Plans to leave N island

We are still in Auckland and the arrangements and the arrangers are all a mess-good people trying very hard to accomodate the disaster. We have reservatons now to leave early AM Fri (about 9AM Thursday to all you statesiders) and fly to Queenstown where Jim and Lynndeen will be waiting for us, then we will drive to Greymouth and be back on schedule.  IF we can still get a car in Queenstown.  More later.

Day after quake

We are fine 24 hours after the quake.  Still in Auckland and attempting to get to the Souith Island despite the quake, since most of our plans were for being not near CHC. 

Winter in Alaska

Wendy came up to Fairbanks to visit on my last trip up there.  We went to Chena Hot springs and visited the Ice Museum.  It is a big building built entirely of ice and kept frozen year round by geothermal energy.  In fact the whole resort is powered by geothermal energy, even their electric cars and trucks.  Being no Greenie, I was quite taken aback by the success and am very interested in where else this could be applied.  there is s couple who are ice carvers and they have created all the stuff in the museum.  Here Wendy is sitting at one of the bar tables.  They serve Martinis in stemware made of ice, but it was early in the morning and we passed on that.

They had made several bedroom suites in the Palace, and claim now and then somebody books the rooms and spends the night.  Not us!!  the bed was cold and hard, but very interesting.

There were these two jousting knights which were very cool.  they stand about 10 feet tall.  Backlights provide the color.  In aboiut two weeks there will be an International Ice Carving Competition in Fairbanks and there are hundreds of sculptures on display outside, many of them are huge and very intricate.  If they survive outside until late March when I go back I will try to photograph some of them.

Valentines Day at the Cabin

We decided to hit the cabin for a couple nights before our big trip coming up.  We went out on Sunday and got back today, tuesday the 15th.  

 We lucked out and had great weather, and an almost full moon.  We got out on Monday and did some snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Poor Buddy is barely making it around the track any more.

There was a lot of snow there, as opposed to in Wasilla, where hardly any has survived the wind.  The first lap around the cabin I was breaking trail and got major stuck.  the Tundra (yellow) snow machine died on us and had to be towed home.  Never goes the way it should.

Heading out on Tuesday early morning with the Tundra in tow. 

Albuquerque 2010

ALBUQUERQUE DECEMBER 2010

It was off to Albuquerque in December to enjoy the "warmth" of the Southwest and to join all the kids for the Christmas holiday.  We were able to stay in a friends house about 20 minutes from Greg and Cindy's home, so we got to spend lots of time together.  Amelia, Bill, Jack and Katmai drove down and Matt came down by jet.  First thing to greet us was snow the day after we arrived!

That was a bit of a stunner, but we still had some sunshine and some days when it got above 50F.  The snow did not hang around long, really.

We headed down to the Bosque de Apache one morning with our friend Peggy Wallach (married to Angelo Tomedi, a med school classmate).  The Bosque is a large wetland area along the Rio Grande with millions of geese, cranes and ducks overwintering in the swamps.  We had to get up at 4 AM to get there in time to see the birds take off and it was really quite cool.  Never saw so many Snow Geese in one place.

So then the kids started to arrive.  Jack enjoyed being on the floor with Uncle Greg and Cindy.  The house we stayed in had  a room with a bunch of toys in it so Jack was in Hog Heaven.

On Christmas Day we all went to Gregs and Cindys house to open presents.  It was a regular zoo of course.  Jack got a tool kit and learned to ALWAYS wear eye protection..





Then the boys all retired to the garage so we could play with OUR tools.

Greg and Cindy live in a nice neighborhood that is great to take walks in and we wnet to the Park one sunny day.

Jack and Uncle Matt headed out on their own for a walk.



FIELD TRIPS:
We got to take Jack to the Aquarium and on another day to the Explora museum for some hands-on science education.  The adults loved it as much as Jack for sure.

Before they had to drive back North Wendy andI really enjoyed having time to just hang out with Amelia Bill and Jack.

Despite the cold, I was able to put a few miles on the new Beemer I shipped down from Fairbanks.  Unfortunately, Greg's bike is really not geared for the highway so I was riding pretty much solo.  This was a place called White Mesa, about an hour North of ABQ.

HIGH POINT OF TRIP ALERT!!

For Christmas the kids all pooled and got Wendy and I a hot air baloon ride.  It was freezing that early morning but what a blast.  Wendy is a little afraid of heights but never showed a bit of anxiety!

She was really just hamming it up for effect in that photo.  It was very enjoyable for both of us.  So cool to float over the yards and the Rio Grande river.  We had a good landing performed by Randy the pilot (he actually calls that a job!) and we were presented with a certificate and some traditional champagne.  Very much fun.

Due to the cold weather we decided on a road trip to Phoenix to visit some friends who just bought a house there.  On the way we went to a place called El Morrow, in western New Mexico, which was essentially an ancient watering hole used by humans and animals from the days of the ancient Anasazi Indians to the railroad builders.  They all carved their names in the sandstone rocks there and it was interesting to read inscriptions by Spanish Conquistadors and Wagon Train immigrants.  I forgot to take pictures.  DUUHHH

On the way down we stopped in Flagstaff and visited Jane and Jeff James who moved down from Palmer a couple of years ago.  Jane was an ER nurse and was a big factor over the years in educating this bonehead to the ways of Alaskan Medicine.  We drove with them down to Sedona and took an AWESOME Jeep ride over a really rough trail in the Red Rocks.  Jeff put his Jeep at serious risk by letting yours truly drive.  Lost a lot of metal off the bottom I think.  Very cool corner of the Earth.

In Phoenix we visited with Greg and Nancy and took a day long MC trip on his bikes to Tucson and ate at our favorite BBQ restaurant there, Bubb's Grub.  We befriended the owner of the place and his wife, who showed us some homes for sale with the thought of perhaps spending winter there, cause we really like Tucson.  But we decided Albuquerque is probably more for us.

The rest of the trip we spent visiting with Greg and Cindy and looking for a house we might love in ABQ, but so far no bells have rung.  Still working on it from here.  It was hard to go back to Alaska and the windy weather in Palmer.

Stay tuned.  In three weeks we head to New Zealand and the saga will continue.



Alone too long in Fairbanks

Well, my solitude drove me to extremes this weekend in Fairbanks and I bought me a new Beemer.  Could not help it, the deal was WAY too good.  I am hoping it will get to Albuquerque by the time we are there this December.  The bike is cool.  It is not a GS (on road-off road) but more of a highway bike.  I will get luggage and all the goodies for it pretty soon here.  Its style reminds me of the old BMW of the past.  Can't wait.

It is WINTER in Fairbanks

Winter has arrived in the Far North.  I am 4 days into a 17day "shift" up here and ready to go home.  Not too busy so far this time, but it has been a long one away from home.  Here is the hotel where I stay:

Not far away is the Fairbanks Airport which has its interesting features.  there is a campground where a pilot can taxi up and pitcha tent.  There is also a large float pond, now frozen which has a couple hundred float planes moored on it.  The "non airline" side of the field has a cool gate:

There are a lot of old cargo planes that are used for parts, keeping others like them in the air flying whatever out to the villages:

Just North of the airport is the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the sunlit buildings in the picture:

If you drive around the surrounding area a few miles from town, you get the sense there might have been a litttle prospecting going on here:

And of course the ever-present Pipeline, which passes pretty close to town.  This is along the highway to Fox, a town North of Fbks:

I had a couple days off in the middle of my time here, so I went to Chena Hot Springs, about an hour away by auto.  Interesting place.  they have tapped geothermal energy to power all their electridity needs, heat the buildings, grow food in a greenhouse, and of course supply water to the pond we got to soak in.  I say "we" but in actuality, there were VERY few people there this time of the year.  Their very busy season is farther into the winter, when Japanese tourists come up to steam and view the Aurora.  They believe a child concieved under the Northern Lights is somehow special.  They get a lot of summer tourists, also.

There was a lot of cool old junk sitting around like this horse drawn grader and very ancient snowmobile.

The lodge itself was a log structure.  This is the restaraunt and bar area.

So back to Fairbanks now and digging in for the last few days.  Cannot wait to get home.  While here I have also worked on a wood model ship Wendy got me for Christmas last year:

And finish three books:

And of course visit the local motorcycle shop and get a SCREAMING deal on a BMW R1200R, white like the one in the picture from the brochure. I will have it shipped to Albequerque and have it there when we are down in December.  Still a good deal despite shipping costs.  Gotta go to work.

September-October Trip

Wendy and I got to take a trip up the East Coast visiting relatives and seeing some of the country.  Warning: I was a delinquent photographer on this trip and there are some HUGE gaps leaving out people I should have taken pictures of.  I will do better next time when I know I am going to make a blog.

First stop was Nashville where we attended the wedding of Krista Stanberry, daughter of our old friends from Alaska who now live in Nashville.  Amelia and Jack flew in from Wyoming to join us.  No pix of the bride and groom  (sorry) BUT one of Jack.  He is dancing with Molly, who is the neice of the bride.  We had a great time visiting with the Stanberries and Sparagas, plus some other friends who were all together for the event.  I will try to edit this post when I get my hands on some pictures taken be others.

Next we flew to Orlando and visited Wendy's brother Bob and wife Kathy.  They had graciously stored our bikes for us since last Spring.  We had a nice visit with them and started our journey North. We drove through Florida, abit of Georgia, and into the Carolinas.  Craig and Joannie Staab, son Brian with his wife and twins, were in Pittsboro MC and we spent a day and night with them.  We were all at Scott Bredenburgs home, a nephew of Joannies.  It was great to see them all.  Joannie was doing well, despite having just been out of the hospital.  the twins were a lot of fun.  What energy!  I did very badly as photographer on this stop but did manage a good one of Jen and the twins, and Wendy on their little trike.

After a great time in Pittsboro we drove the short distance to Mike and Eileens in Raleigh and spent two nights with them.  We had a very nice visit with them and waited out a day of rainy weather.  No pix, sorry.

From there we headed North, chased be a huge rainstorm which we managed to stay ahead of, but it did limit our ability to sightsee a bit.  We did get to drive part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and see some cool old Virginia historical stuff.

 Then it was push on to Erie where we got to stay with Dick andAlice for a couple of days.  I got to visit with an old high school friend and catch up on the scut.  With Dick and Alice we drove out to Presque Isle and got to see the beaches.  Wendy and I also toured the USS Niagara, an old wooden warship which sits in Erie harbor.

It had been a long time since we saw brother Gene and Sue and their daughters.  We got to stay with them and go to the farm, where they keep nine horses.  They are into this.  I did manage to get some pictures of Gene and the farm.  Paul and Mindy were visiting her family at the same time and they joined us at the farm.   Hallie and Carly work at a horse racetrack nearby and we got to see them exercising some racehorses early in the morning.  Also we spent a few hours with George and Denny Engesser at their house.On the way our of town we went to the newly rebuilt Cider Mill on upper Peach Street.  Pretty cool to see it resurrected, even if it on a new site with strangers running it.  They used the old presses from the original mill, and George is lending his expertise to help them get it going.

One of the coolest things we did in Erie was to visit the old house on East Gore road, where we all grew up.  A nice older woman , Mrs Hess, lives in it now and she let Wendy and I in to check it out.  I got to go into the basement, which is basically unchanged since I was a kid there, and saw some very old memories.  Spooky.  The old potato bin, the butchering table, the work bench Dad used, the jelly cupboard, just to mention a few.  Most remeniscent was the black shoe polish which I remember rebelliously smearing on the old white chimney as I was "forced" to sit there every Saturday and polish my shoes for Sunday.  Damn, no pix.

We left Erie and stopped in Meadeville for another night to see Craig and Joannie.  She was feeling a lot better, having a few more days to pass since her latest cancer treatment.  Craig cooked up an awesome dinner for us and I got to watch Monday Night Football with he and his buddies.  they know how to do it up right!

The last leg of the journey put us back on the bikes, headed to Angier, NC to visit Paul and Mindy and the kids.  On the way, we went through the mountains of West Virginia and visited the Battlefields in Antietam and Fredericksburg.  Some awesome hsitroy there, and we would like to revisit this on another trip.  In Fredericksburg we could not pass up taking a picture of the street sign.  Also there we toured a 1700's doctor's home where in-character assistants showed us all the herbs, etc the old doc used and showed us the "OR" where he did surgery.  Cool.

Lastly, we arrived in Angier at Paul's for a couple nights.  Steven and the girls were there, too, so it was  a little active.  they all wanted Harley rides, except Paul, whose pride kept him from riding "bitch" and that was fun.  We drove to Wilmington where the girls go to school and saw their apartment.  We got to see tobacco and cotton growing.  That was a big deal for us tundra folks.  Sadly it was all over too soon and we had to store the bikes and head home.