Highlights

Would you believe that we are almost up to date with our blog?  There's another set of pictures to post from December 3rd, and then we will have a lot of pictures to set us far behind once again because of a trip we are taking to Michigan very soon.

Before we share more pictures, I wanted to share some Alaskan highlights we've had over the last couple of months.

Highlight #1: In mid-October we had a week with three really big storms that came through.  Our neighbors said it was the worst storm they had ever encountered here in Ketchikan.  When I say storm, I mean rain and wind. It's rare to have thunder and lightning here.  And I don't think it's possible to have a tornado.  But hurricane-like winds are very possible.  And that's just what we had.  For the most powerful storm we had 80 mph sustained winds up to 100 mph.  It knocked over trees, therefore knocking out our power.  We lost power for about 24 hours.  In the middle of the power outage, it was about midnight.  I awoke to Quent yelling at something out the window.  He was standing in our bedroom, looking out the window, with his headlamp on...in his underwear...shouting, "Get!  Get!  Go on!  Hey you!  Get!  Get!  Hey, hey you!  We happen to like our bird feeder."  I was really confused and so I asked him what he was doing.  He said, "There is a bear out here."  I flew out of bed and went to the window.  I couldn't see anything except a very black form rolling around on the ground sucking down bird seed from our feeder, like the feeder was a straw in a cup of Coca-Cola.  Quent threatened to go through rocks at it from our deck, and then 3 seconds later the bear ran off.  Then Quent told me that there had been a mother bear and her two cubs outside...about 6 feet from our house.  We had suspicions of a bear messing around with our bird feeder before, but we never had proof.  This was definitely proof.  We never did find parts of the feeder.  Hope that poor bear didn't have any bad indigestion...serves it right if it did!  Quent said that before he got up to scold the bear that he woke up to this growling sound from outside.  He thought it was dogs barking at the linemen working on the power lines.  He heard it again a little while later and thought that it could possibly be a bear.  Turns out it was the two bear cubs wrestling over the bird seed while mama bear watched from a few feet away.  It's a little disturbing knowing that there are bears getting that close to our house.

Highlight #2: A couple of months before this incident I heard something thrashing through the brush behind our house.  It was around the same time of night as the other incident occured.  I could tell it was bigger than a dog.  Sure enough!

Highlight #3: It was probably one of the first weekends in October when Quent and I drove out toward Ward Cove to take a hike on the Savage trail near Ward Lake.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, about 3:30 in the afternoon.  We weren't very far on the trail when I saw movement in front of us.  I thought it was a black lap taking a turn down the trail, making headway toward us, but I quickly realized that it was a black bear.  I stopped in my tracks, grabbed Quent's shirt, ducking behind him, and said, "There's a bear."  Quent hadn't noticed it at first because he was looking down.  We both stood there looking at the bear.  I had visions going through my head.  The bear turned sideways, then did this head bobbing movement while looking at us with its little eyes.  I think it was trying to get a good smell of us.  I'm not even sure if we had time to say, "Hey bear!" before it ran off in another direction into the woods.  I stood there, heart pounding, not wanting to move.  I was a little freaked out for awhile.  We ended up walking the rest of the way on the trail anyway.  And you can bet all of my senses were in high gear.

Highlight#4: We saw humpback whales.  It was awesome!!!  I love living in Alaska!

Take Two 11.23.10

These are a couple of photos we took while shooting some photos for our Christmas card.

Shadow 'smiling' for the camera.

Tigger's expression cracks me up!  One year we tried to take pictures with him and he hissed and growled.  He's like a stubborn first-born kitty that doesn't like to be told what to do.

This was our 2003 Christmas card photo.  Hee, hee.

Fall Foliage 10.23.10

Quent and I hiked up to the lower Silvis Lake.

I saw these leaves together and I asked Quent to take a picture of them.  I love how it goes from red to green.  So pretty!  I love fall!

Cuties 10.13.10

Our friend Alicia from Wrangell was in Ketchikan for a few days with her son Lucas.  Our friend Jamie had us all over for dinner one evening.  We had a really great time visiting!

 This is my friend Jamie and Taryn.  Doesn't she look like the Gerber baby?  She's adorable!  I just love these pictures of them together.

This is me holding Lucas.

He wasn't so sure of Taryn.  I think he was scared of her.  When she would come up to him he would cry.

Forest Photos 9.26.10

 Ooops, this post is out of order.

These are some pictures Quent and I took on a walk on the Lunch Creek Trail.  I realized after looking at my pictures that I should seriously consider using a tripod for more clarity.  I also realize that I don't have as much patience as Quent does when it comes to photography.  He really takes his time and sets up each shot.  I just want to take the picture and move on. Ha!

Up on the mountain 9.18.2010

I believe Quent is on top of Deer Mountain in these photos, or maybe near the Silvis Lake trail.

Ferry 9.1.10

We got up at like 2:00 am to catch the 4:00 am ferry to Wrangell for our Stikine River trip. It takes 6 hours from Ketchikan to Wrangell. When we travel overnight on the ferry, we bring our sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and pillows so we can sleep. There are certain places on the ferry that they don't want you sleeping, so sometimes you have to search for a spot. And hopefully it will be a spot that's not too bright because of the lights.


Here is our truck parked on the ferry (with the emergency brake on).

Steve and Dan were 'foot passengers' on the ferry. They stored their kayak on the car deck.

Spur Road 9.1.10

When we were in Wrangell we drove up to our old stomping grounds: Spur Road. We walked around for a bit before heading to meet the other paddlers at Zak's Cafe for dinner.

Quent about to inhale some high bush cranberries.

Little Lucas 9.1.10

When we were in Wrangell we spent some time visiting with our friends Nate and Alicia. And we met their sweet little Lucas for the first time. Isn't he adorable?

Stikine River Trip September 2010

We cannot remember exactly when this happened, but Quent was at work one day months before this trip when he was talking to Steve Patton. Steve was feeling discouraged because it looked like they were going to have to cancel a paddling trip down the Stikine River because they didn't have enough people to go. It was probably at that time that Quent asked to borrow a phone and then he called me up and told me about Steve's predicament, and then asked if I would be interested in going on the trip. Without much thought, I said, "Sure!" And then Quent invited some folks from Wrangell. So now Steve had enough people. We began to make plans. We began to practice paddling. When Quent took us out into the ocean in the canoe and there were choppy waves, I thought he was trying to get rid of me. When he said we would have to paddle for at 1-2 hours a time I thought it was asking too much. But we did it anyway, and I'm so glad because it helped us for what was ahead.

In Ketchikan, we planned our meals for the trip. We shopped. We packed. We took the vehicle on the ferry with us and showed up in Wrangell ready to go. But wait, let me back up to about a month or so before the trip when I (Christina) began to have doubts. I think the doubts started coming when we had dinner with Steve and his family and he reminded me that this wasn't the first time they would have a female on a trip like this. And so after that I thought, "Can I, a female, handle this?" I tried to talk myself out of the trip, but then I realized that I had committed to this. I needed to stop worrying. No more dwelling on "what ifs". I told myself to 'buck up and just do it!' And I'm SO glad I talked myself back into this trip because it was simply wonderful!

After a night's stay in Wrangell, we all met at the summer float dock where Breakaway Adventures would be taking us up the river about six hours to Telegraph, British Columbia, where we would then paddle down the Stikine River 160 miles back to Wrangell.

A group photo, including our jet boat guides, before we took off up the river.

Ready to go! 9.2.10