SNOW!!!!!!!

The second snow storm of the season was a doozy! I was lucky enough to work through the event in the "hot seat", as my boss likes to put it, but faired pretty well. It was a stressful week knowing how many people rely on the forecast. For the record, the Crappu Weather Forecast in the newspaper this morning was "cloudy with a dusting of snow". HA!! We got 6 inches today!!!

Madison investigating the back porch.

Lake Louise

Lisa, Lisa, Ben, and I took a weekend trip to Lake Louise and stayed at this really nice lodge...called The Lodge at the Point (you can see why in the second picture).

Beautiful sunrise during breakfast on Sunday morning.

It was a little cold but worth it. This is Lisa R bundled up to do some fishing from the peer.

We did a bit of back country exploring on the way home and found another picturesque lake tucked away from the main road. Ben and I fished for a while but the girls got bored and the fish weren't biting so we moved on.

Octoberfest Anchorage style

Good times...expensive beer...but good times until ELVIS showed up and started singing Love Me Tender. That was our cue to high tail it out of there and move on.

An Afternoon of Frolf in the Park

Lisa, Ben, and I played Frolf yesterday. Actually it's called Disc Golf but George Castanza called it frisbee golf (frolf) so that's what stuck with us. We played an 18 hole course at Kincaid Park. It was a very nice fall day with a couple extra hazards thrown in there on the 12th hole for good measure...MOOSE!!

Flat Top Colors

Lisa took a trip one evening during the week up to Flat Top to take some photos. I was working a night shift and wasn't quite awake yet so I missed out...again.

Northern Lights

The northern lights have made their first appearance of the season. Actually I heard there was a good display a couple week ago but I missed it. The other night during work, Scott the intern informed me the Aurora was visible. I spent the majority of the next 2 hours outside watching it evolve. One long arch from west to east drifted southward overhead and then 2 other arches appeared to the north of the first. There weren't any real bright periods or any reds that showed up but it was still a great first show...would have been a lot better to be away from the city lights.

Unfortunately I did not have my camera but I thought I would share some photos I took last year of an awesome event. The Aurora wasn't that spectacular but what made it special was the Noctilucent clouds. Noctilucent clouds are rare clouds that are so high (800 to 100 km) in the atmosphere that they will remain illuminated white long after the sun has set. They are in the mesosphere on the fringe of space and are made up of ice crystals and are most commonly seen in the high latitudes during the summer months. Combine all that with a nice auroral event and it made for some nice pictures. I took 24 pics that night experimenting with different exposures...here are a couple that turned out pretty good.

Fall is in Full Effect

After hearing the fall colors are peaking up north, I decided to take a day trip toward Denali to try and get some photos. It was well worth the trip.

A Day On The Lakes

Another highlight from Eileen's visit in July was a day out on the kayak. We went to a couple lakes and enjoyed some more picturesque scenery here in town. At one point, a bald eagle made an appearance and landed in a tree right over us. After surveying the water, swooped down and picked up a fish. We didn't have the camera ready unfortunately but it was definitely a sight to see.



Lisa and Eileen on DeLong Lake




Andy and Eileen return from Sand Lake

July trip to Matanuska Glacier

I was working but Lisa, Lisa's mom Eileen, and our friends Lisa R and Ben took a trip up to Matanuska Glacier. It's a little more than an hour away from Anchorage but it feels like you're on another planet. I, unfortunately, have never been but that's what I keep hearing. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...pretty incredible.

August trip to Homer

Lisa and I took a trip back in early August to Homer. Homer is a picturesque town on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula. It is a huge fishing community because it is located on Cook Inlet and only a couple dozen miles from the Pacific Ocean. It is especially known for the halibut...which can be HUGE!! We stayed at a B&B overlooking Kachemak Bay. Again, it was picturesque. I've asked a lot of people who have lived in Alaska for a while where their favorite place to visit and more often than not, the answer is Homer.

...Cooper Landing on the way down to Homer....


...Andy fishing on the Russian River on the way down....


...fireweed looking across Cook Inlet to the Alaska Range...


...approx 200 lb halibut...

...Lisa photographing moose in the backyard of our B&B with Kachemak Bay in the background...

...baby moose in backyard...

...moonrise over Kachemak Bay...

...moonrise continued...