Alaskan Bonfires & Josh's Reunion

We are back in Los Angeles after a wonderful week in Alaska. Here is a recap of our last few days.

Thursday evening, we had a bonfire in my mom’s backyard by the river.




PJ and Makenzie came over, and we ate s’mores, drank some local microbrew, and relaxed.


Friday was a fabulously lazy day. Josh and I went by Short Stop again for joe joes and ice cream, and I vegged around the house with my book.

My mom’s house is like a cozy cabin. I took a couple of photos of the exterior:


She had the most gorgeous hanging plants on the porch.


Friday afternoon, we ate lunch at Veronica’s with Makenzie and Ashley. Veronica's is even more charming than it was when we were in high school. We sat there for almost three hours, munched on soup and sandwiches, and caught up.

Friday evening was the first of the reunion events: a bonfire on the Kenai beach. Since there isn’t much to do in Kenai except enjoy the beauty of one’s surroundings and drink, bonfires at the beach were very popular in our high school days. Actually, the first time I hung out with Josh was at an end-of-the-year bonfire he and PJ were putting on at the end of my freshman year of high school.

The beaches in Kenai are are spectacularly beautiful. My mom and I used to walk the beach in the evenings after dinner. That is one of the things I miss most about Alaska.

As we walked toward the bonfire, the sun was starting to go down (at about 10:30 p.m.).


The pebbles on the beach were glowing and so gorgeous. I really like this picture.


The bonfire was pretty mellow. Josh brought a growler of brew from Kassicks which was fabulous. Makenzie and I broke away from the group for awhile to stroll the beach and catch up.

Saturday, Doug took us on a ride on their new boat up and down the river. It reminded me of the many summers we spent at the cottage on the lake in Canada swimming and taking day trips in the boat. Those were good days.

After, we came back to the house to hang out a bit before the reunion dinner in the evening.

A cute candid shot of mom and Josh.


The reunion was in the evening at a restaurant called Paradisos. The food was mediocre, and the event itself was somewhat anticlimactic, but again, it was nice to sit with Mak and Ashley since we never see each other.

Also, I think we are some of the few people in Josh’s class without kids. Many of Josh’s classmates have three to four kids by now! So, the babies were passed around …


I snapped only a couple of pics of the event …


Makenzie and Josh.


Zak, PJ, and Josh.


After the reunion dinner, we went out to some local bars where we saw even more classmates. Crazy. Josh and I finally made it home at 3 a.m.!

Sunday, we ate breakfast at my favorite breakfast spot, Louie’s. I had reindeer sausage and eggs, which is so unbelievably delicious. It was the best sausage I have ever had. Ever.

Our flight was smooth, Bug and Ajax picked us up and brought us home to our house and puppies.

And today, it was back to the grindstone. Le sigh.