Sheep Mountain Trail System

We both got the day off (4^th of July) so decided to spend the day together out hiking! We had been up at Sheep Mountain over the winter and had been talking about going back during the summer, so that’s what we did.

We got there around 9:30 and ordered a yummy breakfast to fortify ourselves for the hike. He had an omelet while I had scrambled eggs. Each plate came with some homemade bread and homemade jam!

The trail head was just up from their cabins and was a very nicely maintained multi-use trail.

We started off on the Serpentine Trail, then hit the Thriller loop up to the top where we veered off-trail until we found the creek.

After a brief rest, we headed back down the other side of the Thriller loop until we got to the Corkscrew.

I’m thinking in total we hiked maybe 3.5 or 4 miles, give or take a bit. It was a gorgeous day: clear blue skies and just the slightest of breeze.

I Won! I Won! WooHoo!

Guess What!! I won a drawing!

I enter them all the time, and most times I don’t win – but this time I did. This one was hosted by both the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Premier Auctions and was their Father’s Day Give-Away. The winner (that would be ME) got to choose between either a $500.00 gift certificate at AllureDay Spa or a $500.00 gift certificate with the Kenai River Cowboys.

Can you guess which one I chose? That’s right: The Fishing Charter!

Bryan is working with our schedule, the fish’s schedule, and the Cowboy’s schedule now – trying to pick the optimal time to go. 

What we’ll most likely do is head down after work one day in the middle of the week, camp out somewhere in our tent, fish all day the next day, then head on home after that. 

He says we’ll be pretty wiped out after an entire day on the river, so we may end up camping out that night again and heading home the following day. If he can schedule it for one of our Fridays Off, that would save me a vacation day, too.

My Cousin Paul

We had a very pleasant visit the other day with my Cousin Paul and his wife Karen. They live in Montana but had come up to spend a week with their son Chris and his family up in Fairbanks.

This was my first-time meeting Karen, and I am happy to say that she was great. She fit right in and had no problem chatting with us all for a good 4-5 hours.

They were here on a Wednesday, which meant that most of us were working. But both Kelly and Noel managed to take time off during their lunch break to come over, so that was good. Sadly Reed was not able to make it – but maybe next time he can.

Vic & Anthony's

Apparently when you own a timeshare, the resorts treat you as a V.I.P. – a special speedier check-in, your own concierge, a “Welcome Home” dinner, and lots of other perks. This time, the Cancun Resort gave us a $200.oo gift certificate towards dinner at a place of our choosing: we chose Vic & Anthony’s, an up-scale steak house at the Golden Nugget Casino.

The restaurant was nice – quite beautiful, actually – but in my opinion it was too dark. Every patron in the place had to use the flashlight on their cell phones just to read the menu. That gets very annoying to one who is over-sensitive to bright lights.

But the food was VERY good: We started off the evening with some Fried Calamari and shared a Caesar’s Salad.

For our main course, Bryan had steak (of course) while I had their vegetarian special. His Red Wine and my Muscato were the perfect accompaniment.

Then, to finish off our meal, we shared the most scrumptious Chocolate Mousse Cake!

This was probably the most expensive meal I’ve ever had, but it was definitely worth the extra $100.00 we spent on top of the $200.00 gift card.

Freemont Street

The one thing that he wanted to do with me while we were in Las Vegas was to walk the strip. He chose Freemont Street for our Saturday after dinner entertainment. My guidebook says that Freemont Street is the “second most famous street scene, following the Las Vegas Strip.

Suspended 90 feet above Freemont Street is Viva Vision: the world’s largest video screen running 1,375 feet long and 90 feet wide, with 16.4 million brilliant pixels! They had some mind-blowing visuals going on while we were there. These pictures do not do it justice.

In addition to the giant video screen, they also have a zipline: called The Zoomline, it takes off more than 10 storied up (114 feet) and whisks flyers 1,750 feet to a landing platform at the city’s most historic casino, Golden Gate. The upper Zoomline provides even more thrills by sending flyers prone, or “superhero-style,” for an unprecedented view of the party that never ends at Fremont Street Experience. Flyers travel down the zip lines at up to 40 miles per hour.

The day that we were there just happened to have free concerts at pretty much every intersection, blasting loudly over the cacophony of the gazillion people crowded onto the street and spilling out of the casinos. The zipline had people zooming overhead. The individual street performers were displaying their talents. Artists had their easels set up for portraits. There were people dressed up in all manner of costumes roaming the street. There were even girls with practically nothing on standing around in the middle of the street (I have absolutely no idea why they would do that).

It was truly a bizarre experience.

Caesar’s Palace

His conference got out about 5:00 each day, so we would go out and explore the city together of an evening. It was way too hot during the day, so that worked out quite well actually.

Caesar’s Palace was a must: the artwork alone is worth the effort to go see. It’s all copies, of course: not the original statues from Greece or Rome. But I could not tell the difference, so I was quite happy.

It was really interesting how they designed this place. The shopping mall was called The Forum (in keeping with the Roman theme) and the shops were all designed so that they looked like what you might see walking down the streets of an ancient Roman village. The ceiling was painted so that it looked like the sky, reinforcing that illusion.

I can’t even begin to calculate how much this place cost to build. The detail work was amazing – they went all out making it look as original as possible! I can only guess at what it might be like to actually stay there.

SHARKS!

Since he was there for his conference that weekend, that left me with each day to myself to explore. My brother told me about the Sharks of Mandalay Bay, so of course I had to go there.

This first picture is actually a Selfie Station, designed to allow people a chance to pretend they’re underwater with the Great White Shark. It looks real, doesn’t it? I was by myself, so couldn’t get the selfie to work well enough – so you get just the cage & shark.

The facility is 95,000 sq. ft. and displays numerous species of sharks, rays, fish, reptiles, and marine invertebrates. It features a shark tunnel where you can walk underneath the water with the sharks swimming above you. That tank is huge: 1,300,000 gallons of salt water (third largest tank in North America) full of numerous species of sharks, rays, fish, sea turtles, and marine invertebrates.

They had a Jelly tank – really cool, and so alien looking.

They even had a Komodo Dragon.

And a giant octopus, too.

The Cancun Resort

We stayed at The Cancun Resort, just off The Strip down on the South end. 

It was nice enough; but honestly, I thought it would be better. He owns a Time-Share and was able to get our suite using that – so at least it was “free”.

We had a small kitchen, a dining room, a living room, a bedroom, and two bathrooms. The balcony looked out over Las Vegas: we were up on the 8^th floor, so the view was quiet something.

The swimming pool was nice, but we actually never got in it. During the day there were just too many people, and they closed it at night. Still: it did look impressive, especially at night!

Flying to Vegas

 Overall, my trip to Las Vegas was a good one – but I have to say the flights sucked.

THE GOOD: they were all on time (a few minor delays) and the luggage made it both there and back along with us. Our schedule was such that we did not have long layovers: just exactly enough time to get to the next gate and stretch our legs for a bit before boarding again.

THE BAD: all four of the flights were booked solid, and that’s just way too many people for my comfort levels. On top of that, the airlines moved Bryan to a whole other section of the plane in order to allow a mother & child to sit together. He and I bought our tickets separately (he used mileage, I did not) so from their point of view he was a single traveler. They “upgraded” him into the business section on row 6 – while I sat way in the back of the plane at row 31.

THE UGLY: We had to wear that damned mask the entire time, from 5:30 in the morning until around 6:30 that evening. I did buy us each brand new ones, so at least we looked good (because that’s important).

Las Vegas Here We Come!

Honestly, Las Vegas has never exactly been on my list of Have To Go See places – still, I am rather excited to be going.

We’re staying at the Cancun Resort, right off the strip. I am told the strip is quite long however – so I’m not sure if we’ll be right in the middle of things or not. Still, it’s a fine place: complete with a water slide and everything! Bryan has a Time Share that he was able to use for our stay – so that was one less thing for us to worry about. I’m sure our room will be nice.

We fly on Friday, leaving Anchorage quite early in the morning and arrive in Las Vegas in time for supper. Saturday/Sunday is his conference, then we fly home Monday afternoon. It’s a whirlwind trip – but it will be fun. They are, however, right in the middle of a massive heat wave with temps in the mid-teens (meaning 114 degrees), so I will die.

I plan to visit Mandalay Bay to see the sharks (my brother Reed says they are way cool) and Caesar’s Palace (Bryan thinks I will enjoy the artwork there). Maybe even hitting the Venetian if I can. Once Bryan is out of his conference, we plan to walk the strip together to take in the sights. Theoretically it will be cooler in the evening so I can enjoy myself. And I plan to talk to the concierge at the resort to see if they can recommend a good vegan place to eat!

Catching Up

 I've let this slip by me lately. Just can't seem to find the time to sit down and write anything. I've had a lot of things happen - both good and bad. I'll give you a summary, just to catch you up on my life. Because I know how fascinating I am (tongue in cheek humor there).

Random thought: I wonder why I'm not writing? I love to write, and I do have things to say. I think I just don't have a comfortable spot in which to do the actual writing. I wish I could use a laptop or a tablet. They are portable and can be taken with me outside. I just don't like the keyboard on those things. I like a REAL keyboard, like the typewriters I grew up with. 

Yea, that's my age peeking through there.

Anyway:  here's my life up to now.

Virtual English Class for Mongolian Scientists: I was asked by my Mongolian friend Gana to help teach her fellow scientists to speak English so they can better interact with the volunteers that go out to their research station to help with their Argali program. The class meets every Tuesday afternoon, and I have signed up for two classes a month. She has a pool of about 10-15 volunteer teachers, so we rotate schedules around such that no two people teach a class in a row. This gives the Mongolian exposure to numerous voices and allows them to practice their English-speaking skills in a relaxed atmosphere.

Numerous Weekend-Getaways: Bryan and I continue to get away at least once a month for a nice relaxing weekend with just the two of us. Sometimes we bring the kittens with us, sometimes we don’t. April took us to a tiny house in Seward, May was a cabin out in Homer up on the bluff overlooking the ocean, and June will be a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas.

Kind of Like a Book Club: I’m still a member of our family book club, reading some good books and meeting virtually once a month (give or take a week or two). We’ve read Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews, The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner, The Binding by Bridget Collins, and Death Comes by Sue Hallgarth. Among many others, of course. It’s been fun reading books I never would have otherwise!

Looking for Property: Bryan and I have looked at numerous homes lately, looking for our Forever Home. We thought we’d found it but did not “win” the bidding process so now we have decided to put that effort on hold for a year and just be here to help Mother out. We will pick the effort back up again next year and see what comes.

Staining Decks & Fences: Bryan and I stained the back deck and fence on this property a few weeks ago: it was hard work, but well worth it. They look so nice now! We’re trying to find a time where we can go to Anchorage and get the deck on my rental property (the garage door as well) but we are having difficulty with the weather and two families’ schedules. It will happen someday but may end up being more of a Fall thing rather than a Spring thing.

So there you have it.

Hopefully I’ll do better on keeping this thing going from now on.

Lemon Infusion

 We ended up with a bag of lemons the other day: one of those substitution things from the on-line shopping at the grocery store. We hadn't ordered them, but since we had them we needed to use them.

As luck would have it, I just happened to come across an article on Lemon Infusions. And we just happened to have a bottle of Everclear on hand!

So of course I had to try it.

First you have to peel off the outer layer of each lemon. I would caution you: try to avoid peeling off the outer layer of your hand while doing so! Not only does it hurt afterwards (my hand is ripped to shreds) but you get lemon oil all over the wounds, which really stings.

Then, once you have them all peeled you put them into a jar and pour the Everclear over them. You can also use Vodka if you prefer - but Bryan says Everclear is better.

Then you put it into a cupboard where it's nice and dark and let it soak for a good 4-6 weeks, shaking the jar occasionally to make sure it soaks up the good stuff.

Once it's to the consistency you like, you strain out the peel and store the alcohol either in the fridge or back in the dark cupboard again.

Playing with Paper

 I spent most of the day today playing with paper. I have recently bought quite a few new dies so had to play with them awhile and see what I could come up with.

This first set is made with four leaves, both "inside" and "outside" cuts. I really like these, and have so many ideas in my head for them!

I originally intended to fill in some of the stained glass parts on this card with another color - and may still do that at some point in the future. But today I was shaking too much, so opted to leave it as is for now.

This card is made up of two separate dies, one for the inside and one for the outline. I love the finished look of it - but the dies don't cut very well so I have to go over it later with an X-acto knife, which is very hard to do and is quite annoying. 

Last but not least, these last two are just odds & ends that I had laying around. 

Yahtzee!

One of the games we like to play is an old favorite = Yahtzee! 

Each time we go on one of our little mini-vacations (otherwise known as our Weekend Get-Aways) it always comes with us, along with the cribbage board and a deck of cards.

It's usually fairly close as to who wins more often: it actually seems like we trade off each time. First he wins and then I win, and then he wins again.

But sometimes - like last night - he thoroughly beats me. Like, completely and unequivocally beats me.

The score pad for that game showed 5 out of 6 games in his favor.