Ball and Chain

Tyler and I enjoyed our very first wedding anniversary May 3rd. I am officially deamed the 'ball and chain', and Tyler's officially the 'old coot'. We decided to celebrate the loss of our newlywed status with a camping excursion. I got off work the night of the 2nd, we packed up our gear, and hiked about 2.5 miles south of our apartment to the southern tip of Tunsina Beach and camped right on the dark glacial sand that makes up our beaches. It was quite literally the nicest weather we've seen since we moved here--blue skies, no wind, and warmth! 

Above pictured: married life with Mr. Tyler Pelo Barenjager. If there's a fish to find or an animal to hunt, any outdoor activity is made to fit his favorite pastimes. Notice, this is the first thing he accomplished when we picked camp. The tent is still in the bag, the gear is still in the pack. He really does love me more than his fishing pole. He promises :o). After we set up camp, we collected some driftwood and lit a beach fire. Tyler used only 1 match, and the fire was actually embery and HOT! It was our first hot, easy-to-build fire since we moved here, thanks to our recent warm and dry weather. When we lived in the campground, we tried building a fire a few times, and pretty much failed at all attempts. We had nowhere to dry our wood, and the wind usually puts a stop to most lit matches before you catch enough tinder on fire. We were quite pleased with our fiery blessing and our chance to roast some dogs marshmallows. After the stars came out, Tyler jumped up sprinting to his pole because something big yanked on it, too! Unfortunately, it stole the bait and moved on. 

We woke up to sun and warmth the next morning. I'm enjoying my morning tea above, next to our scenic campsite. I am wearing the Seward uniform: XtraTuffs and a hoodie. Tyler was shirtless, working on his tan. I knew I was German and Norwegian, but I never knew just how white and veiny I could become until we moved here. Don't look at Alaskans with their shirts off. Sick. We hiked back out that morning and drove to Soldotna and Kenai to enjoy the beautiful day on a long sandy beach, and hopefully find wildlife we don't see much of in Seward. We did find some sheep on the hillside, and some great birding was to be had in Kenai. 

The area we went to is about 1 1/2 hrs from Seward, and far enough on the other side of the peninsula that you can see Mt. ReDoubt, our infamous exploding volcano that hasn't been able to shut up since it started exploding in March. We saw a big cloud of steam coming out of it when we drove over there, you can even see it in this picture! We continued on to Kenai, and found the longest, widest sandy beach we've seen in Alaska. It's right where the mouth of the Kenai river meats the ocean. This is us on the beach, and if you make the picture big, you can see Mt ReDoubt behind us once again. We were even privileged to a free F-22 flight show, which is the army's new fighter jet. It goes so fast, and went straight up from sea level like a rocket!

After our big day, we went to Soldotna's brewery for a sampler and some great pizza. You can't find something like this in Seward, so it was a great treat! Since we had the camping gear already packed, we made use of the still beautiful weather to camp again on the way home. The bugs have woken up, and we were swarmed by mosquitos for most of the night. Despite the blood thirsty buggies, we still had a great night camping, and made it back early the next day so Tyler could get to work. A great first anniversary!