Sunshine Day 2.20.2010

The sunshine brings out our silliness!  This is the trail we hike up at the south end of the road.  It's a trail that follows a pipeline.  It has a nice incline most of the way up, with some flatter spots for a break.

We stopped alongside one of the maintenance buildings.  There's a creek running through and then a waterfall.  We had lunch on the deck that overlooks the water.  It was so pretty!

Starry Night 2.18.10

Decided to spend the night on top of Deer Mountain. It was a lovely but somewhat windy evening. I dug a flat spot and created a little berm to provide some protection from the wind. I had my cold weather bag so I actually got too hot during the night. If it looks like there is a gap in the star trails, well, there is. The action I used to stack all the images apparently skipped one.

I got up a little bit before dawn and looked around to see if there was an aurora since that was one of the primary reasons I picked this spot. Naturally, I managed to have my camera pointed in the wrong direction for most of the night (see previous photo [who wants to look at an ugly guy in a sleeping bag anyway]), but I was alert enough, even in the wee hours of the morning to hop over to my camera, change my battery, re-compose a scene with the aurora included and hop back to my Thermarest. Why the hopping? It was cold outside and I didn't want to get out of my sleeping bag!

This is the same as the photo above with a few more frames added. The relatively bright horizon quickly washed out the light from the aurora.

Ketchikan.

Valentine's Day 2010

The night before we went out to eat for Valentine's Day at our favorite restaurant called The Bar Harbor. So for Valentine's Day on the actual day, we went for a hike on what I call "Quent's trail" since it's the trail he takes when he goes skiing and has adventures on the mountain. It's the Deer Mountain trail. I'm not sure how many miles we went up, but we made it at least to the 1500 feet elevation.

Knitting 2.13.10

Last year I started a sweater, but it wasn't yet completed. So I brought it out, stretched it out on the floor, and Mr. T came by to check out the softness. I had a feeling that would happen! Isn't he so cute?

And here I am wearing a hat that turned out a lot smaller than I thought it would. I had fun making it!

Spring is Springing 2.17.10

We were quite happy to be seeing signs of spring so early in Ketchikan. I have a feeling that this year will be a lot like 2005, which was the first year we lived in Alaska. Everything bloomed early that year and the berries were fully ripe in the beginning of July. At the time I am journaling this (March 29th), we've only had about 6-8 inches of snow on the lower elevations this winter. It was a very mild winter! I loved it! But for Quent it would have been nice to have more snow for skiing. By the February 17th I saw two bumble bees, there was a hummingbird spotted, and the crocuses and other flowers blooming.


These were grown in Califoria (probably) so they don't get any credit for spring, but they were a beautiful gift from Quent for Valentine's Day.

Crocuses

Walk to the Beach 2.6.10

We wanted to check out the S. Point Higgins trail again, but this time without snow. It was cloudy when we first started and by the time we were done it was raining. We walked down to the beach and took some pics...

Quent was working on growing out his Alaskan beard.

English Tea Party 1.31.10

I am a big Jane Austen fan! For three Sundays in a row PBS had the newest version of Emma. I couldn't wait!! I found a book at the library that talked all about tea and the yummy treats that go along with tea. I had been wanting to try cucumber sandwiches for the longest time. Here are a few shots Quent took while I was putting the little sandwiches together. They were so good!! I had tea along with the sandwiches and enjoyed the movie.

End of January 2010

Here are a few random pictures of some pictures we took toward the end of January.


Quent and Christina stopping to take a picture while walking on the trail at the end of the road to the south.

Deer Mountain 1.3.10

Spent a night in the Deer Mountain cabin.  Got up early the next morning and snapped a few photos looking out the window.  That's Annette Island in the distance. 

Same composition as above, different focus point. 

Sunrise!  Powder!  Yup, good times to be had.  Had to break out the Atomic's because the powder skis were still being nursed back to health. 

Tracks and the first rays.

The second and third rays. 

Wolf tracks heading toward the sunrise.  They weren't real fresh. 

But these tracks were [fresh]. 

The skiing was really nice but the light got flat as the clouds wedged their way between the sun and my ski hill. 

Anchorage Visit 12.22.09 and beyond

Flying an approach into Anchorage at dusk lead to nice views of the Chugach National Forest...  Most forests grow trees - well the Chugach grows mountains.  When I snapped this photo we were over Turnagain Arm. 

The Knik Arm and the Talkeetna Mountains. I liked the way the ice formed ribbons on the water. 

After Nate picked us up at the airport we went to the homestead.  The following morning we decided to put some tracks in the snow.  Unfortunately a sever winter storm had blown all the nice fresh powder somewhere north of the Brooks Range - or so it seemed.  Ther was a little bit of softer stuff in the willows but not much. 

Nate works at skinning his ski in some weather that felt a lot like my beloved SE. 

Evening shot of the Anchorage Bowl from the porch of the house.  What a view! 

The following morning a little before 10am. 

Decided to take another ski tour.  Nate led the way up the mountain toward one of his backyard peaks. 

The Alaska Range is lit up by the morning sun.

Here is the rock outcrop we climbed.  The top afforded some very nice views.  The actual reason I included this photo was because of the dall ram on the horizon on the left hand side of the photo.  The full size version of this photo provides a little more detail.  He watched us for quite some time before getting up and scampering down the other side of the mountain. 

Nate with his new camera.

This would have looked a lot more exciting from a low vantage point.  It was actually an impressive leap while wearing ski boots.

North and South Suicide Peaks rise in the background behind Nate. 

Turnagain Arm. 

Skinning a ski again.  We started down our run and then promptly ran out of snow.  Had to hike a little to find another line.  It was a nice line and I was cruising along when I decided to do some aggressive GS turns to lose some speed near the bottom of the slope.  Unfortunately my noodle skis flexed enough for my bindings to go into insta tele mode and snap.  OUCH!  It was a sad moment.  I've shared many a good memory with those bindings.  Yet another victim fell to the curse of Nate's Triangle  (closely related to the Bermuda Triangle - but much colder).  Good thing I brought two pairs of skis.