San Francisco Dreamin'

I recently returned from a business trip to Northern California (Livermore actually, which is about 30 miles east of San Francisco). I had a few days off in the area before I had to start work on the project, so Malia took a couple days off from the classroom to come down for a little exploring. The weather was great (pretty warm) and we had busy days taking in many of the sights and sounds of the City by the Bay. There is a photo of the two of us on the ubiquitous and touristy, but also quite fun, cable cars. We also traveled north across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County and went to Muir Woods National Monument. This was a beautiful place that contains some of the last surviving stands of redwood trees on the California coast. It is truly amazing that it is only a few miles north of the hustle and bustle of San Francisco. There is also another common shot of part of the San Francisco city skyline, complete with the iconic Victorian houses in the foreground. I also happened to be in The City during part of Fleet Week and was able to see an air show over the bay, including a performance by the always-entertaining Blue Angels (pictured). Livermore has quite a few wineries and I had a little bit of time to explore some of them. It was fall harvest season and one of the pictures reveals a combination of wine grapes and autumn splendor. All in all, it was a great trip and good opportunity to see some places that I had not seen in awhile and some new sites as well.

Global Summer Trips: From Montana to Australia

Also this past summer, Malia went on another trip to an international locale (last year was France and England). The only catch is that she had to be a chaperon to high school students, but this duty took her to Australia this summer. While Malia was on the other side of the world I went down to Montana to spend some time with the family in Missoula and beyond. We both had great trips and many stories to share with each other upon our returns to Alaska. The first two photos are from my hiking trip in Glacier National Park with Adrian, Steve, and Logan. We had a great time on the hike and I really enjoyed exploring part of GNP and hope to return to see more. The last three photos are of Malia's trip Down Under. The first is her with a cuddly koala (yes they are cute, but you would look good too if you slept almost the whole day and only worried about which leaf to eat next). After that is a photo of Malia swooshing down a dune on sand taboggan (something we just do not get enough of in Alaska) on Moreton Island. Lastly, is a nice picture of the sun blazing down behind the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge after another day of looking over the beautiful bay.

Denali National Park

Malia and I spent some time in Denali National Park in June this past summer. The weather was pretty nice and we had a great time soaking up one of the most beautiful areas in the country. The photos shown are as follows: 1) a Dall sheep perched on a ridge; 2) alpenglow on Denali at dusk; 3) a juvenile fox in a black spruce tree; 4) a brown bear foraging; and 5) one of our camp spots (with Denali behind it). This is a beautiful park with open backcountry access (a rarity as far as National Parks go).

Homer, Alaska

For Memorial Day weekend Malia and I headed down to Homer, which is about 200 miles driving from Anchorage, on the SW portion of the Kenai Peninsula. Homer is known as the halibut fishing capital of the world, amongst other things (i.e., a popular phrase proclaims Homer as, "A quaint drinking village with a fishing problem"). Homer also a beautiful spit that extends into Kachemak Bay. We were fortunate enough to stay with one of my co-workers who lives in Homer. He has a beautiful house and property that his folks homesteaded on around the 1940s. The first photo is looking over a piece of his land, with a pond next to his house and Kachemak Bay in the background. The second photo is looking out east from his deck to Kachemak Bay and beyond. On a clear day (which this was not), you can see three different glaciers from the deck! The third and fourth images are of Halibut Cove. Halibut Cove is a small community across Kachemak Bay (about 30 mintues east of Homer by boat), which in the mid 20th century bustled with cannery and fishing activity, but has since become more of an enclave for artists and summer homes. The population is only around 20-30 year around, but grows to well over 100 in the summer. The community is only accessible by boat and almost all commuting within the cove is down by boat or skiff (there is a series of boardwalks that help some movement and are also nice to stroll along). It is a very pretty place with both amazing homes and natural landscapes. The final photo is a natural arch near the entrance to Halibut Cove.

Halibut and Salmon Fishing in Ninilchik

About two week ago, Malia and I hit the water to do a little deep-sea fishing on Cook Inlet. We drove south to Ninilchik, which is about 3.5 hours south of Anchorage, and camped out. There was still a little nip in the air the next morning as we woke up to frost on our tent. By the way, we rose at 4:30 AM so that we could be out on the water at 5 AM. The weather turned out to be gorgeous, which was great for us and bad for catching king salmon. Malia and I both caught our limit in halibut, but struck out in the king salmon hunt (only one was caught on the boat, in the first 60 seconds-really-of trolling). The first picture is of the early morning sun bathing Mt. Redoubt to the west of us. The second is of me watching my line. Some of those halibut sure fight pretty good and your arms and back feel it at the end of the day, but that is good. And the last is Malia and I with a pretty good sized halibut. This one is about 40 pounds. Now, it is not uncommon to catch a 175 pounder and the record in most areas is north of 400 pounds! Think about how big that would look.

Spring in Utah

In April, I went down to Utah for a work trip. The trip went well and I was able to get out and see a few things as well. The first two photos are from Arches National Park in southern Utah, including the well known Delicate Arch. The park landscape is quite beautiful and provided great geologic fodder. The third photo is of the "Great" Salt Lake taken from Antelope Island, which was not quite great, but more interesting (brine shrimp and all) than most locals gave it credit for. It is both quite massive and just a fraction of its former size. Another great lesson in prehistoric geologic events. The last photo is a view from the upper part of Little Cottonwood Canyon, just outside of Salt Lake City. The canyons outside of the city proved great for afternoon trail runs.

Southern Fried Spring Break

These photos are from our spring break trip to Florida. Lots of fun in the sun and exploring areas that we had never seen before. The first is of a great blue heron in Alexander Springs in Ocala National Forest. This a natural limestone warm spring that you can swim in. When I was swimming through, I shared the waters with a gator (don't worry, it was not too close), which was cool. The second is the obligatory shot of Malia and I with Mickey and Minnie at Disneyworld, which was actually a lot of fun (without kids to slow us down we were machines). Thirdly, comes a shot of a manatee at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (MINWR). These are large, beautiful, and peaceful herbivores. Next comes a picture of one of the many American alligators that we saw at MINWR. I wanted to wrestle it, but Malia would not let me. Lastly, comes a picture of Launch Complex 3 at the Kennedy Space. This is where the manned space shuttles launch from. The Kennedy Space Center is actually within MINWR and has performed a lot of de facto conservation that has preserved some great and biodiverse habitat.

Winter Skating

Toward the end of February we went skating out on Westchester Lagoon in Anchorage. I did not get around to putting a photo up then, so I am now.

Ski Time

Malia and I went skiing this past weekend at Hilltop, here in Anchorage. The weather and snow were great.