The view of Mt. McKinley from the start of our hike. It is the white blob far away (it takes over 7 hours to drive there from where we live). Trust me it was a must cooler looking with your eyes but our camera just couldn't capture that (but that is why I might convince Jon to get a new one).
Our new friend Ashley and I on the hike up the mountain to the blueberries. Ashley introduced us to the meetup.com group that goes on these hikes and asked us to join her and boy are we glad we did. It was so fun to meet people and see that we can join any hike going on in town. It was a montly crew of 11 people and 6 dogs on the hike. I was faster than the 18 year old dog for most of the hike - but he did surpass me near the top - luckily Jon and Ashley had mercy on me and starting picking blueberries right where I stopped walking. Some people walked to the peak to get berries but we had plenty of luck 3/4 the way up the mountain. Ashley filled her liter jar and Jon and I filled our 2 tupperware.
Jon and I on the decent down the mountain after our prosperous blueberry picking.
Fresh blueberries (I am sitting in the blueberry patch) you just pick it from the flat green leaves on the group. The evergreen looking stuff on the ground also has berries but they are very bitter not to be confused with blueberries. What do you do with 4 cups of blueberries when your husband is going to leave for 2 weeks - you make blueberry jam! My first attempt at anything like this and I am going to have to get some better recipes than what I got off the Internet. (hint hint Lisa - what are yours??) Our blueberry jam tastes more like sugar with a hint of blueberry but we will still eat it. I get to freeze then now and pull them out when we are ready to eat - even though Jon used some on a sandwich last night before it was technically ready.
Jon at the state fair with the white turkey. We went to the Alaskan state fair with some new friends - Justin and Beth and JoElle (their 7 month old). We had a blast getting to know each other on the hour drive to the fair and then walking around for a few hours. The fair had plenty of food and random entertainment. The lumberjack show was our favorite, the climbed up trees and cut things and where just funny really. We ate cheese steaks, funnel cake (YEAH!!) and homemade lemonade. For a state that only has a population of 600,000 I bet at least a few thousand where at the fair.
It was a great way to spend the weekend - with people!!!
5 comments:
Yum! Looks like ya'll had a blast and I love your red white and blue bathroom! Cute! :) And yay for friendship bread. I need to learn how to do that...great idea to get to know your neighbors!
Wow fresh blueberries! I made blueberry muffins this weekend but definitely not with fresh ones! I am glad you guys are having great adventures and getting to meet new friends.
What a unique combination of events for one weekend - blueberry picking and a state fair. Glad to see you have some new friends and are sharing time together doing some really fun activities.
Hard to think of you Ashley as a jam maker but you have become very handy around the kitchen. Maybe you and Willie can compare his tomato canning experience with your blueberry jam making.
The state fair sounded like there was LOTS of great food along with some unique events such as lumberjack demonstrations. Bet they didn't have a tractor pulling contest like the ones held at the Robertson County fair. You are truly in for some great adventures based on the events of your first few weeks in Alaska.
Ash...
I'm so proud of you guys for getting out and about and meeting people! Like I said before, where else but in Alaska can you go berry picking on the side of a mountain??
Hey! We had fun too at the fair. And by far the lumberjack show was the best. I'm going to add your address to my list of blogs on our blog. If that's not ok let me know.
See you at PWOC next tuesday!
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