Eagle River Nature Center; Eagle River, AK

The highlight of our trip was supposed to be hiking Flattop, which is a small mountain just outside of Anchorage, but we put it off too long and by the time we were ready to go do it, it was raining and the kids had fevers. Bummer! That's okay. There's always next time, and besides, we were able to do some hiking out at the Eagle River Nature Center. We used to take The Goobers there all the time to let them get their wiggles out and handle nifty things we don't have at home, like animal pelts and skulls, wasp nests, owl pellets, and telescopes. It's a great place. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the inside of the visitor's center, and I did not take a picture of the sign stating that the trail we wanted to take was closed due to bear activity. Bummer! That's okay. There are other trails, like the historic Iditarod trail:

Here are The Goobers walking along the trail:

Doesn't it look like they love each other? Don't be fooled. They were actually grappling with each other, each Goober trying to knock the other one off the trail. They were loud and completely obnoxious, which was actually a good thing - you always want to let the bears know you're coming, so when you're hiking up in Alaska, make lots of noise. Sing in whale and stomp your feet and tell your sibling exactly what you think of him in a loud, clear voice because for once your mother will approve.

We didn't walk along the historic Iditarod trail for very long becausewe had to get back to the family for dinner. (Plus it was kind of boring, but don't tell The Goobers I said that.) So we walked back to the little hiking loop by the nature center, and on the way saw a cool tree:

and a beaver dam:

and a bunch of pretty plants:

and a dragonfly:

and some salmon,which apparently didn't get the memo about bear activity:

What we didn't see was a bear or even bear sign, which was a little strange. Usually we find prints or clumps of hair or something when we go hiking. Not finding any made me extremely happy, because you know, bears freak me out.

Sometimes The Man takes pity on me and takes my picture. You know. Just to prove to the great grandchildren that I really did exist.

We took a few other walks, but none were as visually stimulating as this one, so I'll just say a good time was had by all. I miss Alaska so much that it hurts. Just going to the grocery store is a treat because of the scenery! (Okay, that really depends on where you live in Alaska. If you live in the middle of Fairbanks, there isn't much in the way of scenery on the way to the grocery store. But most other places, yeah, chances are you'll see something good.) The air smells clean. You never know what the weather is going to be like, and hiking is so much more exciting when there's a risk (however small) of being eaten. I can't wait to go back!

I Love Flying

It's true. Even with all the ridiculous security rules (come on, people - Anemone is not going to start any crap with her thermos, and the chance of someone else involving his 4th grade daughter in a terrorist plot to crash a plane is so slim that you can't really justify making me throw out her orange juice just to buy a new bottle on the other side of the security checkpoint) flying is still awesome. When else do you get to see the world like this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

When else does a homeschooling mom get to sit still for ten hours, doing nothing except reading fluff, knitting, listening to music, and watching cheezy movies?

Well, I tried to watch cheezy movies. I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda and I managed to hold on through Be Kind Rewind, but My Best Friend's Wedding was just too much. I won't even discuss What Happens in Vegas. It's a good thing we always bring books.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Wow, that's a lot of movies! Where did you go? Nepal?" No, friends and neighbors, not Nepal. We went to Alaska, which is even better than Nepal because you can go to the Sleepy Dog every morning and get a fantastic latte. Mmmmmmm. Lattes.

Bears are Scary

I am not by nature a fearful person, but show me a bear and I will show you my backside as I run the other way.  I was able to take this picture only because the bear is named Jake and was safely on the other side of a fence at the Alaska Zoo.

I wasn't always afraid of bears, but I have never liked them very much.  My mother used to take me to see the bears at the San Antonio Zoo, and likes to tell the story of how I once marched up to the enclosure, pointed my finger at a bear, looked it in the eye and said, "Don't come any closer."  She says I was a force to be reckoned with.  I was two.

We lived in Alaska for years, and bears were always a nuisance.  In the Lower 48, squirrels get into your bird feeders and raccoons get into your garbage.  In Alaska, bears get into both and make a much bigger mess. Again, I was not afraid of them, but I didn't like them very much.

And then, during a long and rainy week in the vicinity of Portage Glacier, I read a book called A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson. It was informative and entertaining, and to my delight, the author devoted seven pages to kvetching about bears in what I imagined to be a high pitched and girly voice.  It turns out that the source of all this hysteria was a book called Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance by Stephen Herrero.

Naturally, this piqued my interest.  Any book that could render a grown man into a quivering mass of jelly had to be good reading indeed.  So I bundled up and headed out to the visitor's center, which has a fairly decent little bookstore. And would you believe it?  They had Herrero's book and more besides.  I bought all the bear attack books they had and happily returned to the campground, thinking I'd read until dinnertime and then go for a little hike with my family.

I couldn't leave the campsite for the remainder of the trip, and I've been having nightmares involving large bears and small children ever since.  This completely rational fear of large, hungry bears has not kept me from hiking or camping since then, but it has kept me from enjoying it very much.  I believe I am making progress, though.  The last time I dreamed about tangling with a bear, I won. 

My entire family naturally finds all of this highly amusing.  As a result, I have amassed quite the collection of bear paraphernalia.  I always know what I'm getting for Christmas.

So, there you have it.  I don't worry about car accidents, bees, lightning or sharks, but bears really freak me out.