9.12.2009

Labor Day Weekend in the Rain

Wow, time flies! I've not been ambitious about blogging lately, that's for sure!
Nate and I both had Labor Day weekend off. Now that he is done fishing for the season, we've started settling into fall mode . . .
Mainly, Nate has, I should say.

Let me clarify. Instead of fishing on his brain 24/7, he now has hunting on his brain 24/7.
Can you see why he loves Alaska?

Anyways, much to my {pleasant} surprise, he suggested in the middle of our Saturday afternoon that we go camping.
Sure! I said . . . thinking we would just go to the campground south of town.
But alas, he had the idea to take the boat out and find a place to camp on another part of the island. So we got ready in approximately 15 minutes, and suddenly we are going camping. Without a tent.


We stopped on a beach so Nate could scope out the deer.
I was happily scoping out the scenery from the front of the boat, unaware of the rapidly changing tide.



Yes, we were stuck in the sand. very stuck.
{Nate was very pleased with me. }
But, we managed to pry the boat out into more open water again, thankfully.


Nate found a spot where he thought would be good for clams. So, we stopped again, but not without a warning that we would probably get stuck again.
And we did. AGAIN. Seriously, we were hardly there!

Anyways, when Nate wanted to stop another time, I held onto the boat, out in deeper water, flooding out my Xtra-Tufs because there was NO WAY we were going to get stuck again.




Nate found us a campsite shortly after and began building a fire. He cut down some of the grass and layed it flat so we could have a place to sleep.


We enjoyed a nice dinner of the usual campfire specialty, and enjoyed the sunset . . .
The stars came out and we thought we were in the clear as far as rain goes . . .

but in typical southeast Alaska style, the weather quickly changed while were enjoying our few hours of sleep, and woke up to the pouring rain {why, oh, why do we not have a tent here!?!}
at 2:30am and to high tide, with the water near our feet.

Nate carefully navigated back to town in the dark . . .
Well, it was quite the {sponteous} excursion.


Sunday we caught up on our sleep from our camping outing,
and I tried a new recipe for dinner: Kung Pao Chicken. I steamed some edamame (soybeans in the pod) to go with it because Nate and I both love them.
It was delish.
Thanks to my college friend, Megan, for the inspiration!


Monday was my b-day. . .
Nate made me french toast and bacon, and gave me a "Capri-Sun" juice as a beverage . . . it was so, so good. Very crispy, however, and I wondered his secret. {He cooked the french toast in the bacon "juice", a secret he learned from his Uncle Ben, who is an expert at Southern cooking :) } {definitely a meal to have in moderation . . . }

For lunch, he made us steak with portabello mushrooms . . .
{Complete with step-by-step instructions to me on how to keep the steak tender. I wanted to video it and submit to "Food Network" or "Top Chef" or something.}

Then, we went on the new trail: Herring Cove to Beaver Lake.
It's a beautiful, trail through the woods, along a rushing river.


Devil's Club is all along the trail;
the leaves are huge!




The main spectacle on the trail is this waterfall:


There are several types of these red "berries". A good chance to try out my new macro lens :)


Nate likes to shoot with my camera sometimes :)
{and with the rifle}


Later,
We had an enjoyable visit with Ev and Tom and ate some cupcakes. I snuck some photos with my cell phone to document the occasion:

And I am so thankful for this fun weekend together.

How has a week flown by already?

9 comments:

joan j said...

Happy birthday, birthday buddy! :) Husbands were good at remembering/celebrating this year it seems. Lucky us!

Megan said...

Happy birthday Jen! Sounds like an adventure you'll never forget. You'll be old and gray and will look across the table from Nate and say "Remrmber that one labor day weekend we attempted to go bush camping up in Alaska?....." :)

Pietila Family said...

How fun!! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh JP--you and your hubster are sure two cute Alaskans :) I just love it!!! All the adventure-I am sure eating it up:) Hmmm...hunting, fishing...hmmm sounds familiar to my ears... fun stuff!

BP

~ Junkyard Jennifer said...

Happy Belated Birthday! I always enjoy reading about your adventures. And, I love seeing the scenery.

~ Jennifer

Amanda Kay said...

I look at your pictures and where you guys go and I am just always amazed at how brave you are to venture anywhere out in the wild!!!!!! I think I would be in town scared of bears my entire time in AK!! Looks like a gorgeous place though, and good for you for being so adventurous!

Julie said...

There you go, making me tear up again. The scenery is amazing and you really captured the waterfall pictures beautifully! Loved the stories of your camping excursion- too cute. Happy Belated Birthday!

Lori said...

Jen- I love browsing through your pictures from time to time...they are so beautiful! You are very talented:)

Jennifer said...

I really like your outdoor photos! They make me miss Alaska. I almost feel like AK looks better in your photos than in person...maybe the lack of bugs/rain etc that I can enjoy while looking at them? Curious, what lens have you had the most luck with outdoors?
-the former Jennifer Skoog