Airship Goes to Alaska
Here's what we've been up to for the past couple days:
- I finished layout for some of next week's articles (since we'll be in the AK boonies once again)
- Kevin did a whole bunch of client reports, webcast intros, business correspondence, and two consulting gigs with financial analysts and hedge fund managers
- I finished a design project for a client back in Portland
- Grocery shopped for the week
- Refilled propane so we can keep cooking
- Picked up oil filter and 3 gallons of oil (1/2 mile away, carried back to the boat in backpacks) for 250 hour oil change
- Did 250 hour oil change, plus added a bit of coolant and cleaned up the engine room all sparkly
- Procured some kid Xtratufs (also known as "Alaskan sneakers") and a PFD for 7 year old joining us tomorrow (we went with the blue PFD instead of the red one, so as not to clash with her pink binoculars)
- Got more of that alderwood smoked sea salt from Alaska Pure Sea Salt because OMG yum
- Picked up more of those spot prawns from Sitka Sound Seafood because same as above
- Got rid of all the trash and recycling we could
- Washed boat
The weather was great today so we did a bunch of the walking and outdoor stuff. View from washing the boat:
It was super rainy all day yesterday so we each donned our full Full Alaska (rain pants, rain jacket, Xtratufs) and went down to Murray Pacific to get some kid Xtratufs and PFD, then stopped at Sitka Sound Seafood for some more spot prawns.
Yesterday late afternoon:
Dinner last night was Coho salmon and asparagus. I made a glaze of dijon mustard and brown sugar for the salmon and baked it in the oven rather than grilling outside in the rain. It was delicious, and SUPER easy.
Oh yeah, dinner the other night at Ludvig's Bistro was very good! It's a tiny place (maybe 6 tables, plus the counter) and the atmosphere, the service, and food were all fantastic. We shared some Alaskan scallops with prosciutto, capers, and truffle oil….
…a delicious caesar salad (no photo, because…salad), and the Wild Alaskan Paella (with prawns, scallops, salmon, rockfish, calamari, chicken and chorizo baked with saffron Arborio rice, vegetables and fresh lemon..this was our favorite):
…and then Kevin ordered a chocolate dessert with blueberry salt (from Alaska Pure Sea Salt) called Boca Negra that was very rich and very delicious. We shared a bottle of Zenato Valpolicella and chatted for a bit with the couple at the table next to us (from NY) who were on Day 3 of an 18 day tour of Alaska that they put together themselves. Their trip included airplanes, ferries, car rentals, even a three day kayak camping trip! It sounded like a remarkable schedule and like they were going to see SO MUCH of Alaska in those 18 days. It was their first time to AK and they were already in love.
Tomorrow, our daughter and her daughter arrive in Sitka and we'll do a reverse trip back to Juneau, showing them some of our favorite things so far…South Sawyer Glacier, Ford's Terror, humpbacks, bears, etc.
Small Xtratufs:
After next week, we'll be working in Juneau for a bit while one of our employees (our other daughter) is in Europe, and then we'll probably head out to see Hoonah, Elfin Cove, Pelican… At some point we'll need to head south, I guess. 🙂
Spectacular photos, thanks.
Thanks Sandy! It was amazing to get to see it all, for sure.
Ooo, incredibly awesome!