Chitna River

Jake and I went over to the Chitina River 2 nights ago to meet up with my Uncle and some of his friends that were camping out there. It was a real pretty day... We got to Chitina in just over an hour but went down the Copper River for a while (wrong way..) getting hammered by 30plus MPH headwinds in the canyon before I figured it out. It was much nicer on the Chitina.


Taneta Pass was not too good either way - rain on the way out and then between layers on the way back (but we could see the land ahead so it was cool). Coming into Palmer it was raining pretty good and I was joking with Jake that we might want to go around to the runway with the approach lights to be sure of where we were but it all cleared up a mile or so out.

Big Sue April

After a pretty landbound winter I finally got out for some off-airport stuff last night. It was a nice night, pretty calm, a bit cool and we saw quite a few Moose and Eagles.

Coming into Hood Strip for some hanger flying with the locals and gas before I went home to Palmer, tower told me to keep my speed up (for what turned out to be another 180 that was about out of gas when I talked to the guy later) so I did - so much so that I bounced twice and had to go around.

My Uncle was following me on final and the tower controller told him to look out for the 180 going around... My Uncle said "Don't worry, I won't hit him - that's my nephew and my sister would kill me...".

There was a lot of pumice on the river bars which was interesting. It must have come from this winters volcanic activity, I brought some home and the kids and I floated it in water... there were also places where a few inches of sand had blown over the snow so it looked firm, but you'd sink in a long ways - very strange to walk on and probably no fun to land on.

Hanna 'goes' to Homer

Signs of winter - lots of snow on the mountains and moose in the yard.
Hanna and I went down to Homer yesterday because it was calm and
sunny and I felt like a long airplane ride. It was CAVU from Augustine to Denali and the colors were great but of course I left the camera in the back of the plane both ways. We just walked around Homer a bit then came right back because we had to pick up Jake at a friends house.

Jake and Dave on the beach

These are on a beach E of Seward (near Prince William Sound) where my Uncle has a cabin. Jake and I took some gear in for my other Uncle and his wife for a camping trip (2 Uncles and 3 Aunts - I forget why the other Uncle wasn't there). I wanted Jake to wait in Seward with 2 of the Aunts because I had such a big load, but he didn't want to be separated so I went in heavier than I'd have liked.

North Slope Moonrise

From my room at work...