Wednesday, March 9, 2016

saying good-bye

Life is a funny thing.  It doesn't take long for the mundane activities of everyday life to overshadow what first appeared so thrilling and exciting.  Looking at the Chugach Mountains every day, watching the sun rise and set in beautiful shades of pink becomes entwined with paying bills, going to work, getting gas...  the beauty is still there but the awe factor is somewhat diminished when you're on your way to get a root canal.


We had to say good bye to Rosie almost two years ago.  She was a good pup, and the only dog I've ever owned who would drop and play dead.  And she was quite the actress, giving extended death scenes worthy of any stage.


 We added family members....

And know there are more weddings in the future...
Because life doesn't stay stagnant, it morphs and changes in ways we've never anticipated or expected.  It's an adventure.  A wild roller coaster ride filled with unexpected twists and turns.  The best mystery novel ever written....

And that's how I find myself sitting in a hotel room in Tok, Alaska (pop. 1,250) enjoying my last cup of coffee as an Alaskan resident. Okay, I lied.  I'm not enjoying the coffee.  It's the worst cup of hotel coffee I've ever made.  When I'm done with this blog I'll pack my suitcase and my traveling companions into the car and travel 130 miles to the Canadian border.  Then it's the long trip back down the Alcan back to Wisconsin. Just a short jaunt of about 3200 miles through the Canadian rockies and northern Canada before hitting prairie south of Edmonton into Montana.

I'm grateful for everyone I've met here and the travels I've had.  I'm sad to leave a child behind, but happy for him.  I'm glad to be moving closer to my other children, my mom, my sister, my friends...
And Riley too!  He has no idea he has a new little sister.



And now it's time to say good-bye.  Time to hit the road.  Wish me safe travels, and I hope to see you soon.





Saturday, June 8, 2013

May 2013

(This blog entry was originally started on my last trip at the beginning of May. It has taken me a few weeks to complete it, which is why it all ready seems dated.) 

I have been meaning to write this for months, but there always seems to be something else that is more pressing; something that requires immediate attention; or a brain that just needs to do nothing.

Right now, I am sitting on the deck of the Matanuska, one of the ferries that operates on the Alaska Marine Highway.  This is my second ferry ride this week.  Thursday I took the ferry from Juneau to Sitka.  It was a four hour ride on what everyone called “the fast ferry”.  This ferry doesn’t run in the winter, and I was told I probably wouldn’t like the winter ride very much.  The weather the day I went to Sitka was gray and rainy.  Imagine that.  Gray and rainy skies in Southeast Alaska.  Typical.
In Juneau there was still snow on the ground.  They had just received about 4 inches of snow a few days before I arrived.  A quick calendar check means that was April 27th.  Yes, it is supposed to be spring, but it just hasn’t arrived in most parts of the state.  However, in Sitka, even with the rain and cloudy skies the temperature was in the 40’s.  It felt like a heat wave.  I didn’t see any wildlife on the ferry ride.  After all, this is a trip through the Inner Passage where whale watching is a prime activity.  But the scenery was still fantastic.




You can follow the ship’s progress via GPS.
The next day I flew to Ketchikan, and now I’m off to my next destination.  Which is why I am sitting on the ferry waiting to depart.  I think we leave in about an hour.  It’s a 14 hour trip, and I will arrive at my destination around 7 AM.  On the ferry you can stay on the observation deck and just doze here while you wait to arrive at your destination, or you can get a cabin. 
I reserved a cabin since I will be staying on board overnight, and I kind of like the idea of private bathrooms.  Essentially, this is the poor man’s Alaskan cruise.  As long as you aren’t putting a car on the ferry.  But as a pedestrian, it’s cheaper travel this way then on the plane.  And actually easier for me to get some work done too.  I find working on the airplanes next to impossible, and even in the airport my time is so fragmented that it’s hard to accomplish very much.


Today I had a little time to explore Ketchikan.  This is my 4th trip here.  The last two times I did not have a rental car, and the weather was so cold and wet that it was no fun to explore.  Today it’s about 55 degrees.  I can’t describe how nice it feels to sit outside at 55 degrees.  Without a coat or hat.  I understand they are predicting snow for Anchorage today, so this is like paradise.
The town of Ketchikan doesn’t have the same appeal to me that Sitka does, but the surrounding area is equally as beautiful.  


away from the tourist area of Ketchikan

Ketchikan is known as the First City of Alaska. And like so many towns it clings to the surrounding mountains.  This is a view of downtown from the port where the Cruise ships arrive.  The tourist season is just starting and there have only been a couple of ships this year.  The port holds 4 ships and I think they get about 8 - 12 ships a week during the season.  Sitka only gets 1 -2 although they used to get more.  The decrease in the amount of visitors has had a huge financial impact on the town economy.


These are the shops you would see as you disembark from the cruise ships.  The stores are just starting to open and many of them are still vacant.
Ketchikan is full of totem poles. There is a park called Totem Park.  I missed it on this visit, so it will wait for my next visit. As a side note, when I called home last night at 9:30 PM it was pitch black in Ketchikan, but Steve said it was still bright daylight at home.  Interesting what several hundred miles can do.


This used to be the town’s red light district, but now it’s full of shops.  Not one of them was open today, and it is Saturday.  I saw a seal head in this little water area, but wasn’t quick enough to snap a photo.



Anchorage and Juneau (and parts north) still have snow, but in SE Alaska the wild roses are getting ready to bloom.


I watched this Kingfisher do his thing as he successfully caught (and ate) some little fish.  At least there isn't any ice on the water like there is in Anchorage and parts north.  Heck, even Juneau had several inches of new snow on the ground...



One gripe I have about the Ketchikan airport is they hold you hostage.
The boat on the far side of the channel is the ferry that take you to and from the airport.  For a car and passenger to go across I think it’s $15.  One way.  Pedestrians are $10 one way.  There is a break if you purchase a round-trip ticket.  I guess that’s one way for a municipality to make some extra funds.  After all, this is another community (like most of them) that you can only get to by air or water.

The ferry is at dock in the background.  The ship in the forefront is a fishing vessel getting ready for the start of the season.

The past several months have seen many changes.  Tara and Sky moved into the new house, and a few months ago, moved into a new place of their own.  We still see them frequently, which is good, because I don’t like to miss out on my Nana/Mom time.
Jake left for the Alaska Military Youth Academy at the beginning of October.




He came home for Christmas, as did Joe.  Joe did not return to Hawaii, but went to Ohio and transferred to Kent State. 
We were preparing to take Jake back to the Academy and I tried to get the guys together for a group picture.  Don’t they look like a happy bunch of fellows?


And then a certain someone walked into the room... Guesses?  And no – it isn’t the dog.



Our own version of Three Men and a Baby.



I continue to enjoy my job.  Not only do I receive a lot of personal satisfaction from it, but it’s hard to complain when it gives me the opportunity to travel and see such amazing things.
Steve recently changed jobs, and for once, he doesn’t travel.
Rosey and Riley are fine.  It’s break-up season in most of Alaska, where the snow SHOULD be melting and the ice SHOULD be going away.  What’s left behind is mud.  And where there is mud there are muddy dogs.  Unfortunately, the carpet in the house is very light beige.  Keeping the dogs in the garage for a little before they come into the house helps.  A little.  Even the walls have mud on them.  I can only guess it happens when the dogs run up and down the steps, or shake themselves off.
Actually, one of the worst parts of break-up season is the smell. As the days get longer (we’re at about 17 hours of daylight now) and the ice does melt, all the dog poop from all around the city becomes exposed.  And let’s just say that most people aren’t very good at cleaning up their back yards.  The smell in the neighborhoods over the past few weeks has been fairly horrific. Which is really interesting because the air quality report for Anchorage was published about the same time the air became so fragrant.  Apparently, Anchorage has great air quality, one of the best in the nation.  Fairbanks, on the other hand, not-so-much.  The burning of fuel sources (wood, pellet, oil) has really diminished the air quality.  Hard to believe since there isn’t anything around Fairbanks.
I had the opportunity to go to Fairbanks, just for a day, in the middle of March.  It was bright and sunny, but so cold.  It was -19 (a warm day for them) but the wind was to bitter cold to do any walking around.  Even the local residents said "oh no, you don't want to be outside".  I took them for their word.  Just the walk from the airport terminal to the rental car parking lot was brutal.  But I did see some lovely mountain ranges on the flight out.


During winter, the sun doesn’t really get above the horizon until about 10 AM. This picture was taken in November around 9:30 in the morning.


Now it’s light at 5 AM.
Right around Christmas, and around the time when there were talks of a government shut-down, some enterprising criminal in Anchorage started to steal mailboxes.  I mean the big metal things that are usually anchored on street corners and in front of buildings.  Those thefts prompted this in front of our post office –



I know, that’s a little hard to read – but it says Out of Order - Do not Use.


Somehow that really seemed to describe our government at that time – Out Of Order.
I’m going to put this away for now.  The ferry leaves soon and I want to be able to whale watch.  I probably won’t have the internet connection to post this for a couple of days.  If I’m lucky I’ll have some good pictures to put with it. (addendum: I never saw any whales.  The trip was a tiring one and I actually took a long nap in my cabin. But I did see one large body glide through the water that probably couldn't have been anything else but a whale)


Random photos:
Drill Team Competition Day


Graduation day! One cord is for being in the Honor’s group and the other is for obtaining his GED.  In Alaska you can obtain both your high school diploma and your GED.


I am a nurse, even if it looks more like I’m an IT person. I wrote for a small amount of grant funds to do some statewide training with another co-worker.  To reach a statewide audience there has to be a fair amount of IT involvement. I just didn't realize it would be me!



As the days lengthened, the ravens started to pair up.  Another way to tell spring was here was the arrival of the seagulls.  They showed up in the beginning of April, long before the first robins will make it to Anchorage.
On the ferry from Ketchikan to Kake.
The accommodations are Spartan, but hey, I have my own private head.



Here’s a barge bringing goodies to some remote village. I hope it's got some good stuff on it!
 

In Kake, the weather was 50 + degrees.  The snow is long gone, and I got to do a little beachcombing.  I’m hoping that no one is still using this swing.  The beaches around here were just littered with beach glass. Some of it very worn by the sea, but unfortunately, much of it didn’t look too old at all.





Beach front property at low tide.
The views are spectacular.
The morning I left, eagles sang me a wake-up song outside of my window.  It was worse than listening to a cat fight at midnight.  I walked to the airport and saw these bright spots of yellow:

Jack-in-a-pulpit.  A sure sign of spring so I knew that somewhere in Alaska spring had arrived. 
What I didn’t see until the plane was taxing down the runway (and let me say how happy I was that it was the big plane again.  It was a full flight with 7 passengers – including the little baby) were the bears.  I had been sitting outside on the luggage rack enjoying the sun and I found out that Mama black bear and 2 yearling cubs were doing the same thing about 200 yards away from me.  Of course, my camera was nowhere to be found.  They were the first bears I’ve seen in Alaska that haven’t been on the other side of a fence.  A really big STRONG fence.

Back home in Anchorage, I think spring may have arrived.  The temperatures hit 50 and the snow is gone off most the sidewalks.  However, places under trees and in the shadows still have several inches to contend with. And of course there is the daylight.  Last night it was midnight and you could still see outside, like twilight.  Up at 5:30 AM and the sun is all ready high in the sky.  It’s hard to believe that the longest day of the year is almost upon us when spring seems to have completely skipped us.  We are heading straight into summer. I only wish break-up season was over so we didn’t have to deal with the mud.

(Addendum #2 - spring did not arrive.  Instead, we had measurable amounts of snow on May 17th, making this the longest winter on record. By the following week, the weather was in the high 60's and we launched into summer.  The only spring we talked about this year was the one we never had)

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Fall, Falling, Fallen


About a month ago there was no doubt that fall had come to the Anchorage bowl.  Yellow is the predominant fall color here.  Multiple shades of yellow: muted, dark, variegated, bright; but all yellow.  And green too.  It is a pretty mixture, the green and the yellow, but it never says fall to me quite the way the reds of the maple trees do in the lower 48.

When I took a drive out to the valley the mountains reminded me of some sort of tiered skirt with swirling yellow and green along the base that progressed to solid green, from the pines, around the middle of the mountain and at the top transitioned into a yellow/brown/green, the color of the lichen that clings to the mountain peaks.  So one fall day, my little sidekick and I took a drive out to the Botanical Garden.  It's only a few miles from here and it's somewhere I have been wanting to go for some time.  

Sky and I met this fellow at a gated pavilion where there are gardening classes for kids a little older than Sky.  As you can tell by her face, she wasn't too sure of this giant pumpkin.

 But it didn't take her too long to warm up, once she realized there was nothing behind him


 It was a beautiful day, and after wandering around the trails at the Garden, being ever mindful for the potential run-in with a bear or moose, I decided to head out toward Earthquake Park.  We actually went a little past the park and stopped short of Point Woronzof.  Everyone was out enjoying the day.  I think it's because everyone one knew it was one of the last days of summer left for us.
Cook Inlet beyond the trees, and the white fluffy looking things are mountains, not clouds.  It's the Alaska Range.

The view back toward Anchorage over Cook Inlet
In retrospect this day was a huge bonus because we have had nothing but rain and gray since this day.  In fact, we had a storm come through with 100 mph winds that brought down trees and fences all around town.  Some people were without power for up to 5 days.  Let me repeat that.  In Anchorage Alaska, where in the dead of winter our temperatures routinely drop below zero, a wind storm knocked out power for 5 days.  Thank God it was fall and not winter.  And after that storm came through, so did another. Although this storm only packed 70 mph winds.  And the one after that gusted up to 40 mph.  The winds may have died down, but the rain has not.  Cordova, AK has received over 9 inches of rain, Kenai is under water, and Anchorage, after having a record snowstorm this past winter - is on track to have the second wettest September in history.



These photos are actually courtesy of the Alaska Dispatch.  And although this first storm occurred about 3 weeks ago there are still fallen trees all over town.  Chainsaws and generators are sold out in all of the stores around town.  

We don't own either of them....

But let's go back to the fact that it's fall.  So while it's raining here other things are happening on the tops of those mountains.




And then another storm system came.  This one from the south and it brought steady daytime temperatures that were in the 50's and not much colder at night.  It rained everyday, but the rain melted some of the snow.  Everyone was okay about that, although I do notice people are all ready starting to put on their SADD lights.  Yesterday the forecaster warned us about the change in the weather pattern that is coming next week.  Cold temperatures are on the way he said, fall is about over, be prepared.  So this morning we woke up to this.
Across the street
The mountains out back with a serious case of Termination Dust
Almost all gone by mid-day
Moonrise over the Chugach Mountains. I think that snow is here for good


It is obvious to me that we are on the downhill march when it comes to daylight.  We continue to lose about 5 1/2 minutes of daylight daily.  Right now, we have light for about 11.5 hours.  In June we had 22 hours of sunlight.  It goes quick.  I don't mind the darkness, but this year I think it is depressing to so many so early because we have had so little sun in the past year.  Between the snow last winter, the gloom we experienced all summer, and the terrific rains we have had during fall (all 25 days of it), well, it's just been a little much.  And it's a bit concerning to think that our winter may continue in the same vein.

Maybe we should go buy a generator.

There have been several environmental issues in the state.  And I don't mean the flooding in Kenai or Talkeetna.  Or the flooding that wiped out the railroad track north of Wasilla.  But other stuff, like the fact that the King Salmon season was declared a disaster and some fisheries may have lost up to 90% of their average revenue.  And nobody knows why.

Shell Oil was going to start drilling in the Chukchi sea, but stopped after one day.  Seems they were plagued by things like giant ice floes and malfunctioning equipment.  Shell has spent over 4.5 billion dollars to get approval for the right to drill.  They haven't gotten approval yet, but they are positioning themselves to be ready to start drilling as soon as the ink is dry on the paperwork.  At least they were ready, but do to the short-season, the ice, the whale-hunts, etc etc, Shell is now waiting for next year to start drilling in this pristine area.  Ok, so I'm on a bit of a soap box.  I just don't understand spending that much money for something that hasn't been approved yet.  Or having your drilling platforms and barges in place waiting for the approval. It just seems odd to me.

Pebble mine is another huge environmental issue.  Create the mine and bring in jobs and revenue to a place where there are no jobs and no revenue.  Or create the mine and destroy a way of life that has been going on for centuries in yet another pristine part of the state.  It's hard to say what is right and what is wrong.

On a personal, family update, the baby of the family (and I don't mean Skylar) has decided to join the Alaska Youth Military Academy.  From the time that Jake was in Kindergarten and he was asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, he always said the Army. Lately, the branch of service has changed, but the theme remains the same.  This is a challenging program where he will stay on the local base for the next 22 weeks.  While he is there he will have the opportunity to challenge himself not only physically but also emotionally and hopefully academically.  The first two weeks the cadets are sleeping on the ground and learning what they are in for.  After that there is a little graduation ceremony and we get to see him. That day just happens to coincide with his 17th birthday.  I'm glad I have the opportunity to see him on his birthday.  Jake has one more day at home and Monday he departs.  At least the base is right at the edge of town, and it won't be a big deal to go and visit.  But it is a big deal to have my baby leave home.  Even if it is only temporarily.

It's late now, and I can hear the wind blowing outside.  It's about 34 degrees out, and I bet we start getting solid frosts from here on out.  Which actually I'm looking forward to because our lawn is so wet that you need waders or x-tra tufs to let the dogs out.  Don't know what x-tra tufs are?  At first glance they remind me of the tunnel boots my dad used to wear when he was working in the tunnel construction business.  And maybe they are the same thing.  They are also a common denominator between the social stratosphere.  Everyone wears xtra tufs.  They keep your feet warm and dry, and when you tuck your pants into them, they keep your pants dry too.  They can be found anywhere, from the construction site, to the mall, to the grocery store and to church.

Maybe we should get xtra tufs too.  And an ark.  Or at least a snowblower.

Until next time!