December Thaw

Seriously!?!?!!!!

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Christmas Dinner Take 2

This was the picture that was supposed to accompany the last post.

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Christmas Dinner

None of us had ever cooked a prime rib before. And to be honest I have never really thought it was as cracked up as most people say it is. Luckily for us I ran into a complete stranger at the store who suggested a recipe he had great success with.

He said to Google "Prime Rib Salted" and it would be the first result. We did like he said and it turned out to be the best, most juicy prime rib I've ever had. Just season, cake with koser salt, and cook for 4-5 hours.

So good.

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Fog

Some fog over the Kinik Arm on my way north.

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Christmas Spirit

I stopped at the Fred Meyer in Wasilla, on my way to Talkeetna, to pick a few last minute things for dinner tomorrow. We're going to try and make prime rib.

Even though the parking lot is crazy and the store is packed everyone was friendly and had a smile on their face. It must be the season.

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Shortest Day of the Year

Taken on the corner of F and 8th (across the street from the office) looking west on the Solstice.

I thought this was a nice 5:00 pm sunset one the way downtown to meet some friends.

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Solstice Moon

Last night I met a friend from work at an old air strip in town to take pictures of the lunar eclipse. This is one of the pictures Jeff got before the clouds slipped in to ruin the view.

One thing I noticed,at least for me, was that the moon didn't look red until I viewed it through some sort of optics like the camera or binoculars.

What is cool about this eclipse is that it marks the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Pretty soon we'll be back to the long darkness days of summer.

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TRON LEGACY

This morning I went to see TRON Legacy at Alaska's only IMAX theatre over by the Target near the Air Force base. Everyone should see this movie. The bigger the screen the better. Disney did a good job with this one and Jeff Bridges is awesome.

I tried to get the mountains in the background but the building is just to big.

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WINTER

Yep, It's winter. I live on the warm side of town but it probably dropped to negative double digits on the East side this morning.

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Another reason to love Alaska

This was taken at the BP Energy Center in Anchorage just after our ASPE meeting. BP is considerate enough to warn you about possible moose trampling situations. I've been waiting about two years to get an actual moose in the same picture as the warning sign.

This is the second post from my phone. Looks like I might have figured out the picture thing!

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First post from smart phone.

So... I finally broke down and own a smart phone and I'm trying to figure out how to post a picture on here. Technology is crazy! This little phone is more powerful and faster then my first computer. It also has 8 times more memory! And that memory is the size of my pink fingernail!

Now how do I get these pictures to post?

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Day of Decision

Downtown St. Ignace, MI
August, 2010

This was the first time I've been home for a real visit in the summer time since I moved to Alaska. I forgot how beautiful it is when you don't have to shovel snow.

It was a day just like this, in 2005, that I decided to go to Juneau, AK. This was a decision that would set the course for me to find myself where I am today.

I got a call in that June morning from a testing lab in Grand Rapids. At this time I had graduated with my Mechanical Engineering degree and was looking for a job in that field. Countless resumes had been sent out since my graduation in December with no sign of a job anywhere.

They were very interested in me but couldn't promise enough work for me to even pay rent. After thinking for a while I decided the job wasn't for me. I thought "What have I done? I just turned down work!"

To clear my head I decided to take the canoe for paddle and put in down by the marina. I paddled East, past town, all the way down to the airport and back. I saw some pretty big rocks in the bay and a few white fish swimming along. The water was calm and a cool breeze kept the sun from making the day uncomfortably warm.

Less than a half hour after I got home the phone rang. It was my good friend Josh asking if I had found a job yet. When I answered no, he asked if I wanted to come to Juneau and work on his survey crew for the summer. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. A couple days later my stuff was packed and I was on the road.

The relationships I made in the past would give the me opportunity to make new relationships that would help me find my way to Anchorage 2 years later.

I'm glad I turned down those guys in Grand Rapids.

Flat Top

Flat Top Mountain

Last week I took my first hike of the year up Flat Top Mountain. Because it was late and still very snowy I didn't venture all the way to the top, though there were people who did. Those same people slide down the steep slope on their rears which was a much faster, but possible more tragic, way to descend.

I will admit I gave the butt slide a try on my way down a much smaller slope, and it was pretty fun. The waste deep snow at the bottom wasn't super fun but I had it better then the guy following me wearing shorts!

I'll be hiking Flat Top a lot this summer, getting in shape for my caribou hunt this fall. You'll be able to see the pictures from this trip and throughout the summer here;

My Smug Mug :D Flat Top

Spring Hunting in AK

Spring Hunting in Alaska

Snowshoeing up from Seward

This weekend Rich, Skip, and myself visited Laura in Seward. Our plan for Saturday was to hike a trail to above tree line and maybe see some early spring bears. Little did we know that it was going to snow as much as it did. Well... Laura probably knew that it snowed that much since she lives there but the rest of us didn't.

Here we are on our way up the trail. You can see all the new snow that had fallen within the day or so before. Our estimate were between 18 and 24 inches of new stuff. There were still places along the trail that were more than 6' deep.


We got to the top, rested, and ate a snack in a NFS cabin for a while and headed back down. Below is Rich shortly after we left the cabin. There was a lot more snow at the top then down at the bottom.


No bears up there, but the scenery was worth the effort. It was about 2 miles up and 2 miles down.

We hit up another trail and flats along another river looking for hares but didn't have any luck there either.

No worries, We'll get em next time.
Take a look at the rest of the pictures here;

Brian's SmugMug

Beef Jerky

Gustafson's Gas Station
Brevort, MI

One the stops I looked the most forward to on my way back to Alaska was at Gustofson's Gas Station for some of the most awesome beef jerky and slim jims ever. I think I loaded up with 2 pounds of jerky and 12 slim jims. Its easy to say they didn't last far into Canada.

Shaky

Across the river from Tetlin, Yukon
(I think)

Somehow, someone from the Yukon Highway Department took a picture of me as I was crossing this bridge, quickly made a sign, and installed it before I got to the other side.

Weird...