Ski Time

Best cake of my life

2010-05-20T18:43:00.001-07:00

From ETG in Fremont. Thanks to Annette we got this little tester to
try before the wedding. It is incredible. Will need milk at the
wedding now...

Drink TAP! Especially Tahoe tap, so delicious.

2009-12-11T09:14:00.001-08:00

Presented by Online Education

Sunrise from the ferry to Ketchikan

2009-12-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

More from Crater Lake

2009-07-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

Crater Lake Pano

2009-07-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

Jeff made an awesome pose on the bow of the overlook at Crater Lake on our drive back from Lake Tahoe, so it had to be captured. This is five pictures, and it lined up pretty well considering I'm just getting used to making pano's on photoshop.

Follow the Tour

2009-07-12T17:31:00.001-07:00

I'm just trying this thing out, but I've just been following the Tour on my phone in a live feed. see if this thing works for you.

Bike ride today

2009-05-31T17:31:00.001-07:00

Today we met a few friends and rode up to the red hook brewery for
lunch. It is about 25 miles each way from our house and was the
longest ride we've done yet. Michelle had a bit much to drink last
night and was a real trooper this morning by still riding with us. Now
that we're back she's a bit tired.

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

2009-05-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

Came down for a long weekend and have had great weather. Shorts and
tshirts have been the choice along with working on starting a tan. Did
a short road ride yesterday on a Trek 2.1 which was a lot of fun up
Donner Pass. Descent speeds were close to 40 which was a little scary.
We are starting our first thunderstorm right now which is a bummer
because we were suppose to go out on my cousin's boat.

All day we've been working in the yard, cleaning up debris, and making
the area better protected from fires. My dad took apart the back
bedroom in prep for the electrician to do some rewiring. I may have to
come back next month to get things ready for my week long trip in
July. Can't wait! Something very rewarding about working on a cabin.

This long weekend

2009-05-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

We're heading to lake Tahoe to work on the cabin and relax. Will
report back with pictures

Sent from my iPhone

Hit and Run

2009-03-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

It sucks when people think it's ok to cause damage to others possessions and then leave the scene in the middle of the night.

New site

2009-02-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

I signed up for a free 60 trial of MobileMe from Apple, and thus built a website with pictures from my trips etc. I'm debating as to whether or not to keep it after the trial ends. check it out and let me know what you think.

web.mac.com/brownc9

I'm Back!

2009-02-07T15:07:00.001-08:00

Had a great trip, took lots of pictures, that i'm going to upload shortly.

We had great weather, a little snow to start the trip off, and then sunshine after that for all the hard days ahead.

The Columbia mountains are incredible and I really need to go back ASAP. As should everyone else.

Nelson, BC

2009-01-31T21:37:00.001-08:00

After a late start matt and I got on the road at about 9:15 and drove
across the state to Spokane. Matt needed to stop and get
A couple more things at rei and I picked up some electrolyte gummy
bears. After one last stop for some carbo missiles at taco bell we
drove the rest of the way to nelson along the beautiful Pend Oreille
river.

We drove straight to the hostel, the White House, which is very nice
at 30 bucks a night Canadian. We also met our other two group mates
and walked through town to find dinner.

Once back from dinner we repackaged our food and packed the rest of
our gear. Gonna turn in shortly and try to get some good rest for
tomorrow.

Outlook is good for the trip, the weather, the snow and our group
seems to be experienced and hopefully have a sense of humor.

Sent from my iPhone

Bon Voyage

2009-01-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

Found these pics on TAY from some fellow posters

Tomorrow I leave for my hut trip. I'm getting the last of my packing completed tonight, with final runs to the grocery store for supplies. Matt's picking me up in the morning tomorrow, where we'll then drive to Nelson, BC and stay in a hostel in the town there. Sunday we'll get breakfast in town and drop one car off in Porto Rico, BC, and continue south towards Castlegar and leave the trailhead at Bombi summit.

As you'll recall, I am heading up to the Bonnington Range in SE British Columbia. The avalanche danger is moderate (as good as it gets this time of year), and the weather forecast is for some showers, some sun, and some moderate temperatures. The description of the trip can be found here.

I have my gear packed up and food planned out and ready to go. I'll post again when I get back to civilization on saturday of next week. Won't have pictures ready till I get home on sunday though.

Have a good week!

New Camera!

2009-01-23T15:31:00.000-08:00

I just ordered a little digital point and shoot, the Panasonic FX-150 (finally, right Martin?). It looks nearly identical to a Leica, and even has the same lens as some Leicas. I plan on taking it with me on my ski trip next week to the Bonnington Range, and will capture close to a million pictures. Last week on Woot.com they had 8gb SDHC cards for 10 bucks so I picked one up. And since this camera shoots HD movie at 16:9 aspect ratio, I can shoot some cool video of the ski trip, the wood stove, the mountains and also capture still images of all of the above at the same time. Digital cards are getting super cheap these days, as well as external hard drives. At best buy when I went to shop for a new computer monitor (sold out) to replace the TV I just sold, I was enticed by the price of backup hard drives, and I impulsively(typical) picked up a Terrabyte. What's a terrabyte, you may ask? Well it's 1,000 gigabytes. 1,000,000 megabytes and 1,000,000,000 kilobytes. Anyway, it's a TON. It was only 20 bucks more than the hard drive that was half it's size so I said, what the hay, go big or go home. With Adam and Michelle's cameras shooting in RAW, they take fairly significantly large data files for each picture and it's adding up fast when on a weekend you'll shoot 1-200 pictures each at ~4 mb a piece (around 1/2 a gig).

Anyhow, the new photo laboratory is coming along, and while I always wished to have a dark room in my home, and I will some day, this is the closest I can come to it right now.

Anyone know how to use Photoshop?

Weekend adventure

2009-01-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

I met Adam at his house at ~730pm on friday after work. We stopped at the Safeway to pick up some fuel for tomorrow, including each of us being armed with a bag of cheetos and some candy bars. With that behind us we had to make a move for some dinner, and what better way to pound some carbos and protein but to go to the taco truck on 45th next to Winchell's doughnuts. We then made the boring drive to leavenworth in the dark with full stomachs.

Arriving at the trailhead at 11 we quickly pitched the tent near Bridge creek cg, and after Adam shot off some night shots we passed out, till 4:30. We slowly woke up and it was REALLY cold, the thermometer read 18, and it was tough to get out of the sleeping bag in the fog. We quickly made our way up the road to the summer TH, and arrived just about as we were turning off our headlamps, which is what we planned. Our final destination would be to ski Asgard Pass. As we passed some descending ice climbers, they said that our plans wouldn't be possible due to lack of snow. So we changed our plan of attack from a descent oriented trip to a photography oriented trip and headed up the valley of Mountaineer Creek, towards Mt. Stuart.

We came across an avalanche deposit zone that afforded a sun bath, so I fell asleep while Adam scurried around shooting pictures of everything he could. The ski back to the car was pretty uneventful aside from being icy and kinda slow till the road, where we found brutal icy washboard/snowmobile tracks that made for a real quad burn. We were home by 8 and happy to be there.

The next day Michelle and I got up and went for a field trip to Port Ludlow, Port Townsend, and Dungeness Spit. We took a ton of pictures, and I will be uploading more shortly. But for now, here is a slide show.

Another weekend

2009-01-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

This weekend will be different that the past few. We have a weather system that's set up for some very unseasonal conditions. It looks like we could see temps in Seattle into the upper 50's and 60's coming up for next week. That sucks for skiing, but good for those that are "tired" of the winter weather we were having.

Three weeks till I leave on my 6 day hut trip, and so I'm pressuring myself to get out and push my body a bit. It's tough with the warm and wet weather forecasted to go out into the cold and dreary. But I need to let my legs know what it's like to travel 6-8 miles in a day. I've got almost all of my gear ready for the trip, just need to start packing food up and creating a menu. I imagine that food for six days will take up a HUGE amount of pack space, so I welcome compact and lightweight suggestions. I think a trip to Trader Joe's is in order.

Oh and Pete is leaving the hospital today after his knee replacement and it sounds like he's doing well.

Finally, a trailer trash party tomorrow should be interesting going to sober... as I will be for the next month till my trip.

As you can tell, I've been practicing with Michelle's camera a bit. More to come.

Wet weather

2009-01-07T16:15:00.001-08:00

It's really raining. It's settling the snowpack out but also making
for some really huge avalanches. Hyak had one happen in bounds (area
was closed) that ripped to the ground and destroyed a lift tower. It's
been waiting to happen and now we're getting the weather for the
climax 10' avalanches. Good thing to get rid of them while the skiing
sucks.

Sent from my iPhone

Merry Christmas and HAPPY SNOW!

2008-12-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

Seattle's been under a serious blanket of snow. Like nothing I've seen since I was 8 and no one could get to my birthday party because Queen Anne was covered in so much snow. I'm not even that disappointed any more...

I've been reading lots of trip reports of people skiing the streets here in town. I've been driving all over, enjoying the weather. The roads suck because the city refuses to salt them and with the chains people still have on their tires, it makes for a very bumpy ride.

I got up skiing a couple days last weekend, one with Michelle. It was a lot of fun seeing her improve in the mere four hours she was skiing. On the way home from skiing we saw this

Right after i took the picture, something else exploded in the car and rained shrapnel on the side of my car, and a hot ember landed on my back. I'm ok, but my long underwear has a hole in it now :(.

I've been working on the beard, and it's really helped while at work and skiing in the seriously cold weather we've been having. It gets frosty but that's pretty funny!
Today I'm going to finish packing for my ski trip to Revelstoke on Saturday, wrap presents, and begin cooking a pasta sauce. Friday I'm heading to Whidbey Island to visit Michelle's parents where Michelle is going to give me a much anticipated Christmas present. I have no idea what it is and she's told a few of my friends and they all tell me they're super jealous.

Returning Saturday from Whidbey I'm going to toss my stuff in my car and pick up Ian for our 8 hour drive north to the town of Revelstoke, BC We'll be staying in a hostel the first night and a hotel four blocks away the second. It should be a fun time as they're supposed to start getting snow again today and for rest of their forecast. Ian and I have decided to make it a yearly tradition which should be fun as we get older and our bank accounts get larger (hopefully). So I'll be back from that on monday night late, then rest on tuesday and pack for a snow camping trip with Michelle on New Year's eve.

This will be her first snow camping trip, so i hope the weather's good so we stay warm and dry. Will report back with pictures over the next few days.

Snow time is coming

2008-12-11T09:22:00.000-08:00

We're about to have our first real snowy storm starting tomorrow, and I can't be more excited. I think on saturday Michelle and I are going to drive to Stevens pass and take a little hike into the forest and enjoy the storm, maybe venture to Leavenworth. Then Sunday I plan to head out for some touring, and see what the storm dropped.

Last night I met the leader of my ski trip, in February, through the Bonnington Range in British Columbia.
View Larger Map This will be my first multi-day touring trip where we'll be out for seven days and stay in four different huts. I'll be joined on the trip with Matt and Claire, friends of mine. We managed to pick up all the available slots for the trip so that should make it fun. The leader, Craig, is really cool and seems to do adventuresome stuff for a living. I don't know how he manages, but I'm impressed. The trip will be some work, but not as tiresome as something like a Rainier climb. It's all very dependent on weather and avalanche conditions, but for the the sake of discussion, we'll wish the best.

In talking to Craig about the trip he pulled out a book, that instantly became my holy grail, Summits & Icefields: Columbia Mountains by Chic Scott
It is amazing and has terrain, and trips that I'd never dreamed of. I plan on asking for it for Xmas, would make a good stocking stuffer based on it's small size and reasonable price of 14.95.

Oh, also, I picked up my pictures from Alaska, and a hike at Mt. Baker with Michelle and Rubie, and while I haven't uploaded all of them to Picasa yet, there's some to look at. I think you can click on the slideshow to make it full screen.

Paradise

2008-12-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

Another nice and sunny day here. We're moving slow today after the
rehercal dinner and plenty of wine consumption. But I walked down to
the shopping district with my dad this morning amongst the mass of
people. We had a chinese food lunch from china town down the street.

Now we're just laying low, may head to the Coit tower and then head
back to Oakland for the wedding and reception. The wedding location is
pretty amazing and the sunset tonight should provide great light for
the pictures. Will report back later

Life after...

2008-12-05T00:02:00.000-08:00

The tonga room in my room. 30 bucks a person for two drinks... Pretty
steep in this town.

Party time

2008-12-04T22:22:00.000-08:00

Got to San fran tonight for my cousins wedding on Saturday. Were
starting off at the tonga room. I'm drinking a lava bowl and nick is
drinking a scorpion for two. All booze.

Winter

2008-12-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm ready for it to be a real fall/winter time. This in between garbage sucks and only leads to seasonal depression. How can I be optimistic and fun when the only thing to look forward to is, walking in the warm, humid rain in the dark?

There has a to be a way to look at this weather with optimism, but I haven't found it. What to do with free time so that you look forward to the weather? The light is flat for pictures, wet for hikes, no daylight for much else.

Patience is tough, but it'll have to do, but I'm planning on traveling a bit to find snow here in the next weeks, so that's what I'll have to do.

Pray for snow.

Can you tell we ate anything?

2008-11-27T19:44:00.000-08:00

Time to eat!

2008-11-27T18:47:00.000-08:00

*edit: I couldn't make it to the roll, but I managed the rest... nap time.

2008-11-27T18:23:00.000-08:00

Turkey time!

2008-11-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

On my way home

2008-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

In a 1955 DeHavilland Beaver. Probably my favorite plane. Oh and it's
sunny. Be home tonight.

A cool pic before the storm

2008-11-17T21:05:00.001-08:00

Neat shoreline here in Alaska with neat light against the dark sky.

It's SNOWING!

2008-11-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

Good thing I'm leaving tomorrow! It's getting colder and colder each day and each day gets shorter. We have less than 8 hours of daylight now, which makes for restless evenings in the cabin.

I'm going to take the ferry in the morning and fly out in the afternoon. Home in Seattle at like 4 something, if we leave on time with the snow...

I plan on cruising into the office late on wednesday and taking thursday and friday off. I've worked for three weeks straight with a day off a week ago, I think i've earned a day off or two. So far this payweek I've worked 36 hours and I still have four business days to go in the week...

Parents are out of town this weekend, so I'm dogsitting. HOUSE PARTY!

*just kidding. kinda.

Winding down

2008-11-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

Today my coworker showed up to relieve me of my work up here. She's from Minneapolis, MN. She's spent the last two days traveling up here, and she's hung out in her cabin all day. A very nice day at that, was sunny all day and only about 10 minutes of drizzle in the morning. We had a pretty productive day in terms of drilling, getting four wells installed.

It was a beautiful day for working, although a little chilly. Tonight, the drillers have ordered a UFC fight on tv. I've never seen one live, but it should prove fun... let the beer flow like wine!

2008-11-14T07:36:00.000-08:00

Well, last night was not successful in terms of catching octopuses, but we had a fun time at the beach anyway. The tide was really far out compared to where it's at for high tide, ~300 yards? We walked out there in our Xtra Tuff's and found the biggest sea stars I've ever seen, about 2 feet across and about 15 legs. It was really neat seeing their tracks as they've crawled on the sand since the tide has gone out.

After the unsuccessful snipe hunt (we're convinced), we came back to the shore and had a bon fire. Misty, Dusty and Misty's brother with his family were there and we learned a lot of good Alaskan stories about ridiculous trips and adventures.

Today is the stormiest day yet, winds are supposed to blow 40-60 and right now it's pouring sideways. Not too excited about it. But we're drilling in the muskeg again, and so it already has a watertable of 6" so it can't get much more saturated than that.

Don't forget to comment so i know you exist...

Plans tonight?

2008-11-13T18:57:00.000-08:00

I do! given the very low, -4.4 foot tide at 7:30 we are going octopus hunting at the beach... could prove very interesting! I'll take pictures of any catches!

My Alaskan sneakers

2008-11-12T23:31:00.000-08:00

Since I arrived here in Alaska two weeks ago I've noticed one thing:
90% of the residents wear these boots 90% of the time. I needed some
new muck boots for our well installations in the muskeg so I picked up
a pair of Xtra-Tuff's. You know me... When in Rome.

They're incredible. Comfy, warm, and are easily rinsed when you get
mud, fish scales, or as most locals case: deer blood on them (deer
hunting season is in full swing and Misty is hosting some hunters at
her other cabin across the property). I highly recommend these boots
for hanging out in cold wet and muddy places. You can check them out
on Deadliest Catch.

We are picking up pace and should make better time than the last few days barring equipment break downs. I'll be flying out the 18th I hope my seaplane can fly because if I have to take the ferry I'll get to Ketchikan too late for my flight to Seattle.

The weather's been ok with not too much rain during the day but lots last night. I think the warm wet weather in Washington may sneak up here next though...

OH! And I saw Russia out my back door.

Edit* I found this news story from a few years ago on NPR about Xtra Tuff's

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1433916

Sunset from the deck

2008-11-09T09:19:00.001-08:00

With the water on the right

Shrimp

2008-11-08T13:41:00.001-08:00

Misty's getting 80 lbs of shrimp tomorrow. Pretty excited about it.
We've been in town for the last few hours. Not much going on here at
all. The guys are trying to go fishing when we get back

2008-11-07T20:54:00.001-08:00

Sitting in front of a campfire drinking rainier listening to metalica
in an Alaskan night. There may be guns or atv's involved by the end

Sent from my iPhone

Nice day today

2008-11-07T16:29:00.000-08:00

Nice chilly weather but clear. Drill rig broke a crucial part so were
on equipment hold for a while

2008-11-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

have the day off tomorrow, will give an update tomorrow.

The rain starts

2008-11-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

I wonder how long you have to live in Alaska till you start calling creeks, cri'ks?

Tonight we had fresh dungeness crab that Misty caught out in the bay in front of our cabin. Today was the wettest day of the trip, rained most of the day, and at times it poured. We had a rather unsuccessful day of drilling, just got a couple of holes done. Same deal for tomorrow.

Don't worry I'll be home watching tv to keep the status on the election. And for the most part i think i'm in a fairly liberal group of people, so I should be able to show my enthusiasm when obama wins tomorrow.

Day 3

2008-10-31T21:53:00.000-07:00

I've been told in SE Alaska there are two temperatures in the fall: warm and raining, and cold and raining. Today was warm and raining. We got a "later start" ~15 minutes after the sun rose at 8:00. Got three holes done today, all in the road. Now we've moved our rig to one of the rock excavation pits. We'll install three wells at that pit in the next two days.

The drillers moved to the place i'm staying at. It'll be more entertaining with them here.

We got here for dinner, everyone was starving. We started off drinking some Rainiers, then the drillers tapped into their booze, Jack, and Capy Mo. Gross. After dinner we heard a gunshot, really close. It was Misty, she was announcing that people should come over and have a Halloween party. Weird.

Oh and I saw more trick or treaters tonight in a town of 50-100 people than I did on Q.A. Misty made an incredible dinner tonight, roasted chicken with yellow potatoes, and carrots and gravy. It was amazing, so amazing that no one could fit in dessert. rumor says that if we have to work till thanksgiving then Misty is a great cook, and we'll have a great time. oh and I may have next saturday off. News on that later.

A storm's a brewin, getting windy, and rainy for tomorrow, then lots of cold and wet weather showing up next week.

P.s. Saw lots of bald eagles today. like a dozen. awesome. No pics due to crappy weather. Welcome to Alaska.

Day 2

2008-10-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

Today I at Venison for the first time. It was in my chili. I suspected it but didn't know till after i was done. It was delicious. Bad day for bambi, but there are so many deer and so little time... And compared to beef, these guys have a way better diet and life.

My home for the next few weeks till drilling is done. Notice the atv, my new whip for the week.

A picture of our drill rig setup on our first hole. The odd sight of sunlight on this island, I'm warned that I should enjoy it because I won't see it for the rest of my trip.

Beautiful forests, warm sunlight when it doesn't get high in the sky. The forest is so dense, the blackness pulls you in.

A shot of my road I'm drilling along.

Had a slow day today in great weather here on the island. I took lots of pictures, most of which on film, so I won't post them till i get home. It was cold and clear all day, with great views of the water, and the mountains of the Coast Range. Incredible, steep, and snowy! This place is beautiful when you're not in a cloud.

Nice day here

2008-10-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

Sun and cold weather here. Took lots of pics since it might be the
last time I see the sun in the next three weeks

Welcome to Alaska

2008-10-29T22:56:00.001-07:00

More to come but I'm having trouble uploading over the slow connection.

Day 1 in Alaska

2008-10-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning to a big hot breakfast, french toast, sausage and scrambled eggs. So good to start a slow day off that way. Then I loaded up a cooler to ship out to Seattle, and met the drillers in Thorne Bay, which is about 1.5 hours south of where I'm staying. Didn't have any close calls with bears or deer today, but saw quite a few deer. I hung out at the docks in Thorne Bay while the drillers assembled their drill after being shipped up here and shot the shit with them. They're a cool group of guys, pretty chill and I hope things work well with them. I ate my first gamey animal today, reindeer. It was in the chili I had for lunch. Really good. Today was a bit of everything with the weather, rain, sun, sleet, hail, but no breeze which was nice. The drillers didn't have enough stuff together to drill today, so we're a day late due to the weather changing the plane schedule around. I left the drillers at the site and it was really nice out so i went back to the cabin and ran into Misty. I also met BB, as in BB gun, she's a lab mix and was all bark no bite and was quickly becoming my best friend up here. There is also a cat, but I didn't get its name, and also two rabbits that run wild. Misty directed me to the ATV which of course I said yes to and took it around the town. After an ice-cold rainier of course. It's alaska. No helmets, no rules, no problem. I came back due to the hail and the lack of feeling in my hands from the chilly air. Misty made a good dinner, steak, rice pilaf, peas and oysters from the bbq. She enticed us with threats of fresh crab from the bay tomorrow. I've been loafing around since dinner watching tv and trying to post pictures. The connection is kinda slow. I'm off to bed now as I'm getting up at 6. Hope to get lots of drilling done. Drill, Baby, Drill.

2008-10-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I arrived. After the 3 hour ferry ride, in rocking seas and driving rain I got to the island to meet Misty, my host for the time up here. While loading my stuff up in the truck, I had to scoot over her rifle so i could plug in my seatbelt. She said she carries it with her in case she sees a buck by the road and needs to replenish her losses from the bear "problem" she had two weeks ago. We stopped in Klawock to buy beer for the time, and to my surprise they stock Rainier! 24.50 for 24 cans, I suppose it could be worse. Once I picked up my Suburban in Thorne Bay, I almost hit a bear. Don't they know they should be wearing reflective vests at night in the rain?! Numerous deer later, I arrived at my huge cabin, complete with wifi, satellite tv and lots of charm. Everything is made of wood, and it has a full wrap around deck which is cool. I can't wait to see it in the daylight. There's an ATV in front and I hope to get a ride on it if I have some daylight hours I'm not working. Since I didn't get on the plane today, the schedule is already delayed a half day because of that so, I hope the drillers are speedy. I rode the ferry with them today, and they seem chill, pretty young, and no one seems like an asshole which is nice. After my 14 hours of traveling I'm goign to bed. Wait, how far can I fly in 14 hours? Australia? Europe and back? man, what a waste of time...

Off we go!

2008-10-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

Three hours...

2008-10-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at a Best Western restaurant diner.

I guess in the state of Alaska, you can smoke and eat at the same time. I've seen it.

Also, unlike Seattle, it's totally cool to talk about guns and killing while at the dinner table. The analysis of which type of gun for the swiftest of kills is also fair game. Don't forget there's more than one way to skin a cat, or moose, or bear.

The flight up was nice, I was probably the last person on the plane, totaling about 25 people. The sunrise over the canadian coast range was pretty incredible, and I drank three cups of coffee. I got really excited for the thoughts of snow in the mountains in Washington. I knew that the winds were going to probably prevent my flight out, so I took my dramamine in preparation of my ferry ride. I should have realized that the ferry might not be leaving when I expect it. My flight got in at 8:30 and the ferry leaves at 3:30, so I have some time to kick it.

The weather is pretty crappy outside, raining sideways at about 30-40 mph.
The waves in the channel my boat's going to travel through were pretty big, with the dark black and white ocean disappearing into the fog. Luckily it's not too cold out, but certainly when you're wet it gets pretty chilly.
Oh, and I'm really excited to build a big hot fire in my cabin tonight, I'll post pictures of the place and the ferry ride tonight.
Hope my 3 hour tour is kept to 3 hours. We'll be going downwind, so that makes it better right?

Fwd: Arrived

2008-10-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

> One of my boxes didn't get on and it's blowing 30 and supposed to be
> 40-50 this afternoon. So... No seaplane. Ferry for me. About three
> hours and not till 3:30 today. So I guess it's time to find the
> bar...er restaurant.
>

Avi education

2008-10-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Avalanches are super dangerous and a lot of people come close to death. education/fear is the only way to keep overanxious youth out of the situation.

This is a new video that's come out to raise the idea that we are not immortal and should not treat the mountains as though we are.

really cool time lapses

Gonna pack it up nice

2008-10-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

This week I'm kickin it at home, finishing the unpacking in my new apartment. Tomorrow's tasks are to do some laundry and begin building my duffle bag for alaska next week. I'm going to have to stop by rei for some last minute warm clothes at the company's expense and make my time in the cold a little more enjoyable.

While in Alaska, I'll be staying in Coffman Cove, AK, mail is welcomed although i don't have an address. I'll have my own cabin with satellite tv, wireless internet, and all the amenities I need, but cell service is non-existent, and I have to build my own heat in a wood stove in the cabin every night. Should be a good roughing it adventure. I always wanted to live in a cabin didn't I? Careful what you wish for.

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Right now however i can't stop thinking about skiing. It's all I want to do, and I look at my skis leaning against my wall every day, multiple times a day. I'm going to order up a midweek pass at Stevens again to enjoy incredible snowfall like last year.

I could be in Alaska for around three weeks so it will no doubt be a wild experience. Looks like the weather will be cold and wet, with 9.75 hours of day light now and 8.5 in three weeks. The bed and breakfast manager who i'm going to stay with just killed a bear in the back of her house so i'll probably be eatin bear sausage next week for breakfast. I hope to see a few and get a picture of more than last time (0), but not so close that they're trying to get into the house would be nice.

Long nights and lonely times in a town without a bar or a restaurant. I'll be taking my camera with me and will be blogging about my time up there. The pics may get really boring as i'm doing the same thing every day from sun up to sun down so please help keep me entertained. I'm thinking i'm going to get a lot of reading done and watch some tv, and movies.

I want to see a lot less work and a lot more of this:
This pic taken Nov 5th 2005, wait... that's not too long from now.

But this is what I can't wait for:
Mt. Shuksan in April

This is why i fear America

2008-10-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

2008-08-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

View from my hotel in Craig, on Prince of Wales Island, AK

Channel Lake

2008-08-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

The mountains come right up from the street in town.

View to the South from the plane dock.

Can you HEAR it?

More of downtown Ketchikan.

Some more Alaska Pictures

2008-08-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Ketchikan Airport, taken from the ferry to town from the airport (it's on an island).

I don't know where this boat went, or why it was here but it looked kinda cool.

Plane of choice in Alaska, the DeHaviland Beaver.

2008-08-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

Dedicated to a good winter, and another one to come.

2008-08-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

I feel like I want to dump a bunch of pictures on here and make up for the lost years that I haven't posted anything like this before, so here ya go.

Lazy Sunday

2008-08-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

(Sweetwater Lake, AK)

I'm back from SE Alaska, it was pretty incredible. I'll post pictures this week. Three days of work this week, then heading to the Oregon Coast. Michelle and I are going to leave wednesday night after work and camp somewhere down near Seaside, and on thursday drive the rest of the way to Lincoln City. There will be some birthday celebrations for Audra, Jeff, and Scott (again, when do birthday celebrations actually need to happen on the day?). Hope to play some golf, and have a little good weather for some time on the beach. I'll be heading straight to Washougal from the coast, for two weeks, so I'll be out of town the next little while. Word has it I'll be going back to Alaska in October too... so I'm staying busy and that feels good.

(Random Muskeg, can you find the hidden animal?)

Off to AK

2008-08-19T04:59:00.000-07:00

Leaving this morning for the trip, will return on Thursday to post pictures and an account.

Flying to Ketchikan then taking a float plane to Craig, where i'll be staying at the Inn of the Little Blue Heron right on the water. No laptop, so no contact till i get back! I hope it doesn't rain the whole time.