Monday, August 29, 2005

Off to Alaska Soon








Thought I would share all the places we are planning on staying while we are up in Alaska.
As you know we are leaving on Thursday, September 1st and coming home on the 10th. We just can't wait to see everything!

We will be flying into the Anchorage airport. We have a nonstop on the way to Alaska. We will be renting a car for the whole time we are there so we will be able to get around to see all the great spots.

We hope to be able to do a little birding while we are there also! One of the birds on my list is the Rusty Blackbird. I was reading that were lots around right now so it should be easy to get! I have a couple of others on the list but nothing real "special" just regular types that we don't get down here.

The first 5 nights we are staying in cabins right near Paul Jr and family in Wasilla. Check out how nice the cabins look! http://www.alaskalogcabins.com/ .
We will be spending lots of time with the family here and also doing a bunch of side trips around the area. I know they want to show us how beautiful there home is! It is such a different place from Southern California! One of the places that we want to go is the Matanuska Glacier outside Palmer. http://www.matanuskaglacier.com/ Palmer is the town next to Wasilla. Paul is very interested in walking out on the glacier.

After those wonderful 5 days we are heading up to Denali National Park http://www.nps.gov/dena/. They don't allow cars into the park so we have booked a tour package for our three nights there. It is run by Denali Backcountry Lodge and is called the Denali Backcountry Safari. http://denalilodge.com/newtrip.html

We get to go to the end of the road and then spend the night at the Lodge there. We go out to Wonder Lake that late afternoon. http://www.wildnatureimages.com/DNP%20Wonder%20Lake%201.htm They talk about the pink "alpenglow" evening light on Mt. McKinley. It sounds wonderful!

On Friday we will be driving back down to Anchorage to spend the night before a Saturday morning flight back to the "real world"!

We should be coming back with many, many pictures and lots and lots of great memories!
This is the biggest trip that Paul and I have taken together. It is the first time we will go on a plane together. We should have a great time! We will let everyone know when we get home safe and sound and happy.

Noey's Birthday today!!


Guess who is SIX years old today!!!!!



Happy Birthday,
Noey.

We love you!!

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Shannen and Jared's Visit

On Friday Jared brought Shannen down so she could spend the night with us. Unfortunately he had to go to work the next day and couldn't stay but it was good spending some time with him. I didn't think to get any pictures while they were here so you could see Jared's nice black hair. Maybe he can post one for all of us to see!!
Shannen spent the night and then went up to Ventura to her Uncle Denny's beach party on Saturday. It was so neat having them here again as it has been awhile.
On Sunday Shannen and her mom started driving back to Utah so Shannen could move into her new dorm at BYU. I'm sure she will be posting pictures of the dorm very soon.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Heather and Boys

Last week Heather and the boys stopped by to see us for a few hours. It was great to see them again as it had been a year since the last visit.

Shannen In Hawaii


This is a picture we just received from Shannen. She went over to Hawaii with her mom for her High School Graduation present.
I'm sure she will have lots to tell about her vacation when she visits us on Friday.

Monday, August 15, 2005

The beginning

I will start this blog out and let everyone jump in as they have the time and interest. I'm setting this up for all the Crane Sr. Family. I will put the Links for the other blogs I have posted also if you are interested in any of them.
Hope to see all of you here soon.