Alaska > Oregon

I'm about a week into my Alaskan vacation and continue to have a great time. I really enjoy living in Oregon and in many respects prefer it to Alaska. However, all rational thought seems to leave my head when I'm looking at stuff like this:

All I can think is, "Oregon who?"

 I love the lighting in this one.

Fisherman 

These pictures were taken on Saturday on our way to Seward, a cute fishing town a couple of hours south of Anchorage. They also happen to capture the view I had on my Friday 7-miler. There's a great (pavement) trail that starts about 20 miles south of Anchorage which in the past seemed too far to drive to go for a run, but given that I regularly drive 1 - 2 hours to go hiking in Oregon, doesn't seem all that far these days!

Since my grandma's visiting, we took a lot of side trips on our way to Seward. First was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.

Bear.

I've been hearing about this place for years but thought it sounded dumb. Why go see moose in a cage when Anchorage is crawling with them? But actually, we got to see a lot of cool animals one doesn't see often like lynxes, bison, and caribou. The Center is also located at a ridiculously scenic part of the highway so there's a lot to look at even if you're not interested in the animals.

The weather was really nice at first but got steadily worse as we got closer to Seward, which was a huge bummer. Seward is a gorgeous place when the mountains aren't totally obscured!

This is the best shot I got. Laaaame. 

A few more pictures from the trip:

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Yesterday Bailey and I went to Rabbit Lake. The weather was pretty shitty but since I'd spent all Saturday sitting in a car I wanted to get out, if only for a bit. I'm vehicularly challenged at the moment so we had only two hours before we had to be back at the trailhead to get picked up. I didn't think we'd have enough time to make it to the lake but was pleasantly surprised to find that a combination of running and hiking got us there and back in just enough time!

It's a spectacularly blue lake, crappy weather or no!

As I mentioned, the weather was pretty awful. Initially there was just a bit of rain, but once we got above tree line the valley turned into one big wind/rain tunnel. The lake was temptingly close, though, so we pushed on. I'm glad we did! 

Bailey needs to work on her posing.

In all, we covered a little over eight miles, approximately five running and three hiking. It was a nice little workout that didn't leave me too tired and allowed us to get outside before the weather got real shitty (as it did later that day).

Bailey was tired.

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It's been a week since my last workout roundup, right? Let's do it again!

Monday, August 17: 5 miles (running) at the Lafayette Reservoir

Tuesday: rest (travel day)

Wednesday: 5 hours (hiking) on and around Flattop

Thursday: 4 miles (running) on Powerline

Friday: 7 miles (running) on Turnagain Arm

Saturday: rest (Seward)

Sunday: 8 miles (5 running, 3 hiking) to Rabbit Lake

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It's a dreary day so I'll probably settle for a few easy miles on the treadmill, especially since I'm hiking to Lost Lake tomorrow with my dad. Weather permitting, we plan to stay the night. I spent the night there with a friend a few years ago and remember it being pretty spectacular, so it should be a good time!