Our Last Week In Alaska, 283rd Mile.

Week of 9/24/17-9/30/17: 283rd Mile.

Well to say it was hard to write this post would be an understatement.

One might think as “travelers”, we would get used to goodbyes, but that is not the case. I do think one can improve at goodbyes, but they don’t get any easier. It’s funny… We are so close to our biological families, but every place we travel to feels as though we gain an additional family. I call them by their obvious name (to make it easier), but our Seward Family was like no other.

They took us in from day one and treated us like one of their own. It was so special. We had never really lived in a town this small (population ~2800) and it was such a unique experience. Life was slow, sweet and perfect. Everyone cared about everyone else and the care was genuine. There was no such thing as traffic, unless it was caused by wildlife.

Our last week in Alaska was bittersweet. We had a hard time saying goodbye, but had a pretty epic last hike.

To start off the week, we went on one of our favorite shorter trail runs together called Tonsina Point Trail at Lowell Point.

Sorry for the post-work make-up fiasco, but that’s real life. Oh and I’m blurry because I am running so fast. 🙂

This is one of many wonderful views on this trail run looking out on Resurrection Bay.

Skip a few days to Friday where we went out to lunch with our coworkers for our last day celebration.

What a fabulous crew. We sure are going to miss you all!

(By the way, Phil likes to do this thing where he sees a camera and then closes his eyes. Seriously, it’s a real talent.)

On our way back from lunch, this Moose decides to show up near the local airport.

One last Alaskan Moose viewing for us!

Last day office views. 🙂

After taking it easy on our last Friday night in Alaska, we decided to go on a long run on Saturday. We chose to go on Lost Lake Trail one last time since it is our absolute favorite.

Phil and I ran our first “trail run” race on this trail back in August. Lost Lake Run 2017 was a 16 mile trail run benefiting Cystic Fibrosis. It was so much fun!

We lucked out and had a gorgeous day.

If you start at the Southern end, it starts on mile 5 of the Seward highway. This side is called the Lost Lake side and you hike through dense spruce forest until it opens up with views of the nearby mountainside such as the picture above.

At this point, the trail looks like this, with lots of vegetation and beautiful views.

Then it levels off into subalpine area of wet meadows and hemlock groves.

 

 

 

At this point in the season, fall had almost come and gone so there was much more of a brown landscape up in the sub-alpine and alpine areas.

After just climbing the last alpine ridge, you have your first views of Lost Lake. It is about 7 miles from the trailhead to the lake!

 

Here is the split. You can continue to the Primrose side to complete the ~15 mile trail from trailhead to trailhead. Today, we just wanted to do out and back so we continued left to the lake to relax in the sun for a bit.

Lost Lake 🙂

 

Bald Eagles were everywhere in Alaska.

 

Phil running back down the trail. Bye for now Lost Lake!

Views of Resurrection Bay on the way down!

Jodi running down the trail! At the end of the day, we completed a 14 mile trail run with a short break by the lake in the middle to soak up some memories. This day marked our 283rd mile together since marriage and what a day it was!

Our last sunset in Seward… We were down by the waterfront and watched the sun set on the mountains across the bay. Can you see the moon? It was just beautiful.

As the sun set on our time in Seward we were so happy to have known this little piece of heaven for the summer. We will miss this place and these people, taking them with us always in our hearts and in our memories.

A wise Alaskan lady once told me, “Memories are like roses in December.”