Alaska - Day 2

Startin' our day off right! A dozen donuts. I think I ate the majority of them myself.

We met up with my buddy Cedric from BYU-Hawaii, and his girlfriend Brianna. Cedric recently got his mission call to Portugal!

We were trying to spot a moose all day! Lia found one. 

Yep, it was pretty exciting to see me I guess. haha. 

Look at this glacier!!! Okay, you'll get a better view soon, but this is the Matanuska glacier, and it is incredible!

Trying to jump the glacier. 

The trail to the glacier was pretty awesome. They had these planks out so you wouldn't have to step in the silt. 

In this photo you can see Lia's shoes. She totally wasn't prepared for this, so I had to carry her part of the way. 

I think in the background they might be making me take a kissing photo of them. ew. 

Me and Cedric!! and the glacier!!

We totally dominated the glacier. 

I know, I'm always helping people take photos. 

Look! We are pretending to be so happy! haha, I think I really was so happy, and Lia really was pretending. It's because I love hugs, so I was happy, and Lia hates when I hug her, so she just had to smile for the photo. 

wow. 

Silt! It looks just like a rock, but your foot sinks right in it!

I loved the water. It was like a really cool screen saver. 

I totally wish I had a kayak or a raft, or a paddle board with me to go row around in the water. 

Brianna accidentally stepped on the silt, so Cedric rescued her...and he stepped in it himself!! That silt sure is tricky. 

Dad

Saying goodbye to Cedric. Cya in Hawaii!

The town Cedric is from (Palmer) is famous for having the biggest vegetables in the world!!

People were getting ready for the state fair that was starting the next day. 

Uncle Glenn's name spelled write.

Friend from Fontucky at the Anchorage museum. 

I'm not into modern art, unless you can climb on it. 

Lia; what a rebel. 

This moose smelled like poop. 

Anyway, we had a great Alaska trip, but we'll definitely have to go back again. It's the perfect place to visit in the summer to cool off, but I'll have to return some winter to see the northern lights!

Alaska - Day 1

We found an Arab girl in the parking lot in Anchorage. Oh wait, I think that's Lia. 

As soon as we got out of the cities there were great views. The weather wasn't the best at first, but it felt great outside. It's especially refreshing to be in Alaska after leaving 105°F weather in St. George

Right away we also found some wildlife! It's about the only wildlife we saw on the trip though. 

Our first glacier. 

Helping Lia down, "Help! I can't get down!"

This is a real wild mushroom. Isn't that awesome? 

Our first Salmon. 

This guy was doing studies on the Salmon. My favorite part was when he said, if this fish had eggs you could just press right here and they would all come out. Then when he cut it he realized that this fish did have eggs. hahaha. 

This was the real purpose of our trip. My dad had found some tractor parts for sale that he needed, and seeing as we get free flights and it would cost an arm and a leg to ship those heavy parts to St. George, we came and picked them up ourselves! : )

Lia's not heavy enough to get the water to pump. 

wish my eyes were open!

Lia's always needing help off stuff. 

Even photos of dumpsters in Alaska look pretty good! Just check out those trees behind them. 

This is what I wanted to do. 

I learned this pose from my friend Lili in Peru. hahaha. 

The water was filled with salmon. I wanted to grab one like a bear, but they swim away when you approach them, and I didn't want to actually get in the water. 

We met a guy on our way to go check out the salmon and asked him about bears. He told us, oh, don't worry about bears. Then as we kept talking he said that his wife has pepper spray and he has a pistol on him in case they run into bears! We weren't worried because I took a year of Tae Kwon Do in elementary school. 

Competition for the fishers. 

Dad yelling to Lia "Bear! Bear!!" She was too busy texting with her iPhone to notice. 

Whenever we drive from St. George to northern Utah my dad tries to get me to look out the window and enjoy the scenery, but there is no good scenery! Here in Alaska it really is beautiful and it took us a long time to get anywhere because we couldn't help but stop to check things out. 

Lia texting - totally oblivious to the car that's about to hit her. 

We never found a wild Elk, Moose, or Deer, but there was a deer in this cage!

If you check out the back right of this photo you'll see a dog. That's why Lia wouldn't take her place next to dad. 

Fish and Chips! I usually don't eat fish, but hey, it's Alaska!