WHOA Nelli

Little miss B started catching on to the bird retrieval thing this Saturday. We drove out to Clarkston with Benelli and some pheasants we bought. It's almost pheasant season and she needs practice. Jake would "plant" the hen and let Nelli find it. She would use her little nose and then "rush" the bird. When the pheasant flew up, Jake and I would shoot. She thought this was quite wonderful. We got some fun pictures.

It took her awhile to figure out how to get the whole thing in her mouth to bring it back. But once she caught on she was so excited to play. This one flew right in front of me and I blew it's whole head off... literally! Yuck.

Who doesn't love the spot........ where the tundra GROWS!?

I've contemplated how to fit this amazing trip into one post. We were gone for most of the month, took 1300 pictures... No way around it, it will be long. I've tried my best to pick our favorite shots. It was just such an incredible experience. From huge, wild animals to great glaciers and mountains. Alaska at it's best in full Fall, it was wonderful.

Everyone was so nice. Jake's boss's wife, Charlie taught me some great recipes and she was so fun to cook with. I loved the plane rides! Bob (the boss) did a "wing over" a.k.a. back flip, with me one day when we flew over Jake's camp. It was such an adventure! Thanks so much Bob and Charlie. The beautiful "three sisters" in front of the Kipchuck river. A landmark from base camp. Jake's boss flew me out to Jake when they killed this moose. I hiked down to Jake and helped him pack his stuff back to the top.

We drove down and stayed in Seward for a wildlife and glacier cruise one day. We started most days with some hot cocoa. We weren't even on the catamaran yet and we spotted a whole bunch of jellys.

We drove through this oneway tunnel to Whittier. One the other side they had a beautiful little town with a full harbor of boats. The tunnel is 3 miles long. The longest in the world! We drove to sterling and stayed in a cute little cabin on the Kenai river. We did some fishing here.

Our little Nelli stayed at Jake's parents with her Grandma Polly Dog. They became great friends the two and a half weeks they were together. We were so excited to see her and take her home. Jake loves these dogs so much. Thanks Leon and Becky.

We have hundreds more pictures and even more great stories to tell. Hopefully we get to share them with everyone in person. We really had an incredible time and to top it off we didn't have a drop of rain the whole time! Jake planned practically our whole trip. He's such a great hubby! It will be hard to top this trip next time.

Alaska

Jake left for Alaska August 30th. Nelli and I were solo. To fill the time I worked, worked WORKED. I worked everyday for two weeks then... got on my plane to come to Alaska too!!! I got here on September 12th. We decided I might never get the chance again to come up here and see what it's all about. So here I am. It's so beautiful here. I've been able to spend time with Jake while he's been up here working/hunting. Everyone is so nice. Jake and I will be done here at base camp on the 21st. We'll leave here and travel around AK for another week. We'll take lots of pictures and share when we get home. Here's a picture of the whole group. Jake and I bottom left.