87 West: I fell in love again.

With yet another place on this planet. Some know it as the Last Frontier. The Land of the Midnight Sun.
Maybe Seward's Folly if you're a history buff. I personally like to call it a Pacific Northwesterner's Dream Come True.

But to most it's called Alaska.

Back in February, Ryan & his parents began concocting a plan to get him and me up to Ketchikan before he would have to leave for his summer-long internship. Slowly it all came together - I would cram my finals into the first three days of exam week, and then we'd move out stuff as needed, pack our bags, and get the heck out of Provo to spend four days in the chilly, green, wet north.

So, after beasting my finals and struggling through a crazy day of final cleaning checks {Ryan did mine while I was at work. He's a keeper}, moving both of our stuff, an afternoon shift at work for me, and frantic last minute packing, we hit the hay at 3:30 in the morning and got up early to catch our flight. The only thing that got me out of bed was knowing that I was going to Alaska. Just the word was magic to me. I had been there once on a family cruise a couple years ago {I never blogged about that. Oops.} and was so ready to go back as less of a tourist and more of a local.

The change in geography was incredible, and I was literally bouncing in my seat as we descended through thick clouds and I finally got my first glimpse of Alaska. It was rugged and green; so different from the dry, brown Utah I'd just left. I was in love.

We took a ferry {A FERRY. How awesome is it to have to take a FERRY. TO YOUR HOUSE.} from the tiny airport over to Revillagigedo Island, where Ketchikan is. The smell of the ocean and the wind and the rain and the trees had me smiling like a weirdie from the moment we walked out of the airport. I got a quick tour of Ketchikan as we drove through {their church building looks like a wood-beam ski lodge. It's gorgeous}. Ryan's parents live in a gorgeous lodge-style home overlooking the ocean. I couldn't get enough of the view. And I couldn't have asked for better hosts for the week: The guy I love and his hilarious, incredibly generous parents.

Couldn't get much better.

With only four days to show me the best of the best, and considering the weather (it rained the entire time. Ketchikan gets 13 feet of rain a year, so I wasn't surprised, or perturbed for that matter being the Seattle girl I am.} Ryan had to do some narrowing down of our bucket list. And yet, our days were still packed! It was AWESOME. My five most favorite things we did are as follows:

1) Hiked to Lower Silvis Lake. Despite pouring rain, we donned our rain gear, daypacks, and boots and puddle jumped/snowball fought/laughed/photographed/birdwatched/rock collected our way up the trail to the beautiful lake.

I took the top picture, but I can't help but show this summer season picture I found online when I was finding out more about the place. Heart attack. I can't handle beauty of this magnitude. Anyways, during the hike, Ryan took us off the main trail to a TUNNEL that ran THROUGH the mountain. It was so. cool. SO COOL. He knows the way to this girl's heart.

See?? SO COOL.

My rain-soaked man.

Upon arriving home we promptly changed into dry clothes, hunted down every blanket in the

house, and sat as close to the space heater as we could without spontaneously combusting.

And looked through old photo albums. Perfect day.

2) We spent almost an entire day in our pajamas playing Rummikub, snacking, talking, and finally

deciding we should get out of the house and take advantage of the break in the weather to wander

around downtown.

I love this little seaside town.

3) Ryan took me to the almost-a-century-old cannery that he worked at doing summer

tours when he was a highschooler. It was old, rusty, and absolutely fascinating.

Old records from when the cannery was in operation. You can see how many chum, pink, coho, etc. they caught that day.

And of course hot cocoa afterwards.

On our way back to the car we saw a bear! That black smudge in the center of the photograph... yeah that's it.

It's the best my camera could do in the almost-night time.

Turns out he went into the woods right where the forest trail we were taking home was. So we

waited a bit and then continued on, singing Beatles songs at the top of our lungs to avoid a

surprise encounter with the little guy.

4) We went on a date to Cape Fox, a fancy restaurant overlooking the city. Look it up next time you're in Alaska - I highly recommend it. Not only was the food great, but we got to take a lift all the way up the mountain to the lodge. SO COOL. The place is situated so that you're eye-level with the midstory of the forest, looking through the trees at the islands and ocean below. It was beautiful, peaceful, and cozy.