Tender Mercies

I love running. My summer running schedule has really changed a lot from what I was planning on earlier this spring, due to a whole host of things including a knee injury in early May and lots of traveling to skating events. I felt a LOT better after the race!  Either way, I am pleased with my efforts to stay active and healthy, even if that means supplementing my running with swimming, strength training, walking, hiking, and biking (and actually, I highly recommend varying the training you do, so that you can work all your muscles and prevent injury and boredom). Marshall did awesome, and came in at 20:11 and second place overall! Saturday was Ft. Wainwright's annual Ice Cream Skedaddle 5K , where they feed you ice cream after you run. Not a bad deal, right? The other awesome thing is that it is free.  I wrote the date on our calendar right when I found out about it and I was really excited because I would actually ...

 I have never gone out in nature by my self, but it is something I wholeheartedly recommend! Let me explain. I was in Eagle River, Alaska this past weekend for a skating competition, and I had a couple extra days after the event to spend time with family. On Sunday after church I took advantage of the free afternoon, sunshine, and traveling alone without my husband to get in some personal time with nature.  Never having traveled alone in the mountains before, I drove up to an area called Hutcher Pass, located in the southwest portion of the Talkeetna Mountain Range.  I eventually parked the car and got out, not knowing where I would walk.  I soon found a spot, and began hiking on a trail called Gold Mint Trail . Because I am not eloquent enough with my words, I am not able to paint the picture of the beauty of the area I was in.  But the powerful glacier waters of the Little Susitna River rushed alongside the trail, and the green mountains were ...

It may not look like it, but this is the best Fireweed frozen custard ever!  We did it again. We made something else DELICIOUS out of the ubiquitous fireweed of Alaska. We didn't just make ice cream. We made frozen custard.  Holy moly it was good! Ever since my experience with Andy's Frozen Custard in Missouri when I was in college (they do have the best frozen custard in the world, BTW), I have loved the stuff. I have to say that my first time making it was a super success! Here is the recipe for all you go-getters.  The best part is that it only requires 1.5 cups of flowers, which takes tons less time picking than the 8 cups required by the jelly.  You also have to make sure you leave no stems or leaves, as this could produce a bitter taste. I just about died when I tasted the amazing custard! Marshall loved it too. You can tell from my silly picture that I enjoyed it! I did expect it to be a brighter purple color, but the cream and milk diffused the lovely...

For the average American, a backpacking trip to Denali National Park is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that is planned for many weeks ahead.  Lucky for me, we live only two hours from the park and can do a trip in a weekend.  And even more lucky, I have a husband who loves to do trips like this AND is encouraging to me when the hike gets to be tougher than expected! I will share pictures and tid-bits first, and then more details about where we hiked below, for those of you who live in Alaska and are actually interested :). Denali and Wonder Lake in the foreground. We were so lucky that Denali (Mt. McKinley) decided to come out on Saturday, our second day in the park. Because she is 20,322 feet in elevation, she makes her own weather up at top, and many days are too cloudy to see the peaks (see picture below). Eielson Visitor Center, mile 66 Parks Road. Friday afternoon: Denali is in the center of the photo above the clouds. We couldn't see her all day, ...

Fireweed is everywhere in Alaska, mostly around young forests, in meadows, and on the tree line.  I never realized what it was until Saturday, when I learned about edible plants in Alaska at a church activity (there are so many!).  So of course, I get all adventurous and Marshall and I go out after lunch on Sunday to pick fireweed out by the Cushman shooting range. I am lucky to be married to a guy who enjoys picking wildflowers and berries, because it is so tedious.  It was nice to be out in the sunshine, but after an hour of fighting mosquitos, I was done.  It was a good thing we didn't stop any earlier because we had just enough flowers for our fireweed jelly!! Fireweed Jelly has such a gorgeous, hot pink color that is totally natural, yet looks so artificial :) On Monday night I took the paper sacks of blossoms out of the fridge and spent the next two hours taking off the small stems from the flowers.  I am not sure how ...

We are really trying to pack as much into our summer as possible so that we can enjoy all there is to do here in Alaska! We went camping a couple of weekends ago (June 14-15, 2013), but I am just now getting around to posting about it. A little map to show where we went :) Courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management Marshall really loves the White Mountains, which is located north of Fairbanks off the Steese Highway. This trip we camped near the Ophir Creek Campgrounds, which you can get to by driving to mile 57, and continuing onto Nome Creek Road for seven miles.  We were planning on spending the night at the campgrounds, but we forgot cash, so we found a nice spot off the road.  This seemed more rustic anyways.  I loved this spot too because the sound of the creek as I was drifting off to sleep was so soothing! This was at 11pm, as the sun tucked behind the trees. We got to the campground late, so we just went to sleep after setting u...