Random things

Once upon a time, many years ago, I kept a blog almost daily. In fact, I sometimes would write two posts in a day because I would write something after work, but then later, I would think of something else I wanted to write about, so I would write more. Since then, I've gotten a life, and I go on adventures and have fun and do things, and now that I'm doing things worth writing about, I find it harder to make time to write about them. Also, I want to add pictures, and I want to say everything there is to say about what happened, and I feel obligated to write about every adventure I haven't written about yet and then I get overwhelmed and as a result, nothing gets written.

I started this blog specifically to write about adventures and trips and being outdoors in Alaska. But, as you can see, that isn't happening. So I guess I'll have to start writing about whatever comes to mind for a while, just for the sake of getting back in the habit of writing.

I could write about the last canoe trip we took this fall... It was very snowy. And cold and windy. The wind was the worst. It was interesting that the wind had kicked up foam on the lake, which had subsequently frozen. I didn't get pictures, though, because the wind was blowing so hard that if both of us in the canoe weren't paddling solidly, we would get blown backward. It was awful. In fact, after about an hour of paddling, we decided to turn back. It took less than twenty minutes to get back to where we had started. By that time, the snow had stopped, although the wind hadn't.

This story is so old it's actually a little disappointing now. I don't want to try and tell it after all. Maybe I'll just upload some pictures. Here's one of me doing one of the more glamorous aspects of my job:



I don't even remember what was wrong with the van. I don't think it was anything important, though. Nothing my Leatherman couldn't achieve a temporary fix on, anyway.

Oh, this one was a good one!



Some kids had tied this little kitty to a stick and thrown it in the lake at Tanana Lakes this summer. They were upset when I pulled it out, but I asked if they were going to retrieve it later and they said no, so I reprimanded them for littering, and told them that I was cleaning up their trash, and if they didn't like it, they could take it up with the park ranger. Cynical Ranger was on duty. They wouldn't have gotten very far. I'll have to tell you about Cynical Ranger sometime. We named the soggy little kitty Puddles and kept him as a mascot at our rental kiosk. I think Arctic Llama still has him somewhere.



I really love how prevalent double rainbows are here in Alaska. This panorama warped a little weird, but that's okay. Also I love stuff like this:



I guess that sums things up for now.

Cycling pictures

Here are some pictures summing up my cycling adventures in the last year or two. I should have posted them as they happened, but I was swamped last summer, so now you just get a whole bunch at once, late. Enjoy!

It's good to be prepared for when geocaching sends you places you can't really take a bike, even though you're still dressed for cycling...



We had some flooding last July, and some of the bike paths by the river weren't realistically rideable. Not if you want to keep from getting drenched in Chena-river-water, anyway.



Like with any sport, the gear tends to develop as the rider does. My family sent me a couple jerseys for my birthday, like this one here:



Note: I was a lot more excited than that, but the smiley pictures came out a little fuzzy (like the cat in the corner of this one). Sorry about that.

My buddy Byronius got me a new chain ring, which Coffee Duck taught me how to replace. Nailed it! My first bike upgrade! Yay!



Geocaching is always one of my favorite hobbies, and cycling makes it much easier and more fun! Arctic Llama was even able to bring his Llamalets along.



On my way to work one fateful morning early last summer, I wrecked and scraped my face up. It felt like it took forever to heal, but it was really only a couple weeks, and now the scar is almost unnoticeable. This is after I cleaned up a bit--I thought the "before" picture might be a little too cringeworthy for the blog.



I am really grateful I was wearing my helmet. That crack there could have been my skull! I've always been really dedicated to wearing a helmet, but now I have a really good story about why. I kept the broken one so I can use it as a show and tell item.



Eventually, Coffee Duck and I worked our way into mountain biking. Nothing suuuper hardcore, since neither of our bikes are designed for the crazy stuff, but Esther Dome had some fun and interesting trails. Or... well, mud.









A trail to a (relatively) nearby glacier had some interesting parts too:



Someday when I'm rich, I'll get a Corvus fat bike and have some awesome winter cycling pictures for you too! Until then, I'll try and update more often with some fun adventures this summer.

First paddle of the season

Two weekends ago, I went for my first outdoor paddle of this summer with Coffee Duck and our friend Badger Dog. Badger Dog likes to canoe, but Ducky and I prefer kayaks. Fortunately, there is no rule saying our boats all have to match.

It was my first time paddling when there was still ice on moving water. And of course, I have to specify "moving water" because last year at the same time (May 5th for both), I did paddle on still water that had ice on it:

There was considerably less ice on the moving water this year than on the lake last year, as you can see.

There were big floating ice platforms, some ten feet or so across, and Ducky and I enjoyed getting up some speed and grounding ourselves on the ice, sliding across to the other side. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of that particular piece of fun. I did get a picture of the weird ice formation on one of the smaller chunks, though.

That water just looks so nasty, though...