Here fishy, fishy!

While Michael's parents were here in July, Michael and his Dad were able to take a fishing charter out of Seward. They were able to fish for halibut, lingcod, and rockfish.

Michael caught a pretty big lingcod that tastes oh so good!

Michael was also able to catch his limit of two for halibut. I am pretty sure that we have already devoured this halibut! :)

Michael and his Dad, unfortunately, did not get to spend a tremendous amount of time with each other, but they both were really glad that they got to go on this fishing trip together! Fishing in Alaska (twice) is a great adventure that they both will always remember!

Valdez

Over Memorial Day weekend, my parents, Michael, Joey, and me met some of our Anchorage friends in Valdez. Michael and I had explored Valdez over Labor Day weekend last year, but we were ready to see this place in the spring/summer.

We were getting ready to head into Thompson's Pass in the photo above. It was crazy that it was the end of May and this place was almost completely covered in snow!

Theses are the waterfalls we could see from our campsite. The waterfalls were much more intense in the spring versus the fall. This is due to snow and ice still melting from the mountain tops during the spring.

There's really not much to do in the town of Valdez, itself, but the town does have an amazing backdrop! You can see this view from pretty much anywhere in town!

I had just had Joey and major surgery three weeks earlier than this trip, so we went with a camper versus tent camping. We were able to rent this pop-up from base for a really cheap!

The weather was incredible over Memorial Day! We were so lucky to have made this trip with such incredible weather. Freedom and I decided to make the best of the sun!

Alaska has a lot of little roadhouses. If you ever come to visit, I would highly recommend checking one out! This is the Copper Center Roadhouse. This restaurant serves the BEST cheeseburgers...EVER! I would drive all the way back to this roadhouse (4 hours) just to eat one of those burgers again!

Seward

My parents came to visit back in May and June. This was mainly to see their new grandson, but they did still have some time to do a few things while they were here.

Michael, my dad, and the other AK Marine recruiters went out on a chartered halibut trip. Dad caught the biggest fish on the boat! 125 pounder! Go Dad!

They all caught their limits and had a really good time!

Mom and Dad saw a moose on their way home from Seward!


This is Exit Glacier. You can walk right up to it and touch it!

It was kind of warm in Anchorage, but once we got to Seward, it was pretty chilly. Brrr! But the trip was fantastic!

Ducks Unlimited Banquet

To continue Michael's 30th Birthday celebration, we attended the smaller Ducks Unlimited Banquet, or the Hunter's Dinner, in Anchorage this past weekend. If we dressed in camouflage, then we got a raffle ticket to win a gun! If you wore camo pants and a camp shirt, you got two tickets! Since Michael and I love to dress up for things anyways, this was right up our alley!


This dinner was also military appreciation. Michael got a raffle ticket just for being in the military! I tried to get a ticket, but you had to be active duty to get this. I even pulled the "I'm carrying his baby!" card to get the extra raffle ticket! This didn't work! Haha!

Michael also spent a crap load of money on raffle tickets! So, you probably think that we won something, right?

WRONG!!

All of these tickets and we did not win one thing...not even the extra decoys the DU peeps had sitting around! Ugh! This was super frustrating! However, Michael did have a really good time and Ducks Unlimited is an organization he really supports. In the end, we weren't too upset about all of the money we spent since it did go to a really great thing!

That's for the Birds...

On Saturday, Michael and I drove down to a local bird watering hole. The ducks, geese, and bald eagles were out in full force. Here are some of the photos...

Michael's New Lens

Michael has to go up to Fairbanks for work stuff twice a month. The ride up to Fairbanks from Anchorage is really beautiful, especially on a clear sunny day.

I got Michael a new zoom lens for a his camera for his birthday this year. Of course, he took it with him on his last Fairbanks trip. Here are some photos he took of some caribou that were grazing along the way! Enjoy!

Derby Time, Again!

We went to the last roller derby bout of the season last night. This was, by the far, the best and most exciting bout we have seen! The Rage City Rollergirls (Anchorage's team) played against the Oil City Rollergirls (Edmonton, Canada's team). The last time Rage City played Oil City, Rage City lost. This bout was a very close game almost the whole time! Canada had a really good team and their girls were hardcore! The bout came down to the last jam, which lasts two minutes. Anchorage was behind by one point, and then, during the last jam, Anchorage scored four points causing us to win by three points! It was incredible!

Go USA!! During this bout, the drunkards in the beer garden (conveniently where we were sitting), all started chanting "USA! USA"! It was like the Olympic hockey game between Canada and USA all over again!

Our friend, Jill, is from Canada. She was actually born in Edmonton! So, she unfortunately pulled for the Canada team to win. She even wore her Canadian sweatshirt and toque (what Canadians call a snow cap or beanie or toboggan). I warned her that she was going to have to sit on the other side of the arena if she wasn't pulling for Anchorage. However, we were able to come to a truce and she sat with us. We did ask her to pose for this photo when the bout was over, though, and like the true champ she is, she did this without any complaints!

This could be due to the fact that she loves the USA and all of her American peeps! Plus, she's been cheering for the Anchorage team for the past two years and it's hard to just turn that love for a team off for one game. Jill, you were a great sport and I will proudly wear my "Roots" gear with a smile because of you! :)

After the bout, we went to a local sports bar where all of the roller derby team hangs out after the bout. It was a great night and an amazing way to end the season! We have already decided that we will be buying season tickets for next season! Go Derby!