Top Travel Memories : Hiking to see Grewingk Glacier

During our visit to Homer, Alaska at the end of August 2011, we had a few unplanned days. We initially thought maybe we'd just take the ferry over to check out Halibut Cove, but after doing a little more research, we decided to take a ferry over to do the Grewingk Glacier hike instead.

It was a clear morning, and a short ride over to the trail head across Kachemak Bay, and before knew it, we were getting off the little ferry shuttle and taking in views like this:

And the NEXT thing we knew, the ferry was gone, and we were there. Alone. And there were signs about how to handle bears and wild animals - YIKES!

The walk was out of this world! It was so peaceful and quiet and serene. We did see the occasional trace of fresh bear droppings (okay, it was all over the trail), which instilled a bit of the fear of God in us - especially with no weapons to defend ourselves, and (stupidly) no mace.

The hike, although very easy hiking for the most part, seemed to take a lot longer than it should for only 1.8 miles, but before long we saw the sign pointing us toward the glacier, and we finally saw the first other hikers we had seen on the hike, which made us feel a little less alone and lost in the woods.

It wasn't too much longer before we finally got our first view of the glacier. Breathtaking!

It was such a surreal moment for us being all alone in the wilderness. Incredible, really!

Of course, the part that I failed to mention until now about this trip (for those who haven't followed too closely) is that this was our "babymoon" of sorts, and here I was 17 weeks pregnant with our son!

It was really cool to see the big chunks of glacier ice floating in the secluded lake!

It was COLD down by the water there, but we were able to stay warm enough :) Mark enjoyed skipping rocks for a while.

We even got to pick up some big chunks of glacier ice - SO cool!

After a short visit at the glacier, we knew we had to keep moving, as our ferry pickup was in just a couple hours, and we didn't know how long the rest of the hike would take us. (The full hike round-trip took just about 4 hours)

It's a good thing we got started when we did, because while the walk in to the glacier took just a very little time, the hike out to Halibut Cove was exhausting with lots of hills and obstacles.

It seemed like we had been hiking forever when we finally spotted this sign!!

We were thrilled to finally be at the brink of Halibut Cove and so close to the trail head. However, we still had our work cut out for us, since it was all downhill zig-zagging all the way down to the water level.

We finally did make it down to the landing, though, and thoroughly enjoyed the absolutely incredible views once we finally got to sit down and take it all in:

We were completely exhausted by the end of the day, and were so grateful for the hot tub and some Fat Olive's pizza (YUM!!) that evening before an early bedtime to rest our sore bodies.

It was an experience that absolutely will be hard to top in our lives. Hiking to a secluded lake made from glaciers in the wilderness in Alaska while 17 weeks pregnant? Yep - I did that!

Top Travel Memories: Hiking Waipio Road

On our first trip to Hawaii in 2010, we took in the beautiful Waipio overlook, but with Mark's torn Achilles, we weren't up to much as far as hiking, so we vowed to make the hike when we returned again. Well, in 2013 we DID return, and in fact stayed much closer to the Waipio Valley area, so we decided to take the "little" hike down to the gorgeous black sand beach.

Of course, what we failed to realize at the time was just exactly how steep the road was going to be, and about 3/4 of the way down, we were informed that this particular road contained the steepest incline in America! Of course, at that point, there was no turning back, but it was a long, strenuous, exhausting, hot hike! Oh, and did I mention that at the time, I was 17 weeks pregnant with our second child, and our first (at 15 months and around 28lbs) was riding in prime position in the Kelty carrier atop Daddy's back?

The hikers along the way assured us that we would have no trouble finding a ride back up to the top of the hill from one of the locals, so we enjoyed exploring the beach (BREATHTAKING!) for half an hour or so, then made our way back to the spot where we'd likely be able to be picked up.

It didn't take long to realize that I had come completely unprepared to spend any significant time anywhere: Not only had I forgotten to pack any diapers or wipes, I had also forgotten to pack very much water (just 24 fl oz) or any food for our little guy. So, in other words, we didn't really have much time to dawdle or wait around for the possible ride. We did wait about half an hour at this one spot, but after a while just decided that it wasn't worth the wait, so we took off back up the hill.

It was an extraordinarily LONG hike back up the hill, which was really only about a mile. It took us about half an hour, but it felt like about 3 hours or more. Mark took it like a trooper, and Cashel did so great! I was just a few minute behind them, but by the end was barely putting one foot in front of another. It was so completely more than exhausting, but we made it!

Never before or likely ever again have we ever done something so insane, but it will definitely be one of those memories that sticks with us for the rest of our lives :)