Just a normal Saturday...

For anyone from the lower 48 (Jessica will hate it that I said that), this was not a typical Saturday.  For those that are from AK, maybe so... lower 48 people - esp. people from IL - should be a little envious! :)

 

We left Anchorage Saturday morning around 7 am to take our time with the drive to Seward.  We are lucky enough to know a great couple from school that just moved to Seward - Andy and Jessica.  We made plans before we left to see them, but I did not think it was going to be the awesome day that it turned out to be.

As we planned on leaving, Andy told us to stop at Girdwood, a small town right outside of Anchorage that is really neat.  We didn't really want to because we just wanted to get to Seward, but we decided to stop anyways and good thing we did! This small, random café had the best donuts! -We may or may not have stopped here on the way back as well...

 

After getting donuts and coffee (Alaska is big on coffee.. hint my last post about all the random shops), we headed for Seward. 

 

Jessica and Andy were such great hosts.  As soon as we got there, we headed out.  On our first big adventure, we took a four mile hike total to the ocean.  It is awesome that in their backyard they have all this opportunity to be outdoors, exercise, and see wildlife! We brought our lunch and had a sandwich where we watched the salmon.

Who else can say that?!

 

After that long hike of uphills and downhills, one that Joshua and I are not used to, we decided to go on another one! This time to Exit Glacier.  This was the coolest thing! We hiked to the top of a mountain, where a glacier lays between two mountain sides.  Of course the day we decided to be outdoors, it rained and rained - You can see from the pictures below!

 

After our hikes, the boys decided they wanted to fish. (ever since we decided to move, this is all I have heard about)

Jessica decided we should go into town while they fish, and we had a great time talking and catching up. Jessica and I lived on the same floor freshman year of college, but did not really hang out after that.  Funny how you may not see or hang out with someone for years and you can reconnect with them in just one day!

 

Our evening consisted of window shopping and eating the best gelato Seward has to offer. 

She even took me to her hotel she works at - Pretty sure they have every animal in the book there - stuffed and on the walls I mean!

 

If you talk to Josh, his night was a whole lot better than ours - At least in Alaskan terms. 

Joshua caught his first Alaskan salmon!

Andy and Joshua went to the Kenai peninsula where the Russian river meets it and decided to salmon fish.  They were there for only two hours and each of them caught one!

It's nice because they talked to a guy when they first got there that had been there for three days and had caught nothing!

And to top it off, on their way home, Joshua saw a bear! completely jealous since my whole time in Anchorage/Seward I did not see one creature!

 

So as the boys fished, us girls made supper - my first salmon dish (Jessica really takes all the credit - I just took notes)! Jessica and Andy had just caught it the week before too! It was delicious and super easy!

 

I wanted to give you the description of our day first so you really understood how much Joshua and I appreciated Jessica and Andy having us over and the amazing, Alaskan things we did all in one Saturday - like it was normal or something.

 

So behold, a normal Alaskan Saturday (in photographs)

 On our way!

This was in Girdwood 

 During our hike out to the ocean!

 Salmon - crystal clear water!

 Jessica, Andy, and their dog, Lucy (aka Goose)

 First glimpse of Exit Glacier!

 It was so chilly/rainy - but nothing compared to how cool this was!

 You can tell it was rainy since the lens even has water drops!

 

 First Alaskan Salmon

Aren't they pretty?!