Road Trip to Homer AK

Stacia and I just got back from a great road trip down the Kenai Peninsula to Homer. We visited Lyrik and Sara, who gave us a royal tour of fishing and their home. It was another incredible trip in Alaska and we have silver salmon to smoke today!

We stopped on the way down in Anchorage and then Johnston's Pass Trailhead. It is an epic 23mile mountain bike ride and run. After our great ride and run we stopped at Quartz Lake to wash up...


We headed down the Kenai and as we approached Homer this was the veiw on the way!


Once in Homer, I could not find Lyrik's number(of course) and the first place I walked into new him and his number. Here we are at the Salty Dawg Saloon having a HOMER brew.



The next day we had a picture perfect day, went for a hike on Lyrik's parents homestead land, headed to lunch and went fishing for high tide at 9pm!

veiw from Lyrik and Sara's deck, one side are the glaciers...

the other side Katchamak Bay.

Nobel trying to escape the Pekoe..

The Pitzman Clan.

This is Lyrik and Sara's infamous Thai shop on the spit in Homer. Very upscale and excellent food. As you notice in the photo it is for sale, they are getting married and have a house in Portland Oregon.

Salmon Pad Thai.

The harbor view from the spit.

The fishing boat, we are headed out to sea.....

We headed to Halibut Cove first to have a great cup of coffee at Mug Up, the floating coffee shop, accessible only by boat.


Lyrik and the catch. I was too busy trying to fish to take any shots. We fished until dark. Lyrik and Sara are pros at catching silvers....Stacia and I on the otherhand, are not so pro. We did not hook anyone with our rods and reels, but Lyrik and Sara definelty had to duck a few times. I had a great time trying!

Our perfect day ended and the next moring Lyrik is waving goodbye from the dense fog that took over Homer.

There are many great stories, I am missing, the huge waves in the inlet that Stacia and I giggling like little girls....Nobel the co-pilot stories and of course Stacia getting us lost behind the Anchorage airport (we were not going to the airport).....I am back in the lab and school starts tomorrow! Take care, Dea

running trail today, the leaves are changing

I ran this great 10mile trail run today. The leaves are starting to change and it was beautiful. I hiked back a part with Ben after work and he took this picture.

Part of the trail runs past the LARS (large animal research center), part of UAF. They have a bunch of Musk Ox....

Museum of the North.

The is a popular tourist attraction and it is on campus. Another very modern building.

My weekend project....

These are the curtains I made this weekend. I did the sewing by hand, so hopefully they hold up! We finally have a bed on a nice platform frame that our friend Julie built. It is a stylish cabin!

Lunch time with the Atmospheric Group

Water Fill Station!

This is where we fill our water....everyone was asking. We have jugs smaller than the tanks you see in the picture. 5cents a gallon.

Goldstream Valley General Store

Great Wine selection here and ice cream. Only a few miles from the cabin.

Getting ready to run Tour de Murphy Dome tomorrow, another trail run. I am excited to see this loop of 8 miles. Dea

Taylor

i've spent some serious quality time with Taylor the last couple of days. she's even more beautiful from behind the viewfinder. here are a few (okay- a lot) of the images that Cory and Sharae liked. as mom and dad would say...you can never have too many photos of Taylor...











ben

tuesday in colorado

had a good day today. i spent most of the morning taking photos of Taylor. she was a perfect subject- still and beautiful. i learned a lot today, as she is the first baby i have attempted to capture through my lens. i think Cory and Sharae were pleased. we still have to do photos of Sharae and Taylor though. i'll finish up the editing, burn a cd, and post some images tomorrow.

the sunset here tonight was spectacular- the horizon looked like it was on fire. i spent some time kicking around a working oil pump close to Cory's house...







ben

IARC in my office

OK, one more blog today. I finally started school today, at least getting the office together and learning about cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS).


Entering into my office and lab area in the international arctic research center.



This is the lab and the project I will be working on.


My new sneakers, car tire rubber on the bottom for no slip. Can't wait for the winter. Thanks Ben!

I have so new books, met the department and start doing some research tomorrow. What fun!

I CAN BLOG!!!

Hi All,
Well since Ben has been gone, I have been investigating the area. I have tried to do something new everyday and have some pictures to post. Also some great Polar Bear shots from the North Slope. Julie and I went on a cool mountain bike ride too. Here are the pictures, there alot because I have been unable to blog until I found Stacia's computer! Miss you Stac.!


after a mountain bike ride, notice Salcha the Maple look alike checking out the squirrels.



This is the entrance to the infamous Moose Mountain ski Resort. Very hard to find, but only a few miles from our cabin! There are not ski lifts or even a tow rope, only a bus system to the top, lots vertical though.


Pella and I ran from the top and we found the bus yard.


Trail Markers, there is bear ridge.


The huge Moose Mountain Lodge at the base of the ski hill.


The only ski rack.


9pm, the sun behind the blanket of dense smoke from far off forest fires that blow into the interior (fairbanks)

back in colorado

i landed in denver at 7:00 this morning, after a good flight. the jump from fairbanks to anchorage was spectacular- views of denali, sunset and a crescent moon.
taylor is beautiful. so small and quiet. i'm looking forward to spending the week with her and getting some good photos.
i'll post more photos later. for now i'm getting ready for the shoot tomorrow, and staying with jen and brad tonight in boulder.

also, spent some time cataloging images last night on the plane...one of pella (for you dea)

Pike's Landing

I took some photos last night at Pike's Landing on the chena River in town. You can pull up in your canoe, kayak, boat or by car. If you can trailer the boat up bere Roger....It was a sweltering 79 degrees at 9:30pm, the warmest part of yesterday. It is supposed to reach 80 degrees today! -Dea





Tanana Chief dinner cruise


Next week, we are taking the Kayak's to the dock

Ben enjoying Alaskan Oatmeal Stout , local microbrew

more blueberries

dea wants to make some bluberry jam for the winter, so we went picking again today. i have always loved them, but they taste so much sweeter when picking them yourself. we went up to the top of Murphy's Dome, where the Moose Mountain Ski Area is. it's only about 5 miles from the cabin, but we hadn't been there before. it was quite a sight- the highest spot in the hills surrounding Fairbanks. the top opens up to this huge expanse of high tundra, and berries were everywhere. the ground in the tundra is really soft, mossy, and kind of hard to walk on. blueberries grown really low to the ground, and when you find a good patch, and get down close, they are everywhere. there was a family picking in the same place when we got there- they also had a yellow lab with them, so pella had fun. a storm started to roll in shortly after we got there and the family left, leaving this huge hillside all to us...

Shakespeare Festival

Julie and I went to see Much Ado about Nothing at the outside theater tonight. It was a great setting. We walked down a trail into the woods and there was a large stage and the atmosphere was great. I was waiting for a moose to walk thru, but it did not happen.


Julie entering the "theater"

I ran a 8Km race this morning and Ben took some pics. It was flat and fast, but still fun. Heading out blueberry picking and biking tomorrow for Ben's day off! Dea