I spent last week in Alaska on family vacation. My brother has lived in Anchorage for 7 years and this is the first time I’ve been up here to visit. I’m sorry that it has taken me so long because it’s absolutely beautiful, even though the weather has been pretty darn crummy.
We went for a float down the Kenai river to go fishing (my brother’s most favorite activity in the entire world). Unfortunately, it was very cold and raining so, instead of camping and continuing the float for a second day, we had to cut it to a single day.
We stopped by my brother’s work to drop off some of the gear he borrowed for our float trip and ended up playing on the climbing wall. The first time I tried, my very first time climbing, I got up about 6 feet and then got terrified and came down (I’m desperately afraid of heights). I waited a while, gathered up some nerve, and tried again. The second time I made it all the way to the top! I am very, very proud of myself.
We hiked up to a glacier on the National Forest Byron Glacier Trail. Wonderfully enough, the sun came out and the rain stopped for the short hike. It was pretty odd to have my brother be able to shove snow down my neck in September (don’t worry, I retaliated). His girlfriend was telling me that she made it a goal to go skiing every month of the year.