My apologies to those of you who have been following this blog - it's been waaay too long since I posted anything. I've simply been busy working, and I usually only have one day of between runs. During my days off I'm usually pretty lazy, so today I'm making myself sit down and post something.
One highlight of this month ended up being the 4th of July. Unfortunately I had to work on the 4th, so I really wasn't expecting to do much to celebrate. I was headed northbound, and I spent the night in Healy, which is just north of the entrance to Denali National Park. Once we got into Healy, two coworkers and I took the shuttle down to Denali Village, and we decided to go on a little hike. Our hike, which didn't start until 7pm or later, turned out not to be so little. We ended up hiking about eight miles or so all together, and made it to Mt. Healy Overlook. 
This point looks into the park to one direction and back down towards Denali Village and the Nenana River to the opposite direction. As we hiked I had a chance to enjoy the scenery in a way that I haven't been able to do enough during my time here. It also wasn't a traditional 4th of July celebration, but in the moment it was the perfect way to celebrate the beautiful landscapes that our country has to offer.
Just before the 4th I also had a chance to visit the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. This complex, which is just south of Anchorage, gives people a chance to see much of Alaska's wildlife up close. They bring in animals that are injured or which can't survive in someway out in the wild and help rehabilitate them. It was great to see bears, bison, muskoxen, and other animals so close.
I've been seen some wildlife from the train, including huge salmon that we can see in the rivers we pass, and I've seen plenty of moose, both from the train and right here in Anchorage.Finally, one more highlight of the past few weeks was a trip to Homer last week. Homer is on the southwest coast of the Kenai Peninsula, which sticks out into the Cook Inlet south of Anchorage. Homer is a cool little fishing community, but the main attraction is the 'Homer Spit,' which is a skinny piece of land that sticks out into Cook Inlet about a mile or two. All along the spit are campsites, boat launches, and little shops and restaurants.
I went down with two coworkers and another friend and we camped right on the beach. It felt really strange to be camping on the "beach" in Alaska - there was no way anyone was going to go swimming, but it was a great way to get out of Anchorage.
We even got a beautiful sunny day for one of the days we were there - which is uncommon for Homer. A couple of the coolest parts of hanging out in Homer were seeing freshly caught halibut being filleted and hanging out at the Salty Dawg Saloon.
Tomorrow I'm flying back to Kansas for a brief trip to be with family and celebrate the life of my Grandpa Diller, who passed away yesterday. He was an amazing individual who lived a great life - I'll miss him a lot, but have great memories of him forever. It feels odd to be leaving Anchorage and Alaska, where I have slowly begun to feel at home without really noticing. At the same time it will be good to have a little break from my job and hopefully I'll come back refreshed and ready to get back to work in a week.
