Reunited!

I am very happy to report that Grant made it to Homer this week! His last few weeks in Colorado were spent working his tail off finishing things with Crestone and the house in Mead and we are very extremely grateful for everyone else who has/is helping with the house. He arrived on Tuesday and I hadn't gotten around to making dinner that night so we grabbed a pizza at Fat Olives. When the waitress saw Grant's ID was from Colorado she replied with "Oh Colorado!" (as we hear quite a bit because of the numerous former Coloradans here) and "My daughter just moved to Mead, do you know where that is?" (which we have not heard before). We started laughing and explained that Grant had actually just gotten off the plane from Mead a mere 20 minutes prior. Alaska just keeps making the world feel smaller and smaller!
While I was ecstatic to see Grant on Tuesday, he received a welcome reaction from Hank that any dog-owner would be honored to receive: loss of bladder control. Poor Hank thought I had just left him for the evening and greeted me with his full-body happy tremble as he normally does. When he saw Grant, he leapt about 2 feet in the air and peed all over the floor before looking sheepish and going outside with his tail nub between his legs. You know you've been missed when that happens.
Grant spent Wednesday and Thursday recovering from his hectic, sleepless previous week, reconnecting with Hank, and being my shuttle service to/from work. We have had a relaxing weekend with a celebratory dinner at the Mermaid Cafe, hiking, carving a pumpkin, and watching Halloween movies. We are planning on doing some more exploring next weekend up by Sterling and staying at a hike-in cabin on Kelly Lake. In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the first big snow (6"ish) and our weekend:

Hiking at Ohlson Mountain with Mt Illiamna in the background

Staying true to form and carving our pumpkin with power tools

Fall Decor

Brown bear track (I think) about a mile from our house, about 8" wide