A Niuu Zealanda Berthday Potti

Lisa (from New Zealand so it's Liser) and I have the same birthday which is great cause she is awesome!!! She and Dan threw a party for the super birthday twins which was really fun. We all got really drunk on martini's (and by we, I mean me of course). Then we played a bunch of games. Lisa and Dan had a very silly game from New Zealand (go figure) where you roll a dice and if you get a 6, you have to quickly dress up as a mugger with a facemask, scarf, and thick mittens, pick up a knife and fork, then try to cut yourself a chunk of chocolate off of a chocolate bar and eat it before someone else rolls a 6. FUN!

(photo courtesy of Dea and Ben's Blog)

Here are the super birthday twins before they (I) were too drunk!

Here is the sceene for game playing. After the chocolate game, we moved on to pictionary, which was of course a violent game since we (I) were all so drunk.
Here is Lena getting serious about pictionary. Lena and Lisa were on my team and we rocked the house.

Ben, Andy, and Dea were another team, and Dea was gettin serious.

Dea gettin really serious now... Did I mention that it was Dea that got me drunk by making me martinis all night long so that she would be able to win at pictionary? Another team in high Fairbanks fasion.

The fourth and final team drawing like Picasso!
The martini's Dea made for me were very sophisticated at the beginning, but towards the end of the night, the martinis that Dea was making for me became more and more strange. Here is the final martini of the night called a "Toiletini" which had a blob of fondue chocolate in it :) (Photo courtesy of Dea and Ben's blog)

Backblogging

It is terrible, but I have begun backblogging. I am such a slacker with blogging that I have all of the summer activities to still add. I began adding things which are mixed in with other blogs now. If you scroll through, you will hopefully start to see some new ones popping up here and there.

I hope to be better at keeping up in the future. This summer was AWESOME! One of the best I've ever had. But, it was really busy and I didn't get much blogging done. So, I'm trying to fill in the holes.

Ice Festival - Matanuska Glacier

The 2007 Ice Climbing Festival on the Matanuska Glacier, organized by the Mountaineering Club of Alaska, was awesome!!!!!!

Climbing without tools is supposed to make you learn to use your feet better. It is pretty hard though. You are only balancing on the ice with a few small spikes on your toes. You cannot grab anything with your hands. If you move wrong, your toe spikes can slip out of the ice.
This is the only picture I have from the bonfire. Carlene and Vlodka looking good. This photo was taken just before I went and started people off doing keg stands. Yay! There was also one of the group leaders who had their 73rd birthday party at the bonfire. Very cool. I hope I'm as active as he is when I'm his age. He looked much younger than 73 and very healthy. Very cool. Carlene had a bunch of cakes for everyone to celebrate. There must have been over 100 people.

This was me trying to do an overhang. I got up the first tricky spot here.
But, I didn't get further than here. Too difficult for me. I didn't know what to do. I'm glad I tried it though, otherwise I'd always wonder if I could have done it and what it is like to try. So, even though I didn't get it done, it was a fun attempt. I think I know better what to do next time.

Dawson City Music Festival

Towards the end of July is a great time of year because it is when the fireweed is out and it is time to drive to Dawson City for the music festival. Traveling with a bunch of friends on a road trip through beautiful Alaska and Canada. The hills that burned a few years ago werefull of fireweed.

Dawson City is a great little town on the Yukon River. In order to get across the river, you have to ride on a ferry boat. There's a great little campground to stay at. There is a casino there with Roulette. And of course, there is great music.
After we all arrived, we went out for a good burger and a beer and got ready for a great night of music.
Getting ready for a great night of music of course included drinking gin and tonic in the parking lot.

Be careful when taking photos in the beer garden. Canadians are very slick at sneaking into your photos and looking hot.

Here's our whole crew of Fairbanksans early on in the night. We were just gettin started.

Somehow the next morning we all got up and either ran or biked up to the top of the big hill behind Dawson City. There is an organized race every music festival weekend up to the top. It's a pretty grueling run up, especially after a late night of partying.

Followed up by another great night of music and partying.
Ashley was the most adventurous and got into the crowd surfing. Pretty awesome! She was up there longer than most people - quite impressive.

A Most Excellent (Kayaking) Adventure

A group of 6 of us drove down from Fairbanks through an old mining tunnel underneath a mountain (10 minutes of driving to get through the tunnel) and into Whittier. We got all our stuff and kayaks loaded onto a sea taxi which took us a couple hours into the Prince William Sound to the mouth of the Harriman Fjord. We spent 3 full days kayaking around to glaciers in the Fjord. A fantastic voyage full of laughter, conversation, camp fires, relaxation and reflection. Weather was perfect and the scenery was inspiring. Check it out below.

Ed brought his clipper, which is a collapsable wooden frame kayak. It is actually somewhat complicated to assemble, but Ted and Ed got it put together in no time.

After everything was loaded up, we all took off. The first day, Ted and I shared a double kayak, while Ed and his nephew Mark shared Ed's Clipper, and Tina and Ali used their single kayaks.

The second day and third day I got to kayak with Mark.

Here we all enjoy our fabulous campsite. It is difficult to imagine a more perfect spot.
Mark and I spent a lot of time on our hair during the trip.

We even took time to do some yoga.

A lunch break...

We were all sad when the boat arrived to pick us up, signifying the end of the trip.
But, luck was on our side when the boat captain took a detour to check his shrimp pots and then shared more than half of the haul with us. We had an amazing feast the next day back in Fairbanks. Fresh shrimp is one of the best things I've ever tasted. mmmmmm...