Where did the Summer go?

So its been since July 1st since I took the time to come here and write some things.  I hadn't forgotten about the blog, just staying busy here with the day to day stuff. Also with facebook I have another internet social place to keep track of.  Although I've had time to sit down and write, it just hasn't been and where I could bring the laptop along.  Now the time has come when I need to finish all my little projects I've started, and gather all the stuff I brought along with me last April, and think about the trip back to Minnesota.  Just a bit over 3,600 miles through some of the most beautiful country a person could ever see.  Also some of the toughest roads I've run across in a long time .. I hope the frost damaged road from the Alaska border to Destruction Bay in the Yukon Territory has seen some repairs, or at least been smoothed out over the summer.  That was a tough stretch!  And it wasn't much better in June when Dee and I did the marathon road trip to pick up Elena in Whitehorse after her car broke down on the highway. 

Well the only way I can keep track of what I've been up to here is go through the pictures I've taken since my last post in July .. so here's a few photos to catch up for July and August.  These are mostly the highlights.  Some of the day to day stuff is fun to talk about too, like flying out to do aircraft repairs on a beach and ending up spending the night there with the bears .. more on that one later ...

Just during a walk on the beach .. lots of eagles.  This is a young bald eagle, before the distinctive white head.

On a fishing trip to the Kenai we flew through some nice glaciers on the Harding Ice Fields. 

July flowers.

Some of the sights across Katchemak Bay.

Stephanie and Dee.  Steller Air flew us to Brooks Falls for a great bear trip.  The flights in Alaska are always good!

 

Well that gets us to mid August.  Some friends came up to visit around the end of August, we took a week and saw sights, went to see the bears in the Katmai National Park, and did 4 days kayaking Katchemak Bay.  I'll try and get some photos up from the trip soon.

Just fooling around

In the bay working on some different rolls this afternoon when a sea otter seemed curious and came right up to me to watch.  Usually they are gone at the first sound you make, this guy truly seemed curious.  He was doing the same as me .. just fooling around in the water.  I did a few rolls, and he would do the same.  This went on for about 20 minutes.  What a fun rolling partner!!  He stayed right with me about a paddle distance from the boat. 

Eagles

Homer Spit is probably the best place I've found for eagle photos.  Years ago there was a woman that fed them, she is now gone, but the eagles have remained.  If you hang out here long enough, you will come up with a few good eagle photos.  These I got today near the Pier One Theatre on the spit.

Lets go for a walk

Bishops Beach is a great place for a walk during low tide.  Small rivers flowing from tide pools make tall rubber boots a necessity, and the real cool thing is that all the rocks are covered in barnacles, so the walking is easy with no slippery rocks.  Where we walk during the low tide is under roughly 15 to 20 feet of water during the high tide, so there is always plenty of cool stuff to see.  The seagulls and eagles are hanging around at low tide looking for a meal.

 This little hermit crab kept getting tipped over by the waves as he was trying to get back to the water.  I think he was trying to hide out from the seagulls.  I gave him a little help back to the water.

How would you like to be a hermit crab stuck in the middle of this bunch!

 And I have absolutely no idea what this is .. and I'm not going to touch it!

Matanuska Glacier

Just off the Glen Highway between Glennallen and Palmer Alaska is the Matanuska Glacier, a 27 mile long 4 mile wide river if ice that is the source of the Matanuska River.  On the drive back to Minnesota this Fall, this will have to be a for sure stop and hike up to the glacier.  I drove past the glacier this week on a marathon road trip from Homer to Whitehorse.  Really the best and most stunning scenery on the whole Alaska Highway lies between Haines Junction in the Yukon, and Palmer Alaska.  The Glen Highway in incredible.

Dashboard Mascot

The last mascot I had was a lizard that my daughter made for me when she was about 4 years old. It was all made of beads that were strung together to shape a little lizard, and it was red and white like the sail on the ship. When she gave it to me I thought it was an alligator, but she corrected me right away saying it was a lizard. Well she's 22 now, and the lizard made it all the way to about 3 years ago. I think the string finally fell apart and the beads all found their way into the small places of the last pickup truck I had. I hadn't thought about replacing it with anything until a friend gave me this one. At first I just set it up on the dash, it kept falling over and I kept setting upright again. Then I had to make the decision to keep it up there so, it was time to fasten it down to keep it in place. The little ship reminds me of my Scandinavian heritage, and the travels I've made with it guiding my way. It also reminds me of the friendship of the one who gave it to me. Now after a trip up the Alaska Highway and a Summer of traveling Alaska this one will have some good memories too.

Lennies

Some interesting clouds were forming over the Kenai Mountains this morning. Most people would maybe give them a curious glance, but a pilot should know a little about them, especially if they were planning a flight in the mountains. Standing lenticular clouds are formed when the air rises up over the mountains, cools to the dewpoint and the cloud forms. Then the wave descends into the trough, and as the air warms past the dewpoint again, the cloud dissipates. The cloud has the deceptive appearance of being stationary. Once in awhile a churning rotor cloud will appear below the lennie, but not always. Strong turbulence is always associated near the rotor cloud, or where it might be if the conditions were right. Gliders on the other hand will seek out the lenticular clouds because of the lift they can generate over the top. Altitude records in gliders have been set riding the lift associated with the mountain waves. At any rate, they are really an interesting phenomena, and have a very calm and serene appearance.