Back in AK

Last Tuesday evening, Jim and I flew into Fairbanks AK for Jim's work.  On Wednesday we drove down to Tangle Lakes Inn, taking the beautiful Richardson highway south.  Thursday morning we flew up to a nearby mountain via helicopter where Jim spent the day putting in one of his turbines for Copper Telecom with Chris Mishmash.  I handed tools when needed and hiked a little more to the peak of the mountain.  It was a beautiful view- and I was really happy to see tundra again!  Friday we headed out around noon with the Mishmash family on a 2 day raft trip- starting at Tangle Lakes and going down the Delta river.  We wound through some beautiful mountains and enjoyed a sunny beautiful Friday afternoon.  We found a great campsite above where we would need to portage.  We woke up to rain the next morning, and spent quite a bit of time in our tents trying to wait it out.  Finally, we had a little break and managed to take down our tents before it started to rain again.  We then took off down the river again and soon made it to the portage site.  We portaged about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile (with a pond to cross in the middle).  It was a bit of work- especially getting the raft across- but we made it!  The next part of the river had more rapids- though nothing scary (to my relief) before we found a campsite under some trees, where we decided to try and dry out a bit.  We were all pretty soaked, and Jim didn't have muckboots, so his feet were pretty cold.  We quickly set up our tents and crawled in to warm up a bit.  We came out for a little while to dry our clothes a bit by a fire and eat supper, then soon crawled back inside to escape the rain.  The next morning there was a little bit of rain, but by the time we got going it had stopped, and we all had at least one dry layer of clothes on.....Jim wearing my fleece pants I had dried by the fire.  We still had a ways to go, and passed many beaver dams, eagles, ducks and birds.  When the glacial waters joined into the river we were hit by a colder air, but it was fun to see all the silt mixing into what had been pretty clear water.  It was harder to avoid the shallow spots with the water so unclear, so we hit a few snags, but otherwise had a pretty easy going trip.  The kids did really well- and did a lot less complaining than most would have!  By the time we got to the car, we were a little cold again, but the heaters worked great and we were soon feeling wonderful.  A big thanks to the Mishmash family for taking us on such a great trip!  I'm sure I never would have planned such a trip on my own- and I will remember it always.  Jim and I are now in Valdez, where he was supposed to fly out to Boswell Bay to check out another site today.  However, the weather isn't allowing for flying, so the trip is post poned, and we may be off to Anchorage shortly.  On my agenda: stopping to see the Worthington Glacier and the St. Elias/Wrangell National Park along the way! =) It is great to be back in AK for a bit!