Jersey Wedding

Last week, Tawna and I headed east to Washington D.C., up the Jersey coast, to New York, and to our friend's Kyle and Julie's wedding. It was 85 degrees in D.C., and a beautiful full moon first evening on the Mall.





Even though the Jersey shore had never jumped out as a wildlife spot, we found some tranquility and an abundance of birds around Cape May and at the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge just north of Atlantic City. We saw 50 species of bird in just 24 hours or so including a favorite, the black skimmer (a borrowed photo).



The wedding was beautiful, the ceremony outside narrowly missing the thunder and lightning. The 8-strong Alaska contingent made healthy inroads into the libations after the rabbi deemed our home state a "god-forsaken land."

Delta River

Tawna and I took off for a few days on the upper Delta River. An easy float out of it's headwaters at Tangle Lakes down to the Richardson Highway - about 35 miles. The trip starts with a few miles crossing the Tangle Lakes. We spent a night out at the lower Lake. You can see our tent on the right side of the picture, we had the place to ourselves which was wonderful. The blueberries are everywhere but unfortunately we were a week early to indulge.



The second day was an easy float down to a half mile portage around a waterfall. Below that, the river runs through a short canyon with some rocky class 2 rapids.



Much of the water is mellow and when there were no mergansers and chicks to keep her interest, Turtle just kicked back and relaxed. As you'll notice though, not really helping with our general stability.



Lower on the river, she helped my scouting, using her nose to sniff out the right channels.

Tawna and Anchorage

Drove down to Anchorage this week to pick up Tawna and have a bit of time in the mountains. It was nice to be on some of my favorite trails and show Tawna around a bit. She came in at 4 pm, we grabbed pizza at the Moose's Tooth and then up to Symphony and Eagle Lakes.




After a nice run into the lakes of the South Fork of Eagle River, we drove to Hatcher Pass, just north of Anchorage in the Talkeetna Mountains. Found a nice place to sleep, and then headed into Reed Lakes in the morning. This is one of the best day hikes in the area through some really beautiful scenery.





The rock is granite, leading to some fun opportunities to boulder





The weather was even nice enough for a swim (at least for Tawna) in the glacial fed creek that runs by the trail.


On our drive out, this Hoary Marmot decided to come up to the car and torment Turtle who couldn't believe the audacity!

4th of July

Took the chance to spend a bit of time with my friends Julie, and Kyle and Julie who are relaxing before their wedding at the end of the month. Here's Julie enjoying the start of the upper Chena, a very relaxed float!



The dogs alternated swimming, running along gravel bars, and spending some time in the boats. That's Kyle and Julie setting the pace.



Floated down to a nice beach and barbecued up a good lunch of sockeye salmon and burgers. There was some beer along with G and Ts which could have contributed to some navigation issues during the afternoon.



Julie's dog Caz and Turtle swam several miles of the river which is shocking as Turtle has only been swimming a couple of times, and short distances at that since I've known her.



Tawna's back home on Tuesday, and we're all (that's Turtle, Tupac, and me) looking forward to posting some adventures with her again.