'Tis the season (again)

The Icealaska world ice art championship is right around the corner, and being the fool that I am, I'll be leading a team in the Multiblock competition (28 Feb - 5 Mar). We get to carve up ten blocks, each approximately 6' x 4' x 3', turning them into some sort of scene.

My team was likely to consist of Jeremy Harbek, Jill Shipman, Tim Macintyre, and myself. It turns out, though, that Jeremy has his nose to the grindstone throughout the spring, as he's trying to graduate, so a replacement is needed. Tim happens to be in Africa, but brief email exchanges thusfar make me optimistic that he'll be able to tear himself away for the competition. While, as far as I know Tim doesn't have any ice carving experience, he's been known to wield the chainsaw and I'd bet he is at home with heavy equipment. Jill has carved in the Amateur competition a couple times, but has never competed.

I'm currently hoping that my friend and previous carving partner, Katie Hessen, will be able to take the mantle from Jeremy. The only problem is that she's in Africa right now (coincidence), and has a real job. She's got tools and has worked on just about everything that I've carved, including "Ahab" from a previous multiblock competition.

As for me, I've carved in the multiblock once: lots of chainsawing, and basically just following directions. I've also carved in the single-block once, and have done several other sculptures in the amateur competition, the kid's park and a couple other places. This'll be my first captaining of such a large project.

The project itself: "Sonoran Sunset" (or some such name). I've recently returned from a trip to the deserts around Tucson, where I managed to gather some resistance to our weather (currently -32F ), as well as gained inspiration for this project. A mock-up photo (1st really-really-rough draft) is included here.

Within the photo: Saguaro cacti, cholla cactus, barrel cactus, plenty of prickly-pear, and javelinas drinking at a desert oasis, with a small waterfall cascading off some rocks (fossilized sand-dunes). In the original mock-up, I have a mountain lion looking on... he might reappear, but I actually envision a bat-flight instead. The cactus may have a creature ot two poking out, and there may be tracks in the "sand" nearby.

That just about wraps it up

Sunday, August 31, 2008 : Seward to Fairbanks
We were incredibly lucky on Saturday. The weather was gorgeous. The water was flat. The winds were calm. Today, rain threatened, and finally made good on its threats. We spent the morning in the Sea Life Center, where mom was thoroughly entranced by the puffins.

After lunch, we high-tailed it back north. We zipped along up the Turnagain, past Anchorage, and onward. Night finally overtook us as we ate pizza in a small shop just south of the Entrance of Denali. Then, we passed through glitter gulch, and high-tailed it back home. We arrived back at Belfair at about 1am. Hurray!

Seaward in Seward

Saturday:

We took the fancy-schmancy tour of Kenai Fjords. Puffins, Humpback Whales, Cormorants, Gulls, Sea lions, Otters, and Calving glaciers were the order of the day. This small paragraph, utterly understates it, but the photos sure won't. (The route was the yellow route from the photo)

On the boat, we also met a cool traveler, Theresa, who is touring around after spending a little while up Barrow way. Lunch was served on the boat, and Dinner was a salmon bake on Fox Island.

I connnected back up with Theresa and her coworkers at a local bar to chat, drink Alaskan Beer, and dance to a really cool group that consisted of two people and a lot of rhythm.

Unboring Tidal Bores

Friday:
Seward Bound. We got up pretty early and had breakfast with Chloe at Middleground cafe(?), next to REI. Mom picked up some more harty rain and winter gear at a store nearby, while Chloe and I poked around REI.

Also, today, I learned that our governor is up for the job of McCain's VP. Hmm. Newspaper headline: Bear attack in Gateway to the Arctic.

Mom and I took most of the day wandering in and around the Turnagain Arm. We had lunch in Girdwood, then watched the tidal bore come on in. Also, we got to see several beluga whales that were following the bore. They were playing around and even getting relatively close to shore. Plenty of photos were taken.

Afterward, we went to portage, where we got a view of a couple glaciers and saw some beautiful (if not slightly beat up) salmon. Bright red bodies and green heads.

We arrived in Seward to remember that today marked the start of the Labor Day weekend. The beach is full of RV's, and there was a steady stream of traffic all the way to Seward. We found a camp site right in town, though. Dinner was awesome.

Southward migration

Thursday, August 28, 2008
Woke up around 9:45 hungry. Meandered downstairs and to the lobby to take advantage of the continental breakfast, and to write down the notes for our time in Skagway. Somewhat later, mom came down to join, and we wandered outside to finish off our coffees.

There were a couple local Tok(ians?) / Tok-folk around drinking coffee as well, so I started chatting with them about stuff. Again, I got the story of a wet rainy summer. Also, about the fires from long ago, that nearly took the town. and how --even though there was 24 hrs of daylight-- the crews only fought the fire on a somewhat 9-5 schedule. I also got the back story for the lady who was working the hotel; up from a small town in WA. Semiretired. Lovin' Tok. While we talked a couple little planes zoomed overhead, each wearing those really large tundra tires that make them look like toys.

We finally left the hotel about an hour after checkout time, and started off for Seward. When we had arrived last night, it was with the idea that we'd march off to FBX and be done. However, lying in bed before breakfast, I started to recall the days ahead. We still had 4 days before the weekend was over and I was due to start school. Once I start up again, I really won't be able to do any lengthy trips, so... the plan changed.

The Morning's working plan is to drive to Seward, spend a couple days poking around there, and then drive back home. (Ignoring Denali in the process 'cause Mom can get there whenever she wants, while she's in FBX. En route to Seward, we'll check out the bore tide (if favorable), maybe see Beluga whales, check out the museum, go on a wildlife float, and hike to Exit Glacier.

We didn't hit the road until noon. We drove down the Tok Cutoff, with the vegetation around us going absolutely nuts with fall colors. The weather was pretty rainy, with just enough patches of sunlight to really make mountains "pop" here & there. We dropped in briefly at the visitor center in Slana, where mom learned that porcupines climb trees, but not well. Most have taken a fall or two, breaking stuff in the process. :(
Lunch was at the Caribou in Glenallen (good fries). We then proceeded down the Glenn with many a backwards glance toward the Wrangell mountains--which never appeared owing to the low cloud deck. More gorgeous scenery, and a couple glaciers escorted us to Palmer, where we picked up the Anchorage newspaper. Headline? "Lovelorn musk ox gores prized sled dog". Ah, Alaska.

Then, Anchorage. The sunset and rain made for some spectacular rainbows along the way.

Once in Anchorage, we met up with Katie, who works there in the Imaginarium, a cool hands-on museum. We ate and drank and caught up over pizza at the Moose's tooth. I pawned off my broken chainsaw to Katie, who would get it fixed in town, while mom plied her with some of her home-made jewelry.

Once dinner was over, we headed over to Visit / stay with Chloe, who is finishing up an internship in AK. She put us up for the night, and let me in on the speech that Obama had just given. Damn, It's good to see my buddies again.

SO... Tomorrow, we head towards Seward after making a stop to get rain gear.

The long journey

Wednesday (a sleepy missive)
My eyes snapped open at 7am... but It was refreshing to know that I didn't need to actually drive anywhere. I wandered along the now empty streets, snapping a few photos before the cruise ships let out their cargo and all became chaos. Next to the hotel was a small stream that had a few beat up salmon still struggling to stay put, while their deceased cohorts formed fish-jams downstream. I remember a documentary where they talked about how important all the fish carcasses were to the overall ecology of Alaskan Streams. They leave as little tykes, get all large and nutritious out at sea, and then bring all that yumminess back into the streams to be decimenated to bear, bird, and plant once they've finished their spawning trip.

I returned to the hotel to meet mom for breakfast. The cook, who I'd struck up a conversation with the previous day, kept bringing out stuff just for mom & me.

We then hightailed it to a ranger talk "Food of the Gold Rush", which was a bit disjointed, but entertaining and informative nonetheless. Then, looking at the throngs of tourists raiding the diamond and fir shops, we decided to leave town.

The trip out was gorgeous, and as we went over White pass (There were two passes out of the area. The famous Chilkoot pass, which left from Dyea, and the White pass. The Chilkoot was for people carrying their own stuff. It was shorter and steeper than the White Pass. People took horses on the white pass, but plenty of 'em (horses) died. We're talking thousands. The rub was that after getting food (Canadian customs required each miner bring 2 tons --a year's supply-- so that they wouldn't be a burden on towns in Canada), traveling to Alaska, hauling food/equip up the pass (30-40 trips, each lasting a day), Waiting for the lakes to break so they could float another 600+ miles to Dawson City..... all the gold bearing streams were totally staked out.

ANYWAY, the pass was gorgeous, with powder-blue lakes interspersed with deep blue lakes, mixed with dramatic rocks and some tenacious trees. Wow.

The rest of the day we drove, and drove, and drove, and drove. Went through Canadian customs--pleasant. Went through Whitehorse, where we got some not-so-great KFC to eat further down the road. We ate over by otter falls, on a bridge that was out of order.
Somewhere along the way, we saw a couple caribou. Elsewhere, we passed Kluane Lake, and visited a really beautiful visitor center in Haines Junction. Also, in HJ, we grabbed ice cream cones at the Village bakery which looks like a really cool place in high season. They were going to close on the 6th. Everywhere we drive, there are places either closing down or about to close soon. Skagway, for instance, has its last cruise ships on the 26th, and more than one person is eager to board up and enjoy the silence.

Later that night, we passed American customs and got some wierd questions like how much money we had, how long I expect to be in school, and how mom was leaving the state. I expected that going into a foreign country, but not Alaska. Weird.
Then there were 47 miles of construction (still better than the 150 miles of AlCan in Canada just prior to the border) before Tok. WE got in after 1am local time and had to got to a few hotels before finding one that was open -Golden bear Motel. Along the way we stopped to look at the stars, with a great many constellations vying for attention.

A Day In Skagway yawgakS ni yaD A

Tuesday
It's so nice to have a day to breathe, and very refreshing to know that I didn't need to drive anywhere today.
Breakfast in the hotel, where we were served by cute Bulgarian waitresses in pajamas. I caught up a little on the internet, then we joined the throng on the streets. The morning was spent looking for additional gear for mom... gloves, hat, scarf. NO scarves are apparently to be had in Skagway.

Poking into more stores.
Then, we took a walk to some point on the coast, just west of the shipping lane. There were 6 red helicopters flight seeing back and forth down the fjord. Along the way, we saw oodles of mushrooms, of which we took many photos.

I tracked down Gavin, who's working above a saloon. He uses metal detectors to find miner junk and enter it into the GPS. We arranged to meet for dinner, and then Mom and I hopped in the car to head to Dyea (Pronounce dah-yII!) to look for the grizzly bears that are supposed to be haunting the area. While we saw no griz, we did see plenty of scat. By the size of it, one would have thought there were rhinoceroses on the coastal flats. We also saw an eagle.

Along the way, there were people touring on foot, horseback, bicycle, and bus.

When we got back into town, it was after 6:30. Mom & I split ways, she went to repack do laundry and organize her stuff, while I met Gavin for a burger, beer, and reminiscence. It was great to rehash the old hiking club days, massaging those neurons associated with names and events from Flagstaff. It feels like such a long time ago, but I remember when it was all so new. He gave me a CD containing all the photos from "The Wall"

North! To Alaska, : Skagway

Monday 25 August 2008
Today was a long day... but not nearly as punishing as some of the more recent days. We started the morning at the Air Force Inn, in Watson Lake. After showers and some internetting, we moseyed over to the Belvedere for breakfast. I had french toast with blueberry-rhubarb sauce and little orange slices. Nice!

After I grabbed Gas, we wandered about the signpost forest that contains signs from every corner of the world. Originally intended to express the feeling of loneliness & distance for one guy, it now contains thousands and thousands of signs (many of which may or may not have been stolen from street corners and construction sites) commemorating peoples journeys through Watson Lake. I chatted briefly with a lady at the visitor center who told me that Homer Alaska's sign had been extradited a couple times, but keeps coming back.

Drive drive drive... Lunch in Teslin. The terrain we're going through is mountains and swamp and tundra. After lunch, we made a brief rest stop where I showed mom Crowberries, Blueberries, Labrador Tea, and a voluminous amount of cranberries (Lignonberries).

We eventually found our way to Whitehorse, where I devised the following plan: We're going to Skagway for a day & half. Then we'll drive to Haines Jct or Tok, and then on to Fairbanks. This plan, is dependent, of course, on how we're feeling.

We drove to Skagway, along the way seeing a black bear and a bald eagle. The road was beautiful, with fall happening in patches along the mountains and roadside. In the mountains, there's an amazing area of scoured landscape, scattered trees, and lots of water. Then there was lots of fog.

As I write this, I'm in a hotel room in Skagway. I can barely express my joy at being back in Alaska, even though I have a long way to go before I actually make it "home". We drove the town which is larger than I expected... stopped at the Westmark, a hotel that had reasonable AAA rates, and checked in. Then, we went to one of two restaurants that were open -- a Thai place. Mmm -- not as good as Fairbanks Thai, but pretty darn good. PLUS, they had Alaskan Amber. A beer which I know and like. How at home is this? very.

The waiter gave some good advice about what to do "Take the train" "hike up to the lake" "see wildlife from a trail that starts at the airport". I intend to take him up on at least 2 of 3 items. Currently, though, a wet wind is howling through town, slowing down only enough to make the "wind blowing through town" sound.

Shovel your roof off.

Sunday, Day 10
Late morning getting out of Fort Nelson. Woke up after a good night's sleep, feeling like I need only 10 more hours of sleep to feel "normal". Multiple days of 8am-Midnight are beginning to leave me a little flat.
We ate a nice little breakfast provided by the hotel (Lakeview Inn), then packed, checked weather, and --surprise, surprise-- I called ahead to make reservations in Watson Lake. My original "plan" had been to try to drive all the way to Whitehorse, YT, but that would have been a 600+ mile day, and experience was showing that that sort of mileage is actually relatively unobtainable.

I chatted up the girl at the front desk (Tanya), who has lived there for the last 12 years. Heavy snows this winter collapsed the roof of the local ice skating / curling rink.

Lunch was at Muncho's Lake (I think) where I had a nice litle discussion about rocks and obsidian with a guy who worked on the highway. His wife was serving lunch; good soup & chili.

The drive itself was very pleasant. We started off in the rolling hills just west of fort nelson. Pretty soon, though, we were in more mountainous terrain. The rest of the drive was through mountains. Today's wildlife included a bunch of woods bison and caribou. We also stopped to poke around an aluvial fan, shortly after lunch.

Sasquatch

Even less to report today. We drove and drove and drove. Dinner was great: Sasquatch. Made it to Fort Nelson just before midnight local time (Now, we're in Pacific time)

Total distance today: 537 miles
Northward Travel: 4.75 degrees