from it, it felt like we could reach out and touch it. I almost had to tell him to stop dipping the wings for better views because we were going to hit the side of the mountain. It's hard to believe that people climb up that enormous mountain every year! Here's a shot of the summit from the plane. DH was in the co-pilot seat, so he had a great view as we came up on the mountain.



How could we top that day? Well, we couldn't, so it was time to head for home. We decided we wanted to have one last night to sleep in the RV, so we said goodbye to my dad and stepmom and hit the road. We drove for about two hours, including one moose-jam (we finally saw one by the highway!) to park in Denali State Park in a campground. It was cool and quiet--perfect spot for our last night. We cheated a bit with charcoal, but we finally got a campfire going. I was so excited to toast marshmallows and make s'mores. I nearly threw myself into a diabetic coma with all the marshmallows I consumed, but it was just the perfect ending to our trip.

We spent the next morning packing up our stuff and trying to eat all the leftovers we had in the fridge. Once we were ready to explode, we headed back to Anchorage to return the RV and head home. We took the red-eye flight home so we could enjoy every last minute of the trip.

It was an amazing vacation and my only regret is that it wasn't longer. There was still so much to see and do in most of the places we visited. Ah well, just sounds like an excuse for another vacation!

Alaska (part 1)

Well, we're back from our vacation in Alaska. Actually, we got back last Friday morning, but with work and unpacking (& re-packing DH for a business trip), etc., it's been a busy week.

Alaska was absolutely amazing! We flew into Anchorage and rented an RV to drive all over the state. I can't recommend that mode of transportation enough for a trip like this. We were able to be so much more flexible with our plans than we would have been able to do if relying on hotels. AK has tons of RV parks and state/local parks to camp in for the night. Heck, you can pull into a turn-off on the side of the road if you want to! I even caught DH looking at RV's to buy (not that we have the time, money, or space for one right now).

The first night we spent in the parking lot of the RV owner's shop. Not exactly scenic, but it was midnight so who cares? We woke up the next morning and made a run to Wally World to stock up. After all the provisions and gear were unpacked, we headed south toward Seward. We drove along the beautiful Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet--at least what we could see of it. Rain and clouds seemed to be the theme of our vacation! (it has even followed us home--as I sit to write this the sunny morning has given way to clouds and rain)

We made two stops on our way down to our camping spot in Seward. Our first stop was at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. They rescue injured or abandoned animals that would probably not survive in the wild. It has many fenced areas where there are bison, musk ox, caribou, bears, moose, and even one little porcupine who was pacing the side of his enclosure when we were there. It was a great first look at all the animals we hoped to see on the rest of our trip.

Our second stop was at the SeaLife Center in Seward. It was a nice but smaller aquarium dedicated to the various aquatic life in the area. It was great to see so many of these animals so close up. It was raining there too, so we couldn't get outside much to see the seals and sea lions from above (we did see them from beside the tanks inside). The bird enclosure let us see the cute puffins fairly close without getting soaked outside. They had a nice display on how the sea life is recovering since the Exxon Valdez spill back in 1989. It was very interesting to learn about all the animals who are still struggling to recover, even 20+ years after the spill. This does not bode well for the Gulf Coast.

In Seward, the city runs a campground along the coast of Resurrection Bay. It's really just a long gravel parking lot along the bay from the harbor to the end of town. It was a great spot for our two nights in Seward. The first night we backed in along the bay and listened to the lapping water as we tried to fall asleep in Alaska's version of summer nights. It was light until midnight and started getting brighter at 5am. It never got all that dark at all, which really screwed up our sleep schedules. There was a nice trail along the coast that went from the campground about a mile north to the harbor area. We walked to and from dinner, enjoying the cool evening air.

The next day, we had to get up early in the midst of a downpour to catch our tour boat out to the Northwestern Glacier. It was a day-long cruise and was absolutely stunning. It stayed cool, rainy, and grey all day, which made taking pictures a challenge. The water was quite rough, which left many passengers feeling a little "green around the gills", but we were lucky enough not to get sick at all. We saw orcas, humpback whales, countless bird species, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and a cute little sea otter. We even had Dall porpoises swimming alongside the boat for a while on the trip out to the glacier. The glacier itself was beautiful. We arrived just in time to see a decent calving of the glacier and then feel the waves from it rock the boat. I was blown away by the beautiful blue color of the ice as it came down the rocks.

That night we stayed in the same campground, but upgraded to a partial hook-up site with electric and water. After all, we needed to charge the cell phones, iPads, laptops, camera batteries, etc. It did lead to an eventful evening as the fresh water tank developed a split when we filled it (oops, they have these things called overflow valves that you need to open--wish the owners had told us that from the beginning). DH was able to fix it with a repair kit from the hardware store in town, so we didn't have to alter our plans too much. (We did buy some gallons of water for drinking just in case).

After the appropriate tanks were full and others empty, we hit the road again. We stopped along the Sterling Highway (which runs across the Kenai Peninsula) for an 8-mile hike to a falls where bears are often seen catching the jumping salmon that are swimming upriver to spawn. We didn't see any bears (or other land animals for that matter) but we did get to see some fish jumping out of the water as they tried to swim up the falls. Silly fish--didn't they see the big fish ladder on the side to make it easier for them?

That night's campground was easily our favorite of the trip. We stayed in the Chugach National Forest and had mountain and glacier views from our site. We grilled out and tried to get a campfire started (darn wet firewood!). Mostly, we just relaxed and enjoyed the view. There was a little path leading to an area behind the site that DH and I can best describe as a fairy forest. Seriously, it was mossy and green and cool--I felt like I would see little fairies and wood nymphs come out at any time.

The next morning we did a short hike to the edge of the glacier we could see from our campsite. It was a nice easy hike and perfect for stretching our legs before getting back in the RV for a long day on the road. We covered a lot of ground that day, heading east to spend the night in Glenallen. We stayed in a more commercial campground so we could check the water tank and hook up to water in case the patch didn't stick (it did--love my DH!). We had a yummy dessert with other RV'ers, and even met another couple from Colorado. The Glenn Highway between Anchorage and Glenallen is supposed to be one of the most beautiful drives in the state. We wouldn't know--the clouds were so thick that we couldn't see much. Despite numerous "moose crossing" signs, I never saw one on this drive either. I was beginning to believe that they didn't exist in the wild! lol

The next morning led us to the largest national park in the country--Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. We walked around the visitor center (after napping in the parking lot because we were too early and the gates were still closed). The cold rainy morning prevented us from getting out to hike and from even being able to see the numerous mountains in the park. So, we got back in the RV to head out. We drove through the exciting town of Tok (rhymes with "smoke"), which is the first town you come to along the Alaska Highway after entering the state from Canada. In other words, there are a few tourist traps/souvenir stores and some gas stations. That's about it for Tok.

We left Tok en route to Fairbanks, traveling to the end of the Alaska Highway in Delta Junction. We had a yummy dinner here and then headed to a state park campground outside of town. Once again, the stinking wet firewood prevented us from making a campfire (and, more importantly, from making s'mores). We put on all of our mosquito-repellant clothing in an effort to enjoy the evening outside the RV. When we finally had enough of being swarmed, we called it a night. It was quiet and peaceful and we both slept well.

Wow! This post is getting long (and is taking me all day to write) so I will stop here. I will finish our trip report (Fairbanks and Denali) in another post later.

Decisions

So many decisions to be made, and I'm such an indecisive person--argh!

First set of decisions involve our trip to Alaska next week. As usual, I asked DH for help in planning where to go, where to stay, and what to do. He's been so darned busy lately (and we both procrastinate any decision-making til the last minute). Now, here we are, only 3 days from leaving, and still struggling with those same decisions. We did decide (last-minute, of course) that it would be fun to make this an RV trip. So, after being laughed at by the big rental companies (yeah right, lady, maybe next August), we went on craigslist and found a rental. Great, one decision made.

Now, we still have to decide what we want to see and where we want to drive while we are there. We nailed down some of that today, but nothing set in stone like, oh, I don't know--campground reservations. Hopefully all those other people in their rented RV's don't want to go to the same places we do!

We planned out some things that are definitely on the to-do list (Kenai fjords cruise, Denali National Park, meeting my dad in Fairbanks), but it's still making me anxious that the details aren't really ironed out yet. This is where my inner control freak clashes with my procrastination--I freak out when I don't have things planned out, yet I'm too lazy to plan them. I think a big part of my procrastination is that I don't want to plan the whole trip, have DH be unhappy with the things I chose, and then feel guilty for ruining his vacation. We've traveled enough in our 10 years together that you would think we would have some sort of system, but nope, not yet.

One big decision that I did manage to make the other day involved our IVF plans for the fall.

With all of the traveling I've done this summer, plus a couple weeks of a fun summer virus, I missed just about one full cycle of acupuncture. Well, the arrival of AF last weekend reminded me of that. I had a much more miserable AF this time than I've had recently (spotting for days, then horrible cramps and heavy bleeding), and I can only attribute it to the lack of acupuncture. Since our Alaska trip will have me missing a couple more weeks of acupuncture, I know my next AF will not be pleasant either. I hadn't really believed much in acupuncture before, but this sure made a believer out of me.

So, I talked it over with DH and we are going to delay the IVF for one more cycle. It means we will likely be starting in October rather than September, but that's OK. It will give me a full cycle of acupuncture before we start, plus another month or so to take off the remaining weight that I wanted to lose before I got started on hormones again. I'm anxious about delaying it, but I think that going into it a bit healthier will be beneficial in the long run.

I'm back!

Temporarily, at least.

Our trip to Vegas was lots of fun. It was way too hot outside to do much, so we did lots of sleeping in (well, I did anyway--DH went down to the pool), eating yummy food, saw some fun shows, and even won a little money on the slot machines. All in all, a great short trip to re-connect and relax. This guy is one of the shows that we saw--he's very talented and the show was lots of fun.



Miraculously, I didn't gain any weight in Vegas! Neither of us tried at all to follow our diet, nor did we exercise at all (unless you count, ahem, re-connecting). We hit a couple yummy buffets, had dessert at least daily, and still came home at the same weight. In fact, I somehow managed to lose the 0.4 pounds I gained in my depressed week or so before we left. I'm not sure how this all happened, but I'm not going to question. I need to get back on track if I'm going to make my weight goal for the summer, though.

Now it's back to the usual grind. We got home from Vegas last Friday morning, and I went back to work on Friday night. Friday and Saturday were crazy busy at work, so I didn't get much of a chance to think about how stinking tired I was. Sunday night started off a bit crazy, but slowed down nicely after midnight.

Oh yeah, another co-worker announced her pregnancy on Sunday night. She was so very nice and came out front (I was in triage) to tell me individually that she is pregnant. She was very sensitive to the fact that it might not be easy news for me to hear, and I love her for that. I am truly happy for her (albeit a little jealous) and I know she will be a great mom. She's 13 weeks pregnant and due in January. That makes 7 people (5 nurses, 1 doctor, 1 housekeeper) with whom I work on a regular basis who are pregnant. Ugh! I would say there's something in the water around there, but I've been drinking the same water for almost 2 years with no luck. On the bright side, these things seem to come in multiples of 3, so there's room for me to join in soon.

MIA

Sorry I haven't been around as much lately. I wish I could say that it's because I've been super busy, or off on a great adventure, or too exhausted from pregnancy to write, but,alas, none of these would be true.

The truth is that I've been a bit in a funk lately. I've been home alone during the week for most of the past two months and it's really getting to me. I sit in front of this stupid computer most of the day, reading blogs, checking Facebook incessantly, actually reading some of the junk email that gets sent to me, playing Sudoku, etc. I have no desire to move from this chair, yet I know it's what keeps me from enjoying my summer. I should be outside hiking, soaking up the sunshine and shedding some unwanted pounds. But, here I sit, staring at the screen and feeling like I have so little to say that I don't even want to write about it. Isn't that pathetic--even I don't want to hear my whining!

But, things are starting to look a little better. I'm cutting down my work days to two 12-hour shifts per weekend (though I will probably pick up a third occasionally, I won't be required to do so). It looks like DH's travel schedule may slow down a bit since the fiscal year is ending soon. And, we're headed to Vegas on Monday for DH's 40th birthday celebration. Nothing too raucous or wild, but some much-needed time together in a fun place. We've planned a few shows, a Hoover Dam tour, some great food, and just overall re-connecting. Monday can't get here fast enough!

Up and down week

I guess you could say that I met my goal of 3 days of exercise for the week. I did two elliptical workouts, and took two 30-minute walks with the dog. The two dog walks were not exactly tough cardio workouts, but at least I got out there on days I didn't think I was going to get any exercise at all. So, I'm giving myself credit and counting those days as exercise.

My eating wasn't the greatest this week. DH got kind of tired of cooking, and we were both getting a little sick of eating at home. Heck, we used to eat out at least once a day. So, we went out quite a bit this week. It is much harder to eat clean when you aren't the one controlling the cooking. We tried to make decent choices and minimize the damage. Despite eating out twice on Tuesday, I still lost 2.8 pounds at my weigh-in on Wednesday morning. I'm pretty darn happy about that.

We took Wednesday as our "see, metabolism, we're not starving" day and ate way too much of the foods we both have been wanting since we started this new diet. We went out for breakfast, lunch and dinner that day. Breakfast wasn't clean, but it wasn't all that bad since we split a breakfast. Lunch was horrible, but we've both been craving a burger and fries, so we went for it. Dinner was more yummy sushi, and not the healthy just-raw-fish-and-a-little-rice kind either. DH then left for the airport for a business trip, and I came home to a hot fudge sundae. Ugh! I definitely did not feel well by the end of that pig-out day!

I took the dog to the vet on Wednesday for shots, and found that he has gained quite a bit of weight in the past year, too. DH feeds him more often than I do, and I know he's been overfeeding him. See, we have one of those dogs that eats, goes outside to do his business, then comes back in to the laundry room and licks the bowl and the floor around it, making sure he didn't miss anything. DH takes that as a sign that he's not getting enough to eat, so he puts more in his bowl at the next meal. So, now we have a fat dog (though he doesn't look it). This is part of why I'm going to try to take him for at least 2 walks around the neighborhood per week. I'd like to work him up to daily walks by the end of summer, but right now he just gets so tired with each one that I don't want to overdo it. He is over 9 years old now.

I need to make a goal for next week. The accountability of setting these goals is really helping me stay on track. So, I think my goal for next week will be to get in at least 2 weight workouts, along with at least 3 cardio workouts (which can include the dog walks).

Baby steps

My workout plan isn't exactly going well, but the eating part is. I got on the scale and after only one week on the plan, I've lost almost 5 pounds (4.8 to be exact)! I'm pretty happy about it, especially because the weekend didn't go very well in terms of eating on the plan. Saturday night went fine--I went a little too long between meals, but I did manage to eat everything I packed to get through 12 hours. Sunday night was another story--way too busy, in charge, no time to eat or drink or even pee! I got my smoothie in around 9pm, but that was the last of my intake for the night. I stopped at McDonald's on the way home Monday morning, knowing full well it was a bad choice and doing it anyway.

More importantly, I got right back on track. In previous weight-loss attempts, I would have let that slip-up ruin a whole day (or week) of healthy eating. This time, I started fresh when I woke up Monday afternoon and have been on track ever since. In fact, I have managed to give up my Pepsi habit (HUGE first goal) since Monday. I know, it's only Thursday, but for me to have gone 3 days without caffeine of any sort or my beloved Pepsi is a ginormous accomplishment! Knock on wood, I didn't really get the caffeine withdrawal headache either.

Last week's goal was to get the healthier eating started--check! This week's goal is to give up the Pepsi habit--check! Goal for next week--at least 3 days of exercise. Feel free to keep me accountable.