Rainbow Creek

Last month we planned a trip on one pf the few sunny days in June to drive down to hike one of our favorite trails with our friend Stef - Byron Glacier. Just a few miles onto the Seward Highway, our plans changed, as the highway traffic was backed up for a bad car accident. Thankfully Andrew saw a sign for the Rainbow Creek and Turnagain Pass trail heads, so we turned in there and took a short hike on this trail we had never hiked before.

It was a nice, shady hike with a few good view spots. We only hiked a few miles in since the trail's scenery wasn't very varied. On the way down we heard more sirens after the accident had already cleared up. When we got back to the car and checked our phones on the drive back we discovered that a hiker had been mauled by a bear a few miles away from us on the Bird Ridge Run!

It was nice to get out, but scary learning how close we were to that tragedy.

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East Coast Spring Break 2017

This spring we took an extended spring break to the southeast portion of the East Coast. We split the trip into two sections: a week in Charleston (and a day in Savannah), and a week at my parents' in Florida.

This was our first time to both Charleston and Savannah, and we made the most of it. Our first day in Charleston we took a horse drawn carriage tour of downtown. It was a great overview of the city and the history of the area. I loved all of the varied architecture and landscaping!

Charleston's famous Waterfront Park

The next day we checked out a local church and then tooled around a suburb of Charleston called Summerville (what a great name!). It is the birthplace of sweet tea - and the home of the world's largest sweet tea!

Monday we drove up to Sullivan's Island and drove across the famous Ravenel Bridge. We also checked out a local fort, Fort Moultrie, and a nearby beach.

Our last day in Charleston we went back downtown and walked around their local college that is in central Charleston - the College of Charleston. It is a gorgeous campus!

The next day we drove down to Savannah and took a hop-off, hop-on trolley tour of the town. This tour also gave us a great overview for our short time in Savannah that kept us snapping pictures left and right.

Taking a break from walking on the trolley!

After a day in Savannah we headed south. We drove down to Jacksonville Beach and had lunch with some friends, and then headed west to my parents' on the Florida panhandle. As we entered Destin, a huge thunderstorm hit and we drove through torrential rain, high winds, and thunder and lightning. Quite an experience for us Alaskans! The weather cleared though, so we were able to head out on the boat the next morning. We toured the Destin harbor, and had lunch at a restaurant on the water in the Shalimar area. We even saw dolphins when we were in the harbor!

The next day my older sister and her son flew in. We spent the next week enjoying the sunshine, beach, seafood, and family. It was a fantastic spring trip!

A successful trip surf fishing - the guys caught two pompano which made some delicious fish tacos!

Spent some time at Craft Bar on a rainy day

Great dinner at sunset at Boshamps

Went min-golfing the last day in town - Andrew and I tied for last place...

The last day on the beach

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Merry Christmas 2016 from the Gichards!

Merry Christmas 2016 from the Gichards! We had a very memorable year with some traveling to California for a wedding, and a side-trip to Disneyland in October; hiked around Alaska (including trips to Byron Glacier in May and Eklutna Lake in July), and Andrew harvested his first caribou in October! We are so blessed with wonderful family, friends, and church to be with us in the good times and bad.

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and wonderful new year!

Clockwise, starting top right: hiking at Byron Glacier, hiking at Eklutna Lake, on the beaches of Southern California, hanging out with Minnie Mouse, and Andrew and his first caribou

Remembering Gobbo Christmases

One of my favorite memories of Christmases past is spending them at my grandparents house in New York.

The beginning of such memories always began with one of my favorite pasttimes - the road trip there. Said road trip always culminated with turning the corner into my grandparents neighborhood. You knew you were getting close when we passed the neighbor electrician's house and his National Lampoon-style Christmas light display. I often remember dozing in the car and the brightness of the lights waking me up!

Depending on the year and who else was staying at the house I would occasionally sleep in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and sometimes in the downstairs room that led up to the kitchen. I remember waking up to the sounds of everyone having breakfast in the kitchen through the slatted doors. For Christmas trips we never slept in the back rec room that were our most slept-in sleeping quarters, since that was where the Christmas tree was and were Santa Claus left the presents. Which reminds me of the year they agreed to leave a video camera in the rec room to catch Santa - the next morning we discovered that it had been set up next to his plate of cookies and we got to see his arm reach in for his cookies in his red suit.

Christmas Eve day was always a great day of hanging out with the grandparents and often watching old Christmas movies on TV (while Dad and Grandpa watched various sporting events in the living room). In the evening, we'd get dressed up and head to mass at their local church. One thing that stands out is trying to find a parking space since the church is in the center of the town - and that part of town had cobbled streets (not sure if it still does). This sticks in my head, because at this age I was a tomboy and was usually wearing small-heeled shoes which were already a challenge for me to walk in, let alone on cobbles. Additionally, going to New York this time of year often meant ice, and even snow - which was odd for us since we lived in North Carolina and Virginia during my youth. This was often a time of year we would get to build actually snowmen and play in the snow - and for Christmas to boot! On the way to Christmas Eve mass we would discuss whether or not the local priest would be giving the homily or if it was a visiting priest - as the New Yorkers often talked faster making for a shorter mass :) Once we got back to the house my dad continued our annual tradition of reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to us. I remember one year it got a bit out of hand in altering the original words and Mom had to come in to get us to quiet down (Dad was definitely the instigator, and this added to the tradition each year of making up the best new words).

Christmas morning was of course fantastic. Grandma always gave the best boxed presents that matched a theme of whatever we were into that year. Grandma's dinner were always fantastic - regardless of it being a holiday. Often the day after Christmas we would go to another relative's house, they would come to us, and one year we even went into New York City!  I remember after big family dinners all the cousins and aunts and grandma would gather at the dining room table and play Michigan Rummy.

Other random memories from Christmas was working on puzzles (always at Grandma's!), their silver (or white) fake Christmas tree, and enjoying their fireplace (seeing as how we did not have one in our house until we moved to Alaska). Growing up moving around so much, their home always felt like home even when new locations did not.

Christmas to me, is my grandparents.