Girdwood Forest Fair 2012

 Who knew that after a four-day/three-night camping trip we'd jump right back into the car and head for another Alaska first? Girdwood, a ski resort town that houses the Alyeska Resort, holds an annual Forest Fair. I don't know about you, but an event titled as such brings to mind hippies, peace signs, and folk music for me. I was intrigued and figured it was a worthwhile jaunt down the beautiful Turnagain Arm (and I also had an ulterior motive...but more on that later).

As expected, traffic was congested as it seems the population of Anchorage made the trip down with us.  Thankfully, the major wreck that closed down the Seward Hwy a couple hours beforehand had already been cleared, or it would have added another hour to the drive.

Anyway...we managed to find some parking (after some helpful tips from a dear friend who was already there), and we strolled down the Alyeska Hwy back to the fair entrance.

After crossing the Glacier Creek bridge, a sign prompted us to take the trail that wound down to the banks of the creek and under the bridge for the "Forest Fair ShortCut".

Had to take a picture with Glacier Creek and the mountains in the back. Notice the heavy clouds. On a clear day, from this vantage point, several glaciers are in clear view.

The kids thought the graffiti art under the bridge was kind of cute. (Little Livy asked if she could pocket a gold nugget)

 The fair is situated in the community park section of Girdwood in, yes, you guessed it, the middle of the forest. Admission was free. Rules were: No Pets, No Religious Views, No Politics.  Okay, well, I guess that's simple enough. There were many booths offering various wares...mostly handmade crafts...but I'm not really into that kind of thing, so we just bypassed them all.

There were quite a few people. I'm not a big fan of crowds. :-/

We shared a plate of what Livy calls "Funny Cake" and called it a day after letting the girls play in the wooden playground.

The highlight of the trip wasn't directly related to the fair at all.  It was this fella, who apparently is with its baby cub up there. See that black splotch in the trees? Yes, that is a momma bear, just loungin' up there, checking out the going's on below (and maybe hoping to sneak food scraps later on). Sorry for the crap picture, serious threat of rain led me to leave the nice camera at home.

Oh, and the other motive for coming down? I had gotten wind of some nice blueberry picking locations on the internet and wanted to check it out myself. After prompting the hubby to drive down the ##### road (heehee it's secret) and actually getting out to peer into the area, blueberries EVERYWHERE!...just still little green ones for now...but man, I CANNOT wait until late August to pick pick pick.