Sheri's Stop In

I'm lucky to have lots of family visits this Fall. Dave was here in early August, followed by Sheri, then Jeannea - and Sara will be here in September. Since my family lives far away and it's so expensive to travel Outside (or to the Lower 48, if you will), I don't get to see everyone very often. I'm fortunate (because you know it's all about ME) that some of the sibs have summer jobs in AK - then they make the flight reservations with a layover in ANC so I get to spend time with them. Last year, it was just Sara & Jeannea. This year, Dave & Sheri joined the summer crew, which means I get visits from them all, and I'll see the rest in December - wahoo!!

I'm woefully behind, as Sheri has already come & gone (and so has Jeannea, but that's another post). It was great to have her visit - I don't get to see her very often. Last time we were down south we got together a little, but she was busy with work and we were trying to cram in visits with loads of people - so it was limited. But still good. This time, I got her for two days entirely to myself, then an additional week that I had to share. We spent Thursday visiting and catching up, then Friday was a Girl's Day. Plenty of shopping, and then some relaxing while we got a pedicure.

Phil arrived on Saturday afternoon, and Greg got home late Saturday night. So Sunday we all went up to the overlook at Flattop. (After we stopped at the chocolate waterfall. Yummmm!) Didn't hike Blueberry or the Flattop trail, but the overlook has a great view of town, and it was a very pleasant evening.

On Monday, we decided to take a drive south to Girdwood and have Double Musky for dinner. We don't go there very often - mainly because they don't take reservations, so if you take the 45 minute drive, you may be waiting in line for a while before you get seated. Be prepared to wait - but it's *definitely* worth it. We left town early - around 4:30pm, hoping to get to the restaurant early enough that we wouldn't have to wait long. We got seated right away, and not 20 minutes later all the tables were full and there were people waiting... We ate A LOT. Two appetizers (Popcorn Shrimp and a spicy cheese spread), everyone had something different for dinner (Pepper Steak, Shrimp & Scallop Cardinal, Shrimp & Sausage Jambalaya, and Boneless Breast of Chicken - so everyone could try lots of different things), and everyone had different desserts too (the cheesecake was the best I've ever had). By the time we left, I felt like I could roll down the driveway to the car. Magnifique!!

So we didn't explode, we stopped on the way home and took a little hike. It was windy and threatening to rain, but still a pleasant trek. We saw an eagle and had a great view of the inlet. Just the thing to help digest an over-large dinner.

On Tuesday, we headed the other direction. We stopped in Eagle River to have dinner at a little mexican joint, Jalapeno's Mexican Restaurant. Another restaurant we really like, but we don't go there often - this time, primarily because of the drive. There are plenty of mexican restaurants in town (altho maybe not quite as good) without having to drive 45 minutes to get there. After dinner, we headed out to Thunderbird Falls. It's about a mile hike in on a well-groomed trail to the falls. They're not huge, but the scenery is pretty and it's a nice walk. After we made it to the platform, we took the lower path so we got close to the river. The braver folks (everyone but me) climbed down to get even closer to the falls. Another lovely evening!

It was great to spend time with Phil, too! He's been a friend to many of my siblings for years now, so it was nice to spend some time and get better acquainted. After such a nice visit I was sad to see Sheri go, but grateful for the time we got to spend together.