Day Two

Hey guys! Today was amazing.

We started it off by having Life cereal in the hotel room. We went grocery shopping yesterday and got cereal and milk for the hotel room so we wouldn't have to eat out every morning.

Then we walked to the Anchorage Festival and Market down the street. It's a market that springs up every weekend of the summer. It's really cool and has lots of vendors with clothing, jewelry, and (since we're in Alaska) fur. I bought a ring that has a bead of garnet (my birthstone) in the center--lots of rocks and gems up here, even a gold rush!

Katy thought the Philly Cheese Steak vendor was ironic.

After the market we walked back to the room to get ready for our trek up a mountain! We had decided yesterday to climb the Flat Top Mountain trail. We drove there today, easily enough, despite the rental car's protestations.

The mountain from an overlook at the bottom of the trailhead.

The trail started off pretty easy with a dirt trail, but there was still snow on the ground and the melting made it icy and slick. We had to trudge through it on narrow paths smoothed by footsteps before us. It was kind of harrowing. There was definitely one part that was terrifying.

Katy in awe of the task ahead of us.

We rested often on the way up. The way down was much easier, even if it was more dangerous.

We reached a point where the trek was noticeably more dangerous and strenuous. It was pretty scary looking but I was determined. Katy decided to hang back and wait, but I went up, literally climbing rocks to the top.

Zoomed in view of the last part of the climb up.

When I made it to the top, I was so relieved and tried not to think of the climb back down which would be really scary since there was a snow bank right between the top and the first part of the rock. Slipping down that would be easy and very dangerous. I called my mom (yes, we had cell phone service!) and told her I loved her--just in case--and because I wanted to tell her I was on top of a mountain and had cell phone reception. I ended up sliding down the snowy part in the most controlled way I could. Apparently, according to a local, other locals climb up and SLIDE ALL THE WAY DOWN on the snow but it was a little too thin today to do that. Imagine.

The view was gorgeous and mind-boggling. I'm afraid of heights but my fears couldn't even register because the heights were so amazing and probably because of my stubborn determination to make it to the top. You could see so far--even across the bay to the other side-- mountains in the distance, of course. Did I mention that three-year olds and dogs climbed this? Yeah, I don't know how, but they did. I even saw a guy in flip flops.

View from the top: my trip down.

After the climb and subsequent climb down, we drove back towards the hotel. We stopped by DQ on the way back because we were in dire need of ice cream. When we made it back to the room I passed out for a much-needed nap and Katy did, well, I don't know what she did because I was asleep. I think she read.

We went to Snow Goose's for dinner and it was pretty good, despite not having a preparation of salmon that I wanted. I was looking forward to salmon but there will be many more opportunities. We came back to the room and now I'm writing!

Tune in next time to hear about my meeting with Mark, the manager of the Anchorage Museum Store where I'll be working this summer. I'll be scheduling with him and probably get a little tour of the museum which hasn't opened yet from its renovations. I'm also going to go to the bank and get out money to pay my deposit and first month's rent on the house and then bring it to Christa to lock in the room so no one takes it out from under me!

Anyway, goodnight guys!

P.S. I'm going to try to upload an album on Facebook with lots of other pictures. Katy has to work, though, so I might fall asleep before she's finished and just post the album tomorrow.