Out of the office

I've been traveling a ton over the past few weeks--Juneau three weeks ago, Seattle last week, and now back to southeast.  Of course, not all work travel is bad:

A picnic at the shack

The Wife and I are on assignment in Wisconsin this week, where all things revolve around cheese, cheese curds, traditional American macrobrew, the Packers . . . and Leopold's land ethic. 

Having never visited the shack and needing to catch up with our good friend Alanna, who happens to work for the Aldo Leopold Foundation, we worked our way over to Baraboo for a quick sit-down.

It's quite the place, and there's a ton of history.  Where else can you have a picnic where Leopold wrote A Sand County Almanac?  Where else can you sit in Leopold's chair, fer crying out loud?

Although, he made it look better:

Above the Arctic Circle

Work had me in Anaktuvuk Pass last night to attend an Alaska DNR public hearing on some proposed coal prospecting permits.  Anaktuvuk Pass is a Nunamiut village of about 300 people that lies on the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, just north of the Arctic Circle within Gates of the Arctic National Park.  While there's regular air taxi service and a few non-native people living in Anaktuvuk Pass, a significant portion of the population speaks Eskimo as their primary language.  A few individuals know no English.

Historically, Nunamiut people were somewhat nomadic, relying on the large caribou herds, abundant dolly varden and whitefish populations, and plentiful berries to sustain them throughout the years.  While people in Anaktuvuk Pass no longer are nomadic, subsistence hunting and fishing, berry picking, and many of the traditional values remain.  Of course, the DNR's proposed coal prospecting permits would be the first step in developing a coal mine right on top of important caribou habitat, something the locals want nothing to do with.

On to the pictures . . .

The flight up from Fairbanks was pretty awesome.  Here's the Alaska Pipeline:

And the Yukon River:

The Brooks Range:

A herd of caribou bedded down in the snow (click to make larger):

And the bustling metropolis of Anaktuvuk Pass:

It was around 5-10 degrees below zero when we landed.  We were met at the airport by Chief Cooper, local fire chief and tour guide extraordinaire.  As one of the few non-native individuals in town, Cooper insists on using the moniker "Chief" and seems to take a special interest in out-of-towners.  My boss, Vicki, is on the left; Chief Cooper is in the middle; and Emily, who works on coal issues for one of our partner organizations, is on the right.

A newly-built experimental arctic home (notice the wind and solar power generation and sod roof) which, when combined with the dump, formed two the biggest highlights on the Chief Cooper tour:

Here's a more typical Anaktuvuk Pass home (notice the inspirational dumpster on the right):

Since we were so far north and the skies were so clear, we decided to venture out late and look for the northern lights.  However, temperatures around -25 F and cutting wind made sure we didn't stay out long.  If the northern lights came out, we didn't see them.

And finally, in case you were wondering, here's what $225 per night gets you in Anaktuvuk Pass:

Otis bugs and leaky waders

The Wife and I have been on a whirlwind tour of Oregon over the past week.  We took a red-eye into PDX on Tuesday-Wednesday of last week, spent Wednesday through Sunday at PIELC taking in all that the world of environmental law has to offer while catching up with old friends, and then traveled down to the Medford area to catch up with my parents and chase a few steelhead.  After getting our PIELC on for a few days--which really deserves it own blog post--I was pretty beat.  I can only handle so many days of wake-up-at-7:30-after-partying-until-2:00 before things starts to wear thin.  As The Wife gently reminded me last Friday, "you're not 20 anymore."

On to the fishing . . .

My dad and The Wife and I got out on the water for a few hours on Monday afternoon.  What we lacked in caught fish I made up for in leaky waders.  Note to self, look elsewhere when your brother says the waders you're about to borrow have "a few slow leaks."  Thanks, Josh.

The Wife and I floated the Rogue yesterday, enjoying a sunny day with exceptionally low flows.  The fishing was slow, but, if you're going to have a fishless day on the river, you might as well be in a drift boat.  Short of more agreeable fish, not much could have been better.

Having struck out yesterday, I decided to give it one last go 'round for an hour or so this morning before needing to head back into town.  Yesterday's sun and low flows gave way to colder weather, rain, and a slightly off-color water clarity.  Dad and I went out first thing this morning and by the second cast I had outdone our entire prior day's efforts.

Nothing too big, but it was a start.

We were fishing the head of a run right below a long riffled bend.  I had fished this exact spot many times over the years, having caught perhaps half of all the steelhead I've ever landed here.  The river bottom is mostly cobbles, coagulated into a concrete-like substrate creating a significant underwater ledge and a series of slots and seams that fish like to hide within.  So long as you can avoid snagging a shallow spot or wading off the ledge, it can be phenomenal fishing.

After fishing for another half-hour or so, I saw a big fish roll along a seam in the current.  Taking another few steps out away from shore, I placed six or eight casts into the seam before my line made an abrupt stop and gave a few telltale head shakes.

After a few decent runs and two leaps from the water, I was able to move the fish in close, get him over the rock ledge, and beach him on the cobble shore. 

It was a wild male, just a hair over 29 inches.  He took an otis bug and made for a fine start to the day. 

. . . and using a different pair of waders, I even managed to stay dry.

Cannon Beach

Location: Somewhere over New Mexico (I think) en route to Austin, TX.

I spent the past weekend in Portland and Cannon Beach visiting friends and attending Leia and Tyler's wedding.  The wedding was beautiful and it's always a blast to get the crew together.  We partied until 3:30am, long after the wedding reception site kicked us out and the bars closed.  Although it really was too late to call The Wife and blather through a marginally coherent conversation, the vodka tonics and rich Oregon beer didn't let me think twice about the time.

It was great to see all my Oregon friends.  I really need to get better at keeping in touch with everyone.  There really is no excuse.

On another topic, airports and airplanes are great people-watching venues, and my flight last Friday from Anchorage to Seattle delivered.  Fortunately, the only empty seat on the flight happened to be the middle seat in my row.  Otherwise, there's no telling where the man occupying the aisle seat would have put his rental video player and the cheeseburger, assorted snack pack and three bloody maries (mary's?) he ordered from the stewardess--not to mention the soda and pretzels that everyone got for free.  The stewardess didn't bat and eye when he placed his order and looked like she'd seen this sort of thing before.  I, however, couldn't decide what was more impressive, the line of beverages, the fact that the same pretzel remained suspended in the man's mustache through two-and-a-half bloodies, or the fact that the man finished everything without having to hit the head once during the three-and-a-half hour flight.

On to Austin . . .

A long drive north

The Wife and I made the drive up to Anchorage from Lander a bit ago. Our trip took us through Billings, Great Falls and nearly to Calgary on the First Day. With snow falling over night, we decided to stay on the main highways on the second day, driving through Calgary, around Edmonton and into Dawson Creek, British Columbia. We had great weather and dry roads for the rest of the trip, completing our journey in five days.

The Alaska Highway officially begins in Dawson Creek. Dawson Creek is a small town that can't seem to decide if it wants to be a tourist destination or just another oil/gas boom town. While I'm sure it gets inundated with motor homes in the summer, it was pretty quiet while we were there.

Since I've let too much time go by since our trip, I'll keep this short on the narrative and long on the pictures... Not far into our third day we spotted our first caribou:The highlight of the trip for Karta:

We worked our way through Stone Mountain Provincial Park and came across these stone sheep. The little bugger sure was cute:

Moving along, we eventually made it to Laird River Hot Springs. We had heard about these springs from various friends who had made the trip. Our original plan was just to take a look at the springs and move on, but Karta promptly dropped her ball in the springs "forcing" The Wife to go for a swim to retrieve it.

We got to see our first wood bison:

We spent the third night in Watson Lake, Yukon. Let me tell you, we should have just kept on driving--or better yet, just stayed the night at Laird Creek Hot Springs.

The Wife and I had a friendly wager on how many moose we might see. I bet 17 and The Wife went with 20. While at one point it looked like The Wife was a sure lock to win, the sightings slowed toward the end of the trip and I sneaked away with the win.

After touring around Whitehorse for a bit, our fourth and final night was just over the border in Tok, Alaska. This place boasts the highest number of hotel rooms and campground spots per capita of anywhere in the U.S. Since it was the off season, there were plenty of vacancies.

Excited to be in Alaska and realizing we had nearly no pictures of us, we posed for this shot (no Karta did not take it):

As expected, the drive was beautiful:

Alaska

I spent much of the past week in Anchorage chasing work and hanging out with friends. Having never been to Anchorage this time of year, I was eager to experience the cold and daylight (or lack thereof). As expected, the temperatures were cold, with highs around 10-15F. The day length was tolerable--getting light around 8:30am and dark around 5:30pm.

After a long day of travel and a drink with my good friends Ashley and George at Humpy's, we were greated by two moose on our walk home--both were right downtown. This guy was munching on shrubs in Ashley and George's neighbor's yard. The second moose, a giant cow, scared the bejesus out of us when it made it's presence known by jumping through a hedgerow and nearly landing on top of us. I may have to think twice about making fun of stupid tourists in Yellowstone that get too close to animals in the future...

After a day touring around Anchorage, we headed out to Alyeska to take advantage of a superbowl two-for-one deal on lift tickets. Althought the snow was a bit tracked out, we had a great time. Heading up the lift:Ashley and George trying to stay warm:Even with skiing, we were able to take in the epic fourth quarter of the superbowl before heading back into town. I flew out of Anchorage on Wednesday after scoping out town and meeting with a few folks regarding possible employment (another blog post to follow, perhaps). I got to meet up with a few of The Wife's friends, Megan and Steph, and managed to explore a few of Anchorage's many parks. All in all, a pretty good trip.

Road trip to Vegas

Since the New Year managed to sneak up on me this year--and then run me over like a Mack Truck--I'm getting a late start to the resolutions. However, beginning with this post, I plan to update this blog at least twice a week. Like with all resolutions, we'll save judgment on how well I do until later...

As has become custom, The Wife and I took a road trip to Vegas to visit my family over Christmas. However, since we didn't get out of Lander until noon we knew we were in for a long haul. The roads were miserable but we were in no hurry.

Karta is quite the trooper on the road. What you can't see is that my eyes and facial expression mirror hers.A few things stand out each year from our Christmas in Vegas. First, we all attend Christmas Eve mass to sing carols before returning to Ma's house for a fondue party. Over the years the fondue party has become the stuff of legend.

The party never really gets started until Walt takes up the piano.Think of a cross between National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and an old West piano bar--with too much food.A second thing that sticks out from each year is that my other grandma, Mary Dale, has everyone over to sample the latest batch of Mary Dale's Maddening Margaritas. While the margarita bash usually follows Christmas, we did things in reverse this year. What's more, Mary Dale's Maddening Margaritas must have been especially potent this year because both The Wife and I forgot to take any pictures...After a little under a week in Vegas, it was time to head home. We had gone skiing in blizzard conditions at Brian Head, I got to watch my dad split queens in black jack--and win, I demonstrated my lack of skill in tennis, we threw the football around until my shoulder was ready to explode, and I set a new personal best in bowling--170. Pretty successful all in all. The drive home, on the other hand, was not so successful:Oh yeah, one final bonus picture of the pooch:

At the Capital

Well, The Wife and I were in DC for the tail end of last week and the weekend. Despite some flight problems (Frontier seems to be going down the tubes) it was a great trip.

We met up with my good friend and old roommate from college, Jason. He joined us for part of the weekend--touring the museums. Not sure if W was home at the time, but I'd like to think he was and, if so, it was good to see him behind bars.

The natural history museum was sweet. Although, I always thought dinosaurs were bigger. Must have something to do with the fact that I was about three feet tall last time I was at the natural history museum.
The mammoth was just as big as I remembered.

We also stopped by the Supreme Court. Even though it was closed for the weekend, it was impressive. Too bad we didn't stay through Monday for oral argument.

We also some some protesters. These two were, I think, praying. The man on the ground didn't move too much while we were there. The Woman kept rocking to and fro. The red over her mouth is duct tape with "Life" written on it. Apparently these people didn't realize the court was stacked in their favor.

After all this seriousness, we headed over to what was The Wife's and Jason's favorite stop--the Botanic Garden. And yes it is Botanic, not botanical.