Further Explorations...

Sorry that I haven't been as vocal on the blog in the past forty eight hours...we have been working really hard!  But tonight we were able to kick back a bit and do some more exploring!

One caveat to this whole deal where I cook and clean and handle all the chores...I have always been involved in cleaning and cooking on the grill, but never very much IN the kitchen...so that has been QUITE an adventure for me.  So, I am quite proud to say that tonight we had HOMEMADE chicken soup...and that I received a very good grade from my wife!  We also had some wonderful berries...Alaska is known for their blueberries and I added raspberries and strawberries to the mix...and I found a little bakery and got a loaf of cinnamon bread...yum!  That will also be Natalie's breakfast in the morning (she was bored with all the choices in the apartment, so I brought her doughnuts and coffee to work this morning for a bit of a special delivery!)

After dinner we went to a nearby park, and played baseball...one of our new, favorite pastimes!  I think we may seek out a co-ed softball league we enjoy playing together so much.  Although Natalie hates the heat, so we shall have to see...

After baseball, we had a snack and headed out of Anchorage to the south, where we will do more exploring this weekend.

Anchorage is the one reasonably flat place in this part of Alaska, and you only have to be five minutes south of town in order to hit the wilderness again.  We traveled south for about 20 minutes, and stopped at Beluga point, where there are often Beluga Whale sightings.  The tide was just beginning to come in tonight,  so we saw no whales, but the rest of the scenery was gorgeous, and the temperature dropped immediately as we headed into the mountains..Natalie added two layers and was still freezing!

This picture is taken from Beluga Point, and is representative of our lives together.  I truly think Natalie is the funniest person on the planet...she keeps me in stitches day after day.  I couldn't even take this photo, because she had me laughing so hard.

This scene is played over and over in our lives...she cracked me up all day long today!  We certainly argue and occasionally get on each other's nerves, but I have never known anyone I am so happy to be around for DAYS at a time.

On our way back home, we stopped at another turnout and there was a little 'waterfall', which was really just mountain runoff.  I suggested we go see how cold the water was, and Natalie scoffed.  I went and touched it and started hopping up and down it was so cold, so she approached and scoffed again, until she reached in and touched it.  This is her at the exact moment of contact, and she shot out of there like a rocket! Don't think she will say that again!

Deep thanks to John and Barbara for the lovely card and address book...we were awed by your graceful love!