The heat wave we were having finally broke with a thunderstorm on Wednesday night.  It was pretty crazy because this area (and Alaska in general) doesn't really get a whole lot of thunderstorms, and many people were saying that this is the first one they remember here in a while/their lifetime.  It got up to 90 degrees, and now it's back down to 50 and windy with occasional rain.  It was nice to have the HOT weather, but it's also really nice to cool back down.  It was just way too much, and on Tuesday night I just ended up going to bed because it was too hot to do anything.



I went to my friends Sam and Natasha's wedding over the weekend which took place on top of Flattop Mountain in Anchorage.  The wedding was gorgeous and we all got a little sunburned.  Afterwards we had a reception at Eklutna Lake (2 hours after the guy there got mauled by the bear!) and camped overnight.  It was a heck of a climb, and naturally at the part where you have to scramble up some rocks to get to the top, I followed the group that was going up the more difficult path so it was more like rock climbing than hiking!  About 20 of us went, including two dogs, plus random tourists that joined us and were taking pictures.  There was actually a group of people who stepped into the big group picture that no one knew!

Natasha's dress was beautiful!  Some of us got changed at the top (like myself), and other braver women wore their dresses up the mountain!  The guys brought button up or polo shirts with them. 








I was able to pose with the couple before heading back down the mountain-while wearing my hiking boots!  I decided that getting out of my dress and getting make into my hiking clothes was too much of a hassle so I just wore it down.  It wasn't too bad, but I did get some interesting comments which has sparked the idea that maybe we should go hiking in dresses more often.



A lot of the VISTAs in Anchorage also joined a kickball league which is run by the city, and because I missed my flight (typical) I was able to catch one of their games!

The baby ravens who had a nest in the satellite dish by the college have been out and about flying and hopping around the tundra.  I've seen them all over the immediate area, checking out the roofs of buildings, the area right below their nest (below) and hopping around the tundra by the Cultural Center. It was so cute seeing them experience tundra for the first time because they were testing out the squishy/bounciness of it and were using it like a trampoline.