Salmon time

Late Thursday night Ian and I decided to join some friends camping and fishing for the weekend.  After work on Friday night at 9, we headed out to the Kenai Penninsula, which is south of Anchorage, to Kenai Lake to camp on Waikiki beach! As we headed out of town we saw a sign that said the highway we needed to take was closed possibly till 6am! we almost turned around and went back home but dececided to go as far as we could and just camp in the truck if need be.  We hit traffic, yes traffic bumper to bumper, about 3 miles before the turn. there was no hope of actually getting there that night so we camped on the side of the road by this beautiful lake. By the time we woke up all the traffic was gone....Made it there just in time to eat breakfast and head to the river! We spent all day by the river casting!

 Ian and Cory patiently waiting for a bite

 My 1st Salmon! It would have been my 2nd but my line snapped as it got to shore

 Ian got skunked the first day, had some close ones though.

 Enjoying our time outdoors

 Thank goodness Cory was there to fillet the first bunch of fish, Im not good at that.

 This was the spot we stayed at all day catching fish.  its not so crowded now, but it got very competitive as the day went on. You had to fight for the good spots!

 Waikiki Beach! We camped here about 40 min from the good fishing spots

 The next day we went to the coast and tried our hand at dip netting. The easiest way of fishing! You just gear up and take a giant net and walk into the water and wait till a Salmon swims into your net!! Easy right?! but its just a matter of luck really!

 My 1st Coho catch, I ended up catching 2 dip netting!

 Ended up soaked through about 3 layers of clothes

 Ian caught a Chum salmon

There are so many fish heads on the beach!

Part 2 of the OC

While in Washington for the holidays Ian and I decided we needed to take a trip to the Oregon coast.  So we decided to make it a day trip and stop by the Tillamook factory first, then lunch and fun on the beach after.  Even though it was a cold wintery day we still had a blast!  It took us about 2 hours to drive from Vancouver to Tillamook on the beautiful highway 6.  You knew you were in cheese land the moment you rolled down the car window.  Stinky cows everywhere! But inside the factory it smelled amazing.  We bought 4 little loafs of cheese that we had never tried to take home then headed up the coast.  We stopped in a little town called Manzanita for lunch at a cute little mexican place then went on to Ecola State Park.  We spent about 4-5 hours on the beach and hiking.  The trail to the beach is 1.25 miles hike through a beautiful forest with mudddy sections most of the way.  We hiked up waterfalls, over rocks, and walked across the beach.  We kind of forgot about time and stayed a little too long.  but we enjoyed the rest of the drive back home.  We had plenty of cheese and crackers when we got back!!

Part 1 Oregon Coast Trip

GIANT classroom

this is my pre-k classroom. its really big. but I feel like its not really mine. I dont feel like Im the real teacher, I don't know...maybe more time will make things better. 

 the bathroom is the door behind my desk

 desk on right and carpet area in middle with little library on left side

 not a whole lot to work with

view from edge of the carpet area. some play areas, work stations, and cubbies yes there are chairs, but I just mopped :) 

Anchorage!!

Finally got a job...I was getting so bored doing nothing all day long.  I am now lead teacher in a preschool classroom, where I teach a lovely group of 4 year olds.  Today was my first day and apparently, according to my TA, it was a really really calm day.(the class, for the most part, behaved themselves) I guess I have a group of hooligans. we shall see how long that lasts.  I plan on kickin' that in the behind really quickly...there will be some changes going on.  pictures and more soon to be posted. 

end of the season

Yess...its been a while. but here is a little update of the last bit of my summer in Juneau. 

On my birthday Ian and I went camping, on the top of mt juneau(long steep hike). we also went whale watching, it was a beautiful day with lots of whales!

 Our hike in the rain to the glacier

 Playing pool...we weren't very good!

ACT had a company bowling tournament. They rented out the whole alley and we played for hours. 

 my team with our awesome team shirts!! we came in 3rd place

 Jamie and I

 Ted and Andrew

My roomies and I went ice skating as a last night we were all together

 robert loved it

 so talented

 Jen and I(almost fell over right before this)

 last night of fun and games with the girls i worked with



Zip-roarin-fun

Alaska Coach Tours is a great company to work for.  They always treat us very good.  This last weekend we had a few company parties.  On Friday we got to go out on one of the tours that we do the transportaion for.  we all went on the Canopy Zipline Tour on Douglas Island.  It was a blast!  We take a boat over from downtown Juneau to the south side of Sandy beach on Douglas.  We offload right onto a unimog that drove us up to the base.  We all geared up and went up the hill to the top platform.  there is a total of 9 zips and 2 suspension bridges.  The longest zip is over 750 feet long. 

Kristin ready to go on the first run

Eric and Brian waiting on the 2nd platform

Chops and I waiting to go on the 1st zip, he was a little scared ;)

thats how far from the ground we were

Donna was having a great time on the bridge

Our little group on one of the platforms

Silly faces!

Chops did the spiderman repel down on the last platform

Shaner and I at the end, dont worry the bandage wasn't from the zips

The whole ACT gang(well almost)

The boat driver was awesome...Chops asked him to do 360's so he did, then he pretended he went through an obstacle course!!  The weekend didn't end there though....more to come