Date Night

Vince and I had a day back at home to catch up on sleep, hit the gym, run some errands, and otherwise get back to normal before it was time for me to head back to work. We decided to spend a night out before I left- a nice way to end our "R&R" together.



 

I let Vince pick since I would be away for his birthday- his choice? Pizza :)

Aw. We had a nice casual dinner at our favorite pizza

place and set off for a local speakeasy for some after-dinner drinks

The experience here is half the fun- you have to call

from their dedicated phone booth to get your password to get in ;)

Vince at the door...

...and some of drinks inside. It was a fun date night;
I am looking forward to many more to come :)

KP Fun- Kasilof River Float Trip

3:00 am came early, but Vince and I were excited to hit the road and head to Kasilof to meet our float guide for the day :) We eventually managed to find a cup of coffee in Soldotna (hallelujah!) and made our way to the boat launch...

...beautiful morning at the river's edge

We met our guide, hopped in the boat (life jackets on), and off we went

We couldn't have asked for a nicer day

Vince hooked into one right off the bat! 

 

It was a beautiful fish- a healthy wild female. We landed it, removed the

hook, and quickly returned it to the water so it could live to make more salmon

Fishing was slow the rest of the day, but I'm glad that Vince got to catch his first King for his birthday. We finished our float, packed up the Black Betty (my CX-5), and headed back to Anchorage with Cheshire grins :)

KP (Kenai Peninsula) Fun- Cooper Landing

Despite our schedules being "off" for part of the summer, Vince and I are making the most of it! I planned a fishing trip for his (early) birthday present last month, and we had a blast! It's always nice to get out of the "big city" ;)

We started off our trip in Cooper Landing (a small town between Anchorage and Soldotna just off the Seward Highway). This is the cabin I reserved...

...a little on the older side, but it was clean and it had everything we needed :)

There was a nice little place to sit down by the river- relaxing!

We spent part of the afternoon walking around and taking in the scenery; here's Vince looking at some Dall Sheep that were up in the mountains (too cool)

We eventually worked up an appetite and decided to try this BBQ stop

...not too shabby for small town Alaska

We weren't ready for bed yet, so we decided to head down the road to check out the Kingfisher Roadhouse... Drinks by Kenai Lake and live music sounded good to us!

The view from our seats...

...and the live music was great. A group from Homer called "The

Barroom Roses" was playing; I would definitely like to see them again!

Knowing we had an early morning ahead of us, we decided to head back to the cabin, relax by the river, and get ready for bed. It was an excellent way to start our fishing adventure :)