Salmon and Souvlaki

Part 13 in a series about our trip to Alaska in late June through mid-July, 2011.

At the beginning of our second full week in Alaska, we took an expedition to the Alaska Zoo.  It’s a zoo that only has animals native to Alaska (except for the tigers and camels and maybe a couple more).  Dad has a family pass.  I’m not sure that the zoo had in mind getting in 5 adults and 8 kids (on just one visit) when they issued him that pass but it was a sweet deal for us!

Before we even left the parking lot, we did have a little bit of fun.  I shut Meggan’s van door and, oops!  The keys were still in there with the door already locked.  Thankfully, we’d cracked the windows because it was such a “hot” day (stifle your laughter, non-Alaskan readers).  So Nik went fishing, literally, with Dad’s fishing pole and thankfully, caught himself a big set of keys.

After all that excitement, we had a great time walking through the zoo.  The animals were out in full force.  Ellie was totally adorable with the animals, getting very excited and making lots of funny grunting noises every time she saw a new one!

My dad was in heaven with so many of his grandkids in one place.  Even with all these, there are still 4 more with one more soon to arrive!

We capped off the day by visiting the snack shop at Costco for some tasty treats.  I had what may have been the best toasted-almond chocolate-covered ice cream bar that I have ever had.  I’m still dreaming about it now, back in Baltimore.

Thanks Dad for a fun day at the zoo and for that delicious ice cream bar!

Part 12 in a series about our trip to Alaska in late June through mid-July, 2011. 

To celebrate 4th of July in Alaska, we made Greek food! Is that anti-American? I hope you don’t take it that way. We wanted to make Greek food for the whole big family and that turned out to be the best day for everybody to get together so that’s just how it worked out.

The appetizer course included greek salad, homemade pita (thanks Meggan!) and tzatziki, some store bought spanakopita (I know, we’re not perfect), and olives (they were actually Italian but I let it go). For drinks we had the soft drinks of choice in Greece, Coca-Cola and Fanta. We and our Alaskan family all now call soda “Chemicals of Death” but that doesn’t stop us from drinking a few swigs of soda now and then. Eric also provided some of his home-brewed beer which was excellent and yes, Greeks drink beer, not just wine and Ouzo.

For the main course, we had Greek “fast food”: pork souvlaki, but it was actually slow food since we cut it up the day before, marinated it overnight, and then grilled it in shifts on the Judges new grill which was small, but worked very nicely. Some people waited quite a while to get their meat on a stick but I think everybody agreed that it was worth the wait. Sadly we forgot to take a picture of the grilled deliciousness but I can still remember the smell and taste and it makes me really hungry.

Ellie was showing off her patriotic spirit with her outfit that, ironically, her Greek grandmother bought her.

Now I’m headed for the kitchen!

Part 11 in a series about our trip to Alaska in late June through mid-July, 2011.

On Sunday afternoon, we decided to finish our Coastal Trail adventure.  This time, Jonas, Selah, and my dad joined us.  It was a gorgeous day and an easy walk.  Along the way, we walked very close to the tidal mud flats and had a great view of Sleeping Lady across the Inlet.

Here’s the proof that we walked the whole trail to the very end!

Technically, it’s the beginning because we actually started at the end.  Got that?

Sadly, the very end is very unimpressive.  It just stops at a random intersection.  That wasn’t so fun.  But the kids’ school is only a couple blocks past the trailhead so we walked there to be picked up by Eric.

And, happily, their school is across the street from the Anchorage Market so while we were waiting for Eric, we celebrated with some piping hot, fresh kettle corn.  That’s the way I like to end a hike!

And check this one off the list!