A Week At Home

Our first July weekend off work was a whirlwind! Although it had been fun, Vince and I were also looking forward to a relatively "chill" week to get caught up on sleep, take care of some things around the condo, sight in our rifles, and do some cooking. Here's a glimpse of some of the highlights!

Local Farmers' Market

A talented local pasta-maker 

New charcuterie vendor 

Some monster Alaska-grown zucchini!

Fresh produce- I stocked up on some beautiful rhubarb and kohlrabi :)

The Blue Angels came to town and did an airshow;

this was our view from the roof of our condo

I finally got a scope mounted on my new gun and was excited to check it out!

Getting it dialed-in...

A few adjustments and I was right on the money!

One of the stars from the week: Creole Halibut with Prawns...

...this Asian-Glazed Salmon and Sautéed Kohlrabi was another hit :)

The beginnings of my first scratch-made pie crust

Strawberry-rhubarb filling

My first fruit pie! I was excited for Vince to try one of my childhood favorites...

...he liked it ;)

Dipnetting Trip 2016

Invigorated from the sun and the ocean in Homer, Vince and I made it to Kenai ready for the next part of our Peninsula trip: dipnetting! We checked into our hotel, scoped out the area, and headed out for a bite to eat.

Our room at the Beluga Lookout Lodge in Kenai- cute 

The view of the Kenai River from the lodge 

Closer look at all the dipnetters on the bank- yes, it gets crazy! 

Roadside BBQ stop we checked out for dinner

Knowing that an early morning was in store for us, Vince and I went to bed relatively early... Mornings in general are not our favorite, but it's worth getting up if it means catching fish!

The sockeye fishing was slow, but Vince netted a King!!

We were a little bummed we didn't make out like we did in 2015 (22 reds), but we still enjoyed the trip and had fun with our boat captain. We loaded up our catch (5 reds and Vince's king), packed up the car, and set out on a quest to find something to warm us up before heading back home to clean fish.

YES! Vince spied a Thai food truck when we hit Soldotna

The spicy chicken soup we ordered hit the spot!

Amazing how much traffic was leaving town! (Kenai &

Soldotna get bombarded with fishermen on summer weekends)

Back at home, Vince and I devised a darn good fish-cleaning system in our kitchen. Step 1: Vince removes the fillets from the fish. Step 2: Sarah removes the pinbones from the fillets. Step 3: we scrape the backbones for the meat that doesn't come off the fillets... We learned a few things with our 22 fish last year!

Fish at various "processing stages" in the Yeti :)



End product of backbone scraping

Whew! It had been a busy (but fun) weekend, and Vince & I were pretty well beat by the time we unpacked the car, cleaned fish, and put all our gear away. It was time for a celebratory drink and jammies; a great way to end our latest Homer-Kenai-Soldotna adventure :)

Homer Holiday P2

Vince and I woke up refreshed and happy to see the sun peeking through the clouds after our preceding day of rain. We gathered up our things, checked out of our hotel, and set off for breakfast.

On a mission to find a cinnamon roll, we settled on the Duncan House Diner

Diner style!

We shared a cinnamon roll (the star of the meal), rounded things out

with some bacon, eggs, and coffee, and headed to the local farmers' market



The parking near the market was crazy, but we finally managed to find

a spot. We found a few local treasures and decided to check out the beach :)

Not sure what this is called, but this guy cruising around on a

wind-powered recumbent bike looked like he was having a blast!

Vince looking for sea creatures 

An unfortunate baby crab :/

After about an hour of beachcombing, we brushed the sand off our clothes and checked out a few of our favorite gift shops before heading out of town... 

...one thing's for certain: Alaska has a variety of street names and

personalized license plates! We spied this one from the gas station :p

The views driving toward Soldotna were gorgeous! 

We made a quick stop for some pics, cranked

some tunes, and continued on to our next destination: Kenai

Homer Holiday

With the end of summer fast approaching, Vince and I were raring to get out of town and check a few more items off our Alaska "bucket list." We got home from work July 21st and set out for Homer the next day. Although we had been to Homer before, we hadn't been to Halibut Cove (a quaint little town across the bay from Homer), so it was definitely a place we wanted to see. We made the drive to Homer, checked into our room for the night, and prepared for our boat ride :)

Our room at the Land's End Resort



Charming nautical theme...

...complete with a (useful) tsunami information card!

Raingear on, we headed for the harbor to find our ride: The Danny J



Cute boat with a lot of history




Weathering the "storm"



A lighthouse at the entrance to the cove- nice!




Pulling up to the dock outside the Saltry Restaurant (our first stop of the evening)




We disembarked and made our way to the Saltry for dinner. Built right next to the rocky shore, the location was enchanting...



The rock wall behind our table on the deck




A mini "tidepool"




A (much appreciated) fire pit



Our first order of business was warming up with some adult beverages ;)



Then we tried some fresh Alaskan oysters and the combination seafood appetizer



My entree: grilled octopus




Vince's choice: seared halibut

Bellies full and bodies warm, we set out for an after-dinner stroll around the cove...

...somebody's chickens did NOT look too happy to be outside in the rain lol



An antique bell stationed along the boardwalk



Gallery dedicated to a local artist with an interesting life

We finished our brief tour of the cove and made our way back to the dock- our chariot was waiting!

Back in Homer, we decided it was too early to go to bed just yet...so we headed to the Salty Dawg (our favorite dive bar on the spit) for some drinks and conversations with our fellow patrons.



It was a fun end to our day's adventures: we added our 2 cents to the dollar walls of fame, made some new friends, and went to sleep looking forward to the days ahead :)

Heat Wave In The Arctic Circle

After a summer full of dreary weather at work in Prudhoe Bay, we had quite a surprise in store for us on 7/13... a new record high of 85! It came out of nowhere, but we definitely felt it. Our offices have no AC, so the heat was stifling to say the least. Vince and I took the opportunity to make the quick drive to the Arctic Ocean- not many people we know can say they've touched it :)