When Zach Came to the Last Frontier

Last week Zach came to visit us all up here in the AK. It was a lovely 10 day trip filled with many adventures/memories/fun times which I will now highlight:

First off, Zach gained some weight.

Haha...just kidding. No but really, that was the goal of his trip (due to football). Unfortunately he didn't gain this much weight. ;)

#1: Zach's first full day here was his birthday. We started off this celebration by heading to Tailgater's for some good American grub. While at Tailgater's, we discovered that a girl who attended Wasilla High, now plays basketball at Utah State-a school my family is highly a fan of.

#2: Zach's nightly birthday celebration was celebrated by a little trip to Byer's Lake. Byer's Lake is in Denali National Park. Zach, Devin, Bret, Britta, Easton, Lane and I drove the couple hour drive to camp for the night. Don't even worry, because every time I try to go camping, one thing is bound to happen....RAIN. Yes, it rained on this camping trip too. It rained so much that there was no, and I repeat NO dry wood around, so we could barely get any kind of a fire going. Zach and I luckily got two chili cheese brats roasted by the smoldering wood. That's all we could muster. I wasn't going to even try to roast a schmore. After so much of the rain, we resorted to staying inside the tent which involved some very good laughs due to mad libs (make sure you wear your hats to the beach boys), games, and playing "twister" in our tent. That didn't make our camping neighbors too happy. We were laughing too loud and disrupting them from their sleep in preparation for their "big day" that was to follow the next day. P.S. Rain=very difficult to get pictures, hence the lack of documentation.

(These pics were before the storm)

#3: The next morning the boys went bear hunting. This was Zach's first ever bear hunt. Him and Devin went on a little hike up through the mountains. No bear sightings however. Rain=fog=difficulty seeing. Still quite the adventure.

#4: We floated the Gulkana. This is where the pictures come in. Let me start off by showing you the faces of the trip.

(Me)

(Micah)

(Dev and Zach)

(Dillon)

Now let me just give you pictures to summarize what the trip was like. It was so relaxing-just floating and fishing all day. Some parts we were pullin in fish on every cast. We had some good laughs, singing, movie games, and every night a nice big camp fire and warm tent to sleep in. That's some good camping.

(Above: Mat-Su Glacier)

#5: Fishing on the Little Willow for Silvers.

Zach holding the boat. Didn't have as much luck as when we were floating the Gulkana. The water was too high and muddy from all the rain that we've had this summer.

#6: We went to the Anchorage Temple to do baptisms with a Samoan Ward.

We started it off with dinner at Moose's Tooth, and then headed to the Anchorage Temple. The Samoans were so welcoming to us and we felt so happy to be there! It was a great night!

On the way home, we got to enjoy this marvelous 10:30 sunset.

#7: We spent the next day in Anchorage.

To start, we (Zach and I) drove with crew: Micah, Britta, Easton and Rhea.

First stop: Beluga Point! Beautiful location where you are supposed to be able to see Beluga whales. Did we see any? No. But that didn't spoil the enjoyment of the day. Zach, Micah, and I got some rock climbing in as well. Here's some more pics:

Here we are checking out the dall sheep up in the mountains.

Second Stop: The Anchorage Zoo.

The pictures speak for themselves.

It was a pretty awesome time-can you tell? :)