home is where the heart is.

i know you've been dying to hear about the second half of my trip. ha!

i'm back in nashville, snuggled up with miss lilypants and recovering from my trip. 

why can't i just live and hike around like a little hippie? i mean, is working that necessary? 

humph.

anyways. back to my trip - one of the coolest weeks of my life. 

after j and i got back to anchorage....

he had to return to work. boo. there's that pesky work thing again. but, we were still able to play!

one day, we took off to see the Matanuska Glacier. to get to the Matanuska Glacier, you have to drive reeeeaally close to Wasilla - where Ms. Sarah Palin lives. and, thru Palmer - where she got married.

i'm pretty sure there were no Russia sightings. 

i'm just sayin'....

like everything else in AK, the glacier was beyond words. we thought we could get closer to it, 

but no such luck. to think that this is ice - just hanging out. wow. can you see it? 

all of the "stuff" in the valley between the mountains is a glacier. whaaaa?

j and i took advantage of the fact that there weren't any many other people in the park that morning. just us. hanging out - enjoying God's amazing creation. 

that evening, "The Hippie" and his daughter took me to a little pottery place nestled in the woods, 

on a gravel road. it was so cool! 

there was no one there... no cashier. 

if you liked a piece, you simply picked it up, took off the price sticker and placed it on this board that was provided, and left your money in a jar.

it's open 24 hours a day - just come and go as you please. 

are you kidding me??

my little piece from the shop. 

upon our return home from the shop, this big freakin' thing little guy was enjoying his dinner in the subdivision entrance. this can't be real. the Hippie and his daughter got a kick out of me getting a kick out of the moose. 

don't hate. you'd be like me. completely freaked that this big arse animal just roams around town. J's boss said that there are city moose and country moose. the city ones look both ways before crossing the street. 

on my final full day in anchorage, the weather was perfect. high 60s and sunny. perfect for a run. 

*sidenote - this day was the first day since the 1/2 that i actually wanted to run. 
what a day to finally get jonesing again, huh? maybe, just maybe - 
it had something to do with the scenery. 

the anchorage are is super pedestrian friendly. there are over 200 trails where one can access any part of town. some are in the city and some are out a bit. either way - they're like our greenways on steroids. i did visit a running shop while i was there. according to one of their signs - they've been ranked among the top running stores in the country for several years. it's called Skinny Raven. 

(do you think Skinny Runner has been to the Skinny Raven???) anywho. 

after visiting that shop and getting smitten with the weather - i took off for a run. 

check out this scenery!

after this day, i had to say good bye.... 

have i mentioned i'm not good at good bye?

so, j and i hugged really tight and said - see ya later! :)

i was feeling a little gloomy upon my return but things quickly looked up when

i saw this little lovely that was so SUPER excited to have me back home.

it rained most of the day here in nashville when i got home. didn't help my gloomtastic mood. but, meg and i grilled out after the rain finally came to a halt. then, this happened..... 

right there in my backyard, God smiled. these rainbows almost mirrored my little life right now. there's always beautiful rays after the storm, you just have to weather the storm to get there. enjoy each moment, where you are. savor it. drink it in. God didn't just make Alaska beautiful, He made my backyard, our backyard at our home, beautiful that evening.

home. it's where the heart is.