About a month ago, I had a chance to ditch the midwest for 2 weeks and, with my folks, had a good time visiting Paul, Heather, and my sister in Anchorage and other relatives in Juneau. Spring hadn't found Alaska yet, and we had about 2 feet of snow up at Heather's hillside house. When the weather cleared, we had the opportunity to fly up the Knik Glacier valley to see some amazing scenery.
My sister and her husband recently moved to Palmer from Portage, into a nice spatious farmhouse on 10 acres of land. Plenty of room (and less rainfall) for the horses, dogs, and chickens. We dropped out to their place a couple of times during the week - Palmer has always been one of my favorite places in Alaska...
After Anchorage, we spent a week in Juneau to catch up on the old stomping grounds. It wasn't sunny, but the nice thing about Juneau is that even if you can't see much through the clouds and rain, there's still plenty to hear and smell. The coast rainforest is incredibly full of life. My longtime friend, Jim, let us tag along on a work trip to procure a remote day lodge for his company, and the boat ride and beach walk were the perfect way to spend the day.
I'm hoping to make more trips back home - it was refreshing to be back in that environment. In the meanwhile, it's nice to see the green-up and increasing bird life here in MN.
Thanks to everyone who continues to write and send best wishes! Miss you all...S
