Sauerkraut Throwdown!

The First Annual Sauerkraut Throwdown was held October 24th. The rules are that you must have grown the cabbage and made the sauerkraut yourself.

The three judges, Eric, Steve and Rachel, get ready to begin the tasting.


Hank in his authentic lederhosen is supervising.


Winners!


Jeremy with his third place medal (a canning ring) getting a little love from Eric the Kraut Judge.

Part III - The End of Summer

Well, here it is part III of III, the end of summer.

Over Labor Day we went to the town of McCarthy which is located at the foot of the Wrangell Mountains and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The area was originally seasonally inhabited by Athabascans, but copper was discovered in 1900 and soon the Kennicott mine was established about 5 miles from McCarthy. McCarthy came into existence due to the strict rules against drinking, gambling and prostitution in the company town of Kennicott. These rules did not apply in McCarthy.

There is a road to the town now, though originally you could only access it by railroad. The public road only goes to the river, then you have to walk or ride your bike across a bridge. There is a private bridge for vehicles, but a pass is $300, so most everyone walks or bikes.


This was our cabin located about 1 mile from McCarthy on the road side. It is advertised as the only establishment in McCarthy that has full facilities and showers in all their rooms and cabins. The cabin had propane heat and electricity from a generator.


Not a lot of options in McCarthy. This is where we had breakfast all three mornings. It's a structure built around a van. They had great coffee and excellent breakfast burritos.


We went to McCarthy to do a run and mountain bike. Jeremy did the 1/2 Marathon and I did the 10k. The finish was Main Street McCarthy. It's a great little town. I think it has about 50 people that stay through the winter.


It was an absolutely beautiful weekend with fall colors and wonderful weather. We definitely felt as if we were back in Colorado. This is the road up to the mine that we biked up the second day.


This is the mill at the mine. It has some serious structural issues, so you couldn't go into it. There are plans, however, to renovate it. The railroad arrived in Kennicott in 1911. The mine was abandoned in 1938. Abandoned in place. Because the railroad was also abandoned there was no way later mining ventures could bring the copper to market, so eventually the land was sold to private individuals. What land did not sell was eventually bought by the National Park Service.


The old hospital is on the left and the buildings on the right are the bunk houses. These buildings are also due to be renovated. We got to tour some smaller buildings that had been renovated and it was a pretty impressive process. Very interesting.


After touring the company town of Kennicott we hiked up to the glacier.


Jeremy and I in a self portrait on the glacier. We didn't have our crampons, so couldn't explore it much.


Once back from the glacier we biked back to McCarthy on a road they call the "wagon road." It was a great trail and a lot of fun going down.


Along the wagon road was an old cemetery. I love looking at old graves. I like to read the names and dates and try to imagine their lives back then. Most of these graves were, as would be expected, from the early 1900's.


On the third day we headed back to Fairbanks. On the way out we got to see everything we missed on the way in because it was dark. While this bridge is a road bridge, it was originally for the railroad.


Here is evidence of the old railroad line. We also often saw railroad rails coming out of the road bed because the road for the most part was built right over the old railroad bed.

We had a great time in McCarthy and will most certainly return next year. Maybe next year I'll even run the 1/2 marathon. Maybe.

Part II - August

Part II - August

If June and July were about festivals and merriment, August was about food - hunting, vegetables, canning and fair food.

The first week of August Jeremy and Tom went caribou hunting. They got their caribou the first day out!

This is Tom with his caribou.

It snowed the day they hiked out. After a couple of days of rain and being wet, they were more than ready to head out when the snow came.


Although fire season usually ends the beginning of August, we had a couple of the worst days of smoke I've experienced since being in Alaska.

This picture was taken in the middle of the day looking down our driveway.

Something I'd never seen, an air quality warning on television.

But the rains eventually came, of course, because what would fair week be without rain? The Tanana Valley State Fair is held the 2nd week of August each year and it always rains. This year was no different, never mind a week before the entire state was on fire. We checked out the livestock, vegetables, rides, and booths, but mostly spent time looking for the perfect fair food. This is what we found:

Funnel Cake . . .

and a Block of Fries with cheese.

We found out later that we missed the fried cheese curds! Dang. Next year.

We didn't just eat, though. We took some time to check out the animals. Below I am posing with a reindeer.

I prefer to be photographed with the animals while they're still living.


The last week of August Jeremy and Tom went sheep hunting. Jeremy was very lucky in that he drew a tag for a Dall sheep in the Tok Management Area. There is a 2 1/2 percent chance at getting drawn for a TMA Dall sheep tag.

Eastern Alaska Range
They hiked in about 7 miles with an elevation gain of about 2500'.

Here is Jeremy with his sheep, which he got the first day out!

Towards the river just out of the hills Jeremy and I have a piece of property. Two years ago we were selected in a lottery and were allowed to stake a parcel of land. We staked 10 acres. Someday we hope to build a cabin on it. In the background you can see the Robertson River which flows out of the Alaska Range into the Tanana River.

While Jeremy was hunting I was managing the vegetables we received from our cooperative share. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the pounds and pounds of fresh veggies we got, but I did get a couple pictures of it cooked and preserved.

This is what 8 cups of beet greens looks like once stir fried. They were delicious, but I would not recommend eating 8 cups of greens in one sitting.


This is a picture of our canning. I canned the pickled beets and spicy green beans. Jeremy made and canned the sauerkraut and brewed and bottled the beer. It's his Oktoberfest beer which he is saving for the 1st Annual Sauerkraut Throwdown. Nothing like a little sauerkraut competition between friends. We'll also be serving up caribou brats. We'll keep you posted on the results.

Well, that's August.

Summer Review - Part I

Part I - June and July

Well, it's been 4 months since our last entry. So much for regular monthly updates. We did have a great summer and fall, so thought we'd post some pictures. I'll have to do this in parts, though, so we'll start with Part I - June and July.

The summer began with my birthday. I turned 39 and honestly am starting to get a little freaked out by the idea of being 40. I always imagined myself growing old with grace. I thought wrinkles would be cool. Not so much anymore. Anyway, no reason to act older just because I am older. Here's a lovely picture from my birthday celebration. I'm in the pink hat having a great time in my green satin poodle skirt. That's a pink pom-pom in my left hand. Hat and pom-poms were gifts from my girlfriends. Thanks, Ladies!

Papa Smurf and the Smurfettes

In July we went to the Dawson City Music Festival in Canada. This was our 2nd year going to the festival, which we really enjoy. It's a great mix of Canadian music. Our favorites this year were The Acorns, Luke Doucet (CD okay, awesome live), and Melissa McClelland.

Dawson City

Dawson City was established after gold was struck in Bonanza Creek (formerly Rabbit Creek) in 1896. This gold strike was the beginning of the Klondike Gold Rush. I am probably fond of the town because it reminds me of Colorado's mining towns, though Dawson City is not as old.

There were a couple of venues during the day, and then this year one bar, The Pit, had a band in the evening. The Pit is a "historic" building with much character. The band, Sasquatch Prom Date, played and they literally rocked the house. The floor was moving. Here's a picture of the Fairbanks contingent in a corner of The Pit.

Dawson is also known for "the toe." Dan O'Neill talks about it in his book, A Land Gone Lonesome, if you are interested in a history of the toe(s). It's real. The idea is to drink a shot with the toe in it. One thing about being older, I have finally, and I say finally, learned to not succumb to peer pressure. It was hard, but I did not partake in drinking a shot with the toe.

"Drink if fast or drink is slow, but the lips have got to touch the toe!"
Jeremy, however, showed no reservations about drinking a shot with a toe in it. To prove it we have a picture of Jeremy with the toe and . . .

a picture of the toe itself.

The good news is he got a certificate for this and a card to carry in his wallet verifying that he is a member of the Sourdough Cocktail Club. Jeremy wanted me to make the link available for those of you interested, www.sourtoecocktailclub.com.

It takes about 8 hours to get to Dawson City if the weather is good. To get there you take the Taylor and Top of the World Highways (the word "highway" is used loosely) and you do feel like you're on top of the world. In this picture you can see the purple from the Fireweed which comes up after forest fires. The road is closed in the winter. It was a beautiful trip home.


The weekend after Dawson we participated in the Gold Discovery Run. Jeremy actually ran the 16 miles, but I walked/ran it with my friends Melissa and Carrie. Jeremy placed third in his age group. I could barely walk the following two days. Next year I may consider preparing for it.

Jeremy enjoying a frosty beer at the Silver Gulch Brewery which is where it ends.


Our next summer adventure was the Anderson Bluegrass Festival. We have been every year since we've been in Alaska, so this was our 5th trip. Anderson is a very small town about 50 miles south of Fairbanks. It's a small festival relative to Dawson and Telluride, but very enjoyable.

This is the area where we camp and the music is not far away. It was a beautiful weekend, which was very unusual. Normally it rains.

This year there was a bucking salmon which was highly entertaining. Here Jeremy is about to be bucked off; at least I think that was what was occurring.

Here's a picture of Melissa, Kelly, Sally and I later in the evening enjoying the dance band.

Well that's it for Part I. Reviewing the pictures it kind of looks like we did a lot of drinking in June and July, but there were other moments. We did some running this year, grew a garden, and Jeremy hunted, but that will have to wait until the next update.