Soon Forget

Apologies for the lack of posting lately. I like to post when I have inspiration. I don't like to give 50% when I tell my adventurous Alaskan stories, I want to give you 100%. If I don't have inspiration, then I have a hard time giving my 100% therefore a lack of posting develops. But the inspiration fairy visited me this weekend when I traveled to the small town of Seldovia for a biking/camping trip.

As with all my adventures so far in this great state, this was no normal biking/camping trip. This was a trip with 11 ladies in their 40s and 50s from Aunt Lyn's church biking group. These ladies were wise, athletic, and completely crazy. Seldovia is an island that can only be reached by boat or plane. We took Mako's Boat Taxi from Homer Spit, Alaska over to our cabin on the shore. We then proceeded to jump into our bike shorts and onto our bike and rode the 9 miles into town to eat dinner. Now, that may sound like not such a big deal, but to Mk and I, this bike ride was, to put it simply, challenging. If I thought that I had met monster hills in Anchorage, then I was unaware that I was existing in a munchkin hill land. Seldovia was a giant hill land and the giant hills came out to play. These hills that we were supposed to bike up were so steep and so large that I could barely make it up them simply pushing my bike. Now, I know that I'm not in the best shape ever, but I'm telling you, these hills were only for the crazies. Which is why these women mastered those hills like there was no tomorrow. As I watched them pedal past me (panting from rolling my bike up the hill) each pedal forward they took I felt myself being hammered lower and lower into the plank of humility. Sure I may be young and spry but these later-middle-aged women were strong and fearless. I was humbled and amazed.

And then I enjoyed flying down the hills on the way back.

The part that I most enjoyed about this trip was exploring the island during low tide. The tide changes were huge near Seldovia--a 21 foot difference in fact. That meant that during low tide we could basically go explore the bottom of the ocean. And we did just that. There were some large rocks on the shore during low tide that were teeming with ocean life that we admired for at least an hour one day. We saw everything from Barnacles to Christmas Anemones and everything in between. We could also walk over to the small trickling tide pools and search for the sand dollars that liked to hang out there. I found upwards of 20 sand dollars dead and alive!

I also enjoyed the campfires, stories, laughter, running Mk out of our tent by snoring too loudly, and sunbathing on the deck of our little cabin. I did not enjoy the stinky outhouse, stepping on sharp shells and my therma rest going flat. But overall the trip was phenomenal and a weekend that I will not soon forget.