we had a great celebratory dinner tonight at the pump house. everyone had dinner and/or stopped by for a drink, the weather was perfect..but man those mosquitoes are out in force already!
attempted sky cam shot.
chaos afterwards as the dogs ran wild in the parking lot and swam in the river.
Audrey and I about to head out on the Chena. This was the maiden voyage for the inflatable sea kayak. Audrey bought it for her upcoming field work on a remote river.
Audrey paddling as we took on water, the self bailing plugs for rapids were not plugged and we were soaked in a few minutes. Since this was technically a booze cruise, we were not prepared for this. The rest of the cruise 4 canoes and two kayaks were hooked together with the beer and tunes, we paddled full on in hopes of reaching Pike's Landing before we froze.
Then these guys offered us a tow and we took it. The rest of the cruisers did not get there until 10pm, good thing we hitched a ride and met friends for dinner at Pike's on the river by 8:30pm. It was a fun adventure and we learned a few things for our trip down clear water next weekend.
We ran the last leg of the Equinox Marathon course today. It starts out with a steep descent down a power line trail. Martin and Ben ran and I did a slow version of a run/speed walk and caught up with them later on. 
The trail turns into a really pretty wind down Ester dome. It was a hot one today, 65F. Look out the Nitrate Radicals are already training for our 3-peat this year!
my mom and dad hiking in denali national park during their visit to AK. they are having a big party for my dad's 60th B-day on May 18th and we are sorry we could not make it!
we went on a great road bike ride tonight on to the Ft. Wainwright Army Base. they have good empty roads and stac lead the way to get on base. we planned a nice easy spin, but
the sweet dirt road climb we found. there was a few loose spots so ben's mtn bike was not a bad choice on the ride. it was great to be out riding with stac, it has been awhile. we have also heard from Patrick and so far so good. it is really an incredible thing he is doing getting tested to donate a kidney.
Stac , Julie and I last at our dinner party. 
Martin showed us pictures from the successful native whale hunt he witnessed at Gambell. The whale was 55ft long and the entire village helped out. Patrick was also at the party and this morning at 4:30am, Ben and I dropped him off at the airport to fly to Mayo Clinic. We should know how the tests go by the end of the week!
Martin seriously kicked our butts at dominoes. That is what we get for making fun of how bad he used to be. A little Scottish whiskey, Irish Pogues and Martin (Englishman) really gives him an edge.
I picked up Julie from the airport from her awesome trip rafting and kayaking in the grand canyon. I ran into Tawna, picking up Martin just in from Gambell. (Island just 40 clear miles to Russia, check out his blog). Stacia is back too from her trip to the north slope, I think. Last call she was stuck in a snow drift in her truck and they were coming to get her. I am excited they are back and we are all looking forward to catching up at dinner this weekend. 
Nice view of Ester Dome from Mark's house , tonight. 
Caz and Pella reunited. My life is not as exciting, but it is finals week and then my written comps for grad school already...making progress!
I kind of go crazy when I can not exercise everyday, so finally we got out of town Saturday for a hike at Casner Glacier. It was a crazy snowy day, but it was still fun to be out.
Heading up the creek was pretty wet and we had few crossing s up to our waste in rotten snow. You can see the beautiful view of the Delta Mountains behind me, not. 
Some caribou crossing the road on the way home.
This is a picture of Ben exhausted after a long week of taking care of me in addition to the three days a week he gets up 5am, makes breakfast and drives me to dialysis. He is the best husband in the world.
