Kitty-kitty

Meet Milo. I thought he had the coolest eyes, so with help from my aunt, I was able to take some pictures of him.

Yummy chip!

My Aunt Kathy and I.

Family & Friends

This isn't fancy Alaskan photos...sorry. Ha! But it is of people I love so very much!


Christina and Titus (cousin once removed? Haha!)

Christina and Rebekah

Christina & Carrie

Christina & Natasha

Happy Thanksgiving!

My sisters and brother dressed up for Thanksgiving. I thought it was so cute!

Waking up to the sound of a shovel sure makes one get out of bed fast! I thought this Thanksgiving snow was so beautiful!

Walk with Grandpa

I spent some time with my grandparents when I was in Michigan. One morning Grandpa and I went for a walk around the yard and here are some of the pictures I took.


My love for leaves continues...

I've always wanted to take an upclose picture of red berries in the winter and I finally had my chance!

And continues...

Pair of leaves.

Weekend Trip

This was my camp Nov. 18 & 19. I was really just looking for any excuse to try out my new bindings and skins (for skis) and get up in the high country. Climbed Pat's Mountain (or Mount Extreme for those locals who haven't been off the island and don't know any better) from the Middle Ridge Road side. It was a nice little hike and the new Alpine Touring setup works like a dream.

There was some fog in the valley as I started hiking to the top of Pat's mountain. A little bit farther the clouds collapsed and the snow began to fall, which severely limited my visibility. Overall a very nice little weekend trip.

Sunset Spectacular

I was moving some furniture in the house when I noticed that the floor didn't look quite right, neither did walls or ceiling. They were all tinted red. I looked outside it this sunset greeted me like a freight train. Grabbed the camera and took a few shots. I really wish I would have been up on a mountain or a beach but our upstairs window worked. (These were taken a few days ago.)

Wide angle, Woronkofski on the left and Zarembo in the distance.

Another view.

Christina's Toy

Christina has allowed me to play around with Photoshop a little bit recently. The photo above is what came out of the camera (severely underexposed). The photo below is the corrected version.

Tent Test

I hiked up to a little knob I like. Part of the way was on the boardwalk. As I hiked up the rain stopped and eventually the sun tried breaking through the fog.

Got to the top...eventually. It took over four hours to get to my final destination but it was well worth it. I set up my tent just as it was getting too dark to see, cooked a nice meal and went to bed. The next morning I started getting cold (must have been in the teens) so I started to add another layer and decided just to get up instead. The northern lights, a crescent moon, and a brilliant night's sky were all waiting to welcome me into their cold domain. I set up the camera a took a couple shots as I prepared breakfast at 4:30am. Unfortunately frost kept attacking the front of my lens, resulting in the disturbing flare seen in this photo.

A few stars are visible in the sky as dawn invades the sky.

Moon over my tent. There a good two feet (at least) of snow in this area. The flat spot I'm set up on is normally a small pond. (Tash, this is the one you "sat" on when it was barely frozen.)

Continued

I started hiking down at 8am. Total time down was a little under 2 hours 15 minutes. I had hoped to do it in two hours but I wasn't prepared to deal with the slick ice that covered much of the boardwalk at the lower elevations.

Looking down at the ridge that the North Wrangell Trail climbs. The ridge was beginning to get enveloped in fog. Etolin Island is in the distance.

The fog rolls in.

Not long after the fog came in, it lifted, and was painted by the color of dawn.

East Wrangell

Last Sunday I walked up to the North Wrangell Trail from the east side of the island. Beyond this point I didn't see any deer tracks. I was surprised that the deer had moved down already. I think the higher elevations had a lot of snow that has since melted, which would explain the downward migration.

A dainty little stream along the trail.

Cats

Christina captured Shadow's little feet when she fell asleep on my lap and stretched her little legs out between my arm and body.

Tigger in his favorite place to beg for catnip - on top of the TV.

Gateway to Alaska

Bar Harbor in Ketchikan on a stormy night. I took a long exposure so it appears that the water was calm... but it wasn't. You can tell that the boats are rocking because they are blurred slightly.

The previous night was glassy calm.

During my Ketchikan visit, I was able to take a look at some of their roads was impressed with some of the roads that hadn't received Forest Service maintenance for over 10 years. The industrious locals helped out the government by pruning the alder to keep the roads from brushing in creating these lovely park-like lanes through the woods. Thank you Coast Guard (done in their free time)and Ketchikan residents!