Back to the Birds

With Craig now back on the slope I'm returning to do my bird volunteering in Anchorage..it was great to see Red again and now I am all ticked off to present him!

This is his 'don't mess with my food' look...

And to further make sure I can't get it....

Ahhh..Phoenix the Osprey..he is such an imprinted birdy, he just loves being around people. My friend Terri is working with him and he has a hissy fit when she puts him back in his mew..he wants to stay out with the humans.

Cutest Boreal Owl ever, look how tiny he is in my hand!






And Big scary Great-Horned Owl...though he is all talk and all feathers.

Tiehacker Hike

Saebo and I went for a hike up mountain Tiehacker (4436ft) with my friends Jeff and Justin.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, and for Seward this time of year you have to jump on them!

We got super close to this juvenile bald eagle...he seemed pretty interested in us, wondering what we are I think.

Spot Saebo....

This is the view to the north of the mountain, overlooking Kenai lake in the distance.

Someone beat us to it apparently...

Saebo and I on the summit...he was abit nervous it took a while to get him to come over to me!

Fav pro wedding shots-Getting ready.

Here's some of favourite wedding pictures taken by Philip Casey of Chugach Peak Photography.

Here's my only tattoo which I love. Yes its the Ursa Major, which means the Great Bear in Latin-I got it when I left Alaska so I would always remember my time here. (I didn't know I was coming back to marry an Alaskan at that point in time:)

I had soo much fun in the morning getting ready with all my girls...here's my gorgeous sisters Sophie and Lucy.

Clare, pictured above is our lovely friend who did my hair, and my bridesmaids, and my sisters! She is is the wife of our best man-Casey.

My nephew Matthew was in awe of my very blingin earrings that I got while on holiday with Ina in New Jersey.

I love this pic of my Dad, he was just getting done being 'manscaped' by Lucy.

My beautiful engagement ring!

Here's Craig with my bro-in law Dave on the left, and Jeremy on the right.

Lovely Bridesmaid Sara, she kept me sane amongst all the craziness.

Cat-my BBF from England.

Oh, I absolutely love this pic! I had a mega cut on my finger from climbing Mt Marathon 2 days before, so to not risk spreading bloody prints over my dress my friend Sarah superglued my finger!

Here's Dave, probably laughing from something Craig said.

My mum made me cry by crying when she saw me all brided out.

Russian River Part II

This was blacky in the first video. No Lizzie, we didn't get eaten.

He really didn't seem to mind our boat crew, obviously they don't have any predators that usually come out of the water.

We Came across these abandoned cabins nearby, looked like people were there not long ago but it was really creepy I got a really weird vibe from the place.

A bear had totally gone through the place and trashed it..it was such a mess.

We did some fishing at the mouth of the river, we accidently caught a spawning silver salmon as the river is choka filled with them! The water was so clear you could just see them all swimming along. We released of course as I do work for Fish and Game :)...

The rowing was some serious tough work..we traded off and doubled up for some serious fast motion.

This was Mr Brown bear number 1, we will refer to him as Scrawny as he looks like he needs to eat some more berries. He didn't hang out for very long, we tried to get nearer the river by foot but it was too marshy, so we pulled the boat up through the rocks and into the river pool.

Thats when Mr blobby showed up! He was a gorgeous big brownie!

He was looking under the water trying to work out if he could get any of the salmon, it was absolutely awesome being so near this dude.

We watched Blobby till he had enough of being mocked by the uncatchable salmon.

We did some serious bird watching as well, this gorgeous Loon was very friendly and had no problems with our row boat either, we stayed with him for about 20 minutes just watching him dive and admiring his perfect plumage.

After a lovely day and a half on the lake, we had to hit the trail for the big 12 mile hike out up the river. About 2 miles into the trail Craig spotted this brown bear right across from us.

Right as the video ends, the bear got a whiff of Saebo and took off like a giant leopard..every big bear I have every encountered has done this. He was majestic and it was a great way to end our trip!

It was a long hike out, I think we were both tired from all the rowing and bear excitment. Great times with my new husband though. Can't wait for our next wilderness adventure.

Newlywed Bonding Part I

With the fishing season coming to an end and my 4-day weekend, Craig and I finally had some time to go have some fun...

I booked the Upper Russian River Cabin near Cooper's Landing, we dropped off our car at one end of the trail, then got a ride to the other so we could hike the whole river.

Do you like our pretend hiking for the pic? Excellent.

Super mellow trail, 9 miles through woods, alpine, streams etc...bear poop everywhere and massive tracks!

The fireweed was insane, summer is definitely almost over with it being over 6 ft tall!

We had some light showers to deal with but nothing major...

Easiest 9 miles ever! cutest little cabin, was built in 1951 there were some pics of it being made inside. Recently refurbished it was glorious.

Craig got to work making the fire and hooking up his little spinner rod to hopefully catch some Trout.

Coolest thing about the cabin-it comes with the use of a row boat!

No one for miles but us and lots of bears!