Glutten for Punishment...

So a few weeks ago, Michael and I did this hike, Bird Ridge, with the Adventurers Group. We both hated it and vowed never to do it again. Well, I was hanging out with my ladies group on Monday and they were all talking about doing Bird Ridge on Tuesday. If any of you really know me, you know how I hate to be left out. So, of course, I said "yes, I'll go!". I was dreading this all day on Tuesday, but I had to pick some people up to car pool to the hiking site. This way I couldn't say no! Well, we decided to only go to the first false peak. I did much better than the first time and this time wasn't so horrible! I'm actually pretty glad I went! Maybe it's because it didn't take us 3 hours to get to an ending point! hahaha!

After it was all said and done, I am very glad I did this hike. Hopefully, I will continually get faster and better at this hike. Then when I go backpacking in the Brooks Mountain Range, I will have no problems at all! :)

A Whole New Dog Park...

I'm not sure if you notice, but this is the same place that the opening picture for this website is at! The dog park that we always frequent is a whole new place now that all the snow has melted! There's actually a lake with ducks instead of an ice skating rink. You can see dirt, leaves, and various other things versus just snow and ice! It's so weird going to the same park, but it looking completely different than the norm! I love this place!

The lake! This used to be all ice and we could walk across it! Well, no more! Now it's all water and mud for the dogs to play in! Freedom wasted no time with that!

A moose hanging out in the park. Of course, Freedom spotted this guy before I could leash her! Luckily, the moose did not pay any attention to my annoying dog barking at him!

Ain't No Mountain High Enough...

Michael and I went hiking last weekend. Wait, let me put that a different way, we climbed a mountain!!! We met up with the adventurers group last Sunday morning to climb Bird Ridge. Now I've been hiking a few times since we've been up here and Michael has "hiked" with his job! But Bird Ridge was no joke!! It was a 2.5 mile hike up to the top peak with a 3,650 gain in elevation! I had to stop many times to rest!

Here's Michael during one of our breaks!

Me during a rest...I was afraid to sit down because I may not have gotten back up! Hahaha!

This hike took us 3 hours to get to the top, a 30 minute "wow, we did it!" break at the top, and then an hour and a half to make it back down the mountain!

Michael at the top!

Me at the top! :)

Some of the view! I apologize for all of these pics being blurry on one side of the photo...there was a smudge on the lens and we didn't even know it! Booo!!!

Us at the top!

We did it!!! Whoop, whoop!! What an amazing feeling!!

Me enjoying the moment and the view at the top! I read that some of the peeps that made it to the top before us had beer. What the heck?!?! I guess it does pay off to be quicker!

Most of the snow had melted away except for the very top of the mountains. In this picture you can see the ash from Mt. Redoubt!! The dark snow is obviously the ash. The volcano hasn't erupted for awhile, but you can still see traces of its power!


Now, I thought since the hike up the mountain was straight up, that the hike down would be awesome. I am an idiot. I never wanted to quit going up. I was going to make it to the top. However, I wanted to quit like 5 times on the way down! It was so steep and scary! The impact on my knees was excrutiating! On the way down, I told Michael that I never wanted to do that trail again. (yes, I was a whiney baby on the way down). Once we finished, we were both so happy! I had to pee almost the whole day, but the trail was so populated with people that there really was no where to go. So the run down the mountain was rough on my bladder!

The days after the hike: could barely move! Our quads were so sore! Poor Michael had to do a PFT test for work 3 days after our hike and could barely run because his legs were still so sore. I had a huge blister on my heel due to bad shoes. These groups are doing this hike tomorrow and I have rsvped NO!!! They keep trying to talk me into going, but I'm not too sure. That was a lot of pain for a little bit of enjoyment. Plus, tomorrow we're not going to make it all the way to the top. I'm seriously going to have to think about this!

McHugh Creek Hike

I have gone hiking a couple of days a week with some of the online groups I have joined. This was the McHugh Creek Trail. Kris, one of my new friends, and I ended up leaving the group and going ahead. We thought the group was only going about a mile and turning around, so we went a mile and a half and then turned around so we could meet back up with them. When we met back up with them, they asked why we were quitting so early?!?!!? Weird!

Kris and I on one of the overlooks!

Oh yeah, baby!!

Oooh, ahhhh, a nice little babbling waterfall!

Oh, and before we started this hike, they group proceeded to tell me about the to people that were mauled by bears on this trail last year! WTF?!?!?!! Once Kris and I broke from the group, I was SUPER nervous about meeting one of these bears! We didn't even have bells on! Kris didn't seemed worried and we talked the whole time (imagine that)! I was actually a little relieved when we headed back. As soon as this hike was over, I bought some bells for all of my "family" (dogs, michael, and me!)!!

Michael's Birthday

Michael turned 29 on April 22nd!!! Whoop whoop! He got home, on his birthday, at 825 PM...he's pointing to the time in this picture! Gotta love recruiting duty!

Michael with all his birthday love!

Yes, I made Michael cook the steaks on his birthday! :)

They look so solemn...

The view from our backyard, minus the snow...

Us! :)

We had a couple of friends over for Michael's birthday. The guy in this picture is Rory, Mr. Junior Alaska 2003 (I think that's the year), it was also his birthday so we had a joint birthday celebration!