Visitors!

It has been a very busy summer thus far with lots of events going on!  The weather has been disappointing at times, rainy and kind of cold, but we have been fortunate to have some beautiful, sunny, warm days too, which we are quickly learning you do not waste here in Bethel, Alaska.  Outdoor activities are our favorite so we take every little chance we can get to enjoy them.

We celebrated Aaron's 27th birthday in June by going camping upriver for our premiere camping trip of the summer.  We slept in the boat since it has a canopy, which was quite convenient and cozy!  I even made a birthday cake for the big journey, but it turned out a little sad after all the shifting and heating up.  It still tasted good, though!

We have also had visitors!  Don and Tiffany came up at the end of June, and my dad was here just this last week.  It was nice to show people how we live here and see family.  We did some fishing, boating, eating, exploring, movie watching, and hanging out.  The time goes so quickly!  I think two of the most impressionable parts of their time here were: 1. The size and amount of mosquitoes and  2. The fact that it rained nearly every day.  We still had good chats and quality time together!

Good food and company

Don and Tiffany

Brothers

Fishing! All we caught was a Pike, but we were close to getting some salmon!

The strangest thing happened when Dad was in town.  There was a hoax that went out of control here in Bethel.  A rumor spread that Taco Bell was coming to town.  Apparently it was even on the Internet, and people applied for jobs there.  Well, the truth finally came out that Taco Bell was not coming to Bethel.  Taco Bell executives "felt bad" about all the excitement people here had shown only to find out that it was all a hoax, so they brought in 10,000 free tacos for the community last Sunday (really, it was a good excuse to build up the company's reputation by executing a publicity stunt, but no one here was complaining about that!).  There was quite a turnout.  Traffic was backed up and everything.

And this is how they brought the tacos to town.  That's right.  That is a helicopter carrying a giant truck filled with tacos.  I don't know if that was really the most efficient way to deliver tacos to Bethel, but it was certainly dramatic, which is the effect I think they were going after.

In the boat eating some smoked King salmon strips from a friend's fish camp.

Aaron caught a chum salmon! (To everyone else here that is the worst kind of salmon and would probably be thrown back, but we're thrilled to get it!)

Camping over the 4th of July near the base of Three Step with friends and Dad

Our guests got the full Bethel experience, including the wilderness and some times of little to do.  In another month we have two more rounds of visitors, and we're hoping the weather will be good, the Silver salmon will be running strong, and the berries will be in full bloom!  Until then, Aaron and I have plenty to keep us occupied and entertained for the long summer days!