It will give you whiplash up here. 9 days ago it was snowing strongly, and now it is 80 degrees and a constant commercial for all of the reasons anyone would want to live in Alaska -- blue skies, sunshine, 20 hours of daylight, and miles and miles of trails.

Henry and I headed out to the Eagle River Nature Center for some hiking, deciding to choose the jogging stroller over the backpack. The trails are pretty wide and mellow for the first several miles so the stroller was an excellent choice. As for the trail alongside the river on the return leg, I quickly found myself carrying the stroller with Henry and the diaper bag inside over 20-30 yard stretches of mud and downed trees. In the past I have been guilty of describing hikes with Henry as short, mild walks that I hoped would become longer and more rigorous as time goes on. On Sunday this 2 hour hike gave me all I could handle.





As I become muddier and muddier while carrying a charioted Henry over the obstacles, he began playing peek-a-boo to the huffing and puffing Daddy above him. He had a great time and we will be hiking again as soon as possible, though in the future the Albert Loop is not on the list of choices.