Adventures in Alaska

Recently

2009-05-30T18:24:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple things I've been up to recently. In short, a tour of kenai fjords national park, checking out glaciers, lots of camping, and lots more fishing. I'll just stick to the pictures!

Also, lots of impromptu baths in icy cold creeks. My face should pretty much say it all!

The Good Good

2009-05-06T00:47:00.000-07:00

The past week has been pretty much unreal. Think sunshine and 70 degrees pretty much every day. With the exception of today (sunny and 60), spring has definitely sprung. Leaves are starting to pop out and the daylight situation is pretty ridiculous. Lots of the local lakes are all ice free now, so of course I've been fishing a bunch.

After work on Friday, we went out to one of my favorite lakes (DeLong), and Sam and the Browns joined. Sam had his introduction to fly fishing. He did an awesome job and picked it up very quickly. I love having partners in crime.

Saturday I ran around like a mad man, just soaking up every ounce of sunshine I could. It's funny the difference a couple of months makes. Pretty much completely dark all the time to completely light. It's kind of confusing when it's light outside at 11 pm. I find myself forgetting to eat and generally do anything productive (e.g. household chores).

I just decided this post will be very random...I've been meaning to post some of these pictures for a while, and am finally getting around to doing so. Thanks midnight shifts! First is some more Redoubt goodness. Apparently we're headed for another eruption in the near future. Whatever. Here's a shot from the webcam near the peak tonight when I got into work:

The crazy thing here is if you look at the time stamps on the photos. The first one is some time around 10 pm. The next one is around 1130 pm. I guess that's what daylight and a full moon gets ya.

Here are some ash pictures when one of the eruptions sent ash into Anchorage. I was at work when the ash cloud moved into town and was leaving to head home right around the peak. It was basically like a dust storm. A dust storm that smelled like sulfur. The picture following showing the road while driving probably won't mean much to those of you who haven't been here yet, but usually at this point on the drive home you can see the big ole mountains on the east side of the city. Instead it just looks like a really humid summer Carolina day. Pretty crazy stuff though...so here they are: one with ash on the Subaru, one with ash on the snow, and one while driving.

Alright. So getting back on track...

Sunday provided an excellent opportunity for the first camping trip of the summer. HOpefully it was the first of many. The original plan was to head to this place called the Johnson Pass Trail and hike up into the mountains. Unfortunately, May still means about 2 - 3 feet of snow on the trail in the low elevations. So we scratched that idea and headed up to the Russian River. The Russian River is one of those places that is the epitome of what many people think of when they think of Alaska. This is the place where tons of footage of bears grabbing salmon jumping up water falls comes from. Since it's still so early in the year, we saw no bears or salmon. I am perfectly fine with the former, and can continue to wait another month for the latter.

Most of the campgrounds are still closed, but we camped at this place called Hidden Lake. It sits in the mountains just off the Kenai River where it dumps into Skilak Lake. The overlook has one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. You can look across the Kenai River, see Skilak Lake, see some smaller mountains, and way on out there is the start of the Harding Ice Field. Unfortunately the point and shoot did essentially no justice, especially without soem kind of polarizing lense. Until I can get a cooler shot, I won't even do the diservice of posting a shot of this place.

Moving on...we set up camp, got a nice fire going, and generally enjoyed the beautiful evening. The mosquitos were out of freaking control. Think of everything you've heard about bugs in Alaska...it's true. Luckily Kim had brought some 100% deet along, and that worked pretty well as long as we applied it every couple of hours. Funny story, we didn't have a cooler, but did have some ingredients for gin and tonics. The best refrigeration? Partially ice covered Hidden Lake. We went old school style and left the gin and bottle of tonic water in the lake for a bit, and after about 2 hours enjoyed some ice cold refreshments. For some reason I thought that Dad would really enjoy both the fact that we utilized natural refrigeration and gin and tonics, so Dad, there ya go!

It was crazy trying to go to sleep when it's light outside until about midnight, and light outside again at about 4 am. We did see 4 or 5 stars around midnight, but even by then the moon was killing our chances.

We got up and got moving Monday morning to another fantastically beautiful day. Drove up to the Russian River area and hit the trail. We first hiked to the russian river falls, about a 2.3 mile hike. Next we doubled back for a bit and got on the Russian Lakes trailhead. We hiked about 4 or 5 miles on this trail to the end of the first lake. Here's the view looking north back towards the Kenai River:

We took a break here and enjoyed the view and day. It is pretty hard to explain how much you appreciate a day as beautiful as this once you've been through -20 and 8 nmonths of snow. Not to mention a serious lack of daylight for several months.

We kept commenting on how nice the day was, and how much we just really appreciated it. So we hiked back to the car and made our way back to Anchortown.

To say I was exhausted by the time we got home is a complete understatement. I've always been a huge fan of sleep, but I think I set some records today. i went to bed at 11 at the latest, woke up at 7 this morning, went back to sleep from 8 until 1. Got up to eat and get some groceries, and then slept again from about 4pm until 630 this evening. So here I am back on midnights and still completely wiped out.

The most beautiful part of it all? The smallest Madderson had an awesome time. I have never seen a living being go so hard for so long. In the span of this trip she:

- ran around Hidden Lake campground at will and made friends with the women camping nearby
- ate mosquitoes
- ate about 10 lbs of sticks
- threw up about 1 lb of stick in my car (easiest clean up yet!)

and if we hiked probably about 12 miles yesterday, she probably hiked about 30. From when we got home last night about 7pm until i left for work this evenings, she has barely moved.

A tired Boykin Spaniel is the best Boykin Spaniel!

Springggg Timeeee

2009-04-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Sung in a cabaret voice of course. Finally, this place resembles real life. Sunshine (sometimes), more decent temperatures, and no snow (at the lower elevations at least)! We're up to about 16 hours or more of daylight. At midnight you can see a bit of twilight to the north, and by 4 in the morning it starts to every so slowly get light again.

It's a crazy thing...trying to go to bed when it's still light outside. I welcome it, though. I find myself missing meals and staying up too late, because I'm running around fishing or taking Maddy on walks. Speaking of fishing, H2O is slowly deciding to exist in a liquid form again. It's crazy. I saw some rain the other day...pretty much for the first time since September. Lakes are slowly melting, and the rivers are pretty much all broken up. Now we just need some leaves...maybe this week (fingers crossed).

So I don't have a ton of sweet pictures to show that I personally took, but I do have some that Andy took on a recent adventure. This past Saturday we drove down to the Kenai River for some fishing. It was cold, and the fishing was slow, but it was great to be out.

It was not super cold, but with the wind blowing and wet hands, I seriously had the coldest hands ever in my entire life. In fact, my fingers are still tingling (just kidding Mom). So without further ado, here's the good stuff.

looking down river. very beautiful

looking toward the outlet of kenai lake and the bridge at cooper landing.

great picture here. just pondering life and how Cameron has the ability to warm his hands simply through thought. No kidding, he can make his hands warm up by just thinking about it.

we saw a ton of eagles that day. here is an immature with a mature eagle. they chilled in the tree pretty much all morning. i would say I probably saw 2 dozen eagles that day. pretty neat.

this is how i looked yesterday. Andy and Lisa put on a fundraising lunch for babies. The food was stinking delicious. This is my round of seconds. I "slayed" some cookies too. The sugar crash at about 3 pm was tough, but I powered through.

Thankfully I took a razor to my boy beard last night. Also notice the crackhead-like dry area around my face. Dry skin up here is seriously ridiculous. I think I'm slowly shedding now that its sort of warm out.

Alright, more to come soon(ish).

Redoubt Continued

2009-04-06T00:46:00.000-07:00

19 eruptions thus far. Thankfully things have started to get a bit quieter though...until Saturday morning at about 6 am. Redoubt had a pretty intense eruption...one of the most powerful yet. The ash went about 50,000 ft. up, but this eruption lasted for over an hour.

I've got more images to share, especially for those who like satellite images and other assorted weather weenie things.

First... here is a video a guy took of one of the eruptions. It's a time lapse of 26 minutes I think? Gives you a great idea for how ridiculously powerful a volcano is:

http://vimeo.com/3892358

The video is of previous eruptions, whereas the rest of this stuff is from recent eruptions.

This is a MODIS image (satellite), true color, taken today. You can really see the ash down on the southern Kenai Peninsula. I always like satellite images of this place, because it gives you such a good idea of how huge the state really is! For example, it takes about 5 hours to drive to Homer. Homer being the city/town most affected by this particular ashfall. I think it's funny that Homer is a big destination for people from Anchorage...but it's so far away. It's like driving to DC from Raleigh.

Moving on...here's some web cam images from Homer Saturday morning. Crazy stuff. The first image is around 630 am, right when it's starting to get light out these days. Next image is from 7:20 am. You can tell something's not quite right, because it looks sort of "orange-ish" outside. This is the approaching ash cloud. Next, at 7:40 am, essentially pitch black night outside. Mmmm ashfall. Good stuff!

I have been meaning to upload some pictures I took here around town when we had some ashfall. I also collected some ash samples (as requested), so those should be reaching the inquirees soon enough.

I'll stop here, so I can get back to work (yay for midnight shifts). Otherwise, things are going alright these days. We've had some beautiful days, with a whole lot of daylight. Up to about 14 hours a day now. When i drove in to work tonight, at 9:45, it was still twilight outside. Wierd stuff. Oh yea I forgot the bonus webcam sunrise image of redoubt the other morning. pretty spectacular if you ask me.

Redoubt finally does its deal

2009-03-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

Redoubt finally decided to start erupting. I think it was about a week ago now...man it's been one of the longest weeks of my life. I feel like all I've done is work since that day...which I basically have!

So, first off, no need to be concerned. I'm awaiting the inevitable phone call from my mom when she gets out of the mountains this weekend and gets some cell phone coverage. Funny things... you know...moms. We did have some ashfall in Anchorage yesterday. It smelled like sulfur, and was basically like a dust storm. Lots of crap getting in your eyes, and just enough particulate matter to make you question whether you should really be breathing the crap or not.

Otherwise, no harm no foul. So without further ado, here are some pictures and assorted images related to the volcano. I mean, that's why you're here anyways, right?

This is a satellite image (true color) taken the day after the first round of explosions. You can see the ash deposits along the Susitna Valley and along the Alaska Range. Anchorage is located in the lower center of photograph, on the tip of the little peninsula.

Pyroclastic lightning due to one of the eruptions two nights ago. This photograph was taken from about 50 miles away from the volcano. This is hardcore. I like it.
A picture of the lava dome the day before the explosion. Look at all that snow just waiting to be melted and start a flood
This picture was taken from Homer during one of the explosions. Pretty much every explosion has been obscured by clouds (much to everyone's dismay). Finally, a decent shot of the plume.
Pretty neat image taken from a satellite positioned over Asia. This eruption went up to above 60,000 feet. Pretty cool to see.
Here's another satellite image of one of the eruptions where the ash got wrapped into a low pressure system. I believe this one is from this past Friday.

This is the Drift River Valley, which drains the glacier/snow from the summit of Redoubt. With pretty much every eruption there's a little flash flood in this valley. Fortunately, no one really lives here. Unfortunately, there's an oil refinery at the outlet of the valley that drains into cook inlet. I think something like 60,000 barrels of oil are currently stored there. There are dikes that have thus far protected the refinery from creating an environmental disaster.
This is taken from the north side of Redoubt, in the Crescent River Valley. These mountains are actually snow covered... they're just coated in ash!
And finally...this is what the ash cloud looked like moving over Homer last Friday. Pretty freaky looking.

Before anyone asks.... I have not yet seen Pierce Brosnan. It would be pretty sweet if he did drive by in that Jeep with the tires on fire though.

Updates have been requested

2009-03-14T01:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry for falling off the blogging bandwagon once again. Not that things have been uninteresting, though. Let's see...since my last update Mt.Redoubt has pansied out and decided it will likely not erupt anytime soon. We'll see, I guess. Back in January a friend of mine's sister, and her friend, moved out to Anchorage. It's been great having them around. You know...some people who know the value of Bojangles. They've been doing the majority of the picture taking, so I think all of the following pics were taken by them.

So besides heading home for 10 days at the end of February, quite a few activities have taken place. There's been some ice fishing, downhill skiing at Alyeska (Girdwood), a quick trip down to the Kenai, watching the ceremonial start of the Iditarod, and a snowshoeing adventure.

I won't chronicle everything, but it's been nice to be able to have some company and get outdoors more. The daylight situation is pretty fantastic these days. We're up to almost 12 hours of daylight, so things are back to normal I'd say. It doesn't even get completely dark until near 9pm. It's still been kind of chilly, but 30 degrees and sunny here is pretty darn nice!

So here are some pics taken during various activities. I will try my best to get back to blogging more over the next couple of months. Right now I'm just wishing Spring/Summer (whatever you call it here) to come along. Anyone who knows me decently well can easily assume i'm going just about half crazy to be able to start fishing!

Here Holly and I are at the Iditarod ceremonial start enjoying a reindeer dog. No joke, these things were delicious...but I paid dearly in indigestion later!

This was taken back in January on the quick afternoon trip down the Kenai. This is maybe 3 in the afternoon...thankfully the sun situation is pretty awesome right now. I even managed to get a sunburn/windburn the other day after snowshoeing. Thank God for sunlight reflection off the snow. I was told when I was back home that I "wasn't as pale" as everyone had expected. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Last, here we have a shot looking down and across Turnagain Arm from the ski resort Alyeska. The conditions were fantastic. I think in the future when summoned for trips to Wintergreen, I will participate solely as moral support. It's tough to think about skiing on fake icy snow again once you can have great powder and untouched groomed trails all day!

The Upside to Situational Awareness

2009-02-02T18:26:00.000-08:00

Staring at the Redbout webcam is not without its benefits. Beautiful sunsets. It seems like the past couple of days the sun lowers in just the right place to light up the steam plume in a beautiful way.

Here is what it looks like right now:

I heard a rumor about 65 degrees back in the old north state today. and then a chance of snow tonight and tomorrow. sure... the weather's crazy there, but thats the best of both worlds. We're stuck just above zero. The joke's over at some point, right?

The Waiting Game

2009-02-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

I officially would like to call Mt.Redoubt out. Erupt already, or go back dormant. I'm getting tired of looking at your seismic activity and webcam views non stop at work. We are as ready as we're gonna be. Take any longer and you're just going to be the volcano who cried wolf. You've been on the national news, you've been on the international news...oh I get it, you're selfish. Just come on!

For the record, here is what work mainly involves these days: using an excellent page developed by none other than Mr.Sam Shea, which shows some webigrams (seismic activity) and some webcams. One webcam is pointed at the mountain from across Cook Inlet. The other one is situated just north of mountain on an opposing peak... I think it's like 7 or 8 miles away. Here is what it looks like currently:

And sure, it's really neat stuff...but I feel like we've all been in queue for the past week waiting for this thing to go! All I ask is that it keeps the ash away from the city. I have no desire to walk around in a dusk mask like the residents of China did during the Avian Flu outbreak or whatever it was. I equally have no desire to find out how harmful ash can actually be. But man, the view will be spectacular!

Alaska goes hardcore

2009-01-26T14:46:00.000-08:00

This week is shaping up to be quite interesting. It started on Saturday morning with a 6.1 magnitude earthquake. This is by far the strongest I've experienced since I have been here. We had a 5.4 or something back when Mom was here... but since my apt is on the east side of town on more stable ground, it wasn't much to talk about. I texted Mom at the airport to see if she noticed it and her reply was "Is that what it was? A really big lady walked by me and I thought the airport was poorly constructed to allow the floor the shake like that." This is the exact thing she texted by the way.

So this one was much more intense...it first started with a nice little jolt and the building at work was making funny noises. Then the good part started and went on for maybe 15-20 seconds. It was odd for sure. I think earthquakes freak me out more than any other natural phenomena. If there's one thing you can usually count on, it is the fact that the ground is steady. Not so, friends!

Then I come into work yesterday (Sunday) and am informed that one of the volcanoes south of Anchorage is acting up. This particular volcano is Mt. Redoubt. It last erupted in 1989/1990 for several months. There's some crazy pictures on google images if you look it up of the eruption. I would be laying if I didn't say I hope this thing explodes. Fortunately no one is really around the area of concern for the volcano, so Pierce Brosnan will be riding around in his Jeep with the wheels melting for no reason. Here's a pic of the last explosion:

Thats some cool stuff. So I'm being responsible and stocking up on some extra air filters and what not. Doesn't matter if everyone gets off work because of ashfall and stuff.... we'll still have to work!

On a separate note, the cold has returned. We've gotten back to seasonal temps (highs in the 20s, lows in the low teens). Unfortunately though we haven't had hardly any snow since Christmas Day. I think we've had a whopping .7 inches since the nice storm when Dad got here. the good news is it looks like we might be in for a decent snow through the end of the week. Of course with this good news comes the fact that it's supposed to get really cold again by the weekend. I could do without -25 again... so we'll see how bad it really ends up getting.

Since i have no radically awesome photos to share again, I will post one of what Anc is looking like today:

Nice and sunny the past couple of days. Like I said back in November or December... I do NOT take it for granted any more!

Crazy Weather

2009-01-19T16:46:00.000-08:00

The weather, in its stereotypically selfish ways, seems to be unconcerned with what "normal" is. Since being locked in the deep freeze for the first part of January.... we residents in Alaska have so gratefully sent the cold air down south to NC and beyond. This past week I was on a string of midnights, and the weather was just nuts. In something like 3 days we went from below zero to 50 degrees. 50 degrees, in January, in Alaska? Oddly enough, this is the warmest it's been since I moved here!

I've hit some personal milestones throughout the temperature swing adventure. First zero felt "a little warm". While walking up to launch a balloon one day I actually unzipped my jacket because I was sweating. Then came the freezing mark. Might as well have been the first warm spring day. Then 50 happened. I told the guys at work I was tempted to launch the next weather balloon in only a speedo.

*Note: for those of you unfamiliar with how I actually do things, this is not a joke at all. If I thought I could get away with it without getting fired, I honestly would have been up to it

With the warm weather came some crazy weather though. First, it started raining.... pretty much the first rain I've seen since leaving NC. Unfortunately, the ground was still very very cold, so everything just became a complete icy disaster. It took my near an hour to get home one morning, and I don't know how I didn't end up in a ditch... or someone's rear bumper. It was like someone drove a zamboni around the entire city. I've never seen anything like it.

With the rain and ice came a lot of wind. I launched a couple weather balloons in 40+ mph wind. If you've never seen a short guy try to handle a wildly flopping 10-ft. diameter balloon filled with helium in 40 mph winds, I suggest you look it up on youtube (I wish I had a video). I basically just got taken for a ride with the balloon pulling me around the launch area... which was coated with about 2 or 3 inches of straight ice.

Something else that is pretty funny to me was that school got cancelled. That's right, the hardest of the hardcore (supposedly) cancelled school for 3 days. I guess the funny part is that it took rain to cancel school.... forget the 55 inches of snow we've had so far this year. It's completely understandable, because getting around was tough, but I think I share a sinister satisfaction in the situation that all Southerners will share with me.

Otherwise things have been pretty low key around here since Dad left. We've lost all of our snow, so snow sports arent really happening right now. I have a couple days off later this week so may end up going to chase some grouse and arctic hare again. Daylight is increasing at about 5 minutes a day... and the difference in unbelievable already. I also started taking Vitamin D supplements, because I was starting to feel like a vampire when I saw the sun.

So there's a quick update from my end. I hope yall enjoy the cold weather down south and here's to a snowstorm in NC finally materializing (although I've had like a thousand inches of snow this year anyway, sooo. soooo.)

Dad's Visit - Finally!

2009-01-13T16:22:00.000-08:00

I apologize, for it has taken me much too long to post all this stuff on the blog. Dad flew out here on Christmas Day. His trip got started off with an interesting set of circumstances. Namely, when I went to crank the car to pick him up from the airport my battery died! Awesome, so in the midst of some of the heaviest snow we've had all winter, I finally got a jump from a neighbor, and went to pick him up. Come to find out, they lost his one checked bag....awesome! He ended up getting his bag, we got a new car battery, and the nice Christmas snow finally ended.

The rest of the trip was seriously the best weather we've had since I've been here, although with the clear skies came some seriously cold temperatures. Scuttlebutt is that the alaska cold has been on the news some on the lower 48, so maybe yall have heard about it? Either way, work was interesting through the cold snap. Lots of media interviews, lots of principals calling to ask what the temperature was, to figure out if they could have recess. So, how cold you may ask? Well, with the exception of about 30 minutes, the NWS office was below zero for something like 7 or 8 days.

It was one of the coldest cold snaps in the city's history. Like I said, at my apartment it was between 15 and 25 below for about a week. That kind of cold results in some interesting observation, but that's not what this post is about!

So the first day dad was here we just ran some errands and stuff...since i was coming off a loooong string of midnight shifts I was pretty out of it.

The next morning we went up to this place called Glen Alps to watch the sunrise. Glen Alps is a little state park area on the hillside (read mountains to any carolina folk) that overlooks the city. With the sunrise and clear weather you can see pretty much forever. You can see volcanoes, the Alaska Range, the Talkeetna mountains, Cook Inlet, Kenai Peninsula, and the city of Anchorage laid out before you. Here's a pic of dad and I before the sunrise, and a look over the city:

The next day we drove down to the Kenai Peninsula. It was awesome to take that drive this time of year, and I hadn't driven that far since I was down there back in October. Winter was in full effect down there too, and it was pretty cold when we stopped at the Russian River.

This picture was on the Kenai River at the Russian River Ferry. It was -11, but with the fog it felt like -1 million. Even though it's been much colder since, that's the coldest I've ever been in my life. I was so cold I couldn't think... it was like my brain was rejecting standing there to take a picture. The river was essentially a slushy. It's crazy seeing a moving river that wants to freeze so bad, but can't, because the current is so strong. The fish that are in that river are hardcore. I hope to meet them this spring and summer.

Moving on, the next day we drove north toward Talkeetna, and beyond, to get a better close-up view of Denali. It was pretty chilly up there, somewhere around -30. The wind was blowing like crazy, and the wind chill was below -50. We got to this overlook at the Chulitna River, and hiked up this little knoll to get a clear view. I started laughing at the fact that I was crying, and every time I would blink, the tears would freeze my eyes shut. So every 15 seconds I had to clear the ice off my eyes so I could see. Dad's face during all of this had a look that I had never seen. It was like he was internally questioning how ridiculous we were for doing this. The view was definitely worth it though. We agreed it is very difficult to comprehend the sheer mass of the mountain. This is the mountain from about 50 miles away:

The thing that's so crazy is the bottomlands at the base of the mountain is only at about 700' above sea level. The peak is over 20,000 ft. high. The mountains surrounding the immediate peak of Denali appear like babies, but they are themselves 11 to 12 thousand ft peaks. It really is difficult to really comprehend.

Unfortunately I had to work a couple days while Dad was here, so the events were pretty low key after this day. We went up to Glen Alps a few more times. Once during the day to see some brighter views of the city, and once at night in hopes to see some Aurora. No northern lights were seen, but the view was once again beautiful, and we saw some shooting stars.

We ate some delicious food on New Years. Crazy thing about that... the city has an outside party that night. It was like -10 out. I could hardly walk the 4 blocks from the restaurant to the car, forget being outside for a few hours. Those people either really love New Years, or they were sipping on the good(bad) stuff.

Of course, the ice fishing trip has been previously chronicled. So that was about the visit. I was sad to see the old man go, but that's life. I did recently buy a ticket back home at the end of February, so that is my event to look forward to now. I've always been that way. I need something to be excited about at all times. I fully intend to eat nothing but Indian food, Bojangles, Chik-fil-A, and burritos the entire time I'm back. I hope to gain sufficient weight to carry me through the remainder of the winter.

Here is a picture Dad took that I really like.... I'll end this post here. Hope everyone is having a good week!

PS - to Tom and Cameron. The down jacket is the real deal once it gets down below zero. Before that it's a sauna... but the way the weather has been the past 3 weeks, if it werent for that jacket I would either be frozen and dead somewhere, or simply weeping inside with cabin fever. So thanks again brothers.

Ice Fishing Pics.... and Video

2009-01-08T13:24:00.000-08:00

Dad and I standing around the ice hole. This is probably taken around 3 or so. Sunsets last forever around here.
One of the modern gentleman.
The eagle grabbing a fish. What large talons. It's exhilarating to be so close to such a wild thing happening.

And here is a link to the video Andy posted on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjLd2hjJHko&feature=channel_page

Enjoy.... and seriously, once i get some time off I'll post all the pictures from other stuff with a run down of the past two weeks or so.

The Coldest Activity Known to Man

2009-01-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

Ice Fishing. Oh, ice fishing. While Dad was up here we had to do it. We met Andy at a lake near work and tried our hand at this outlandish activity. Speaking of my Dad's visit, I will get an update on here with pics and stories and whatnot, but he took like 500 pictures, so it's hard to get down to the bread and butter. I digress...

So the whole time Dad was here it was colder than the depths of hell (I can convinced hell is actually a freezing cold place, but more on that later). Anywho, on the particular day we decided to go try our hand at ice fishing it was a balmy -10. Oddly, this was one of the warmer days while Dad was here. It's been stuck between -15 and -25 at my apartment for the past 10 days.

So we went out there, dressed to the hilt, with an ice auger we borrowed from a guy at work. I was thinking this whole auger drilling process would happen fairly quickly.... WRONG! It took over an hour to drill through the foot and a half of ice.

NOTE: I have been told since this trip to never drill in a pre existing hole. That would have been awesome to know beforehand!

So we broke through after quite a bit of work, then got to fishing. Andy was just getting off work as we started fishing. We caught probably 15-20 little fish. they were blackfish and landlocked chinook salmon. Small fellas, biggest one was probably 6 or 7 inches. I had the glory of catching both the smallest AND largest fish on the day. the smallest one was a little baby.

So onto the awesome part of the trip. For all you PETA lamos reading this (yea i just called you out) take solace in the fact that I did not harvest any little fishy for personal use. I did, however, feed the fish to the bald eagles perched in a nearby tree. It was awesome. Here are some pics Andy posted of one of the eagles, and one of the eagles swooping down and grabbing the fish I so kindly placed on the snow for him:

Ok just kidding. The pictures aren't uploading, so I'll have to get them up later.
Sorry!

So long story short, we caught some fish, fed some bald eagles, while simultaneously learning how cold your feet can truly feel.

When we got home I think it took both of us close to two hours before our feet were truly warm again.

I'm not sure when you can actually consider someone crazy, but Andy and I are hoping to head back out there this weekend.... so the verdict is still out.

Ode to the Winter Solstice

2008-12-21T00:06:00.000-08:00

The shortest day of the year has finally arrived! Given, I won't see it, because I haven't seen daylight since the 11th due to midnights, but the thought that it is here is enough.

Sunrise this morning is at 10:15 and sunset is at 3:43. I know, a whopping five and a half hours of "daylight". Sam... When you read this, I apologize for always stealing your pictures, but they're just always too good.

Sam took this picture today at about 1:30 in the afternoon. So for those of you who always ask about the daylight situation, here is about how high the sun gets in the sky (solar elevation is about 5 degrees). Without further ado:

I reckon all of this goes without saying that I currently have the best tan I've ever had in my entire life! In all honesty, sometimes when I look in the mirror after sleeping all day, with bags under my eyes... I briefly confuse my appearance with one of a zombie (slightly kidding)!

Another cool picture that I'll get to in a second is once again of the alaska range as seen from town. I love the fact that, when it's clear (and it often isn't), you can see just about for ever. These mountains are well over a hundred miles away, but are so crisp. The other night, I had just woken up (sometime around 4) and was driving up to the grocery store (Fred Meyer, whoever you are, your grocery stores are freaking genius!). I noticed this pink area on the horizon... and it happened to be Denali (Mt. McKinley) still pink in the light of sunset, although the sun had set quite a bit ago in Anchorage. I guess that's about the only benefit of sticking your neck up into the atmosphere 20,000 ft. + up.

So anyway, here's a picture looking toward the Alaskan Range and over a frozen Cook Inlet.

I tell ya, I really am starting to think ducks and geese are smarter than I give them credit for. While we've been up here in sub-freezing temperatures for the past several months, some of those fowl were soaking up 70 degrees and sun late last week in NC. Oh the envy.

Well, that's enough for now.... I should be getting back to work!

Distance

2008-12-16T04:35:00.000-08:00

The distance between here and north carolina is deceiving. You get on a plane, you stay on it for a long time... you get here. I had often thought, pre departure, of the funny things I would think of when leaving. Oddly enough, when it came time to take off at RDU I was very excited. As we took off I started thinking of all the goodbyes... and a few stand out.

Dad's face when I drove away from Rucker Johns (speaking of which holy crap i miss those honey drizzled croissants)
saying goodbye after eating at 42nd street with the fellas (speaking of which holy crap i miss that seafood bisque and softshells)
When i said bye to Mom the morning I left
Standing with Cameron outside the terminal neither of us willing to really walk away and make it final

But I was in good spirits throughout the flight. The funny part came when we started to descend into Anchorage itself. Save for a light here or there throughout the flight from Seattle to ANC there were no real cities to speak of. Then you start to descend and see this little speck of civilization nestled between the mountains and Cook Inlet. At that moment, looking at how isolated the city was, I had a mini panic attack. I'm talking legitimate panic attack.

In hindsight it's pretty funny. There's plenty of city here. Plenty of people, plenty of traffic. Plenty of stores and restaurants (save Bojangles, Chick-fil-A, Trader Joes to my utter dismay).

The deception of the distance comes after being here for almost three months already (where does the time go?). That plane ride seems so far away in my memory. I think it's a saving grace for me. With the internet and cell phones, everyone seems like they're just out of reach. I had a video chat with Cameron before work last night (and Megan and Merit). It's crazy... i'm sitting there in real time talking to my best bud who's 3500 miles away.

The distance got me to thinking...exactly how far away is 3500 miles? Physically, it's hard to truly understand. So the following is a list of places that are closer to Anchorage than eastern North Carolina... as well as a list of places closer to eastern North Carolina than to Anchorage.

Note: some of these aren't exact... but when you start talking 3500 miles whats a hundred miles?

So without further ado... places I'm closer to than y'all:

Russia (somewhere around 700 miles. That's closer than RDU to Chicago)
North Korea
South Korea
Japan
Bejing, China
Mongolia
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Iceland

Places y'all are closer to than ANC:
Portugal
Spain
Africa (very close at least)
Ireland
Brazil
Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru
Greenland

Those are some "faraway" places. If there's anything that's true, now more than ever, it's that the world is a small place though. I was fishing a couple of weeks ago and happened to start talking to an older gentleman. Of all places, he was from Goldsboro. I told him I appreciated hearing his accent. Just as I would expect, he said "I don't have an accent". Amen.

Since I don't have any sweet pictures I took myself to post, I'll post one Sam took yesterday morning from up on the Hillside (mountainside as far as I'm concerned). There has been freezing fog around for days, and this is what it looks like from 2500 ft. with the taller buildings downtown peaking through:

So I've Been Thinking...

2008-12-14T23:35:00.000-08:00

Of warm places and sunshine. Before I get to that though, let me share a couple of things. Sam sent me the post-harvest picture of me and my shrew. It is a picture that reminds me visually of how ridiculous I am at times:

People in the office had commented on the shrew problem, and I encountered this fellow on a few occasions throughout the night. Sam saw the little fella over near his desk, so I hopped over with a stapler, pulled him out by his tail... and the rest is history.

As I mentioned in the earlier post... the moon has been freaking incredible! Full, bright.. and what do you know, we have clear skies. We've also had a lot of freezing fog, so basically everything is coated in hoarfrost. It's a site to behold. Seeing as Sam is the resident photographer around here, I refer you to his blog (linked at right) to check out some awesome pictures he took the other night.

Unfortunately, with the clear skies, it has become much much colder. At the office we dropped down to -1 the other night, but the eastern part of town has seen readings down near -5 to -10 degrees. Thankfully I have good long underwear... and I wear it all the time... even at work. They make fun of me. My Carolina blood runs thin though, what can I say?

With the cold weather, and snow, and general darkness I have been thinking a lot about warm places. It's funny the memories and images that come to mind. Summers out at Hatteras. This beautiful beach in St. Maarten. Hanging out at Pine Knoll Shores in the sun all day... a day with no wind. When the water's emerald green, and beautifully refreshing. You get so much sun, that by the end of the day you have that crispy feeling... and when we all go to the dock on the sound in the evening to watch the sunset, you get chills a little bit.

City Beach in Perth, when it was hotter than crap, but the water was so cold. Waikiki. That time a few summers ago when Justin, Dave, Liz, and I went out on the boat in the afternoon to hang out and fish. We got in the middle of this thunderstorm... but it felt so good to be soaking wet and we were all just laughing. And we started driving towards the AB bridge and there was this rainbow stretching right in front of us across the sound. It was like we were in the rainbow.

The Barta Billfish tournament this past summer with Dad and Wade, when you start heading down sea and lose the wind. And the deck just turns reflects all that heat and it gets so freaking hot that you feel nauseous.

The first summer down at the beach when Cameron, John, and I went down to the sandbags at the point at Bogue Inlet and kept catching stupid lizardfish. Standing in waist deep, crystal clear water, throwing those lizardfish at John because they freaked him out so much.

Or earlier this year down in Islamorada, sitting on the docks at Bud and Mary's with dad seeing what the charter boats had caught. It was so warm, so sunny. The sky was so blue.

The list goes on, but those are the ones that always come to mind. The point is... all these things seem so far away... and I reckon they are. But man, they are a must have when it's negative one billion outside and your nostrils freeze everytime you breathe.

I guess my point is, I wouldn't trade any of those experiences for anything in the world!

A Resolution.... and I tamed the shrew

2008-12-13T04:41:00.001-08:00

Recently my humor-laden father posted a comment on my friend Sam's blog () that he wished his "offspring" would post on a more regular basis.

Coincidentally that happened to be very close to when I made my previous post. But tonight it got me to thinking (as there is plenty of thinking-time during a midnight shift):

Is it better to be a little-yet-often blogger, or a ton-yet-not often poster? I will try the former for a while. I have gotten a lot of random texts, phone calls, emails, etc. inquiring about my blog. I guess since i don't keep track of how many hits I get, I had no clue how many people read it!

So here I am, resolute, to post all sorts of stuff....often.

I will leave with an experience I had tonight. I'm not sure if yall heard, but the moon was about as close as it gets to the Earth today. It also coincided with a full moon. Pair the bright full moon with a beautiful snowpack, and a crisp clear evening, and the results were fantastic.

I naturally have no pictures of this occurrence, but Sam did manage to step outside and take some nice pictures. I'm sure these will be on his blog at some point in the near future.

Also, we had a shrew problem in the office. A shrew is like a mouse, except smaller... and apparently "stupider". I killed said shrew, and there's a post battle picture floating around somewhere... I'll see if i can get my hand on it.

The Dark Days

2008-12-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry for my lack of updates! Among the things I've learned about myself in the past several months, is the fact that I am terrible at blogging. Alas, here I am to fill yall in on the recent goings on in AK.

Since my last post, I went to dinner at a friend and coworker's house (Andy B). Him and his wife cooked up some delicious food (although he insisted the chicken was dry, I thought it was delish). They also have the two cutest twin girls I have ever seen. Seriously the cutest little babies ever. Not only was this evening my first shared meal with fellow humans in almost two months, but the little girls both gave me goodnight hugs (my first hugs in two months). Silly fact, I know, but after you've been hanging out alone for 2 months, it's the little things that count!

So the Saturday before turkey day mom flew up here, and we spent the week together. It was a very nice week. Lots of good food and a lot of snow! Something clicked when she got here, and it was like it just wouldn't quit snowing. I also got Maddy spayed, and luckily mom was around to help out with that....which I am very grateful for, so thanks again Mom!

We did some cross country skiing, some driving around on the Kenai Peninsula... generally just hung out and took it easy though.
Here's a quick pic of yours truly when we were cross country skiing at this resort town Girdwood:

On the way back into town we stopped to take a quick pic of the Turnagain Arm (Cook Inlet). It was beautiful because the tide was out, snow on the mountains, and sea ice had been just left in the inlet until the tide came back in again. Here's a view with Mom in it:

Since Mom has left I have been working quite a bit. Usually I go through periods when I have three or four days off, but so far have only have two days off at a time. Pair that with trying to get on a midnight shift schedule, and nothing too exciting has been going on.

So, back to the title of the post, the winter solstice is rapidly approaching. As a result, we are down to about 5 and a half hours of daylight every day. The sun now rises after 10, and sets around 330. Even when it's "daylight", the sun is very low in the sky. the best way I've been able to describe it to people, is basically at its highest point, the sun looks like it does at home about 15 minutes before the sun sets.

I tell you, I don't mind the darkness. I've got other things to worry about, especially since I have no control over the situation. What does strike me is the lack of a truly sunny day here though. It's like you see the sun, and it's like seeing an old friend after a while away from each other. I actually giggle when I see it. I want to ask it something like "Hey man, how have you been? Haven't seen you in a while.... It's so great to see you. So I figure you were over in NC a couple hours ago. I bet they saw you. Did they take you for granted? I don't take you for granted, sun, I just want you to know." Then before I know it it's gone again, hidden behind the clouds. But man those minutes where the sun is out, you can't paint a prettier picture if you tried. Soft light, reds, and oranges. It's sort of like a perpetual sunset.

Moving on, I'm on midnights through Christmas Day (coincidentally when Dad gets here!). So I reckon Christmas will be a reason to celebrate for a number of reasons. Essentially this means I will likely not see daylight for over 2 weeks! Pretty crazy, but the sun will be around again soon enough.

The weather continues to be cold. I looked at some climate data and figured out the last time I felt something out of the 40s was over two months ago. We've had a fair amount of snow recently. I still like snow, but had no idea there were so many types of it.

I'll leave yall with a picture of what the roads typically look like around here. We recently had a bad bout with some freezing rain though... in that case the roads looked literally like an ice skating rink. It was as if the whole city had been zamboni'd. No thanks!

Update

2008-11-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a while and I figured I'd throw up a quick update for those still reading...

I am going back on midnight shifts tomorrow night so i've been trying to rearrange my schedule again. My mom flies out on Saturday night in time for Thanksgiving. I'm definitely looking forward to her being out here, and to partake in some fun excursions.

Work is going well... just kind of plugging and chugging through it. I have had some interesting moments now that I'm on my own, but everything has been working out well. I am enjoying seeing how everything evolves out here, because it's so much different from home. For example, we are now down to around 7 hours of daylight per day. The sun "rises" after nine, and sets slightly after 4. I say "rises" because it rises behind the mountains, so you can't even really see the sun until around 11 or maybe after.

We have been finally having some snow this past week, but looks like we're going back to a clear and cold pattern this week. Although my side of town has seen some single digit temps, the airport should likely see some lows down near zero this week, with highs not making it out of the teens! Yikes.

You know, I wonder why every time I have a midnight shift it always gets really cold? Have you ever tried launching a weather balloon, tying knots with twine, and changing freezing helium tanks when it's below 15? I assure you i have never had colder fingers after messing with those helium tanks.

Anyways, I managed to shoot my first arctic hare last Sunday. It was delicious... and huge. As big as Maddy for sure. Otherwise I've been waiting for a decent snowpack around town so they can groom the cross country trails so I can get to skiing.

Maddy is doing well. We've been going to a park near my apt quite frequently, and she loves to run around in the snow and mess with the other dogs. I need to pick her up some boots though because the snow packs really tight in her paws and hurts her.

Speaking of ice.... this roads here get crazy when it snows a decent amount. It's not like home where a) when it snows it melts a couple days later... if it snows it's here to stay, and b) life goes on, we don't get the day off. By my reckoning I should have had at least 6 weeks off of work to this point. But back to the roads.... think of ice skating with a car. Luckily the subaru with studded tires does the trick extremely well, but I can assure you I am getting nowhere fast.

Well hopefully after Mom gets here I will have some cool pictures and stories for everyone, but until then I hope everyone is doing well. I am definitely missing a nice carolina fall, not to mention copious amounts of duck hunting. But being up here is not such a bad tradeoff!

Northern Lights et al.

2008-11-01T07:05:00.000-07:00

I'm off of midnight shifts, and while I'm happy about that, my sleep schedule is a mess. I have been waking up too early, about 4am. Even so, I have seen daylight the past two days, and it has been awesome.

So here's what's been up:

When I got into work the other night... Tuesday night I think it was, the northern lights were making a brief appearance. We went up on the roof, cut the outside lights around the office, and Sam snapped a couple of pictures. It was very cool to see. I think all I said for 15 minutes were things like "man, thats really something" and "i've just never seen anything like it". Now I can usually come up with something to say in almost any situation, but I think the fact that I was talking like it was 1950 lends toward the spectacular nature of the aurora borealis. Here is one of the shots...

It was an unexpected treat. Considering we weren't anticipating seeing them at all, and that we were looking north over the city and all of the ambient light pollution, I think it's pretty cool. It was weird to actually see in person.... maybe a bit surreal.

I've had a couple of days off, and have picked up the old habit of exploring paired with hunting. In the pursuit of snowshoe hare and grouse I have failed. I went to this one place called Mackenzie Point, which is due west of Anchorage. If you could drive straight there it'd be like 15 miles, but you have to drive all the way around, which makes it more like 100 miles. It takes you through Palin country (Wasilla)... a very beautiful town indeed. It was an odd feeling getting out of the car and literally hearing no manmade noise whatsoever. I think it is a situation that very few people in this world will ever experience.

Unfortunately the snowpack was much deeper over here, so the adventure was short lived. Maddy would disappear momentarily, only to reappear for a split-second, before falling back into the snow. It was also quite chilly, and a little Boykin Spaniel is meant for the Carolina winter. Even so, here is the pic of the little rascal throwing a tantrum when I made her stop for a second

This place is composed of a bunch of small ponds and lakes, or more appropriately bogs. A lot of these little bogs formed when the glaciers retreated, but left frozen water slightly below the surface. As the water melts, the bog forms. Luckily these things were frozen solid, with about 8 inches of ice, so it was easier to navigate. Here is a picture of one of them.

I took this looking at the sun to show how low the sun angle is here. While it would appear that it was early in the morning, this was taken shortly after 11am.

Yesterday I went back to this hay flats area to try to shoot a rabbit. Man it was chilly... it couldnt have been more than 10 degrees. I saw a ton of rabbits, but what I really need is a .22 to shoot them. They are almost completely white now, and with the snow, it is a tricky pursuit. They stay in the thickest brush you could ever imagine. With the GPS in tow this time I went into the thick of it all. There are trails worn down like crazy through the alder thickets... but visibility is rarely over 10 feet. There were all sorts of tracks though, snowshoe hare, coyote, and moose (for example).

About noon the fog lifted, and revealed beautiful scenery. The fog is interesting now, because it is so cold, it is actually freezing fog. This results in the accretion of ice on pretty much everything. This is called hoarfrost. It's a beautiful thing when the sun comes up, and the hoarfrost starts to fall off of the trees. It kind of looks like it's snowing, but it's perfectly sunny!

Now, the word on the streets is that I haven't posted a picture of myself outside yet. So I have remedied that problem, which will be seen shortly. I must say it is a most ridiculous feeling to be in the middle of the woods setting up a camera to take a picture of just yourself. But here is the most substantial proof I can offer that I am, in fact, in Alaska.

Look mom, I'm being safe. I have my blaze orange vest on so no one mistakes me for some kind of two-legged game!

Finally, you may be asking yourself what I did for Halloween. That is a fine question. I took Maddy trick or treating. Now you may be asking yourself "What did she dress up as?" Well, since we watched the Olympics late night in Greenville this past summer, she has been really into gymnastics. So she dressed up as one of the Chinese gymnasts:

I think she really likes Halloween!

Note: If for some reason you have zero sense of humor and find this offensive I apologize.

So that'll be it for now... hope everyone's doing well!

Midnight Shiftin'

2008-10-25T01:45:00.000-07:00

So I am between midnight shifts (5 days last week, 2 days off, 4 days on starting tomorrow night). I actually have come to really like the midnight shift... I know that may come as a giant shock to many. But it is nice because it is more relaxed, and there is a great opportunity for hands on training. Speaking of training, Sam has been helping me out tons, and is an awesome teacher. Also speaking of Sam, he also has a blog which can be found at http://www.cindy-sam.blogspot.com . Aside from being an excellent teacher, he is a great photographer... so I encourage you to check out some of his pics (as I could never hope to take such nice shots with my simple point and shoot cam).

Also, some of the pictures I'll have on this post will be courtesy of Sam, just b/c they're freaking beautiful!

With that aside, let's continue... I took my upper air test and passed it, which is a great relief. I am now certified to launch weather balloons! To give those an idea of what the balloon and situation looks like, here is a picture of the balloon waiting to be launched in the launch area:

After the balloon is prepped, we put a radiosonde and parachute on it, and let her rip. The radiosonde is a little box instrument with a temperature sensor, humidity sensor, pressure sensor, and gps used for tracking and positioning (which in turn helps determine wind speed and direction).

Here is the view from the upper air station (i.e. where we launch the balloon), with the office in the lower part of the picture, and the Chugach Mountains in the background:

Interestingly enough, the office is in a somewhat less developed area compared to the rest of the city. Due to this, there are a bunch of resident moose in the area. Here is one that Sam managed to get a picture of a couple of weeks ago...

I have not been fortunate to see any moose at work yet, but I'm pretty sure that has something to do with the fact that it's always 2 or 3 in the morning when I'm out there! There are a ton of tracks in the snow though.

Moving on, I totally forgot to post a picture of the nice snow we had a week or two ago. This is at one of the lakes that I really enjoyed fishing at... it's called DeLong Lake, and is about a ten minute drive from my apartment... about five minutes from the office. Sadly, no more fishing will be taking place until May, unless I decide to take up ice fishing!

All the water is pretty much locked up by now, since it has been below freezing at night for quite some time, and the past several days has not gone above freezing at all! For the past couple of days the temperature has essentially remained the same.... I believe our high today was only 23 or 24. The lows the next couple of days are supposed to possibly get into the single digits (yikes).

Something pretty neat about the office I work at, we are responsible for forecasting an area of roughly 1.1 million square miles. This is the equivalent of approximately 20 NC's. The area is split into several "forecasting zones", of which several are larger than North Carolina anyways. As can be imagined, this means that forecasting is focused less on pegging down individual highs and lows, but rather focuses on high-profile storms.

For example, an intense Bering Sea low pressure system came through mid to late week in which hurricane force winds were experienced over a very large area.

Add in such complex topography due to the varying terrain, and the forecasting issues are endless. What better place to hone one's forecasting skills?

I think I will leave yall with a couple more pictures... some Sam has taken, and one proving I am, in fact, actually in Alaska. Or at least I have Carly's trust green couch and the smallest Madderson in some apartment somewhere!

Literally taken moments ago. Although with the shorts, I may as well be back home. the insulation in these apartments is amazing. I have the heat off, and the window open, even though its only 15 degrees outside.

Here is a beautiful picture taken by Sam at this place called Potter Marsh. This marsh lies on the south side of town, and is a great area for waterfowl. Mix in the fall colors and it truly is unbelievable. I think it's one of the prettiest places within a fifteen minute drive of town.

Earlier I had alluded to the ability to see Mt. Jefferson and Denali (Mt.McKinley) from this park in Anchorage. Here it is, over 150 miles away, but sticking its neck out over 20,000 ft. in the sky! Looks a little cold for my tastes.

And finally, here is a nicer shot of a view of the Kenai Mountains on the way to the Kenai Peninsula. This is looking across the Turnagain Arm... which is an extension of Cook Inlet. This area is just a short drive south of town... and when I first saw it I called Cameron, basically speechless.

Alright.... well I have 5 days off in a little bit and hope to do some more exploring. Hopefully it won't be so cold... but oh well, I guess I have to get used to it anyways!

Back in Action

2008-10-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I am back up and running. Between a dead camera and crappy internet service I was out of commission for a while... but with both problems solved here I am.

So since my last post a lot of stuff has happened! I got a car (subaru outback), found an apartment on the southeast portion of town (about a 15 minute commute to work in "good" weather, all bets are off otherwise), and finally received my goods! I tell you, nothing could have made me happier than getting all of my stuff (in tact) on Tuesday and sleeping on my bed again.

I have started work, and it is going well. I work 10 hr. shifts, preferably 4 per week, with somewhere between 2 and 5 days off after each week. Unfortunately, tonight marks the beginning of 5 straight midnight shifts (10pm-8am), two days off, then 4 more midnight shifts. So that should be fun! The position that I was hired for (essentially working the public desk and doing random duties) is short of people right now, so my training has been somewhat rearranged. Of utmost importance is my certification for launching weather balloons, or radiosondes, for the compilation of upper-air data for assimilation into weather models (as well as for quick forecasting usage, radar info., and pilot briefings). I have been reading these two thick, governmentally-written, manuals.... which put any of the most verbose academic journal articles I have ever read to shame. And I have read hundreds of journal articles. Originally, people who had to take this exam were given around 90 days to study.... we have two weeks max!

I am being trained by two people, a native Aleut (from St.Paul for all you Deadliest Catch fans) John, and by the guy whose position I am filling, Sam. John has been super helpful, and tonight will be my first time working with Sam... though by all accounts he's the perfect guy for the job.

Enough of work... because I have had the opportunity to see some pretty cool stuff before work got cranked up. I apologize for the quality for the some of the following photos, as my battery was pretty much dead, so I had about one second to take a picture.

First, I made a car camping trip down to the Kenai Peninsula, which was cut short by the first big snowfall of the year....you dont want to mess around with some of those mountain passes! I succeeded in catching a hog of a rainbow trout on the new fly rod, somewhere between 8-10 lbs. He made me reconsider my claim that all freshwater fish fight like pansies. I also had my first Grizzly Bear encounter. He was across the river, swam over to the gravel bar I was fishing on... at which point I gladly conceded my post. He seemed to be a young male bear, somewhere around 600lbs or so. Not big (for a grizzly). At that point I decided to definitely carry some bear spray with me starting next spring, and will strongly consider adding a .44 or .454 to my collection of firearms.

People had warned me, but I guess I was somewhat naive in the threat? I'm not sure, but those bears are freaky! Anyways, here is a pic on the drive home of some of the Kenai Peninsula lit up with fall colors. I promise if I had to post all of the pictures I have taken I would never accomplish anything... it's just too freaking beautiful here.

So after the Kenai adventure I have mostly been sticking around town, doing some fishing for rainbows and landlocked salmon in area lakes. These fish are fairly small (maxing out around 18 inches), but are always willing to bite, and will not shy away from dry flies.

I also went to a lake north of town, Beach Lake, and caught a couple of Arctic Grayling, which was something I had really wanted to do. They are an interesting fish, with a sort of sail, although not as extreme as a sailfish. These are little ones, but I am looking forward to chasing the big ones come May. Here is a pic of one of the Grayling, slippery suckers!

Yesterday I went to this area north of town on the northern tip of what is called the Knik Arm, the norther extent of Cook Inlet. I took Maddy to try to shoot some rabbits (or grouse). It was an interesting experience, but long story short I struck out. It was an awesome time though, and I was afforded an awesome view when the fog finally lifted in the late afternoon. It was pretty cool to see 6000 ft. mountains as I stood at sea level. Pretty Intense.

I'm going to go get ready for work now, so more to follow later!

Ok so i cant figure out how to get the pictures where i want them... but I will figure it out later. Enjoy

Hello Alaska (and mid-20's i suppose)!

2008-09-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally trying to get this blog thing underway, seeing as i have put it off for a while. Of course I have to start a blog, because it's totally the cool thing to do these days... although I promise mine will not contain investment advice, political viewpoints, and out-of-context rants. Unfortunately my camera is dead and my charger is en route with the rest of my belongings, so things may remain picture-less for a while.

Well today marks my first full day in Anchorage, as well as my birthday... pretty awesome day if I do say so myself. After all the goodbyes and sappy, sad stuff, I arrived safely last night to the boarding house where I'm staying. The scenery is beautiful, with the snow-capped mountains and birch and aspen trees golden with fall colors. So far I have found people here to be very friendly and helpful (a fact which definitely contributes to my happiness)!

I am pretty impressed with the city itself, it is pretty clean and well laid out...basically a grid pattern (unlike most cities on the East Coast where it seems city planners often suffer from some sort of inability to draw a straight line). I guess my only qualm is that many of the streets are one-way, similar to downtown Raleigh. I definitely went around in concentric circles a total of 4 times trying to get into the REI parking lot (the foul-mouthedness that followed the 3rd missed circle would have made any Hardin family member proud). Speaking of the REI, that store is freakin awesome (Mom you didn't lie).

Anyway, right now I'm basically trying to find an apartment and car... up to this point I have a rental car (a Kia Rio in the sickest shade of green imaginable). Luckily its color lends towards being extremely easy to find in large parking lots. Hopefully I can get all that squared away so I can get out and enjoy some of the real Alaska before it snows too much. Apparently it snowed around a foot in the mountains north of the city over the past day or two, along with temps. tonight supposed to get down around 25 (yikes). It's actually intriguing how although you're basically surrounded by complete wilderness, the city itself lies in a sort of bowl (or delta) that's surrounded by mountains and water. It creates this nice feeling of protection, although it also seems to get the exploration-bug itching.

So that is it for now, hopefully I can stay on top of updating this blog... which partly falls on the you, the reader. If people are reading it and wanting updates and stuff I'll make sure to stay on top of it.

Also... Maddy is doing great and loving everything so far. We took a great little walk at this place called Earthquake Park on the west side of town near the airport. The views were incredible... you could see downtown along with the bordering Talkeetna and Chugach mountains... the Kenai Peninsula, and even Mt. Jefferson (17,000ft) and the highest point in North America, Mt. McKinley (20,000ft). Those jokers are huge.