Peace out '07!

2007 has been a great year for me. Spent the last days tele skiing - thought my thighs may literally burst into flames on the last run of the year. Yeooowwww! Here are a few parting shots. Bring on '08!

Recap

My last posting was in August?? Wow. My bad. We're waiting for the snow to fall up here in the Last Frontier, so in the meantime, enjoy a few pics from this summer...going for a wildlife theme here:

One of the 13ish bears that Bree, Michael and I camped with near Pederson Lagoon. WAY too many bears for our liking. We ended up moving camp from a forested area littered with scat to a rock outcropping, where Bree and I proceeded to down some JD and catch some ZZZ's while poor Michael stayed up most of the night ready to defend our lair against these bruins.

Near our Pederson campsite, we spotted a lone coyote. We floated by on the tide as it took us up the stream to the glacier. This was an unexpected site! S/he just stood there and watched us float by.

Some sandhill cranes flying over Homer/Kachemak Bay. These guys loved the open meadows of lupine and fireweed and zig-zagged their honking way all around us.

And who doesn't like seeing a piggy otter (there are two crabs on his belly)?! You may need to click on the pic to see the crabs a little better.

And finally, my favorite wild thing:

Summer at the Green House

I spent a good part of this summer thinking about all the cool things I could do with my yard (garden, plant wildflowers, fence it in and call it "Wrigley's Field"). But summer up here is short, and although I did manage to "borrow" some lupine seeds from Andy's family's place in Homer and plant some rhubarb, I've got a ways to go. But this is a start, right?

Not to be Forgotten

I finally downloaded my pics from trip to Ketchikan (that I took in the spring...whoops). I was down there for a preliminary injunction hearing against Bruce Weyrauch's client...google him, I dare ya. Anyway, old school Ketchikan is built up on stilts, which makes for fun pics. The rest of the residents use these handy wooden walkways to get from their 'hood to outside their 'hood. I know it's steep there, but really, who puts wooden walkways in a rain forest? (Yes, I know it's sunny in the pics, but Ketchikan gets a LOT of rain.)

29 Foot Beast

Ah, there she is, the 29 foot Beast. This is the rig the Wolter family scored when we called the RV rental place a little too late. It sleeps 8 adults. The Wolter fam = 4 adults. You do the math. I should've called MTV to film an episode of Cribs in this thing. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Anyway, we rolled out of town (then back to get some stuff we forgot at my house, and then rolled out again) and made our way up to Denali. Denali itself (aka Mt. McKinley) is rarely visible since it's usually surrounded by a sea of clouds. But we managed to see it twice! Check it out (double click the pic - Denali looks like a massive cloud):

After a bit of hiking and bus-riding and backing the Beast into small campsites (well, small for a 29 foot Beast), we headed off to Valdez, via Thompson Pass. If you've not seen Thompson Pass, you MUST come visit me and we'll go. It's unbelievable. If you want pics, let me know and I'll send you the snapfish link to all the Wolter adventure pics, which include our ride through this heavenly pass. After arriving in Valdez, I conned the family into taking a kayak trip out to Columbia Glacier. I did not realize that this glacier, 3.5 miles wide and1900 feet tall (1000 feet above water, 900 feet below), is calving at the rate of 70 feet per day!! WHAT?! So we managed to get, oh...7 or 8 miles from the face of the glacier before getting totally stuck in house-sized icebergs (usually kayakers are to remain .25 miles from the face so they don't get squished by falling ice or massive waves resulting from falling ice). Not exactly what I'd had in mind, but how cool is this??! I think they're having fun:

Look, the sun can shine in Valdez!!

I think it's safe to say the fam will return for another round of Alaska, and if we score the Beast again, we'll have room for 4 more!