Alaska Adventure, Day 7

First thing in the morning, we headed down to the Denali Park Dog Kennels. During the winter the park is patrolled by dog sled teams. We went to the kennels to meet the dogs and see how they work with them. One thing I've noticed about Alaska is that EVERYBODY has dogs. And now just normal dogs, they have giant wolf dogs.

These dogs basically looked like wolves, but were friendly. It really was funny how blase' they acted when the gaggle of senior citizens walked by. They could've cared less. When Talmage strolled by in his chariot, Oh my gosh, they all jumped off their dog houses and started barking and clawing at the fence.

I had to get a picture of it, and I wasn't going to move the stroller any closer because the dogs started going wild. It would have been funny except they all looked like they wanted to eat Talmage. Which is not funny.

All the dogs on the right of this picture were a little more calm, they were the more 'friendly' dogs.

After the dog sled demo, we took a picture with the sled. Does it look like we could win the Iditarod?

Alaska Adventure, Day 5

Yes, I know I skipped a couple of days because all the pictures are on my dad's camera and it is a very high tech camera. So, you will all just have to wait breathlessly while I develop enough smarts to figure it out.

We went to Denali national park this week, it was super awesome. It is very beautiful, very large and very remote. Denali is for two types of people of people. 1.) High end travelers who enjoy traveling in large tourist buses, mainly Princess, with gaggles of senior citizens. 2.) Crazy backpackers who are looking to explore the wild backcountry, with gaggles of snow shoe hares. (Haley and Jesse...this is probably where you will go when you die.) We saw very few people like us. In fact, our baby was the only small child, aside from Thomas, that I saw the entire trip.

My mom reserved some cabins for the trip, which was very nice, because it was pretty cold and even snowed, hailed and rained while we were there. (My mother, always a southern californian at heart, brought sunscreen and straw hats for everybody). My parents cabin got upgraded, so that left Truston and I in an 'original' cabin down the hill. That's right, it was originally built in 1911. It was a tiny 11 by 11 foot cabin with one tiny window and a tiny door. We loved it for camping purposes, but I don't know how you could live there...especially during 9 month winters. It brings new meaning to the phrase, "Cabin Fever".

Here is a picture of our cabins.

Much more exciting posts coming soon...as soon as i figure out how to download my dad's pictures. :)

Alaska Adventure, Day 1

So we got to Alaska, no worse for wear. I had looked at a couple of guide books, but it was nothing compared to the book my mom is putting together. I think she might become a tourist guide. If anybody is thinking of visiting, you should. It is beautiful and my mother is an entertainer extraordinaire.

Our first day here we visited a reindeer farm. Trivia question: What is the difference between caribou and reindeer? No difference, reindeer are domesticated caribou.

After a quick reindeer orientation, we were given little pellets and walked into the field were they all were. They were darling, and they ate right out of your hand. It was very exciting and very cute.

Truston, the reindeer whisperer.

SUCCESS!

We have finally witness the rollover! Talmage was so happy with himself.

One Sweet Ride

Truston's sister let us borrow this cool pillow car. Talmage loves it, until he gets tired of sitting up and then he can't help leaning back, like a playa.

The trouble with sitting up

Sometimes he sits up really well, and sometimes he just tips over. It's hard to sit up, when you still can't even roll over. I think it might be a fat factor.

Graduation Celebrations

Talmage wished he was graduating too. He put on the regalia and pretended like a graduate.
Mario Capecci spoke at the graduation. He is a researcher at the University of Utah and won the nobel prize this year in science and physiology. We were hoping that he would talk about his research (Knock-out mice), instead he spoke about climate change. boo....who wants to hear any thing else about Al Gore.
Talmage was a saint the whole ceremony. He thought Truston's garb was pretty darn funny. And let's face it, there is nothing more ridiculous looking then graduation garb.