Kayaking in Alaska

We had the opportunity to go kayaking out in the ocean, (George Inlet specifically). Our boss invited us over for dinner and lucky for us their friend is storing his kayaks at their house so we took them out for a spin. Our boss lives in Herring Cove, (South of downtown Ketchikan) which is one of the best places to be in town. Tons of bears hangout around their house and in the cove where the salmon are jumping.
We saw a couple Harbor seals and a few dead crabs. Unfortunely we saw no whales or bears.
It was so amazing being out on the water and taking in the beauty that Alaska has. It is a hard life living in Alaska! :)

This is what Toby caught while we were on
the water. Don't worry guys it is dead :)

This is on the back deck of our boss's house.
The view is so breathtaking! It is amazing!

"Save Canada"

On our drive to Alaska we drove through British Columbia. It was so beautiful! We had a fun time converting the miles to Kilometers. I kept thinking the speed limit was 90 mph but no it was 90 kilometers, I was so excited there for awhile. The only wildlife we saw was the black bear pictured below.
We drove through the border near Belingham, WA, then drove up through Prince George to Prince Rupert, where we drove onto our ferry. By the way the gas is priced per liter not per gallon, and it is expensive!! We thought we were getting the best deals on gas, we were so wrong! Did I mention I drove the whole way, from Boise, Idaho to Ketchikan, AK (well really Prince Rupert, BC, Canada, cause you can't drive all the way to Ketchikan)








Once we got to Prince Rupert we stayed in a Hostel. Does anyone know what a Hostel is? Well we had no idea until we got there. It is a quite interesting way to lodge. It was preparation for our living situation here in Alaska. Basically it is a building/house with a living room and kitchen, which ours was down stairs. You walk up stairs and you have 3 communal bathrooms and several bedrooms, roughly 10 bedrooms. The bedrooms only had beds and a desk. We were not there very long, due to the fact we had to be on our ferry at 3 am. That really was not so much fun!! Unfortunately we did not take pictures of our room, or any of the inside, just the outside.






This is how we slept on the ferry, not so comfortable.



This is beautiful Ketchikan



This is how everything gets shipped in to this lovely island of Ketchikan. Check out the truck.

Update on the Shaffer's

Toby Graduated!!!!! I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished. He is truly such an inspiration to me. I can not even begin to imagine how much of a struggle it was for him to get through school with the loss of his father and not only that the loss of a close classmate. Toby never gave up and pushed as hard as he could until all his requirements were met. He is so strong and so amazing! I can't say it enough how proud I am of him graduating. Not only that but he looked totally handsome in his cap and gown. Everything about that day was perfect. We were so fortunate to have all of Toby's siblings and spouses present for the graduation. I can not tell you enough how much that meant to Toby and I. Lucky for them they got to go on a cruise with us afterwords! :) Thanks to Momma anyway! We love you mom for that, and just can't thank you enough!!! After the graduation we all got to go to the Caribbean for some much needed R&R!! Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of either the cruise or Toby's graduation. We left those pictures in Boise.

We got back from our vacation, packed everything we own into a Penske and headed for Idaho. We dropped everything there but essentials and drove to Alaska. Yes we drove to Alaska! It was so beautiful, we got to drive through British Columbia. What an amazing place, full of pine tree filled mountains and elevation, elevation, elevation. We have missed the elevation, being in Texas. It was a little different driving because they are on the metric system. They drive using kilometers and the gas is charged per liter, which, by the way was really expensive! We even saw a black bear on the side of the highway, stopped and got a picture.

Since you can't drive all the way to Ketchikan, we took a ferry. It was a 5 hour ferry ride from Prince Rupert, BC. It was pretty exciting driving our car on and off the ferry.
So we are now here in Ketchikan, Ak and are loving every minute of it. It is so beautiful here, and our house is on the ocean, so you can't get much better than that! We get to watch the cruise ships go by, watch the eagles soar past, observe all kinds of sea life, and did I mention we get paid for it too!!! We are definitely glad we got the opportunity to come up here. We miss everyone miserably though!!!!!

Hopefully as soon as we get internet at our house we will post more updates and pictures. We love and miss you all.

I finally did it!!!

So the day after my 29th birthday started out as any normal birthday party with me getting a nice smooch on the cheek by my beautiful wife as I blew out my candles on my Mormon trifle cake, but something was different. I felt something fading away, my first thought was my youth but then I realized nope, it was my hair.


Yep its true I finally shaved it off. A friend who cuts Sandra's hair has been trying to get me to shave it ever since I met her. She said "You'll look so good you'll be beating off woman with a stick." With that logic, how could I say no? Just kidding. I've been debating on trying it for awhile now. Just with Dad's eyebrows never going back, I just couldn't do it. After some more talks with our friend she decided to throw free movie tickets into the pot and I was in.




I'm just glad that shaving cream isn't flammable. That all I'm saying.


After deciding that I liked the no hair look, I was told I looked smarter so I thought I would try and teach my friends 2 year old how to read but to no avail, I guess I'm just balder.
Hope you guys like it.
Oh yeah, the next day I went to work and no one said anything. When I said notice anything different as I stroked my head, they said oh yeah, it looks the about the same. I was pissed! Oh well, I like it. I haven't had to beat any woman off with my stick just yet but I'll continue to carry it around for a little bit longer.