A couple of weeks ago Briar, Christy, Lyssa and I went on a road trip to Anchor Point, Alaska. There was a horse we were interested in for Briar. His name was Shorty but that didn't deter us from heading out for a 5 hour (each way!) drive on a beautiful day in October.
Briar is 15 now and has her permit so I let her drive part of the way. We were hauling the stock trailer so she didn't drive in any traffic. As you can see we pretty much had the road to ourselves. Above is Turnagain Pass. By December there will be feet and feet of snow and the parking lots will be full of campers and snowmachines on the weekends.
This is Cook Inlet and the range of mountains you can see through the haze is part of the Pacific Rim Ring of Fire. There are several active volcanoes including Mt. Redoubt that erupted in 09 and Mt. Spurr that erupted in 91 or 92.
The wildlife is amazing. We saw about 50 swans on this trip. Many of them were on Potter's Marsh just south of Anchorage. These are in a pond at the junction of the Seward Highway and the Sterling Highway. We have so few major roads in Alaska that they all have names.
Here we are almost back to Anchorage. Briar snapped this picture as we were zooming along so it's kinda blurry and really doesn't do justice to the beautiful sunset.
And this is Shorty. We hauled him back to Wasilla for a week trial period but he really did live up to his name. Briar is about 5'7" so she really needs a taller horse. Shorty was a good horse but just not a fit for Briar.There's another horse we looked at though. That story will follow soon!
Your pictures are gorgeous. Enjoy ... before the snow flies...
ReplyDeleteTammy - Make plans now to attend the Bald Mountain Butt Buster CTR in July 2012. We'll rustle up a horse for you to ride.
ReplyDeleteHomesick! Meanie!
ReplyDeleteDid you know that Anchor Point is the farthest west you can continuously drive in North America? My mom told me that once when she was visiting and we drove to Homer. So, we stopped there in Anchor Point and had ice cream!
I love driving Turnagain Pass! I'm really, really homesick now!
OS - I thought about you while we were on this trip and your Alaska "bucket list". I have done most of what I wanted to do while in AK except raft the Yukon and see bush Alaska.
ReplyDeleteIf you get too homesick, I'll pick you up at ANC and let you ride ponies in the Talkeetna Mountains.
That is some lovely country!
ReplyDeleteShorty is short. lol. Too bad. He looks cute.
Great photographs! Makes me homesick.
ReplyDeleteWow, it's so beautiful up there! I think I'd love everything about Alaska, but I could not deal with those long winter nights. Nevada is bad enough :x I definitely want to visit in the not-winter, though.
ReplyDeleteFunder - Let me know when to pick you up at ANC.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE TALKEETNA!
ReplyDeleteI dated a guy there for a couple months, long ago. When I would go visit him, I made up 1/3 of the single female population there. It decreased again when I'd leave.
I would sometimes get interesting marriage proposals from guys I'd never met. "I have money. I have hot water. I have indoor plumbing. Will you marry me?" It was always amusing!
I will let you know when to pick me up. Probably next summer.
Would love to visit AK someday! So beautiful there. Wow!
ReplyDeleteI like Shorty and I'm 5'11. don't think Briar looks too big for him. I like my horses under 15hh. Now that I'm older and after falling off my previous 15.3hh horse, I will never ride a tall horse again. It's a long way down and hurts more. gah!
lol!
~Lisa
ps, So what's the story on the other horse you went to look at?
ooops...I meant he didn't look to big for HER..not him. sorry!
ReplyDelete