An Alaskan Adventure: Part 2

<<< That is the view from atop what they call haystack mountain. Which is another 4 miles up the dirt road from the homestead. Its apparently called "haystack" because there is this rock formation that looks like a haystack from below.

So continuing onward, after that first night which I spent at the homestead with my family I was whisked away to stay elsewhere in town for the rest of the week with the other bridesmaids. I knew Kaylee of course and I had met one of the other girls before but the rest of them I didn't know. I am a bit of an introvert so before I went up there to the wedding I was a little concerned as to how this was going to work out. I knew I could do and put up with just about anything, but I really didn't want to feel awkward or uncomfortable the entire week. But these other Alaskan girls I met (and most people up there really) were really welcoming and friendly. I immediately felt at ease with them, which was a huge thing off my mind. And like I said actually all the people I met in Alaska were very friendly. Typically when you go places like this people really don't like outsiders or tourists, but I found that Alaska where we were it was completely different. They tried to make everyone feel at home.

So the next few days were spent getting ready for the ceremony on Friday. Which included a lot of hard work but also a lot of play. On Tuesday night all the girls went out for a bachelorette party. Which turned out to be a blast. At one point they all decided to go swimming in the river. I opted out of that one because it was cool out and I was already cold. I took pictures instead. haha Apparently the river was even colder because they all came out shivering. :D

Oh and here's a random picture of me and a horse I found in Alaska. :D

The day after that we had the rehearsal dinner out at the homestead. I found the whole thing amusing because we didn't actually rehearse. We rehearsed the wedding the next day out at the ski lodge where the actual wedding was going to take place. At the rehearsal dinner we just ate hamburgers and played games.

And on a side note, this entire week I had no cell phone service. So I really had no way to get in touch with my family the whole week. I was just hoping I was where I was supposed to be and wouldn't get left anywhere! lol It ended up working out fine... Which was good...

Then Thursday we actually rehearsed. And it poured down rain. And the wedding was outside. So we rehearsed in the pouring down rain. And when you weren't concerned about getting hypothermia in July it was actually kind of funny. Very memorable.

And then we've finally gotten around to Friday. So that morning there was a wedding party breakfast out at the homestead, and then everyone was supposed to get ready and do pictures after that. Now the night before one of the girls was designated to do everyone's hair for the wedding, and she decided to put curlers in my hair and the maid of honors hair. Which led to the question of what were we supposed to do the next morning when we were eating breakfast with all the family and the groomsmen. At which point Leah (the maid of honor) was like "well I'll leave them in my hair if you do". And I was like well as long as I'm not the only person doing it! So, yeah, we showed up at the wedding breakfast looking very, er, disheveled with curlers in our hair and no makeup. It was, uh, a great lesson in humility and self confidence. LOL But it did work! My hair was very curled when those things came out. And my hair does not curl easily

I'm on the right. You can sorta see my dress here as we stand in
 the ceremony waiting for the rest of the peeps to get to the front.
Gorgeous location though, notice the trees in the background.

After breakfast everyone got ready. And once Kaylee out her wedding dress on there was basically lots of crying for the rest of the day. Tears of joy, I think? haha. :D

And we did all the bridal party photos. Which you're supposed to stand there and smile while you get eaten alive by mosquitoes. They've got TONS of misquotes up there. Its kind of ridiculous. But hopefully the photographer was able to work around that.

And then off to the ski lodge for the actual wedding. Which went really well. (accept for the small part where I nearly fell off the stairs during the ceremony when I walked down to the front. thank goodness that my groomsman escort caught me lolol) (at which point we started to laugh in the middle of the ceremony and had to shut up quickly) (I think I am just a lunatic) (if anyone was going to trip it had to be me) But the ceremony was really gorgeous. Certainly a day people will not quickly forget.

Yeah, they're pretty cute together. :D

We stayed in Alaska for about 3 days after the wedding simply so we'd have time to do a little sightseeing. We visited the North Pole (some town called that not the real thing) which had reindeer. We also got to see a hot spring. Most of my family went swimming in it, but I didn't really feel like it. Something about swimming in Alaska just doesn't compute with my brain. And my personal favorite, we drove four-wheelers up to the top of the mountain. Which was SO much fun and the view was AMAZING!

Our four-wheelers at the top of haystack.

And then we flew home. (well there was other stuff involved but this post is really long and I'm sure you all are tired of reading it lol)

I'm still a bit jet lagged. The time difference there was pretty weird. But is was such a cool experience. I hope to visit the last frontier again one day!!