Summer's half over

It seems like the last 6 weeks have just flown by. Summer's half over and I have only 4 weeks left here. No word yet on where I'll go in September but I'm keeping my eye out on new openings. It's still early for things to post for September. So for now I'm going to enjoy my time left in AK and plan for my time off afterwards.

I've participated in 2 runs during the last month. The first was a 5-miler in mid-June for the Alaska Women's Run that literally ran right by my house. There were so many people and it was such a perfect day to go running. My landlord was able to stand on the top of the house and take a picture down the street showing what the procession looked like...it was so phenomenonal seeing all the people running. It ran thru downtown and down the coastal trail to the Chester Creek trail back to where we started at the Sullivan Arena. The run was only for women registrants but there were still men running in support. There was plenty of food and drink afterwards, especially fruit and this delicious bread from the Great Harvest Bread Co. I ran about a 9-minute mile which for me is fast. It took a minute or two to reach the start line because of all the people. The other one yesterday in Eagle River for the Bear Paw Festival was a 5K. There weren't as many people, the skies were overcast but the route was flat. Root beer floats were available aftewards and I got a t-shirt and a reusable grocery bag. Afterwards, my friend and I went to our friend (who also ran)'s home for a bbq. I got to eat fresh fish caught in the river, red salmon and halibut. yummy!

I got to experience the local bar scene in Eagle River. My friends, who live there, had a wedding in Anchorage and picked me up afterwards to go there where we met up with friends who were coming from the Matanuska Glacier north of us. Can we say dive bar and white trash? It was run just hanging out with them though. We all had to stay over at our friends' house as we were not in any condition to drive.

Summer stolstice came and went. Here in Alaska, there is the maximum amount of daylight for 3 days, June 20-22. It never really gets dark because even though the sun sets, there's still enough light to sustain some light until the sun begins to rise again. There were all kinds of celebrations for the solstice. My friend and I went to one of the local bars and danced the night away. It was so cool to come out at 300am and still be able to see everything. I also watched my friend finish her first 1/2 marathon. Kudos to her!!!

On June 26th, my friends and I went out to a local sushi place...yummy! I haven't had it in awhile and it was so good. Aftewards, we went to see Jeff Dunham, the ventriloquist, who I've seen on Comedy Central many times. He's hilarious and has an eclectic cast of characters.

Of course, went to July 1st tap, this time it was outdoors at Moose's Tooth. the Wailers played although we didn't hear much of them as we were eating dinner inside. It was fun just to hang out with friends outside in the nice summer weather. I was able to hang out with my friends at Humpy's for awhile on the night before the 4th of July, that would be July 3rd! Didn't go out until 11pm and stayed out for a couple of hours. That made it hard to get up the next morning to go hike up to Crow Pass near Girdwood. It was such a beautiful hike with glaciers and mountains under the glorious sun. I was sore the next day and the day after but it was certainly worth it. I went to my friend's house in Eagle River for a bbq but I didn't do anything that night as I was tired. I heard fireworks but I don't know how good they were as there was so much light.

For the last 2 weeks in June I was house-sitting for a co-worker who lives near the Delaney Park Strip. It was wonderful to have the place to myself, have use of their vehicle but still be near downtown. It makes me yearn to have a place of my own that I'm not just there for a few months at a time. Some day....

So after the Bear Paw 5K and bbq, my friends and I went out again....it's a common theme, me thinks. I had more drinks in one day than I think the rest of the summer put together...but they were delicious, coconut rum and pineapple juice...very summery! We danced the night away, even my guy friend who rarely ever dances, was up there shaking his booty. I wonder what got into him? It was fun and can I say, he's got wonderful, muscular arms! I'd like to have those wrapped around me...wait, I did, when we were dancing! He seemed more attentive and wanting to touch, hold me...hmmm, what should I make of that?

I found out that my friend who was planning to come up to visit and cruise back down after my assignment is complete can no longer come because she became ill with Lyme Disease. I'd still like to do the cruise so I'm trying to find someone else to go along and I've even asked my guy friend since he's thinking about leaving Alaska by the end of August. I'm hoping he'll decide to cruise down with me, if not, then I may just go single. We'll see. I'm still planning to rent a car and go to Denali Nat'l Park to see Mt. McKinley and Kenai Peninsula, hike some more and see whatever else I can before I leave Alaska.