Billstown Bash 2

The computer deleted these pictures from below, so here they are... a special thanks to my nephew, Jake, for taking all the pictures. He and Ms Shelia flew down from New York to go to the wedding, and represented the Schwartz family. He's with his sidekick for the weekend, my cousin Kolby, who lives in East Texas.

And below is a great picture of my sister Niki and Dave. All are in the wedding brown and Niki is in the green. She was serving food, and you know in all things, it's important to match the punch.... see story below...

Billstown Bash

After the Alaska trip, Dave and I did a overnight stay at home before flying into Dallas and driving to Delight. Despite the terrible rental car troubles (don't ever rent from Advantage), we had a great trip at home and it was great to see our family and to see Kala and Josh get married.

As with any small town wedding, there's a load of work before the ordeal and a good portion of work afterwards. In true fashion, Delight family and friends made it happen. It was great to tape up tablecloths and put up chairs while visiting with some of my schoolmates.

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The wedding took place in a field in Billstown, not far from the Campbell cemetery. The land on the banks of Saline Creek isn't exactly sacred ground, but it's pretty darn important. Kala, Luke, and I have many memories of the swimming hole at Saline Creek. The Campbells still swim there, hold family reunions there, and even have held a few baptisms there. The history and the scenery made it a perfect backdrop for the event.

June 21st was hot, but not miserable. The temperature didn't get above 90 and the humidity took a small break. Most all of the bridal party were former Delight Bulldogs, which made for a few jokes. It was easy to see the love in this family, and when the bride walked down the aisle, it was a poignant scene for everyone.

The wedding feast was appropriate and tasty--barbeque, coleslaw, fruits, vegetables, and sweet stuff besides the buttercream flavored cake. Of course, in the South at these things it is paramount for the wedding punch to match wedding color. Much ado is made over this. You should have heard the discussion once when a bride picked teal for a color. It was near cookbook chaos before the hostesses decided to go with a gold option. This punch, however, was the perfect shade of green, kudos of Aunt Peg. The beer, however, flowed a honey gold.

Despite music difficulties, the dance under the stars was nice. Kala, Brandi, and I are acting like gangsters in the photo above. One of the best moments came when they played the anniversary dance, and all the grandkids ran to push our grandparents out to the dance floor. Coming in at a strong 59 years, we knew they had this game won. My grandfather said he'd only go if we all did--and we went and danced. It was pretty special to see them dancing alone on the dance floor, even if the DJ announced them as "Ly-mon and Joy Rhee Slat" instead of Lyman and Joy Rhea Slatton. A full moon rose over the creek bank behind everyone.

Here's a few more family photos:

The bride and groom left around 11, we left shortly thereafter. But, I'm told the party lasted beyond 1 am.... and that the DJ slept in his car...

Alaskan Wildlife

Here's one more montage of Alaska photos... this time centering around scenery and wildlife. I used my old-fashioned camera with a mega-zoom lens (you know, the ones actually require film, manual winding, and expensive photo processing) to get some wildlife shots. A note if any of you visit Alaska, point-and-shoot cameras are pretty pointless for wildlife shots, as you can still barely see the animsls here. I'm told you can even rent a zoom lens for your camera on the internet.

But nonetheless, these are pictures from our glacier and wildlife cruise out of Seward. The picture on the right is a bald eagle that sat above on a cliff and watched for fish. We spotted several eagles, and this picture definitely doesn't do the scene justice.

You can barely spot three sheep on the cliff to the left. It's quite impressive to see how those animals manage such difficult terrain, and also easy to see why gravity is their number one adversary.

We felt pretty lucky to spot a pod of killer whales, as the park ranger said it was the first day they'd spotted whales since April. We also saw humpback whales, but they weren't nearly as exciting.

You can get a good glimpse at the sea lions lounging on the rocks in the picture below. Our favorite line from the trip came from this encounter. As we neared the animals, the park ranger said something like, "As we approach the sea lions, we need everyone to be quiet. These animals are endangered!" So folks, please, save the sea lions and keep quiet. Turn off your radios for good measure. I hear they are rather nervous critters when it comes to well, you know... I'm sure anyone would be nervous when it came to a crowd watching procreation.

Here's a waterfall streaming down from a glacier. There were several pictures like this along the way. The water is filled with sediment and while it is a beautiful blue, it is very opaque.

We spotted the mama moose and her two babies on the side of the road. From what I've been told, a moose is like a big docile cow normally, but more like a raging bull when it is mad. It was fairly common to see a moose on the side of the road, and we even saw one swimming across a river.

There are more Alaska pictures, but I've shown enough here... suffice it to say Dave and I loved the trip and count it as the best vacation we've spent together.

Alaskan Eats

You can visit Alaska for the scenery, but you also can't miss the food. The seafood is fresh, cheap, and plentiful. The portions were huge, and we definitely ate our fill every day we were there. It just tasted better, with none of that fishy smell and taste that turns people off of seafood.

Not surprisingly, seafood is a staple food for the locals and since Luke has been here awhile, he knew where to go.

We got all-you-can eat snow crab at a place called Phyllis' Cafe & Salmon Bake in downtown Anchorage. We ate our fill outside on the patio watching tourists and locals.

Luke grilled up his halibut and steamed fresh Alaskan fiddleheads. If you've never had a fiddlehead, the taste is somewhere between a green bean and asparagus. It's a different green veggie--and the fiddleheads there are much larger than the ones in Minnesota.

We saw moose on the sides of the road--but didn't taste any. Luke did serve us some of his caribou, which he had made into summer sausage.




At a local breakfast hotspot, Gwennies, Dave and I both had reindeer sausage (did you know a reindeer is just a tame caribou?) for breakfast. It was spicy, and good. They also cook up a mean chicken-fried steak breakfast, too... all breakfasts are served up right with a side of grits. The place was packed.




We visited the farmer's market in downtown one afternoon. There, you could get just about any type of seafood cooked up in just about any style. Tex-Mex food seemed to be pretty popular--and you could have any of it with fish instead of chicken or beef. Want a Kosher buffalo hot dog? Okay. A Buffalo Brat? Salmon Quesadilla? That too.

The Marina restaurant in Seward serves Musk Ox, which roam the tundra. We didn't try that, but we did have Rock Fish... which was fried up and pretty bland tasting. Reminded us all of catfish... most restaurants along the Seward seafront had 'help wanted' signs up, and were very understaffed. That's a tough one to figure out, seeing how Seward has frequent visits from the cruise ships.



I wish I'd taken a picture of the shrimp we had... they were bigger than any I've ever seen out of the Gulf.

The sushi topped any I've had anywhere... you get so much for your money. I ordered thinking the rolls were comparable to the rolls I've had in Minnesota, Louisiana, or New York. And, let's just say the guys made plenty of fun of me when my order arrived and it alone was enough for the entire table. Even the waitress made a crack about my appetite. (Of course, after the food got there and not when the order was placed.) And, we had lots left over.



We also had Marionberry coffee cake one night.... which seemed rather addictive....





Pardon the crazy placement of the pictures--the computers in the public library are not friendly to blogging!

Fish Tales

With all of the traveling, I haven't had the chance
to blog... expect to be caught up soon.

When in Alaska, one must do as the natives do... and that means fish. It's a past time up there, and there are plenty of gorgeous places to do it. Luke, Dave, and I spent one day on a picturesque lake fishing for Arctic Char.

The lakes are clear and cold, and the banks are free of snakes. Lake houses dot the shoreline, and one man was even building his own golf course on the shore of the lake. So far, he was up to 5-holes. ((I'd be curious to see if he putts any on the frozen lake in the winter)) Apparently, if you have your own lake mansion, it is imperative to have a small plane to go with it. They are parked around the lake, and it's a pretty common occurrence to see them in the sky.

A few days later in Arkansas, my cousin Casey caught a nice bass in my grandfather's pond. She say's she's putting it on the wall, but right now I think it's in her freezer. She was pretty excited.... since this story is about fish, I thought I'd include that, but now back to Alaska...

Dave also had good luck with the rod and reel. I blurred the picture to protect the innocent... so this fish is now swimming undetected in the same lake, and unfortunately, Dave doesn't have any proof he caught a fish on vacation.... after all, does this look like a fish or a 40-ounce? ... ..

On the Trail

Today we hiked the McHugh Trail in Turnagain Pass, and we ascended more than 1000 feet in the first hour. It was absolutely beautiful scenery. We saw evidence of moose, black bear, and brown bear, but didn't have any encounters. (We have seen moose on the side of the road, though. It is pretty common.) We could see Dall Sheep on a neighboring mountain. The trail was very steep at times and often resembled a bit of rock climbing. The calf muscles were definitely burning. Did you know the higher you go, the fewer mosquitos you have?

Above, Dave and Luke are hiking by Arctic Lupine. The wildflower covers the hillside until you go past tree level. The picture on the left is ground dogwood, which actually looks like dogwood blossoms except they are small and a ground cover.

Dave and I decided to take a break here:

Here's a ptarmigan, which resembles a chicken.

And, here's Dave and Luke, past the trees and almost at the top:

Land of the Midnight Sun

Nothing can prepare you for experiencing 20-plus hour sunlight in Alaska. It's just plain wierd. The above picture is around 10 at night, and it doesn't get any darker right now. Hours at restaurants are extended and people are out and about. After all, you can always sleep in the winter.