Tennessee 3: Aquarium

Pretty early on in our trip the three kids (me, Risha, Gabe) visited the Gatlinburg Aquarium, which I highly recommend. It was a little pricey at about $24 a ticket but we used a couple free passes that my parents had received.

Outside the Aquarium and overlooking the creek.

I love the Canon camera that D gifted me for Christmas. It features an aquarium setting that I finally had a chance to use on this day.

These little guys were a lesson in evolution -- they are able to swim in the water like fish and then walk up on land with their fin-like feet. It was almost creepy to witness.

My favorite portion of the tour - the walk-through tunnels.

Amazing colors througout the facility -- I couldn't help myself and took way too many photos.

This guy reminded me of a day-glo lobster.

I'm obviously amused by simple things, but the faces on the rays always make me happy. Look at those smiles!

Photos

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Wedding location

I took advantage of some Labor Day weekend sales and picked up a few things for the wedding. It's mostly just table decor stuff, but most people know that I LOVE good deals and I managed to discover some amazing things for cheap, cheap, cheap. The local thrift stores all had 50% sales on Monday so off I went in search of large canning jars and cute modern glass vases. Found a few, but most people tend to hang onto canning jars in Alaska for obvious reasons. I'm not too worried since I have at least a year to gather all this stuff together. I'm really aiming for an outdoorsy, rustic vibe for the wedding. Think natural elements and hues, with an outdoor ceremony and bringing the outdoors in for the reception.

A friend of my parents' in Gatlinburg offered up his property as a ceremony site if we wanted to hold the festivities in Tennesse, which was so incredibly generous.

We're standing on the deck in these two photos, overlooking the Smoky Mountains.

The owner's home on the left, and little chapel/dressing room on the right.

We have almost too many options if we decide on an Alaska wedding. This is one of the places I'd like to check out when D returns from hunting. Not gonna tell you where it is though...don't want to give away too many details!

Tennessee 2: Mills Park

My dad is a disc golf junkie, so it's really convenient that a course lies less than a mile away from my parents' house. Mills Park is located next to the local high school.

Dad's full white beard really threw me off at the airport -- didn't recognize him at first! Mills Park is really a nice little place. Risha, Mom and I walked through the area while Dad and Gabe played a round of disc golf.

I think this was pee-wee football -- the little boys had big helmets on their tiny little heads. And they even had little girl cheerleaders.

Yes, a town nearby is called "Boogertown." My mom reports that Boogertown Gap is a popular band in the area.

Little bunnies everywhere.

During our walk we came up on this tree in the park -- I thought it looked like something out of a Scooby-Doo cartoon.

Everywhere in Sevier County you see the same names: Ogle, Proffitt. These people settled the area and apparently never left, so many of their descendants own a lot of land and are quite wealthy. The elderly guy who lives at this house is a Proffitt, I think, and sells tomatoes and okra out front. You weight it and then put money in the tractor mailbox. It was kinda cute.

And then the guy came out of his house to "chat" and pretty much kept us hostage there for about 30 minutes. At first I thought, oh this guy is very friendly. Then he went on and on about how much money he makes off the land his family owns and I thought, oh this guy is conceited braggart.

Ah, good times...

Where you at?

D will soon be off doing outdoorsy stuff - putting food on the table, Alaska-style. If all goes well we'll either have some fresh caribou or moose meat. Drift will stay with me while he is gone since dogs are generally a hinderance when hunting big game. Speaking of the damn dog, he had a nice little walkabout last night. Apparently the back gate was open when we left Drift outside for the night. It ended well though -- he was waiting at the front door for his hardhat special. Food is such a powerful motivator!

We ran a few errands last night and saw an interesting sight...a woman appeared to be walking her kayak down the street. It was a mini whitewater kayak mounted on a two-wheeled carrier, so it looked pretty easy to cart around. I'm pretty sure she was headed to some lake for some evening kayaking, but we couldn't figure out where the nearest body of water would be! Maybe she really was just taking the thing for a walk.

Tennessee 1: home and garden

I took over 300 photos during my trip back east, but don't worry, you won't be subjected to all of them...

Dad took me on a tour of mom's garden (which has completely taken over their front yard) and apparently the mixture of natural soil and the right amounts of sun and rain this year have produced some impressive veggies.

Monster Korean zucchini! They really do look like mini-watermelons. Oh so tasty.

Some sort of melon or pumpkin.

And tomatoes -- we had fresh vegetables for dinner every night, so yummy.

Mom's flowers were gorgeous...

Dad's shop -- where custom, handmade knives are born!

View from the back of the house. A nice covered porch runs the length of the second level (which is really the first floor of the house -- the basement is the first level).

Work-induced fog

I just realized that I titled my post from yesterday (which was Wednesday) as "Monday Update." Hellooo, McFly! And I still have not had a chance to put up any photos from my TN trip as of yet. My load at work is heavy so I am a bit swamped and and obviously my brain is not 100% focused on certain things!

Monday Update

How in the world did September get here so fast? It cannot possibly be fall already, right? Our little maple tree in the front yard has twinges of red and orange on the leaves. The weather is definitely cooler in the mornings, although the evenings are still pleasant. I need to stop by the store and pick up some bulbs to plant for happy little flowers in the spring.

We went ring shopping last night -- woohoo! I have definite ideas about the type of ring that will end up on my finger so in some ways that makes the process easier. D was a real trooper and very patient. It might have helped that I bought him dinner beforehand and that we managed to visit three jewelry stores in a span of 40 minutes.

Still no firm ideas of the date and location of the wedding. There are some complicating factors so we're looking at all of our options. Nobody said planning would be easy!

Back in AK

I returned to Anchorage on Saturday evening, after quite the eventful flight from Atlanta to Anchorage. A women on board the plane, a few rows up from my seat, had a medical emergency which forced us to land in St. Louis. We spent almost two hours (!) on the ground before getting clearance to take off again. They wouldn't let us off the plane and we ended up being close to two hours late into Anchorage. We never did hear what illness the lady had -- but two physicians on the plane put her on oxygen and talked with her for almost 30 minutes before deciding to recommend an emergency landing.

After being out for almost two weeks, close to 300 emails have accumulated in my work account (only about 12 phone messages, thank goodness) so I'll have a nice long post sometime tomorrow with photos from the Tennesssee trip. Until then I'll be slogging through the muck that is my inbox!

Still on vacation

Hi all -- I am having a wonderful, relaxing time here in Tennessee. So far we've managed to hit up Atlanta for shopping, a casino in North Carolina, Dollywood (yes, Dolly Parton has her very own theme park) and go hiking, play mini golf, visit the outlet malls and an aquarium, play lots of scrabble and much more.

I am missing my fiance' (I'm engaged...still can't believe it!) like crazy, so it'll be great to see him again. I'm pretty sure he misses me too...ha ha.

Housekeeping

Hi all - sorry for being an MIA blogger. My trip to Tennessee starts tonight and I have been a busy bee at work, wrapping up projects and putting others into hibernation mode until I return at the end of the month.

It's still amazing to me that D and I are engaged! We've been so busy with life in general that ring shopping has been put on the back burner (will happen after my trip down south) -- but that does not mean I haven't been slipping into jewelry stores and checking out the goods. Just a little reconnaissance before the official search. I'm really drawn towards the princess (square) cut and round diamond styles. So shiny and pretty...

I'm going to try and post blog entries while down in the states, but the frequency will be less than usual so be patient with me!

Homer trip 3

Halibut are one of the oddest-looking fish. Since they are bottom-dwellers most predators see them from above -- their top skin is like camo, while the bottom is a milky white color. And both eyes are on one side of the head, although they don't start out that way -- over time one eye migrates over.

Saturday was gorgeous (as evidenced by my sunburn - no photos of that for you!)

Fish cleaning stations usually have a bit of wait. It's always interesting to see what everyone has brought in -- and to do a little comparing with your own catch. A guy came in on Sunday after fishing by himself and had three gorgeous silver salmon. I've never in my life seen silvers that big -- I thought they were kings at first!

Four fillets come off of every halibut. Some bigger than others! The limit is 2 halibut per person, per day.


These damn gulls are so annoying.

Our catch from Sunday. Not monsters, but the smaller halibuts taste better. Not that I would pass up a nice 80 pounder! I don't know how people manage to reel in 200 lb or larger 'buts -- those barn doors are just dead weight on the line.

Did you know that halibut do not show up on fish finders because they lack an air bladder? D taught me that fun fact.

On Sunday we also spotted additional otters, puffins, other shorebirds and WHALES! They were all around throughout the weekend, but Sunday featured a spectacular show -- the whales came almost totally out of the water and flopped down on their sides. Just amazing. And close enough to the boat for a great show.

Homer trip 2

Homer is such a fun little town, and we usually have better luck halibut fishing in Kachemak Bay than Prince William Sound. Plus the sea otters are more plentiful -- and I love me some otters.

While heading back from fishing on Saturday we spotted a nice-sized group of them floating together. D was able to maneuver the boat fairly close to them (but not too close -- we're not wildlife harassers!) and the awesome zoom on my camera helped me capture these guys...

Puffins were spotted periodically through the day.

Somehow these photos loaded out of order -- this is us leaving the Homer harbor on Saturday morning. It's vastly larger than Whittier's harbor and takes a little while to motor through.

One of the many Coast Guard ships docked at the harbor. Behind it is the state ferry Tustumena that runs to Seldovia and points beyond, I think.

Lord almightly, this dog loves being on the water and catching fish!

I'm not sure what happened, but by Sunday I was sporting a nice pink sunburn on my face. Could have sworn I had a nice base tan going. And as an added bonus: raccoon eyes from not removing my sunglasses often enough. Needless to say I wore a baseball cap on the water Sunday.

Dum dum de dum...

Faithful blog readers, I am ENGAGED! Woot!

D proposed on Friday (August 7th) during the drive down to Homer. We pulled over at a beautiful rest stop near Canyon Creek and it happened a little ways down the foot path on a high bridge overlooking the area. I had NO idea it was coming and was so very surprised. I thought, why are we walking the dog when we have another few hours to drive?

These photos were taken mere minutes before D got down on one knee.

I was seriously oblivious to what was coming.

I am so excited and honored that D wants me to be his wife, because I know he will be an amazing husband. For now I'd like to enjoy being engaged so we're not going to tackle any wedding plans just yet. Oh, and I also get to pick out my own ring. He does love me!

Homer trip 1

After a week of cloudy skies and rain, it was nice to see a gorgeous weekend in the making as we left town. Homer is approximately a 4 hour drive from Anchorage -- depending on traffic -- but it took us about 5 hours because of an unexpected stop! (More on THAT later!)

We never know what will pop up outside the car window on a drive down Turnagain Arm. Sometimes a beluga whale or the bore tide will appear. On Friday it was a beached boat and windsurfers braving the freezing water temperatures.