Friday "Spur of the Moment" Hike

This is the best autumn with the mildest temperatures I can ever remember. The leaves haven't even dropped yet which makes every moment so valuable for spending time outside. We know our time is limited but we are entirely grateful. Thank you Lord.

Here we are on our ride with the CMA group which was down from Fairbanks for the weekend. There were ten bikes in all and we met many new friends. The Lord blessed us with wonderful weather and the sights were breathtaking. Bernie and I were saying that we are so blessed to live in a state in which you can always go sightseeing, no matter how long you've lived here.

Portage Glacier Ride with CMA

I Can Count...Two Dogs, Three Adults, Five kids 3 and under.

Here's Gretchen, Finn, and Elli at the top (not really) of Mt. Baldy. It was the top for us, but there was still a little piece to go.

Elli was a very good travelling baby. At the top, she got out and crawled around on the tundra and ate snacks.

Here I am with one of my inspirations, Brooke, who was my buddy on the ascent. Both of the twins are great little hikers. This was their 3rd time this summer I think.

Bailey, Heidi, McKenzie, and Brooke at the top. Heidi gets the Mountain Woman award for carrying McKenzie and at one point, she had one twin under each arm during a tough spot.

We were so thankful for good weather. This was Gretchen and I's first time on Baldy this summer.

We got quite a sense of accomplishment and were grateful that Heidi had invited us.

Elli (Mini-Me of Gretchen) turns One Year Old

These are a little out of order unfortunately. Here she has just devoured her cupcake.

Elli, unashamedly scarfed her cupcake down and loved every moment of it.

Here she is waiting patiently. Gretchen made these pretty cupcakes.

Blueberry Picking on Winner Creek Trail

Friends Kathleen, Fumiko, Bernie, and I went blueberry picking last weekend. We had fun traipsing through the woods picking from the high berry bushes.

We didn't get much, but you can see, we are very competitive. We all got between 2-3 cups a piece and had more fun than 2-3 cups.

The forest was so beautiful. It was wet, mossy, full of mushrooms and fauna.

Here we are on top of this hill next to a beautiful lake in Hatcher's Pass.

Bernie took this gorgeous shot with the stream, mountain reflection, fireweed, and unsurpassed AK scenery. We had great weather.

Hatcher's Pass to Willow Motorcyle Ride

Annual Summer German Picnic July 2009

I think Frau Traudl had 38 people this year. We all had a great time. Tom did most of the set up and take down and Chrissy, Barbara, and I helped to serve. Mom is the chief director and looked so happy the entire day but was exhausted at the day's end. The weather was gorgeous as well as her back yard with flowers in complete bloom.

Here are 4 of the Batten children with their wonderful mother. Three of us are in costume and also Carsten had his lederhosen on for awhile but got too hot.

Chrissy and I with Mom. She was the cutest one there...Mom that is. Chrissy made a delicious German chocolate cake and I made apfel strudel (first time for me) and it was a hit!

This is the iron works stamp dated from 1890 to 1903.
This is the tiny town of McCarthy which sits 1 mile down the road from
Kennicott which was a closed controlled mining work operation. It
remained a dry town and only had 6 female employees of which were
the nurses and also one teacher for the children of Kennicott.
This is the Millhouse in which all the copper minerals were taken out of the stone through a crushing process. It has 14 stories and remains the largest (or highest) wooden structure in the US today. It is owned by the Park Service as of 1993 and is in the process of repair. An estimated 40,000 visitors visit this National Park in the Wrangell St. Elias Mtns.
This building has survived the massive '64 earthquake and many
more.

Kennicott Mine and Glacier Trip

Here is the wooden trestle bridge built around 1905. It had the same
building engineer as the White Pass Railroad built in Skagway, AK.
This is a pretty high bridge for this chicken chick (me) to cross in a car
or on a motorcycle. Somehow Bernie forgot to tell me we had to cross
this bridge when he explained to me the route.
Gorgeous scenery when looking back on this photo.
This bridge is still intact today although not used. It's pretty amazing
considering the terrain. There were approximately 6,000 men who
worked on it for 4 yrs.It began in the port of Cordova and ran 196 miles to Kennicott where the copper was shipped out to Seattle to the smelting plant. Part of it went as far north
as Chitna and some sections of it were washed out yearly we were told.