html-challenged Lena

Class B Fun

2011-01-04T21:08:00.001-09:00

Mike and I finally skied a loop in the White Mountains just northeast of Fairbanks. There are a dozen BLM cabins that can be rented out for $25 a night, with 7-15 miles between each one. We'd both been out to the White Mtns Recreation Area a handful of times for a day ski or one night each time, but wanted to get further out.... This holiday trip we were out for 5 days/4 nights, and skied 60 miles total, with a rest day on day 3. Will calls this Class B fun, where it's fun when it's over.

The first day we skied 20 miles to Borealis Cabin where it was -38F. Freakin' Cold!! Thankfully it warmed up and we were in the -20F range for a couple of days, then -10F for the last couple of days. Had some stiff winds from Caribou Bluff to Colorado Creek, where the windswept landscape reminded me of Antarctic skiing days. Saw tons of wolf, caribou and moose tracks, but the only live animals we saw were ptarmigan and rabbits. and I am 90% sure - in my frozen, tired, sore, hungry state on the first night, in the dark - I saw a wolverine. A solid 90%.

Even before it was over, we knew we were having fun (Class A), and by the time we got to the car, we were already nostalgic for the peace and quiet of snowy mountain ski trails.

Very snowy at the start

The best cabin: Caribou Bluff

Sintering!

Endless bags of snow to melt for water

Chillin' in the cabin

Fixing my down booties for the 87th time

UCO 9-hour candles rock!

Mike on the trail

Short days

Ice Storm '10

2010-12-01T20:44:00.000-09:00

An exciting weather event in Fairbanks! Not quite as dramatic as the Rochester ice storm of '93, but beautiful and crazy still. People were actually ice skating on the streets here and the U closed for 2 days. Our snow is normally too dry to make a snowman - in fact, I can't remember seeing one in Fairbanks before this year - so the freezing rain led to a snowman population explosion all around town. Being trapped at home for a few days was really nice for me and the kitties, not so much for Mike at the mine, but he made it home for Thanksgiving.

sintering

Ice storm walks down Ookpik

I love the colander hat!

cozy cats

bonfire season

2010-11-30T20:20:00.010-09:00

Sky lantern takeoff

Sky lantern in flight

Dan's birthday fireworks

Flight delayed

Our first piece of original art (oil painting by local Fairbanks artist Robin Barker)

Escape to Anchorage

2010-10-27T22:12:00.004-08:00

We had a fun weekend road trip to Anchorage. Hiking, eating, spending our PFD, visiting old Fairbanks friends, and drinking with Uncle Alec. Beautiful drive down and back, and beautiful time there!

Japanese-looking Chugach

Reba, our awesome Girdwood hostess

Abstract Turnagain Arm

Los Anchorage sunset from Earthquake Park

Frosty

autumn falling

2010-10-18T21:20:00.002-08:00

Summer ended suddenly. It was going along all warm and sunny, than whamo! it turned cold and dark and snowed. I'm trying to stay excited about wintertime, but October can be a rough transition month, when there's not enough snow to ski, and the remnants of summer still hang around - tan lines, studless bike tires, geranium plants from the garden now blooming happily on the window sills. Fall is such a nice time too, but it's short here in Fairbanks. Autumn is pretty much one month - September. A great autumn it was this year.

The birch trees in our yard drop their leaves all at once.

Last plant to bloom in the garden.

Beautiful sunset at Quartz Lake.

Morning canoe at Quartz Lake.

Mike vs the Equinox

2010-09-21T21:03:00.001-08:00

Mike ran his 5th Equinox Marathon last weekend - 5 years since his 4th - in a PR of 3:51 to place 33rd out of the men. Way to go Mike! I think I'm more proud than he is. It was an absolutely glorious fall day on the trails, 40 degrees at the start, 65 at the finish, blue skies, sunshine, birch trees the whole way.

The first Olympic marathon was run in 1896, and the first women's Olympic event wasn't held until almost a century later, in 1984! This was the 48th running of the Equinox marathon in Fairbanks. Over 4000 feet of elevation gain over the course. It's a toughie.


Pre-race bravado


Late-race fatigue (around mile 23)


Post-race relief?

Stop taking pictures of me or I'll make you run the ultra next year.

cari-boo-yah

2010-08-03T23:30:00.002-08:00

We hiked up Donnelly Dome for the first time and saw a lone caribou far off in the distance, which offered this quintessential Alaska scene:

The caribou kept his distance and a close eye on us. But I don't think he understood the concept of a hiking trail... We really surprised each other at the top!

somesomesummertime

2010-07-27T22:10:00.004-08:00

I love summer in Fairbanks. It's such a crazy, bright time of year. We're like squirrels packing away all the sun in storage for winter. It works! I am already exhausted and looking forward to dark, cold, peaceful, quiet... I guess it's a good sign that I am excited for winter. (It only took 7 years!) Although if I re-read this in six months I'll wonder what was the matter with me?

It's starting to get dark, kindof, late at night.

oh to live on sugarloaf mountain

2010-07-26T20:42:00.003-08:00

healthy hiatus

2010-07-06T22:15:00.000-08:00

Since starting a summer photography class, I've posted exactly zero photos on this blog... mostly because I spend enough time in front of the computer - at work, and Photoshop for the class (digital photography). I've also been humbled by how little of the basics I remember of photography, and how little I knew about how to use my camera. The class is helping. Hopefully there will be a noticeable improvement in my photos as a result, but in the meantime I am getting back to the basics... a good thing!

what goes up...

2010-05-24T20:53:00.000-08:00

caber toss

2010-05-08T16:58:00.007-08:00

Thanks to Bennish's land, Bernie's truck, Jones' brawn, and some very sore shoulders, we got several loads of seasoned birch this weekend for the wood shed. yay!

Harmless Weather Instrument

2010-05-01T22:29:00.002-08:00

I got to get out of the office and go photograph a weather balloon launch. The National Weather Service sends up a balloon twice a day, every day, at 3 am and 3 pm from Fairbanks (one of 92 U.S. locations). We needed a photo of a weather balloon and its radiosonde for one of our tutorials. It was a little tricky to capture since the balloon rises about 1000 ft/min, and the radiosonde is on a 90-foot tether. [So, a photo of the balloon and parachute for the radiosonde will have to do.]

The radiosonde transmits weather data (temp, pressure, humidity, wind speed) back to a receiver near the FAI airport at 1 Hz during its flight. There's actually a pretty involved circuit board with sensors in the radiosonde box, so it also includes a self-addressed bag to send the thing back. If you see a small styrofoam box lying out in a field, check it out!

big hand - little hand

2010-04-26T22:12:00.004-08:00

bastrop state park, tx

2010-04-24T20:54:00.000-08:00

Love means nothing to a tennis player

2010-04-22T20:49:00.000-08:00

We had a fun (albeit cloudy and windy) tennis game with my brother's family in Round Rock. My two little nephews were really good despite some McEnroe antics after a few whiffs. I went into the bushes after a tennis ball, and found 8! None of which was the one we lost. Got a bit of poison ivy in the process, but it was well worth it.

crawfish carnage

2010-04-20T20:39:00.000-08:00

It's crawfish season in Texas too. Delicious little critters - like miniature lobster. Even the claw meat is good, although you're lucky to get a piece bigger than a dime.

anatolian shepherds - lean, mean, barking machines

2010-04-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

Took a quick, busy trip to Texas. Visited the family in Houston and Round Rock, then off to Ben and April's wedding in Beuscher State Park. The air was pretty cool for April in south Texas, but still warmer than April in Interior Alaska. Plus it was bluebonnet season! - and poppies (well, they looked like white poppies anyway) and Indian paintbrush. Beautiful! The trip was good, but really hectic. Too much to accomplish in 7 days.

Here is one chill day walking the dogs at my mom & Richard's in Tomball. Left to right: Safi, Saya, and Matisse. They are all the same (pure) breed, but look rather different I think. After 5 years of intimidation, Mike and Matisse are finally buddies! It was a piece of grilled hamburger that ultimately did the trick. Mike finally got his hackles down and stopped snarling.

(ps. I know back-blogging is sortof cheating, but whatever.)

gray jay-z

2010-04-05T22:14:00.000-08:00

The gray jays at Angel Rocks are obviously very used to people leaving a few crumbs behind at the vista point.

fond memories of fire drills

2010-04-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

Friday 4 pm + sunny, warm Spring day + fire alarm = coincidence? Turns out the Physics Journal Club is to blame for this one. Thank you, Physics Journal Club!

little red rosie hood

2010-03-30T19:07:00.002-08:00

Rosie's red hooded sweatshirt just kills me. Especially every time Anne says "come on, Rosie, let's get your hoodie on."

down river picnic

2010-03-28T13:31:00.001-08:00

The down river picnic is an all-day event that involves skiing down the Tanana River to Fish Wheel Bluff for hot drinks and a bonfire, followed by a potluck. Great company, kids, dogs, sunshine, spring thaw, delicious food = good fun.

Sparkle and Soak

2010-03-23T18:35:00.000-08:00

Quartz Lake, gorgeous Spring weekend.

Take it easy, Greasy, you ain't got far to slide.

2010-03-19T19:59:00.012-08:00

Ice slides at the Ice Park. Probably the biggest attraction. I had to pass this year. Bumpy ride + sprained ankle. But it was fun to watch!

You can lead a horse to water...

2010-03-18T20:12:00.000-08:00

bat out of hell

2010-03-16T20:26:00.001-08:00

ice jaws

2010-03-15T20:58:00.002-08:00

It turns out I don't take a bloggable photo every day - go figure. But, we did go to the Ice Park for the World Ice Championships (held here in Fairbanks every year), so I have a few photos for a few days. Color is a real challenge in these photos, the sculptures are lit up with all sorts of funny colors at night, but it makes all the detail in the ice stand out.... This is my favorite - a reminder that sometimes you have to zoom in - see the trees through the forest? The detail in some of the sculptures is unbelievable. I have no idea how they do that - I know there's an armada of ice carving tools and hours of cold, collld carving involved.

jumpin cat flash

2010-03-08T21:49:00.000-09:00

Gus is an amazing jumper. One of his favorite games is catching this fish in his paws, and then putting it in his mouth, mid-air. Hours of entertainment!

happy birthday, mike!

2010-03-06T16:24:00.000-09:00

here's to a great year past and an even better year ahead!

freebird

2010-03-04T19:17:00.000-09:00

Seagull drafting off of the ferry from Montezuma to the mainland, Jan 1.

I keep leaning toward posting Costa Rica photos, probably because I have not posted any yet - no picasa, facebook, blog. The trip was really wonderful, but truthfully pretty exhausting. Traveling at Christmas, and from Alaska to anywhere, is a hassle. It's also disorienting to leave the cold, dark Fairbanks winter and land in a warm, sunny, colorful jungle, then return back to cold, dark winter. It makes both seem rather unreal, and really makes us question why we live in this crazy place. I guess that question comes up every January, even if we stay put. But a couple of months later, Alaska is all magic and beauty again. My sprained ankle is making me realize just how much fun it is to live here.

siempre con usted

2010-03-03T20:17:00.002-09:00

bluebird pow

2010-03-02T22:10:00.000-09:00

alyeska. february. awesome.

Turnagain Awe

2010-03-01T18:14:00.005-09:00

bourbon warming

2010-02-26T22:07:00.000-09:00

iguana trump

2010-02-24T20:29:00.004-09:00

Stalked this guy for a while to get his picture. He was verrry still despite the fly buzzing around his face. I think this is a male (?) - males have bigger jowls and blockier head.

your own personal jesus

2010-02-23T21:52:00.002-09:00

Siquirres, Costa Rica, day after Christmas.

teaching an old blog new tricks

2010-02-22T23:49:00.003-09:00

I'm going to try a new approach in an attempt to update more frequently, and post a photo a day. ok, maybe that is a bit ambitious, but I'll shoot for at least a photo every few days. This one is from the start of the Yukon Quest in Fairbanks a couple of weeks ago.

back pedaling by photo

2010-02-03T20:30:00.001-09:00

I will attempt to catch up by covering the last few months in pictures.

Wonderfully warm Fall, Creamer's Field:

Klondike Road Relay. Overnight, 10 runners, 110 miles, Whitehorse to Skagway:

Night-time runner:

Propane tank fell off of the RV on the way back through the Yukon, yikes:

Re-insulating the pipes, more painful than it looks:

Rock Star Party at Belfair, Gwen and Pepa:

Snowy Gus:

Colorado Creek Cabin trip, with Glenn and Ellen:

Moose Creek Cabin trip, black spruce:

Thanksgiving in Talkeetna:

Uncle Mike, Illinois, pre-Christmas:

autumn awesomeness

2009-10-01T09:20:00.005-08:00

I think we picked the best week of the year for a road trip through Alaska. We'd been trying to decide what to do with our whole week off this summer (OK, i had more than a week off, but Mike only had one), and we decided on a sight-seeing trip south. I had only been to Seward for about an hour before - as part of a field trip for a tectonics conference in Girdwood - and Mike still likes to show me around the state... So we headed south the first week of September, which I'm telling you is the best time to travel. Most tourists and mosquitoes have cleared out, and the fall colors are just incredible. We also lucked out with great weather almost all 10 days.
Our first stop was Talkeetna (another place I'd never been). We checked out the Denali Brewing Company which had good beer but so-so ambience, so we opted for the more fun and established West Rib Cafe across the street for dinner. We stayed at our friends' son's new place up the hill and woke up to this amazing view of the Alaska Range:Heading south, we drove through Hatcher Pass (another first for me), which was overrun with hunters, trucks, ATVs at that time of year. We decided moose season must have just opened. The road to Hatcher pass is slow going, but offers amazing views and hikes the whole way.

We spent a fun night in Anchorage visiting old Fairbanks friends and eating delicious Indian food (there is not a single Indian restaurant in Fairbanks!), then headed toward Whittier the next day. Our hike up to the Byron Glacier was an unexpected surprise. The trail ends about 1 mile in, but we kept going until we were stopped by steeper ice (when we wished we had brought crampons).
We camped on Portage road. Clear, calm water in the morning......and drove down to Seward. The weather in Seward was glorious when we arrived! We camped two nights at Miller's Landing, just south of Seward.
It clouded over for the next couple of days, so our kayak trip was cool and a bit rainy, but much calmer seas than Valdez earlier this year. Lots of seals and otters. There was one otter floating on his back that we thought was dead. In fact, we couldn't tell if it was driftwood or an otter until we got close. We paddled right past him and he never moved, but then we didn't see him on our way back.
At the Alaska SeaLife Center the next day, we learned that otters will sleep wrapped in kelp so they don't drift. Smart little critters.

Spent two rainy nights at the Exit Glacier Lodge (great little hotel!) and ate at the delicious Salmon Bake next door. A very cold, wet hike up to the Harding Ice Field was a little disappointing because it was socked in at the top, so we couldn't see much besides grey. And we were freezing, so we hightailed it back down the trail. Mike's been there on a clearer day and says there's nothing like it!

With fantastic weather the following day, we left Seward and stopped to hike up the new North Face trail in Girdwood. It was super muddy in sections, but super awesome nonetheless. It takes you up to where the tram ends at the Alyeska upper mountain lodge. We heard hushed exclamations of tourists "they just walked up here!" as we watched a few paragliders take off from the top. BEAUTIFUL!
The weather was just so incredible that we spent another night camping along the Portage Glacier road, and the following day hiked up the Bird Ridge trail along the Turnagain Arm. Mike was pretty stoked about the view from the top:
We drove back along the Glenn Highway (yep, another Lena first), which Mike declared "officially the most beautiful place in Alaska". As usual, photos don't do the colors justice, but it gives you an idea.Stopped to camp at the Matanuska Glacier - wow!!!
I'll end with one of my experimental long-exposure night shots. Mike and I had a lot of fun coming up with new headlamp-on-the-bridge designs. This is my favorite:

Some Summer Pics

2009-08-28T08:35:00.005-08:00

We are finally headed out today for our summer vacation. Mike took a whole week off so we're headed south to Seward with Talkeetna, Anchorage, Whittier stops along the way... So although we haven't had an actual vacation, we've had a great summer - gardening, a few day hikes, barbecuing on the deck. Most importantly, very little work on the house! A nice change from last summer.
Our garden (lettuce, chard, beets, cabbage, (cukes died early)):
Tomatoes and basil in the little greenhouse:
Sun-lit cabbage leaf:
Norma taught me this great trick of laying blueberries/raspberries out on the cookie sheet so that they freeze individually before putting them in a big ziploc for the freezer. These are all from our yard! Bad-ass Mike with the berries:

The plane is on fire?

2009-08-18T10:07:00.000-08:00

F-18s in the hangar at Eielson AFB. Watching these planes take off and land was pretty cool, and really loud!
This sign cracks me up because it seems like it's for the birds:I love this tilty tree out by the OSS (Operations Support Squadron) building:So the gravity surveys ended with a bang. Well, with flames anyway. Here are the pilots just before our right engine caught fire!!
The sortof order of events, within 4 minutes or so: weird sound in the headsets, fumes, flames, fire extinguisher, right engine shut down, right propeller stopped. Then a while trying to decide where to land with our single engine. We were way out by Bettles, which is about 200 km from Eielson. The pilots decided to fly all the way back, but there was a lot of discussion of alternate landing sites the whole way.

The landing was actually very smooth, and the entire Air Force fire brigade was out on the tarmac waiting for us. Here's our plane getting towed off the tarmac once we got back to Eielson:I got to ride in the tow truck!
Left engine:Right engine:This is about half of our group, some of the pilots swtiched out halfway through the survey. Navy in the green camo color. Mechanic in black, NOAA peeps in blue. Left to right: Tim, Mike, Bob, Adam, Theresa, Keith, me. Thanks for an exciting season!

the state is on fire

2009-07-27T23:30:00.005-08:00

This is our King Air, C-12, twin-engine Navy plane:
My 'desk':
Denali!At least 70 wildfires are burning throughout the state at the moment. This is a major one down near Nenana, just west of where we takeoff and land at Eielson Air Force Base:Flying through smokey clouds is pretty crazy. outside of the airplane is a yellow-gray glow, and everything inside the airplane smells like a campfire.The eastern edge of the Alaska Range, just south of Eielson, on the horizon:

I'm in the Navy?

2009-07-14T10:20:00.005-08:00

I headed down to Pensacola, Florida for Aviation Physiology Training at the Naval Air Station. Why did I have to go get trained by the Navy? Well, I'm flying airborne gravity surveys for a NOAA-funded project this summer, and since the planes are Navy-operated, everyone on board has to be Navy certified. The soonest training available was in Pcola, so I crossed the entire country for 3 days of power point presentations and semi-fun simulations.

I was one of two civilians in a class of 25, and one of 4 women. I felt really tough in the flight gear until I saw this photo of myself. Maybe I'm not cut out for the military after all.The simulations included the MSDD (Multi-Spatial Disorientation Demonstrator) - sortof a glorified "teacups", but the cups are fully enclosed, dark pods with a dashboard and visor thing with moving lines. The idea is that you can't tell what horizontal is or what direction you are spinning. It works, and I didn't puke!

We were also put in a hyperbaric chamber, which I only went up to 9000 feet in, but others went to 25,000 feet to experience the effects of hypoxia. At 25,000' they had to take off their oxygen masks and play patty-cake with a partner. After less than 1 minute, most people were screwing up patty-cake pretty bad. A few people lasted a long time with a goofy smile on their faces (later reported feeling euphoric), but were still unable to follow very basic instructions.

The final day was in the pool, we had to swim, tread water, and do some basic underwater tasks in a flight suit, vest, helmet, boots, gloves. Then we got flipped upside down while strapped into a chair with a 5-point seatbelt, and needed to pull out the window, release the belt and swim through the window frame. I also practiced inflating my life vest and climbing into a rescue basket as if being rescued from the water by a Navy helicopter. Exciting!

NAS Pensacola is home to the National Naval Aviation Museum, which is a super cool place, and I don't even like airplanes much.
The missiles on this plane are clearly labeled "Inert".
The command module for the month-long Skylab II mission flown to the orbiting space station in May-June 1973 is on loan from the Smithsonian:The Naval cemetery:
Pensacola Beach was crazy crowded (especially between July 4 weekend and Blue Angels weekend), but I found a nice chill spot for afternoon swims and naps.I stayed in a cute B&B, close to historic downtown Pensacola - established in 1859! - which is very cool, and with interesting architecture, but sortof ghosttowny. My last night in town I went to a tapas place and met a famous DJ (A-Trak) because of his polar bear action figure, although i didn't know how famous he was until afterwards.

Shoup Glacier

2009-06-29T11:40:00.007-08:00

"the paddle takes 4 hours or less depending how often you have to pee" - Dea. We headed out of Valdez to kayak out to Shoup Bay, but got a later start since some of us had to take the self-rescue class in the morning. (dry suits really do work!) The afternoon start had us paddling into strong winds and current, so it actually took close to 7 hours to get out to the cabin. High tide meant we avoided the portage into Shoup Bay, but we were all pretty beat by the time we got there. Kittiwake Cabin offers an awesome view of the glacier right from the window!We set out the next morning for a closer look at the glacier...
Looking out from inside the cave:
Anthony - glaciologist, pHd - had been to the Shoup a few years before and said the glacier had changed a lot. In fact, it can hardly be considered a tidewater glacier anymore because it's barely in the water. Anthony and Kristen looking water sporty:All in all, an awesome trip with amazing scenery and fantastic company! The water/weather was even stormier on the way home, but it took half the time riding the big swells back into port.

update

2009-06-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

Oops, another long hiatus from blogging. It was a very busy Spring with the end of the teaching program, but now it's over, thankfully. Mike's sister had a cute baby girl, Michaila, in March! So we now collectively have 5 nieces and nephews. We visited my family in Texas in May. The other big news is that Mike and Matisse finally became friends, although in this picture Matisse looks like he is hungry for a Wisconsinian:The dogs found a pretty big turtle in the backyard:My brother and Ash had a fun Memorial Day party, complete with a jumping castle for the kids. Reid and Vance got some last jumps in the following morning. This summer I have been enjoying my freedom while Mike works the mine grind. Although he doesn't seem to mind it, besides the long bus ride and having to stay out there all week. It would be great if he could come home every night!

Lena in Kiana

2009-04-13T20:34:00.009-08:00

I have another blog! I'm in the village of Kiana for week and keeping a blog for my Multicultural Education class. Check it out at http://ruralpracticum09lena.blogspot.com/

lake nyos

2009-04-06T22:36:00.003-08:00

On the morning of August 22, 1986, a man hopped onto his bicycle and began riding from Wum, a village in Cameroon, towards the village of Nyos. On the way he noticed an antelope lying dead next to the road. Why let it go to waste? The man tied the antelope onto his bicycle and continued on. A short distance later he noticed two dead rats, and further on, a dead dog and other dead animals. He wondered if they'd all been killed by a lightning strike – when lightning hits the ground it's not unusual for animals nearby to be killed by the shock.

Soon the man came upon a group of huts. He decided to see if anyone there knew what had happened to the animals. But as he walked up to the huts he was stunned to see dead bodies strewn everywhere. He didn't find a single person still alive—everyone in the huts was dead. The man threw down his bicycle and ran all the way back to Wum.

For the full, fascinating story, read on... http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1070068&site_id=1#import

Redoubt blows

2009-03-30T22:06:00.004-08:00

So I was supposed to teach in a rural village for a week as part of my teacher certification program. I was slated to go to Kiana (pop. 401) with two other guys from the program. Kiana is 60 miles east of Kotzebue in northwest Alaska. We even went to Sam's and stocked up on freshies to bring out to the teachers and staff of Kiana school. But about 10 hours before we were supposed to leave, stinking Mt Redoubt decided to let off some more steam and FAA closed the Anchorage airport. (more volcanic photos and info can be found at AVO)

Bummer! I have not been off of the road system in Alaska save for my undergraduate research (which was just published by my former advisor!) near Prince of Wales Island in southeast, and a handful of not-very-far-off-the-road hiking trips.

As for the northern latitudes, I'm amazed that people have been able to survive for so long in such an unforgiving environment. For anyone interested in the history and science of Arctic survival - mostly humans and other animals - I recommend Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez. Certainly a western perspective, but highly informative, a good read and winner of the National Book Award.

Spring Break in Oregon

2009-03-16T11:51:00.010-08:00

We spent a wonderful day hiking in the Columbia River Gorge with Amanda, Sebastien, Alec and Chickenman. It was pretty cold and rainy, but still beautiful. We walked out to the Devil's Punch Bowl waterfall:Alec pretending to be a penguin dad: The following day we biked around town taking in the sights and sounds of Portland. Mike and I headed out to the coast for a couple of days, which turned out to be gloriously sunny! We got to hike both days - first out to Cape Lookout where we saw whales off the coast. Gray whales migrate from the Bay of California (between mainland Mexico and Baja) all the way up to the North Sea in the spring, and back down south in the fall. It is the longest migration of any mammal on the planet (12,000 miles). We were really lucky to spot them as some locals on the coast had never even seen whales. (They should get out more.)
We stumbled upon the cutest hotel ever in Wheeler, Oregon. It was renovated in 2004, but they kept a few of the old artifacts around, including phones and a typewriter, but with modern touches like jacuzzis and WiFi. The amazing view from our room:The absolute best happy hour spot in Oregon (from my limited experience) is at Ecola State Park on the bench on the Capistola Trail near Indian Beach:Great, and plentiful, microbrews in Oregon. There are dozens of microbreweries in Portland alone. My favorite was the Ninkasi Believer Double Red Ale, yum. Mike is hogging the beer as usual. A nice sunset on Cannon Beach. After a winter in Fairbanks, I'm amazed at how quickly the sun sets.

wood stove tile project update

2009-01-25T10:05:00.004-09:00

We FINALLY got the tiling project started last weekend. It took a ridiculously long time to decide which tile to use. Originally I had planned an elaborate mosaic wall painting made of tiny little 1 inch tiles, but as time wore on, we just wanted to get the damn DUROCK covered up with something. First I thought I might paint it a nice color so while I waffled on tile style, but it turns out painting cement backerboard is a bad idea. The point of the cement is to absorb the adhesive for a stronger bond to the tile, and paint interferes with cement porosity. Thankfully we learned that before painting the walls the hideous peach color I picked out. (For some reason, I thought it looked nice at the Home Depot mixing station). I had done the hearth floor (with Amanda's help) over a year ago in 6x6 slate, but we thought it was a bit too dark for the walls. Mike and I finally decided on a tumbled slate called "amber gold" which is lighter and has a lot of texture. 5-6 weeks for delivery, and then -40 temps (which required the use of the wood stove) further delayed this project, but we finally got a wall done last weekend: before:

here you go, heike!

2009-01-19T21:18:00.003-09:00

Brass Monkey Weather

2009-01-11T17:08:00.000-09:00

I just learned of a new term for cold weather, which comes from the saying "cold enough to freeze the balls on a brass monkey". Well, it's definitely that cold here in Interior Alaska these days. In the last 15 days the temperature has ranged between -23 and -47 with only a handful of days getting over -30. BRR. Our thermometer bottoms out at -30, so we have only seen "--" on it for the past 2 weeks: Mike and I ventured out for a uber brisk walk on New Years Day:The cold weather does freeze in the prettiness of snow-covered trees, icicles, snow hanging off the edge of roofs, snow everywhere.We finally got out of town this past weekend to take advantage of the ice-fog free air and steamy hot springs of Chena Hot Springs Road. We hiked up to Angel Rocks with our poofy friends Heike and Ben:Cool sastrugi on the upper Chena:Blue shadows:

Winter is moving fast this year

2008-12-28T13:23:00.002-09:00

We had a really fun day just before Christmas in Chicago with Mike's sister Sara and her husband Allen:We took the train from Aurora IL to downtown Chicago, here's Mike in Union Station:These stairs are famous for the final scene in The Untouchables, when a baby carriage (with the baby in it) goes careening down the steps in the midst of the final shootout. It's been named one of the "Greatest Moments in Film History":The "Bean" in Millenium Park is SO COOL:
It was pretty darn chilly in Chicago too, the Chicago River reminded me of the Antarctic coastline:
A nice day of xc skiing near Skiland. We found two benches hidden behind an outcrop in the woods:
Upper Angel Creek ski trip earlier this winter:
with Kristen and Justin and Kita:
Full Moon on Ookpik Way:

aurora photos take I

2008-11-01T12:23:00.008-08:00

The phone rang around 10 pm on Tuesday night, and Allison says "Aurora, outside, now." I said, "Awesome, thanks!" and ran outside with my camera. This was my first 'real' attempt at taking aurora pictures, and a few came out alright:

some favorite pics from the summer

2008-10-15T21:36:00.011-08:00

Los Anchorage

2008-10-15T11:36:00.009-08:00

- as Alec likes to call it...
Mike and I headed out of town for the first time in months last weekend. It was such a busy summer that we just haven't had/made time to leave in a while. Ken and Kristin were having a housewarming in Anchorage, and Alec left for Houston on Monday, so it was a good time to visit. Except for the wet snow on the road. About 3 hours after leaving town, we were (ok, I was) driving through some big wet snowflakes - the kind that splat when they hit the windshield - and there was already a few inches of accumulation on the ground. I was saying something about sliding off the road, and next thing we are sliding sideways, then backwards, then down the embankment on the opposite side of the road. The spin/slide was scary, but we only took out a few willows and thankfully there wasn't any (apparent) damage to us or the car. But we couldn't get out, it was way too slick. Within 5 minutes a guy with a giant Toyota pulled over and hooked up his winch and pulled us right out! The whole thing from skid to being back on the road only took about a half hour. We saw at least 6 other cars off the road between there (Broad Pass) and Trapper Creek. We stayed at the adorable and very homey Copper Whale Inn in Anchorage. It's not too affordable in the summer, but winter rates begin Oct. 1 and there's an Alaskan resident discount. They don't advertise it, shhh. Some pretty fresh snow fell Sunday morning, here's our balcony:Hiked up Flat Top one day, which I'd never done. It was awesome! I was being a total wuss when we turned around to come down, it was so much steeper at the very top than I thought going up... Mike wasn't worried at all and completely ignored my terror. Here he is telling me to suck it up:
Views from the top:

Palinoid?

2008-10-14T14:50:00.008-08:00

Frank Rich's article "The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama" points out some really scary facts. Did you know that there hasn’t been a single new black Republican governor, senator or House member in six years? and Palin's quote "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity" in her convention speech is attributed to Westbrook Pegler who is famous for his anti-Semitism, racism and violent rhetoric. Is this country really still that racist?

more people showed up for the anti-Palin rally than the pro-Palin rally that was highly televised in September. Good to know we live among some non six-packers, although the polls claim Palin's approval rating in Alaska has only dropped to 65% from 85%! Yikes.
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/alaska-women-reject-palin-rally-is-huge/

can this campaign season please end soon, please?

2008-10-07T18:16:00.004-08:00

If McCain says "my friends" one more time, I'm going to have to shoot the TV!!
Toles' version of the senator is pretty funny, he looks like a bag of potatoes with a mouthguard.

equinox marathon, take 3

2008-10-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

I ran the Equinox Marathon for the 3rd time and got almost the same time (33 seconds slower, 4:17) than the time I got the last time I ran it, 3 years ago, and I got 3rd place in my age group (30-34 women). 16th overall... The weather was lousy, but the run was still fun. Mike was a really great supporter on his bike (injured a tendon on the top of his foot a month ago). um, except for when he couldn't find me for 10 miles or so.

more wedding photos...

2008-08-20T17:05:00.004-08:00

...HERE:

http://picasaweb.google.com/snowgecko/MikeLena02

Thomas, Yiming's boyfriend, was our photographer and he did a great job capturing most of the people there! We have more photos, these are just about half of the 'professional' ones. Thomas has a great blog with more excellent photos at http://natursyn.dk/blog/

post-monsoon mt healy hike

2008-08-18T18:18:00.007-08:00

The clouds finally cleared and on my last day of freedom before school started up again, Amanda, Brook and I went for a hike up Mt. Healy - a beautiful, easily-accessed, view-filled hike just south of the town of Healy. Mike and I have done this hike in the fall, spring and summer, and the difficulty varies with the wind speed... This time there was NO wind, few clouds, cool folds, screeching marmots and cute pikas, and major sunshine.

Our fun summer wedding

2008-08-11T19:22:00.007-08:00

Well, this summer I've switched careers (again) and Mike and I got married, so it's been a busy and awesome summer. Hence the blog hiatus (again). We haven't gotten photos back from the wedding yet, but our friend Lindsay got good shots of the bride and groom, separately:

Lots of friends and family helped out to make it a successful wedding - gorgeous flowers by Mike's mom and thanks to Gretchen at Pearl Creek Farms, delicious Russian food by Lena's mom, a pretty cake by Lindsay, salmon caught by Bernie and grilled by Mike C., loads of kitchen help by Mike's sisters Sarah and Jenny, drinks by Allen, decorations by Aly, Steph, Chrissy and Julia, hair by Chrissy, makeup by Ash, suit by Hugo Boss, and dress by Wai-Ching. Just about everyone who came to the wedding pitched in and did something to bring it all together... so many people made it really wonderful!!

It was probably really lucky that the Two Rivers triathlon was moved to the Angel Rocks trail the night before the wedding (the final straw that made us change the location) because the 30-year record rain made for a super mucky hike and fireweed was barely out this August. The Cloudberry was a perfectly cozy and beautiful location for the ceremony on a rainy and cold 'summer' day.

chena half-dome

2008-05-28T15:02:00.000-08:00

Well, we set out on our first hike of the season, the 30-mile Chena Dome trail which touts amazing views of lots of mountains (including the Alaska Range). We had a relatively clear day when we started out, and some nice lighting.

However, we didn't make the whole loop.

mistake #1 - beginning our hike at 4:30 pm. mistake #2 - Mike's LaSportiva boots that still cause blisters after a year. both of which led to mistake #3 - camping at mile 5 where there's no water and melting snow which used up all of our fuel on the first night.

here's me watching the sun 'set' instead of watching the snow not melt into water as the fuel can goes empty.

running out of fuel made our decision to turn back on account of Mike's blisters even easier. So we stashed some stuff at our campsite the next morning and set out for a day hike toward Chena Dome. we ran into some hikers later in the day who saw our stash and wondered "who took us".

Chena Dome is the flat-topped one in the background, tiny Mike in the foreground:

The steep 900-foot climb at Mile 8 or so is a good workout.

We stopped for a while at the site of a 1950s military airplane crash. It's a big wreck, but it's amazing how bright and intact some of the parts still are.

The propellor is about 100 feet from the main body of the plane.

deep in the heart of texas

2008-05-20T16:40:00.008-08:00

Quit my job at the Borough (yay!), went to Texas for a week visit with family. Mid-may the weather wasn't TOO hot yet, actually a little rainy and cool. First stop, the famous Gruene Hall - built in 1878 - for Mother's Day:

met my brother Mikey, Ashley and her family and my two cute nephews Reid and Vance there:

Back in Houston, took a tour of the Houston zoo with my Dad and little sister Julia. Zoos always bum me out (especially the big cats and grizzly bears and koalas and monkeys and elephants...), but I guess it does educate people about the need for habitat conservation. ??

baby elephant!meerkat!

my mom loves having her picture taken:

the oldest (Matisse) and newest (no name) of my mom's and Richard's FOUR dogs:

I never had a dog growing up, and my mom was never a "dog person", so the obsession with Anatolian Shepherds (3 of the 4) is a little unexpected, but they sure do love them. The new Pomeranian was rescued by my mom outside a funeral home where she suspects someone just left the dog.

signs of spring I

2008-05-05T06:32:00.007-08:00

pierre's plumageless posterior

2008-04-25T11:24:00.004-08:00

April 25, 2008 — A custom-crafted wetsuit may have helped Pierre the African penguin, seen here, recover from a bout of a baldness. Biologists at the California Academy of Sciences commissioned the gear after Pierre began shedding his insulating, waterproof feathers, leaving him with an embarrassingly exposed behind.

Unwilling to plunge into the academy's penguin tank, Pierre ended up shivering on the sidelines while his 19 peers played in the water. "He was cold; he would shake," said Pam Schaller, a senior aquatic biologist at the academy.
When a heat lamp failed to help, Schaller turned to Oceanic Worldwide, a supplier of dive gear based in San Leandro, California.

"We were really excited to do it," said Teo Tertel, company marketing specialist. "We heard most of these penguins only live to 20, and our little buddy there was already 25. Anything we could do to help them, we were all for it."

One concern was that the other penguins would reject Pierre in his new duds, which fastens with Velcro at the back, covers Pierre's torso, and has small openings for his flippers. But in fact, they accepted his sleek new look.
In the six weeks he has been using the suit, Pierre has gained weight, grown back feathers on his hind parts, and is again acting like his feisty, alpha-male self.

Schaller can't say for sure whether the wetsuit allowed Pierre to recover, but "certainly we were able to keep him comfortable during a period of time that would have been very difficult for him to stay comfortable."
With his plumage restored, Pierre is being now weaned off the suit.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP Photo/Eric Risberg

spring skiing

2008-04-20T10:45:00.009-08:00

we've had a string of ex-Fairbanksan friends visiting - Amanda, Christina and Hannah - who are very good at getting us to appreciate the beauty of late winter in interior AK. the snow starts to get pretty old after 6 straight months of it, and come March, most people are anxiously awaiting Spring. there are a few out there that would like snow all year, but I am not one of them! although... the last couple of months have been really beautiful and have provided some epic days of downhill and xc skiing.

including an incredible bluebird, 18-inch powder day at girdwood with reba and alec (no photos unfortunately).

skiland with amanda -

i think amanda looks like natalie portman here:We didn't get a chance to ski/board with christina (we headed down to girdwood instead), but here we are looking cool in front of Gulliver's -

thanks to Hannah, we enjoyed an EPIC weekend of skiing in cantwell with hannah, jon & chrissy and the dogs -

gussy mcgusterson

2008-04-16T22:38:00.002-08:00

(aka Gus) is our new kitten. we got him about mid-February. He was born around Thanksgiving, and a woman took him but soon returned him because he was "too spastic". this probably should have sounded some warning bells, but he's so CUTE! we had a tough time deciding on a name. Miles was easy. We put on Miles Davis his first night at home, and he seemed to like it. The new guy arrived as Milo, but since it was a bit too close to Miles, he went through Badger, Mooshki, Pushkin, Leo, Louie, Crazer, ... and finally landed on Gus.

he's really cute but he drives Miles (and Hannah) crazy.

blog hiatus

2008-04-14T21:44:00.003-08:00

yes, i know, it's been a long time! i'll have to do some short back blogs to get caught up...

the first topic is HOME IMPROVEMENT. everyone has been asking about our house. since we bought the house, we had it lifted and leveled, new deck put in, ripped out the floor, put in new joists, new (non-squirrel inhabited) insulation, new plywood floor. ripped out the cabinets, put in new ones, new countertop. a bit of painting and small touchups upstairs. the bamboo floor is almost in, when it's done, i'll have some before and after pics. soon! we still have a lot to do, but it's looking much better already.

baby, it's warm outside

2008-02-11T14:49:00.000-09:00

Currently, a balmy +2°f!

It's been an exciting few weeks of weather here in Fairbanks. For January, Fairbanks bounced more than 80 degrees between the highest and lowest observed temperatures! On the 22nd, the high of 37°F tied the record for that date and was also the high for the month, while the low of -44°F was on the 26th, only 4 days later. The past couple of weeks have been chill.y.

With the deep freeze we get a lot of fun challenges, including some new joys of home ownership - frozen water pipes, radiant floor and high electricity bills! Here's Mike thawing the sewer pipe.

Ice fog is a daily occurrence: ...but so are beautiful frosty trees:

I check the Alaska Climate Research Center almost daily for forecasts, records and charts - and it's got a great webcam if you want to see what the IARC parking lot looks like at any time. You can see we got pretty close to the record low last week, but we are now on the upswing!
For fantastic stories and photos on weather, check Ed's blog!

sn*ow

2008-01-17T17:06:00.000-09:00

Fairbanks got 8-10 inches of snow last night, in less than 6 hours (according to Jim Brader on APRN this morning)!! I took the camera out for a spin downtown at lunchtime, still need to finish reading the 150-page manual...This is where I work - the borough building.

skiing in the new year

2008-01-06T08:39:00.000-09:00

I had to work new year's eve, yuck. But luckily Dan and Lee rented Lower Angel Creek cabin which is an easy 3-mile ski from Chena Hot Springs Rd. We made it to the cabin ~6pm. Lee, Dan, Jason, Inari had a great fire going already. We ate a delicious curry dinner, followed by decadent chocolate cake, wine, scotch, and played Carcassonne right up to midnight. Thankfully Lee had set her alarm, otherwise we might have missed it, we were so immersed in the game. We set off some poppers - whose confetti does not burn so well - but that's about it. Fairly tame evening for new year's, but that seems to be the trend as i get older. fun with long exposures:

The next 'morning' Sandy, Dan, Mike and I and the two dogs, Dasha and Safira, went for a gorgeous ski on the creek. The trail wasn't in great condition b/c of snow machine bumps, so we opted for Angel Creek instead, a good choice!

still some open water: dasha:
safira:

happy 2008!

all i got for christmas was...

2008-01-04T13:56:00.001-09:00

a Nikon 10 MP D40x digital SLR! woo woo!
plus a bunch of other great presents!

Chrissy + Andrew

2007-12-31T11:13:00.000-09:00

The wedding was in Tulum, simply gorgeous. Chrissy is my closest friend to get married, so it was a bit emotional, but mostly just a fun and joyous event! The view from the wedding venue. Sunset wedding vows.
Kelly before...

and after (15 minutes later)....
Aly and photo-loving Andrew.Steph and Aaron breaking it down.

Happy and sweaty. Late night photo of the bride and groom, Chrissy still looking beautiful!

Partyin down in Playa

2007-12-15T10:59:00.000-09:00

Chrissy, my friend of 16 years, got married in Mexico (which is why we were there again this December), so from Holbox we headed down to Playa del Carmen to meet up with friends before the wedding in Tulum. Chrissy's brother Marky stayed buried in the sand for at least an hour, he was just hanging out as usual:
Chrissy's team went out one night to a 'Swedish-Thai' fusion restaurant, in Mexico; I was dubious, but it was really wonderful. The girls all ordered these ridiculous blueberry margaritas. I stuck to my new favorite drink: Caipirinha, Brazil's "national cocktail". WHAT? Do we have a national cocktail? The name is based on the word caipira which is equivalent to "hillbilly". It's delicious - crushed limes, sugar and rum. (Traditionally, cachaça instead of rum.)
As we left the restaurant, we went to find Andrew's team, which was of course quite drunk. While Steph and Mike and I were loitering outside on the street, this Mexican guy came up selling these cool grasshoppers made out of leaves. I just had to get one (10 pesos, totally worth it). Mike named him Pepe. From that point on, Steph and I turned the night into a Pepe photo shoot - Pepe on the bike seat, Pepe on the disco ball, Pepe drinking a beer... you had to be there I guess.
With such a big (and intoxicated) group, we had a difficult time deciding where to go. We ended up at this boutique hotel called Basico, with a rooftop bar and hammocks. It would have been cool if it didn't seem to be trying so hard to be cool. Plus, one cerveza was $8. We hightailed it out of there after the bill for round 1 arrived. I thought this photo turned out kinda cool - Aly is swinging Nancy on the hammock. Someone said it looked like a picture of Nancy's soul. spooky.

Black Hole Sun

2007-12-12T14:22:00.000-09:00

Isla Holbox. I hesitate to write about it because you three will all swarm there on vacation, thereby ruining the most attractive aspect of this island - very few tourists. Holbox evidently means "black hole" in the Mayan language, which might be attributed to cenotes (sinkholes in the limestone) - otherwise it has no obvious link to anything we saw. A 3-hr bus ride from Cancun brings you to Chiquila, and from there you take a 25 min. ferry to Holbox. The whole trip costs $11.

The island is 25 km x 1 km, although only a few sq km on the NE corner are inhabited. It is so beautiful and peaceful!! The streets are made of sand, so transport is by golf carts ("hol-cars"), bikes, or piedras.

It's basically a chill and somewhat sleepy fishing village. The kids build sand structures in the middle of the street. Everyone knows everyone, and it's great to see them greeting each other all the time. There are tons of dogs around, most of them descendants of chihuahuas. We saw one woman at a shop greet a dog visitor "Mi Amor!" Check out the little guy napping in the taxi:

Perfect weather, water, waves, white sand, sunsets, seashells, walks, hammocks... we did a lot of just laying around reading.

There are quite a few Italian immigrants on Isla Holbox, Joceline is one, she owns the cute little Cafe Azul, with good food and music. Plenty of other Italians came in to visit her while we were there, stopping in to hang out, smoke cigarettes, drink cappucinos...

We met a super cool couple, Kai and Kirsten from Köln, Germany on the first night at this beachside bar, and we hung out with them every night - same time, same place - thereafter. The bar, about 10m from the water and with swing seats, attracted an interesting mix of tourists and locals.

There was a german shephard that adopted our friends, it was really funny b/c the dog just followed them everywhere and would even wait at the bottom of the stairs or outside a restaurant for them. Mike didn't want me petting the dog so that he wouldn't follow us, but I assured him we were safe b/c we weren't German.

Who needs a heater in December?

2007-12-10T11:33:00.000-09:00

Well our trip to mexico began with a broken heater. Mike was trying to fix it all day and about two hours before Natalie picked us up to go to the airport, he had a brainstorm - what if there's ice blocking the oil from coming out of the tank!? So we're out there around 10 pm, me with a hair dryer pointed at the heater nozzle, Mike with a screwdriver stabbing at the ice chunk in the tank... Just as Mike says "there's no f*ing way we're going to break this", the screwdriver stabs through, oil starts spraying out of the heater, splashing me and Mike, pouring all over the ground. I was excitedly trying to close the valve (first turning the wrong way), while both of us yelled and screamed. We got it closed, but then couldn't reattach the copper tubing b/c it turns out you need a special copper tubing flarer tool. Our dear friend Dan Naber came by to fix it the following morning, we owe him big time.

With that excitement, we showered up, packed in a hurry and were on our way. Fairbanks - Seattle - Cancun. Really easy flight for how far Mexico is! Our first night we stayed in Cancun near the bus station at the coolest "eco-tel" - El Rey del Caribe, an oasis of tranquility in El Centro. This place is really neat, solar power, low-flush toilet (uses almost no water and still very clean!), your key is attached to a key for the AC so you can't leave it on when you're gone... brilliant. We awoke to a gorgeously sunny day in the tropics. We had a heck of a time calling Alaska (seems the Telmex card doesn't work for AK?), and ended up using the hotel phone to call Dan. It seemed strange to worry about a heater when it was 85 degrees outside.

trek to tolovana

2007-12-09T09:16:00.000-09:00

I was in the checkout line at Freddys buying food for Tolovana, and noticed this!

Tolovana is a 'remote hot springs' destination, privately owned with 3 cabins on the property. It's a two-hour dirve, and an 11-mile ski each way, and the difficulty is highly dependent on the weather. On the first day of this year (2007), Ted and I headed out there to meet up with friends and we were pelted the whole way with snow and wind, in -15* or so temperatures. It was a bit brutal, and Ted nearly froze his face off. Literally. On the dome, I noticed two large white patches on his cheek and nose, which he couldn't feel and to me felt like cardboard. We covered them up just in time and although the spots later turned purple, no major frostbite.

This trip was much more chill. Thankfully, because it was Natalie's first time out there. The snow was marginal, as you can see from the photo, and Nat took a few wipeouts, but she was cheery the whole way.

These two look more like they are at a KGB meeting than a ski cabin. Maybe a KGB meeting in a ski cabin!?:

a man and his dog. Dan and Skye:

Here's Mike on the way to the tubs:

Ed and Mike in the old bathtub found next to the actual hot tubs:

best pals in Malaysia

2007-11-26T10:42:00.000-09:00

how cute are these guys?

aqua girl and heat trace man strike again!

2007-11-06T15:09:00.000-09:00

Well, Belfair did it again. The annual costume party this year was a superhero/short skirt/ball gown party. Enough options so that everyone had to dress up. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many photos. Ted has a few more on his blog.

Captain Condom explains the dangers of the pull-out method to Duff Man.

The Fluffy Asian and Studly Viking looking good.

Schnappster realizes that Charmin really IS 3 times softer. Toilet Paper Girl carries only the best.

Red Man and Heat Trace Man ready to kick some ass.

the big move

2007-10-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally did it, we moved the 30m next door to our new house!this is what the downstairs looks like - plywood floors, backerboard for the wood stove tiling project (WSTP). upstairs looks a little better but with ~400 boxes.

miles is really mesmerized by the washing machine:
Our friend Sebastien's family has a small vineyard at their home near Bordeaux, where they produce a couple hundred bottles of wine a year. We got one of these such bottles from Sebastien, and we've been saving it for our first night in the new house. It was a nice, delicate wine with a smooth finish and made for a really romantic dinner. It felt really good to be in our own place, creating our own space, sharing the start of a new life together....

These two should have been cut off sooner.

Kievksii Torte

2007-10-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

Nastia and Brandon had us (and a few other Russian/Ukrainian types) over for a delicious Russian meal and this famous (although I'd never heard of it) Kievskii cake. it's made up of meringue layers and a buttery chocolate frosting - SO delicious! ...and it only takes about 7 hours to make!

shake it like a polaroid picture

2007-10-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

As most of my readers (all 3 of you) know, I really love photography. Blogspot just started this neat project http://play.blogger.com/ which is simply a slideshow of all the photos being uploaded on people's blogs (are blogger and blogspot the same?). It is super addictive, slightly(?) voyeuristic, and just amazingly interesting. I keep thinking I'll see someone I know.

I also found this cool website POLANOIR devoted completely to polaroids, from people all over the world.

Happy Bday, Sputnik.

2007-10-04T14:18:00.000-08:00

"Glory to Soviet Science!"
"The United States now sleeps under a Soviet moon" - Krushchev!

the lone star state

2007-09-27T12:53:00.001-08:00

Texas was a whirlwind 10 days of the ACL fest, visiting my brother and family, visiting my Mom and Richard in Tomball, a day on the beach in Galveston with my dad and sister, seeing my babushka, meeting up with old friends, tex-mex, swimming, sunshine, beer, wine, margaritas...

My mom's new house in Tomball, TX is a cute ranch house on 3 gorgeous acres, with a really nice pool, full of cool trees and flowers.

...and a big lawn - my mom looks so cute on a riding lawn mower!

this spider is about 4 inches in diameter & he had about 4 little dinners wrapped up in his web.

Mike and I picked up my dad and sister Julia for a day on the beach in Bolivar, just across on the ferry from Galveston.

My dad and Julia after swimming. The water was perfect - not too cold, not too warm, great waves.

We made sand turtles, Julia's was named Billy Joe Bob Jr. , while the one we made together was named Shelly.

Like a 1000 birds on a wire.

Stopped in St. Paul for a quick visit with Emily (Brighton High!) and Madeleine and Jonathan. Cute house in a cute neighborhood. We payed at the playground. The only photo i took was in the airport though:

Returned to Fairbanks which was at a not-too-bad temp of 30F, although it still made me wonder why we live here. i'm better now.

austin city limits & beyond

2007-09-26T13:22:00.000-08:00

Mike and I headed to Texas to visit my family, some old friends, and to catch the Austin City Limits Music Festival! The estimated attendance: 65,000. These kinds of crowds are a bit overwhelming coming from Fairbanks, but it's a very well-organized festival, the weather was hot & gorgeous, and there was so much good music. Chrissy and Andrew were there from San Francisco, just for the weekend! It was great to hang out with them. Chrissy and I have been to so many shows together, it's impossible to count. We also saw Ben and Lindsay, ex-Fairbanksans who have adapted well to Austin.

The weekend in Austin was a bit crazy, a LOT of driving and a lot of music. We flew in Friday morning to houston, so with driving to Austin, meeting up with Ben, getting to the festival, we managed to only see Bjork on the first night. However, she puts on an AMAZING show, and while I don't know much of her music, it was one of the best acts of the weekend. She is awesome.

"DECLARE INDEPENDENCE! DON'T LET THEM DO THAT TO YOU!"

I adore Regina Spektor, so her show was another favorite of mine. she was cute, "overwhelmed" by the crowd. The best thing about her show is that everyone was QUIET and LISTENING.

CELL PHONES. I was perplexed by the number of people texting throughout most of the weekend - not paying any attention to the music or anything around them! but... we were in the older echelon of festival goers, so it probably is a sign of my being out of the loop. My top 5 shows of the weekend were Bjork, Regina Spektor, Arcade Fire (fantastic), Yo La Tengo (rocked out!) and Andrew Bird (the best whistler alive). Mike's top 3 were Yo La Tengo, Wilco and Bjork. We also saw Gotan Project, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Lucinda Williams, Arctic Monkeys, Devotchka, Common, The National, Bob Dylan... Missed a few people we wanted to see, but it was just too much, too much. My Morning Jacket was on at the same time as Wilco... grrr. Since personal cameras were allowed, you can catch just about any of the acts on YouTube.

One clarification about Austin City Limits: the tv show showcases concerts of some of the artists at ACL, most of which are taped during the week/weekend of the festival, but at another venue with a much smaller crowd (more like 200). If I were to go again, the key would be to figure out how to get into those shows!!

p.s. not my photos, I stole them off the web, and I didn't find good ones for the other acts.

Back at my brother's in Round Rock...

They have a big beautiful new house and two cute little guys. I FINALLY got to meet my little nephew Vance, who is going to be one next month! He's super cute! and a really happy guy.

We got to hang out with Reid, who's getting big - he'll be 4 in november.

Reid and his dad have matching shoes.

We played in the backyard a while, making up basketball challenges, and we even measured everyone's height and wingspan. They are supposed to be about equal. Everyone was pretty 'normal' except my brother Mikey whose arms are ~5 in. longer. He and Ashley are both over 6', so Reid and Vance will soon be towering over me!

the last days of summer

2007-09-06T10:23:00.001-08:00

a gorgeous labor day weekend prompted a booze cruise of 12 on the mighty Chena River.
Allison and Jesse take on class IV rapids.

Leslie looking as photogenic as ever. Evan is less so, so this is the best photo I could find of him.

Norma and Ian passed up a day on their property to join us.

Even the Belfair newlyweds were there! Lars with a misshapen head:

Sharon demonstrating the international sign for ASSHOLE!!! (there were some 13-year olds trying to terrorize us and the ducks with their jetskis.) halfway to pike's we saw some crazy person paddling upstream, which of course turned out to be Celso. our other kayaker Ted raced up to challenge him to a duel. Mike before and after the Boatel, which dubs itself "the sleazy waterfront bar".

our own private idaho

2007-09-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

Mike and I closed on our HOUSE! Well, Mike closed on his house, but I get to pretend to be a part owner... It's a cute little log cabin WITH RUNNING WATER, right next door to the cabin I've been living in for FOUR years, and Mike for three. These are the "before" shots. This week they are going to lift the thing up about 3 feet on airbags and put in adjustable posts (to allow for ground variations resulting from patchy permafrost). We have a lot of renovations in mind, so we got started right away on some projects...

TUNDRA TANG

2007-08-15T09:50:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends ago, Rebecca and I hiked the Pinnell Mountain Trail , a 27.5-mile trail that goes from Eagle Summit to Twelvemile Summit out on the Steese Highway. The entire trail is above treeline, which makes for fantastic views of the White Mountains and the Crazy Mountains, and on a clear day, the Alaska Range. Our first day was pretty clear, and nice enough that we could sit down for lunch. A few miles in, we stumbled upon these giant bags filled with gravel, i thought it looked like a scene from x-files.The first night the wind started to howl and the rain started to come down... and it didn't stop for the next two days. Day 2 & 3 views were mostly of the dense fog, although it would lift occassionally to unveil a cliff or valley:

Thankfully there are two cabins along the trail (about 1/3 and 2/3 along the way) - built by the youth conservation corps and blm in the 70s - so we could cook in peace and dryness.A key to our survival was Rebecca's delicious hot drink creation we dubbed Tundra Tang.

STEP 1: carefully measure out the whiskey (we tried rum, but whiskey was better): STEP 2: add hot water:
STEP 3: add Tang, being careful not to add too much (as it masks the alcohol flavor):
YUM!

one of the coolest things along the trail were these solifluction lobes, which result from surface melt that can't permeate through the permafrost, and flows downslope:

this trail is largely overlooked by my hardcore friends (except reba, obviously). marked trails are sortof considered "wussy" I guess? but this hike is BEAUTIFUL and easily accessible, and could be done in a 2-day weekend. I would highly recommend it to both locals and visitors. thanks, reba, for getting me out there!

Denali Highway mini Reunion

2007-08-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

Mike & I and Christina & Ryan drove down to Cantwell to meet up with Amanda who was coming from Anchorage. We turned onto the Denali Hwy, and this was the view that greeted us:

We really missed Evan, who backed out at the last minute due to Thesis, Dayton and Hannah, who were always instigating such trips, and Sebastien, who is very busy traveling in the Americas. Bike helmets are hot:
A rare moment of Christina pedaling up the hill:
Amanda predicted I'd win a lot of awards with this shot:
found some dead moths floating in greasy water under the tracks in Cantwell:

The Denali Highway is just beautiful!! As is fireweed:

and the cotton is high

2007-07-27T08:35:00.000-08:00

hangin out on the porch in the sunshine.

Miles:

Mike studying for the Two Rivers triathlon (which he had to miss because of bronchitis):

gorgeous weekend in Fairbanks

2007-07-25T12:15:00.000-08:00

My past few summers in Fairbanks have been plagued by one thing or another - smoke in 2004, data 2005, cold & rain 2006, plus the dreadful Thesis. This summer, on the other hand, has been absolutely gorgeous and stressfree. We've had a good bit of rain, so no wildfires and no smoke, and the plants are doing great. Of course this is the one year I haven't tried to grow a garden, because we thought we were moving earlier in the summer, but I did plant lots of flowers and basil in pots and they look lovely. This past weekend was Golden Days --- which is a blast to the gold rush past, I guess? I have never really known what it was about, but this year I helped with the "golden mile" - a one mile race that leads off the golden days parade downtown. There were over 150 participants in the race, which benefits the Literacy Council. I signed up at the last minute, and ran a 6:56 mile, which isn't too bad considering no warmup (and a great time at sweating honey at the marlin the night before)... The race was fun because the streets were lined with mobs of parade watchers the whole way. A line of old-timey cars, fire trucks, cabaret dancers, football teams, dachsunds and tae-kwon-doers made for an interesting parade.

Sunday morning Mike and I ran the Gold Discovery run, a 16.5 miler that starts at the top of pedro dome at cleary summit, and winds down (and UP) to the Silver Gulch brewery in Fox. It's really a gorgeous and fun run, despite the last couple of miles on pavement in the heat - 15 min. of torture after a long run. But awaiting us at silver gulch are two kegs and a great bbq. We gave this guy Patrick - from Seattle - a ride to the race, and he seemed to enjoy it except for crapping himself in the last couple of miles. BUMMER. Mike had a fantastic run in 2:10:46, and would have gotten 3rd place in his age group if it weren't for that BRIAN JACKSON (who wasn't even there to pick up his medal!). I ran a 2:17:17, which was also a few minutes faster than last year. Complete results:

http://www.sportalaska.com/runningresults/2007/PDFFiles/gdr-cls.pdf

The annual Red Green regatta was the same day. although we didn't make it, our friends Celso and Chloe came up with a great duct-tape-octopus-attacking-a-canoe float:

http://picasaweb.google.com/celsoborealis/2007RedGreenRegatta

holy shit, ow.

2007-07-23T13:38:00.001-08:00

WARNING: do not look too closely at this photo if you are squeamish!

Neiff, 24, from Norway gored by a bull in the running of the bulls in Madrid this month. Although the horn went in at his shin and all the way up to his knee!!, the bone wasn't affected and he is OK.

Live Earth

2007-07-17T12:34:00.001-08:00

"the last thing this planet needs is another rock concert"
- roger daltrey of the who

my first triathlon

2007-07-09T12:15:00.000-08:00

Sunday, July 8, was the Northern Aquatics Triathlon at Chena Lakes. It's a short sprint one: 500 yd swim, 10 mi bike and 3.1 mi run --- which was long enough! Here's a photo of the start from the News-Miner, see if you can spot me:

Note that some crazy people are not wearing wet suits. I am soo happy that I borrowed one, because that water is c-c-c-c-old!!! The start is a loud and startling canon blast, and everyone just dives right in on top of each other. I felt like a salmon in the Copper River...

Although my feet started to feel numb toward the middle of the swim and the water was pretty choppy with all the swimmers going at once, it wasn't too bad, and my split was around 8:30? The transition wasn't so smooth, I was really huffing and puffing while the cameraman was snapping photos of me struggling to get out of the wet suit.

The bike portion was really nice and flat and went by pretty quickly (in my mind; in reality, a slowish split of 37:00?). My run transition was super fast since I didn't have to change shoes (still haven't gone clipless), so I actually passed a couple of people in the transition area. The run was a bit painful - heavy breathing the whole time - but i surprised myself with about a 22:00 5K, and finished in 6th place (women)! for quick recovery, you're supposed to stand in cold water after a run.In all, it was super fun actually, and with a little bit more practice with open water swims and clipless pedals, I think I can drop some time.... Mike was there helping me get my gear in order and cheering me on the whole time, here's a studly photo of him after our picnic lunch on the 'beach'.

Field-Tested, Alaskan-Approved

2007-07-05T12:27:00.000-08:00

Mike and I wanted to go dipnetting (future blog, hopefully) last weekend after the midnight sun run, but low count reports on the chitina hotline (907.823.2200) were a bit discouraging. We packed up the car anyway and decided to drive to Valdez instead... but we brought the dipnet just in case. Our friends Will and Anne had clued us in to a great camp spot near the Black Rapids glacier, so our first night on the road was really beautiful.

The next morning, we ran into some guys (and gal) with 4wheelers, coolers and dipnets at the Glenallen gas station and they reported "awesome" salmon numbers, so we took a left and drove to Chitina after all. Reports from people at O'Brien creek, however, were bad. 3 people with 3 dipnets = 6 salmon in 14 hours. bad. But, we decided we were right there so we'd try for an hour.

We tried for an hour, but with no hint of a fish at all, we left for Valdez. First we stopped at the Spirit Mountain Artworks store in Chitina which is worth a look! The drive to Valdez is freaking GORGEOUS!! I'm not sure why i didn't know this, but it was really amazing.

The Worthington Glacier. If you look closely, you can see a couple of people at the top of the ice wall:

Thompon Pass, looking north. Snapped it just before the fog completely filled in. So I blame it on a bad cold during our trip, but I did not take any photos of Valdez itself. I'll just have to go back I guess. There are some waterfalls on the road, and our second campspot was by a river in Keystone Canyon, not far from these Bridal Veil Falls:
"THAT'S A BIG OLE GRIZZLY!":
We stopped about 544 times on the way back, partly because we were looking for a trail that someone told us about - to Red Rock Canyon? - which we never found, but we had fun at each stop anyway.

Mike built a cairn while i had fun with digital camera settings:

Some sepia-toned water for your enjoyment:
Oh ya! we saw a mom moose with two small calves with still-shaky legs, but those photos are on 35mm film...

Rainbow Ridge June07

2007-06-29T08:40:00.000-08:00

Last year, my 'friends' all got together and tried to figure out which single weekend i would be gone for a conference in Girdwood (Active Tectonics and Seismic Potential of Alaska - good conference), so that they could hike Rainbow Ridge without me and then talk about how awesome it was whenever i was around ALL last summer.

So, I FINALLY hiked up rainbow ridge (south of Delta Junction) with Mike, Lisa, Ann and Ann's dog Mytack. It was a bit cloudy and windy, but the views were still stunning!!

I guess people do some backcountry skiing on the east side of the ridge --- hopefully there is an easier way to get up there. It was mostly scree slope, and the scree was too big to get some good leaps on the way down. But we all had a nice day, I think Mytack was pretty pooped by the end of the day!

Moustache Party May07

2007-06-27T17:12:00.000-08:00

Our friends Brent and Emily have had a moustache party for the last 6? years, 3 in Michigan, and 3 here in Fairbanks. As this was their last summer in Fairbanks, moustache party '07 was a huge blowout - tons of fun and awesome costumes/outfits.

According to the invitation, men are supposed to sport a moustache and dress in the style of the moustache they have chosen, while women are supposed to dress like the type of women who would hang out with guys with moustaches. Not too much of a stretch for some people:

Trev and Brian looking suave.

Mario and Luigi. Stefan in the middle stuck his 'moustache' (dryer lint) to his face with HONEY!

Amanda and Lars, enough said.

Woo hooooo!

It was an exciting bike ride home...

For more photos, see http://picasaweb.google.com/snowgecko/MoustacheParty

ATM

2007-06-19T13:40:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm first going to catch up on a few posts, starting with our trip to central America in March of this year...

ATM is the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave near San Ignacio, Belize where the locals get cash. Kidding. It's an amazing archeological site. Mike and I decided to splurge and take a tour ($75 US each). you can't go in the cave without a licensed guide. The competition for guiding these tours is pretty fierce between the two tour companies in San Ignacio. So the 'other' company that we didn't go with was badmouthing the company we did pick, while the company we went with just said "we don't want to badmouth the other guys..."

The trip starts with a 1.5 hour van ride (about 8 people in our group), then hike about an hour, which brings you to the mouth of the cave. There's a deep pool, so the first step is to plunge into the water - chilly, but refreshing - and swim about 15 feet to the entrance of the cave. Someone had clued us in to a good trick to take our shirts off for the swim and put them inside our helmets so that we'd have a dry shirt while inside.

Turns out it is really DARK in caves. We walked, scrambled and waded (in up to neck-deep water) for about an hour, then we got to this spot where we had to take off our shoes and climb up a pretty steep wall to another 'room' of the cave. This 'room' was actually like a huge cathedral, filled with stalagmites and stalactites (g=ground, c=ceiling is how i remember them), and all kinds of offshoots into other 'rooms'...
A bit spooky actually.

So what is the big deal about this cave? Well, it was featured in National Geographic Magazine in 2001, because the rooms are littered with Mayan pottery and human remains! The Mayans believed that the rain god lived in the cave, since the mist came off the water in the morning, and the water came from the river, which came from the cave. Very logical. When things started to go badly for Mayans, they sacrificed people to appease the gods. Therefore when there was a serious drought, they sacrificed people to the rain god.

The skeleton is a Mayan woman around 20 years of age, she is called the "crystal maiden", and the cave is also known as "Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre" which is a much better name than ATM. There are a few theories on how she died, based on the way she is lying on the ground. Some believe she was trying to climb up the wall next to her and was pulled off the wall to her death, or she fell, or that she simply fell backward from standing.

In any case, she looks a bit surprised. Water from the limestone cave (calcium carbonate) has calcified the skeleton and she is very well preserved. On her forehead you can see how high the water has gotten - maybe not so much in the photo. It's amazing they let people walk in there, several of the artifacts, including a skull! have been stepped on by tourists. The preserved skulls have teeth that have been filed or have jade inlays, which tells you what tribe they're from and how important they are. Mike and I both decided to get some dental bling as a result of this trip.