Asher the Australian Shepherd

A couple of weekends ago, my brother-in-law and his fiance came and visited us during their Spring Break and they brought their adorable puppy.

He is a 3 month old mini Australian Shepherd. His coloring is red merle. On top of being just beautiful, he is really smart too.

World, I present to you: Asher.

Enjoy!

Alaska Vacation 2013 - Part 1

Alaska Vacation Part 1 - Land Tour

In May 2013, Ian and I went on a fantastic trip to Alaska. Neither of us had ever been before and we were excited to explore "the last frontier." Cruises offer a comfortable, luxurious, and fairly economical option for seeing many things around a country (or in this case - a state!); however, Ian and I decided that if we were to just stick to the coastal ports of Alaska, we would miss what most of the great state is about. Alaska is HUGE and it seemed a shame to just travel around the edge of it - so we opted for a cruisetour.

Cruisetours are part land tour, part cruise ship, and can be booked through cruise lines. We booked the 12 day Denali Explorer cuisetour with Princess Cruises.

This blog post is about the land portion of our cruisetour, which we did first. I would highly recommend doing the land portion first, if you can help it, because you will be exhausted and will be excited to relax in your cushy cruise cabin afterwards.

Our land itinerary:

• May 21: Arrive in Fairbanks
• Stay the night at Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge
• May 22nd: Coach from Fairbanks to Denali National Park
• Stay the night at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge
• May 23rd: Whole day at Denali
• May 24th: Train to Talkeetna
• Stay the night at McKinley Princess Lodge
• May 25th: Coach to Anchorage/Whittier to disembark on the cruise ship

We started out late in the day on May 20th. We caught an evening flight out of Denver with a layover in Seattle.

We flew the red-eye into Fairbanks. It was bizzare to fly out of Seattle just after the sun set, only to have the sun peer back out over the horizon about 2 hours later as we were getting closer to Fairbanks.

Dinner at the Seattle Airport - scrumptious clam chowder from Ivar's!

Flying over the Alaskan interior - around midnight.

As we were driving to the Holiday Inn Fairbanks around 1:45 AM, it already looked like early morning. Alaska really is the land of the midnight sun. Thankfully though, most hotels in Fairbanks have very effective blackout curtains.

The next morning we met up with a friend of ours from Baylor. Colby was kind enough to give us the grand tour of Fairbanks and show us his uniquely-Alaskan house!

Fairbanks itself is a pretty small city.

Ian and Colby

Colby is a fantastic photographer and he gets some beautiful and unique shots living in Alaska.

Handmade bow rests next to a chair on the front porch of the cabin.

Colby's cabin was featured on the TV show Buying Alaska!

Colby's home is unique because it is what's called a dry cabin. This means that the house has no running water or plumbing. There is no toilet in the house - it is located in the outhouse a few steps away. Although it seems crazy to live in a place with no running water (who wants to walk outside in -40 F to go to the bathroom?!), dry cabins are actually surprisingly common in Alaska. They are very affordable to own and you never have to worry about pipes freezing and bursting. People who live in dry cabins pick up huge containers of water every month or so from special stores that sell water, then the water is gradually used up - washing dishes, faces, hands, brushing teeth, and of course, drinking it.

In Fairbanks - the Alaska range behind us.

After a nice day touring Fairbanks, we got delicious homemade ice cream at a local shop and then headed to the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge and hit the hay.

The next morning we rode a Princess coach bus to Denali National Park where our next hotel was. The hotel was not technically in the National Park, but was within walking distance (about a mile). The hotel is actually more like a resort or campus with multiple buildings and several different restaurants available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is situated in a beautiful location, perched above a river gorge, overlooking mountains.

Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is on the right side of the picture.

We had some time to kill after arriving at the lodge around 2pm. Ian and I decided to do some hiking around Denali. We caught a free shuttle into the park and got off at one of the visitor centers.

Unfortunately Alaska had an unusually (even by Alaska standards) cold and snowy May. This meant that there was still a lot of snow on the ground and Fairbanks, which by late may would have been blossoming into spring, was still brown and dead. Denali would not have been looking spring-like until probably mid June anyway, but there was more snow-pack than usual the May we visited.

The weather wasn't the greatest - it was pretty cold with a really washed out grey/white sky. We were crossing our fingers for better weather the next day when we would take our day-long tour of Denali.

One of the nice things was that it felt like we had the park to ourselves. I believe we only saw one other couple the entire time we were hiking.

The sky started clearing up some in the later evening. This was taken probably around 10 pm.

Sadly, the weather the next morning was still washed out and grey. This made it hard to take good pictures of the mountains in Denali. This was probably one of the biggest bummers of the trip, but it was still a great tour. We got to see what Denali National Park is like the majority of the year - snowy and grey.

Denali National Park had an other-wordly kind of beauty at this time of year.

We saw lots of wildlife on this tour - starting with this female moose. Her calf was not far away!

Later we saw this male moose just walking alongside the road.

At the turn-around spot. The sun is starting to come out!

Doing a Baylor sic 'em!

The weather started getting better a little over half-way through our trip. We actually were able to start seeing some blue sky in some areas of the park!

We saw two wild grizzly bears while at the park! This guy was probably about 20 yards away from our bus.

This bear was only about 20 feet away from our bus. Absolutely awesome.

After the tour we decided to do some more hiking. We stopped by and petted the park sled-dogs. These dogs actually do a lot of work during the snowy months at Denali pulling the sleds of park rangers. We enjoyed the picturesque walk back to our hotel.

The next morning we rode a train to Talkeetna. The weather had definitely taken a turn for the better - skies were blue and beautiful!

The train we took was wonderful. It was a double-decker with passenger seating up above and dining down below. The upper level's ceiling was completely clear so you had a great view of the surrounding landscape.

Taken from inside the train.

Our first view of Denali (Mt. McKinley)!!! Everyone was VERY excited when we saw her peeking out for the first time on our trip. Only about 20% of people who visit Alaska actually get to see Denali.

Once we arrived in Talkeetna, we had the option of walking around the quaint town of Talkeetna or taking a coach to the McKinley Princess Lodge (about 30-45 minutes away). Because Talkeetna wasn't situated with a great view of the mountain, and we had read the the McKinley Princess had great views of the mountain, we opted to go straight to the lodge so that we might get to see Denali some more - we didn't know how much more we'd get to see her!

The views at the McKinley Princess Lodge did not disappoint.

Pictures cannot do Denali justice.

We decided to investigate into nearby walking trails. We were happy to find a trail that seemed like it would have a nice view of the mountain. We put on our hiking boots and set off. It ended up being a very good thing we had our boots because the snow was a couple feet deep in some areas. We just stepped in the tracks that had been left by people before us.

After walking back to the hotel, we decided we'd take another walk later when the sun was setting so we could see what it looked like with the sun setting on it. We left around 12:30 am to see the sunset from the beautiful trail overlook.

The full moon helped guide our steps on the walk back.

We decided we would take an early morning walk back to the trail overlook in the morning. We heard from the hotel workers that the sky tends to be clearest with the best views of the mountain in the morning.

On our walk up the trail we found something fantastic - a moose antler just right off the trail. This antler was NOT there the day before so that meant we knew moose had walked through there during the less than 8 hours we had been away from the trail. Pretty cool!

The view of Denali in the early morning was spectacular - definitely the clearest view yet.

Our coach bus left at 8 am from McKinley Princess Lodge to head towards our port in Whittier. It was a beautiful (alebit long) drive. We stopped in Anchorage for lunch so we got to see Alaska's largest city as well.

We stopped at a wildlife rehabilitation center shortly after leaving Anchorage. We got to see lots of wildlife up-close, including this bear!

Eventually we got to the shoreline. There were some beautiful views of deep blue waters and snow covered mountains behind.

We took just a slight detour to go see this glacier.

Finally, we went through a spectacular mountain tunnel in order to get to Whittier. This is the only way to get to the town (other than by plane or sailing). The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is the longest tunnel in North America and it is one-way only! That means that every 30 minutes it switches directions. You might end up waiting for a bit to get your turn.

Our ship awaits! 

Next is Alaska Part 2 - The Coast

From Pumpkin to Pie... A Step-By-Step Guide on How to Make Pumpkin Pie from Scratch

Ever heard about those people who take a whole pumpkin and somehow whittle it down into puree for a delicious pie? I simultaneously hate and love those people. Love them for the amazing confection they produce and the work they put into it, but jealous that they conquered something so dauntingly domestic.

But here is where the tides turn - you too can conquer the pumpkin! I was afraid I might fail at it.. or that I wouldn't be strong enough to cut it in half... but if you follow these simple steps, you'll find that making a delicious homemade pie from scratch is not so scary. And it is totally worth it when you tell people, "Yeah, I made it from scratch... like from a real pumpkin." 

Oh yes.

Okay, now onto the serious stuff.

It is best to start with what is called a "sugar pumpkin" or "baking pumpkin." These pumpkins are smaller than most decorative pumpkins, and are bred to be sweeter in taste. However, you can use any pumpkin you'd like to make your own pumpkin puree!

After you've got the pumpkin...

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350.

2. Once preheated, pop that whole pumpkin in the oven. I put it on top of a cookie sheet. Let the pumpkin sit in the oven about 20 minutes. 

After about 20 minutes has passed, you will notice that the pumpkin has turned a deeper orange color.

3. Take the pumpkin out of the oven, but leave the oven on at 350 degrees! We will be using it again soon.

4. Pop the stem off the top of the pumpkin by taking a strong knife (I used a butter knife), slightly dig the tip of the knife under the stem, and then apply pressure to the opposite end of the knife. The stem should pop off fairly easily. 

4. You'll notice that the pumpkin has become softer after being in the oven. Take a sharp knife (I used a turkey carving knife) and starting at the top where you just removed the stem, slice the pumpkin in half. It's not too difficult now that the pumpkin is nice and soft.

5. This is probably the most time consuming part. Take a spoon (or ice cream scoop!) and scoop out all of the stringy stuff and seeds. Set that aside so that you can toast the seeds later for a yummy snack!

6. After scooping out seeds and stringy parts, cut the pumpkin in quarters.

7. Place the quarters on top of foil on top of a rimmed cookie sheet.

8. Pour a cup of water onto the baking sheet. This helps keep the pumpkin nice and moist while baking.

9. Place the cookie sheet in the 350 degree oven. Bake for 45 minutes. This is what my pumpkin looked like when I took it out. You will know the pumpkin is ready when a fork can be inserted into the skin of the pumpkin and the fork easily slides in a pierces the flesh.

10. After letting the pumpkin cool for about 10 minutes or so, take the spoon (or ice cream scoop) and scoop out the pumpkin meat. All that will be left are pumpkin skins!

11. You can try mushing/mixing the pumpkin meat with a spoon, but I recommend putting it in a food processor or blender. I put the pumpkin in the blender until the consistency was a nice and smooth puree.

Now you have fresh pumpkin puree, ready to go for you fall dessert exploits! You can use it immediately (which I recommend), or you can store it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to a year! The small pumpkin pictured in this post made about 3 cups of puree.

After all the "hard work" is over, now you can make whatever you would like with your pumpkin! I decided to make a Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake.

This cheesecake is based off the recipe found here: 

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

I slightly changed the recipe, and loved the results! Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients

20 oz. cream cheese (2.5 packages), softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 (9 inch) prepared shortbread crust
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Whipped cream, to serve on top/on the side.


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1.5 cups of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.

3. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

On the right is my pure-cheesecake layer. On the left is my yummy pumpkin-cheesecake batter. 

 The final result!

Oh, and for my fellow friends at high altitude - this pumpkin cheesecake was made in Denver and it turned out great!

The cheesecake tasted marvelous. If I were serving it for a fancy occasion, I bet it would be amazing with some caramel sauce drizzled on the top.

By the way, this pie tastes better and better as it ages. (It only lasted a week, but I felt the flavors became more and more pronounced with each day.) 

Oh, and don't forget those pumpkin seeds! I used a cinnamon-sugar recipe to toast my seeds. I added a dash of cayenne for some kick.

I used the pumpkin seed recipe found here:

Sugar and Spice Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Good luck, and have fun!!