Em and Jeff's Adventures

Surprise Trip to Alaska

June 25, 2007

Jeff and I had been planning to visit Astoria, OR (location of The Goonies film) before we headed back to the midwest for the month of July. I woke up at 8:55 am and tried to rouse Jeff. No success. All right, I thought, five more minutes.

Five minutes later, I was jolted out of my restful state by the CD alarm clock and Jeff, who rolled over bright-eyed and bushy tailed to ask, "Are you ready for the greatest adventure of your life?"

He then proceeded to tell me that we weren't going to Astoria, but were headed some place else, that we were leaving in six hours, and that we weren't coming back to Eugene before we went to Chicago.

Then I realized that the CD was playing songs that told the story of our relationship.

Something was up.

After the discovery of a secret bank account and a taxi ride to the Eugene International Airport (they must have flights to Vancouver), we were on our way to Anchorage, Alaksa.

Alaska has a lot of significance for Jeff and I. We worked there during the summer of 2005. It was the first place we traveled together, the first place we lived together, and the first time I told Jeff I was sure I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. We also made some great friends and had a wonderful time trekking around the state. Needless to say, I was THRILLED to have the opportunity to go back.

We arrived in Anchorage around 11:00 pm (still light out) and checked into a bed and breakfast where I discovered I was much too excited for sleeping.

Tuesday, June 26

We woke up around 8:30 and had breakfast with a foursome of Canadian tourists from Alberta. While they were telling stories, I was staring out the window and saw a red fox run across the lawn on the opposite side of the street. (This was to be the most interesting wildlife we saw this trip!)

Next, we headed to Nancy Lakes.

Nancy Lakes is an Alaska State Park/Recreation Area. There are several campsites interspersed among several inland lakes. We rented a canoe for the afternoon and canoed through ten of them, portaging (carrying the canoe over land) between them. It was incredible! Pristine lakes, green pine trees, sunshine, and a TON of mosquitoes during the portages. We had a great time.

Then, we drove to Talkeetna, AK. One of Talkeenta's claims to fame is that the short-lived, but very entertaining TV series Northern Exposure was based on Talkeenta. It's a two-block town of 800 permanent residents. There's a block going North, a stop sign, and a block going west. Then Talkeenta runs into the Nenanna River. Here is Talkeetna's second claim to fame: the best view of Denali (Mount McKinley). You can see more of the mountain (and the two other large mountains near it) from Talkeenta than from anywhere else in Alaska. However, you can only see it about every third day because Denali is so large, it makes its own weather. Talkeetna's real claim to fame is that it is the base for people who climb Denali. Nutters, every one of them.

We traveled to Talkeetna because it was one of our favorite places to visit. It is just over the mountains from the mine where we worked. Often, we would close the mine for the evening, do our opening duties, and jump in the car and head for Talkeenta. We'd grab a pint and dinner at West Rib Pub, camp on the beach, wake up and see if Denali was there, and eat breakfast before heading back to open the mine. Delightful.

This time, we did Talkeetna in style, staying in one of the rooms in the Roadhouse. It was super cute, but we neglected to take a pictures of it for reasons to follow.

Here was our trip to Talkeetna:

Eat fiddlehead ferns. Only available for about two weeks during Alaska's "spring/early summer season."

Pet and feed the reindeer. (They're shedding their winter coats, they're not actually sick.) Reindeer eat grass. They have delicately soft mouths like horses. (my favorite part of a horse) They chew their food like bunnies. Feeding a reindeer is the best of both worlds--you get to touch a soft horse mouth and then watch it chew like a bunny. Hysterical!

Check to see if the mountain is out. It was. In full force. We had the most amazing weather we've ever had in Alaska.

Eat dinner at West Rib. This is a place where you can write on the walls. Two years ago, after two pints of Ice Axes ale (a mild-mannered blonde ale with 9.8% alcohol content), Jeff convinced me to write "Em -N- Jeff 4 Ever '05" on the Exit sign. We were advised to sign that particular spot because it doesn't get repainted. Last year when Schaub visited, it was still there and he took a picture. This year, we updated the sign with '07, went over the fading purple highlighter with green marker, and took a picture for posterity.
Our server, it turned out, had lived in Eugene. She had moved there to finish school with her friend Bud. Bud is now the part-owner of Jeff's favorite coffee house, The Wandering Goat. We traded a pound of coffee for a couple pints of the Ice Axe Ale and sat and talked with Blair, our server, after dinner until the wee hours of the morning.

The Wee Hours of Wednesday, June 27

We left West Rib in high spirits and Jeff suggested we take a walk down by the river. I agreed. The mountains were basked in the alpen-glow of the sunset. The river was gurgling along. A crowd of teenagers were laughing in the snap, crackle light of a campfire. Some men were shouting about how they would have to get a bigger truck to haul their beached boat out of the river. It was perfectly Alaska.

And then Jeff said this--"I didn't bring you to Alaska to celebrate your birthday. I brought you here because I wanted to ask you something."

I choke out, "What did you want to ask me?" Because of course, I'm already crying.

Jeff got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

And I said, "Of course! Of course I will!"

When he proposed, he gave me a necklace with the diamond from my mom's engagement ring. After my dad died, she took the diamond out of her ring and put it into a necklace. We decided to leave it as is.

Isn't it beautiful? :)

Still Wednesday, June 27
After pretending to sleep again (so beyond excited that sleep was practically impossible), we drove up to the mine over the harrowing Hatcher Pass Road. It's gravel and switchbacky and totally illegal in your rental car.

It's also beautiful, if I didn't mention it before.

At the mine, we talked with the new volunteers, took in the view, and then walked down to the Hatcher Pass Lodge for dinner. The Lodge overlooks the entire city of Palmer and the Chugach Mountain range.

The picture is a little blurry, but you may be able to make out the mine (look for shiny tin roofs and the red roof of the building where we lived). Hatcher Pass is the clump of brown A-frames on the left side of the picture, if it's visible.

After dinner, we hiked up the bowl a little way to the Gold Cord Mine. It's an active mine owned by our friends the Renshaws. Their family has been working the claim since 1932. They kindly allowed us to stay in one of their cabins.

We slept extremely well. It was like staying in a part of heaven.

Thurday, June 28
Our friends, Kym (intrepid Alaska State Parks ranger) and her daughter Grace met us up at the mine for a hike. Our friend Joanna, who is going to school in Portland but lives in Alaska, went with us.

The best part of the hike was sliding down the tundra like a hill of snow. The two collies don't like it when the humans get out of control and did their best trying to herd us back into a manageable clump of well-behaved humans.

We spent the night with Kym and Grace at their home in Palmer. Kym cooked us a delicious dinner and breakfast. We're so lucky to have such good friends in far away places.

Before we left, we picked Kym's brain for a good hike in Anchorage and she sent us off with a map and a hike to take near Flattop Mountain.

Friday, June 29
We started the hike at about 6:00pm, which you can only do in Alaska in the summer. It's fabulous. Our first summit gave us a panoramic view of Anchorage and the Puget Sound.

We continued on to the actual summit and began making our way down through tallus (loose medium-sized rock) and scree (tiny loose rocks). We definitely took the mountaineering route. :)

On our way down we saw a pika (also known as a rock rabbit). They're they only other animals classified in the same scientific category as rabbits.

The pika is in the center of the photo. It is well camouflaged. Look for whiskers.

We stayed at the beginning of a series of four glacial lakes. We hiked a bit farther than we planned on because when we reached the first lake, a group of boy scouts reached us.

The sun was behind the mountains by the time we set up camp, thus the dark picture. But, it was really beautiful.

Jeff had hiked in with a bottle of champagne and plastic flutes that were given to us by Kym. Jeff packed the bottle with snow and chilled it in a running river/small waterfall.

We were very excited to toast our engagement.

Saturday, June 30
We hiked out Saturday morning, spend some time in Anchorage, and drove out to Girdwood. Girdwood is a hippy community (not unlike Eugene, but smaller) to stay in a bed and breakfast. That is a story in and of itself. If you'd like to hear it, you're going to have to call. It's too long and confusing to note here.

We went to a music festival at this crazy bar on the Seward highway and then came back and went to bed. We decided against staying in our tent at the last minute and I was glad TWICE during the night. First, when I woke up and heard a bear making a lot of noise outside the window of our place and second, when I woke up and it was pouring. It was the only rain we got the entire week.

Sunday, July 1
After a leisurely breakfast with the proprietors and their twin daughters (aged 2), we headed into Anchorage where we spent the day before catching our overnight flight back to the continental US.

I still can't quite believe we were there. Jeff is amazing. I can't believe he planned the entire trip without me knowing. I was totally surprised and beyond thrilled. We are feeling very lucky.

posted by Tobias Arthur @ 4:28 PM