A 10 Day Drive

Alright!  This one took a while to put together for a few different reasons, but it's a video of the trip my Dad and I took from AK to ID last month.  It was quite the trip and we both had a blast.  As you'll see in the video, we drove down in my little two seater truck and used the trip to explore a bit of Northwestern Canada.  I wish Mom could have met us somewhere along the way, but hopefully this will give her an idea of what we were up to.

Thanks Dad for taking the time to travel with me and a thanks to Mom for letting him go!  Get your popcorn out for this one, it's 9+ minutes.  Cheers!

A Ski Video

Here's a video Mako and I put together this morning.  It's a little tribute to all the ski videos we've watched along the way, plus I wanted to ski down the driveway.
 

Beautiful Days and Nights

The sun was out for the last couple days this week and the days are getting longer.  It almost feels like spring except for the 4 to 5 feet of snow in our yard.  Here's the best pic of the set.  

The solar flares that have been in the news lately did not disappoint last night either.  The aurora shots are right from our front porch even though I had a hard time getting the tripod set up due to it punch through the snow.

Time Lapse

On my daily commute I see the Turnagian Arm in all sorts of shapes and colors, but the past few days the sun has really made it beautiful.  I've been wanting to piece together some stills for a time lapse and today was the day for a test run.  This is a five minute lapse with pictures taken every 5 seconds and I pieced it into a 24 second video.  

Gray Day

With lots of snow on the ground, Mako and I headed down the road to Portage for a short ski.  We didn't go far, but it was a great reason to use the new lens on an overcast day.  Here's some of what we saw....

At the road to Byron Glacier

Deep snow

Turnagain Arm

Turnagain Arm

New Lens!

The new lens and filters are awesome! Thank you Shiu-Shin! I can't wait to take it outside, but here are some early indoor shots.  The one with Mako is with the 10x filter.

February Nights

January has come and gone already, but we were lucky have have some amazing snow with the cold temps.  2012 has been busy between the skiing and work, but we did have at least one relaxing night awhile back.  Here's Sandy watching Mako watch TV.

First Snow

 We had the first real snow of the season, which looks to be about 3-4 inches.  Everyone in the neighborhood seem to enjoy the new snow, dogs included.  The skis are waxed and Mako is ready!

A little snow and a lot of rain

The rain cam down hard all day yesterday.  We now have little channels running down our hill into the driveway, but luckily the weather calmed down enough for Sandy to have a smooth trip back home.

Here's a shot looking at the resort from town.  It looks like there's some thick gloppy snow at the snow line.  We have about a month 'til it opens!!

Wedding

It's been a while, but finally, here are some photos from our wedding.

We travelled out to the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge, which is a three hour boat ride out of Seward and nestled into the Kenai Fjords National Park.  The ceremony, or uncermony as it was called, happened on the a 40 foot boat in front of Aialik Glacier.  The vows were read aloud by my Dad and took a minute or two and then...smiles all around.  It was an amazing backdrop to a great day.

The day after the vows we were lucky to have a gorgeous day, so we packed up our outfits and went up a ridge for some glamour shots.  The ridge had views of Pedersen Glacier with it's lagoons on one side and the fjord of Aialik Bay and Aialik Peninsula on the other.  I don't think we could have planned it any better than the way it worked out.

Thank you to everyone who made the long trek up here and to everyone who tried, but couldn't make it!! Of course a big thank you goes to Alaska Wildland Adventures for setting up all the details for our event. Geoff, Jess, Amber, Trish and the crew were awesome for the onsite activities and Brooke, Kris, Glenda, Beck for the behind the scenes set up.

Then one more huge thanks to Heather for all these beautiful pictures!!  It was a special treat for you to be out there and all the pictures get sweeter by the day.

A Couple For the Road

Here's a few pics from my last tour of the summer.  It's still on going, but a few memorable shots from the fjord tour did get caught on film.  Below are some Stellar Sea Lions and scenic shots.  There's also one from our neighbor walking by my truck and a glamor shot of Mako on the Gull Rock Hike.  Hope everyone is doing well...

Passage Canal

A couple days ago we kayaked out of Whittier and had unbelievable weather.  Sunny days like this just don't happen there, but we lucked out somehow.  The inlet waters were glassy and the sun was in full force.  It was a lot of fun and hopefully we'll get out and do this more often.  

July

It's been a busy busy month up here, but I did manage to take a few pictures throughout the travels.  Here's a compilation of the three trips I led this past July.  These trips ranged from Kenai Fjords National Park to Skilak Lake to Denali National Park and some of the places in between.

The weather has been unbelievable, especially when compared with last summer.  It's been sunny and warm with the occasional stretch of sun, just the opposite from last year. Let's keep the fingers crossed that it continues!!

Crow Pass '11

On top of Crow Pass

A few days ago, Mako and I went up Crow Pass to check out the new forest service cabin and get the 'ol heart rate up.  Crow Pass is at the end of Glacier Valley or another way to put it, its the dirt road past the steak house on Crow Creek Road.  There's still tons of snow on top of the pass, but we found a nice grassy spot for a snack before turning around.

Raven Glacier

The new Forest Service Cabin

Trip Number 1

I returned a few days ago from my first trip of the summer. It started in Fairbanks, then moved down to Denali, Anchorage, Seward and finally Kenai Fjords National Park. It totaled around 8 days and a bunch of miles, but everyone had a great time and talked of returning. Here's a few shots of some adventures along the way.

Ailek Glacier in the Background

Pedersen Glacier

Ailek Glacier

Rhinoceros Auklet

Young Musk Ox and mom

Catalina to Alaska

Here's a sampling of SS's pictures from Catalina. Thanks for the disk and the memories of a great trip!



A couple weeks ago I went of a training trip for my summer works with Alaska Wildland Adventures. Our trip spanned the distance from Denali to Kenai Fjords National Park, but I pulled a rookie move and didn't bring the camera on the Denali portion of the adventure. Here's a few from that trip.

Sandy's Birthday!

On the 29th Sandy met me down in Seward and we packed up for a couple days in Homer.  We celebrated her birthday overlooking the Cook Inlet with a beautiful sunset behind the volcanos, Mt. Redoubt and Mt. Illiamna.  The next morning we strolled the beach and watched some of the Bald Eagles waiting for breakfast.  Mako wisely only chased the crows and gulls while leaving the eagles alone.  It's a good thing she wasn't any smaller or she may have turned into breakfast.  

Trailers

We arrived back in AK a couple days ago from a great trip down in CA.  We met up with Sandy's parents at the beginning of the trip, Glo & Brian in the middle, and Jess & Jared at the end, plus a little kayaking trip mixed in there somewhere.  I'm currently going through the pictures and put this together.  Maybe it'll act as a preview for the photos.  I couldn't let Mako feel left out, so she has one too.

April...

There's lots a happening around these parts.  April is half through and the weather has been sunny and beautiful.  The resort is on it's last week before closing with the slush cup finale, school is winding down for me, and, just as everything closes up shop for the winter, we head on down to CA for some kayaking, sun and friends.  We're both looking forward to it.

In between papers Mako and I headed out to Portage to check out the melt and get some air.  The mountains still have plenty of white on them, but the glaciers down there are starting to pop out.  Here's a picture of Explorer Glacier, which is one of the three or four off the road over there.

This other shot is of Turnagian Arm looking east, towards Portage.  It's not visible here, but Explorer Glacier would be around the corner on the right, just before that first ridge coming in to view.

Mako the Moose Master

Yesterday Mako spazzed out over a moose walking up our steps. The tricky part about the situation was that she was outside when the moose came strolling up our steps. Luckily Mako never took up the courage to leave the deck, but by the time I corralled her inside and scrambled to get the camera these were the best pics I could come up with...