Monthly Archives: March 2012

Fine Little Day.

Posted on March 29, 2012
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::We’ve been scoping out this sweet baby for months, now. And yesterday, we finally did it. Our fingers tingling with excitement, we proudly clicked the ‘Purchase’ button. We’ve been diligently saving for months, not only for our radical road trip, but to buy this sweet baby. And, we finally did it!

::E and I are the proud new owners of a shiny and bright new camera. I won’t give anything away until this spiffy-snappy photo-taker arrives in our hands. It will be best to take some sweet photos with it first and then spill the beans, anyway! I am definitely looking forward to snapping some really special photos of our adventures. We’ve realized over the years that photos are priceless. Photos give us even more of an opportunity to reminisce about fun and memorable moments with our most favorite people, nature, animals, and other little things.

::We are thrilled to have a really nice machine to help us capture and remember such amazing, warm moments in our lives. Photos from our new baby coming soon. In the meantime, here are neat-vintage photo machines to wish for and dream about. Aren’t they lovely?

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Homemade Weekend

Posted on March 28, 2012
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Long weekends are awesome. Here is a super, but brief look into our four-day weekend. It was magical. We went touring and riding around on our snow sticks all weekend. I also squeezed in a nice cross-country ski around the neighborhood, and we took to the sharp end and got some outside climbing time! With super sweet weather, creamy powder and lead climbing outside, our weekend was just delicious! We also celebrated Sarah’s birthday on Monday and have been eating tasty dishes all week. Lots of people are around and the fresh energy is great. On Saturday, a few more of our snowy-Tailgate-AK party will arrive. The stoke is high and we certainly can’t wait to share our final weeks in Valdez with some very radical peeps.

Here are some tiny bits of our weekend. Enjoy.

The perfect side with soup = a tasty and hearty salad.

I made a new soup: Salmon Chowder. It was fantastic.

E's nose in a classic 'Rock & Ice'

I made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla butter cream frosting for Sarah's birthday!

Coffee time.

Beautiful birds.

Little birdie tracks in the fresh snow.

Fresh snow = good skiing.

Out and about on cross-country skis.

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Date Night!

Posted on March 22, 2012
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I LOVE date nights! On Tuesday, we had a great night out and about to celebrate two special events: my one month mark left of work and our 6-month mark of marriage! I still can’t believe we’ve already been married for six months. So crazy! It’s flown by… and it has definitely been an amazing six months. Yes, indeedy!

For the special occasion, we decided to drive out to Rendezvous Lodge at 46 mile and have frosty brews with a zesty dinner. We got to sit near the warm, cozy fire and chat over Black Butte Porters until dinner arrived. For dinner, E ordered a tasty looking burger and I order a spicy chicken sandwich. Both meals came with a pile of to-die-for french fries and crispy vegetables to decorate our sandwiches with. Oh man.. everything was just soooooo good.

I absolutely love Rendezvous Lodge. The place is full of character and nice people are always hanging out. The cook is a good friend of ours and he is constantly creating the tastiest dishes! Rendezvous is definitely a place to hang out with great friends, have a nice meal, and relax. We definitely did just that!

After dinner, E and I drove back through Thompson Pass to be greeted just in time by a lovely sunset. In fact, it was probably one of the prettiest, most intense sunsets I’ve seen since moving to Valdez. It was stunning and filled the sky with pinks, oranges, and beautiful shades of purples.

Once home, our lovely night ended with a few episodes of Portlandia, reading and dreaming of climbing, and more talk of our big road-trip and gnarly bus adventures. Man.. what a night!

Headed to dinner! E standing outside the Rendezvous Lodge.

Purply-blue ceiling adds even more character to this place!

My zesty chicken sandwich. YUM!

Getting ready for the first big bite!

A stunning sunset for the drive home.

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Meow Pow

Posted on March 13, 2012
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I landed a gig guiding clients up Rydor’s on East Peak visible from town in a Piston Bully 300 for 907 Snowcat.  Here are some pics from our first day out.

Also completed our final courses for the Introduction to Backcountry Skiing course (ODS 121) I taught through PWSCC. Great class! It was really fun to see everyone gain confidence.  After our last course we stopped in at the new Tsiana Lodge to rub shoulders with rich European heli-skiers and sit on leather couches.  This weekend is a 3 day weekend for Robyn and I and we may find ourselves in Fairbanks for a long procrastinated visit.  A job I applied for as a Snow Ranger on Mount Washington closed today.  Fingers crossed. Other prospects are Chile and possibly Ketchum or Lander.  What’s next? Nobody knows.

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Climbs

Posted on March 9, 2012
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Just logged into my www.rockclimbing.com account last night and it brought back a flood of great memories.  This website is essentially an online log book that lets you record your climbs, rate them on quality and compare notes with other users. Any kind of database is only as good as the data you put in, and since my first entry on November 23, 2008 I have kept up pretty well.

My online logbook

What amazed me when looking at the graph was the number of different climbs we were getting on in 2009 and 2010.  This graph only shows unique climbs and doesn’t account for climbs we did multiple times. 2010 was an incredible year.  That is when we filmed 6 Weeks, and also almost all 120 of the climbs recorded that year were done before June! The 2012 graph is still at zero, but that will change here shortly.  Robyn and I leave for climbing down at Skaha in just 6 short weeks.

Robyn and I downloaded and watched The Scene last night, a new climbing flick by one of the premiere climbing film makers Chuck Fryberger. It reminded me of sitting on our couch back in PA, Seth making chocolate chip muffins, drinking beers, hanging on the hangboard, plopping down to watch a Dosage film for the 26th time with our well thumbed and marked-up New River Gorge guidebooks in hand. We truly did live to climb during those days. Summer nights at the barn with fresh corn on the cob, and weekends at The New.  What a special time it was!

Tokatee Hot Springs June 2009

Here’s hoping we get to tie in with you all again soon.

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Extraordinary Moments

Posted on March 7, 2012
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We’ve had some amazing days, lately. Alaska has been beaming with color, sunshine, sick powder, and beautiful Northern Lights! This is just a quick looksy at our life as of late. Hopefully soon, we will be able to post more photos and stories of our most recent adventures in the 49th state.

First extraordinary moment: Last night, little Chance ran downstairs to inform us that the Northern Lights were out. E brewed a quick thermos of tea and we raced Trixie to Thompson Pass, in hopes of catching the beautiful green and pink beams of light floating in the night’s sky — not to mention a full moon shining down on us. Here’s what we saw…

More photos and stories to come soon. Happy Wednesday!

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Big.

Posted on March 6, 2012
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Yesterday was a strange day. I feel so much like an adult. It was a big decision day; a day that will change our life direction in a BIG way. Yesterday afternoon, I submitted that ‘big-decision’ letter. I turned in my Letter of Resignation. It was a strange feeling indeed, but also a good one. Doing this brought a huge sense of relief to our little world. For us, it officially allows us to move forward with our next big adventure, to share our move with the world, to live free of worry and stop pretending that we might stay. It’s official. E and I are moving and it feels great to share it, get it out, and embrace it!

To be frank, I was a tiny bit nervous that people at work would dislike our decision and/or poke fun of it, but I was pleasantly greeted this morning by high-fives and congratulatory wishes. It was silly of me to be nervous. I am too sensitive to what people think and I hate to feel like I am ‘letting people down’. My coworkers have expressed just the opposite. They are so happy for us and that makes me smile, BIG.

As for the rest of our time in Valdez, E and I will continue to downsize our belongings, have amazingly long days riding pow, and fully enjoy our time left here. We’ve already gotten a jump start on the little things before our trip, like resoling our climbing shoes, tuning our pedal machines, and gearing Trixie up for the long road trip down south…

…Can you believe it? Only six weeks left until another big move; another new adventure; a colorful, new chapter to add to our big book. Ohh 2012, you are bright and full of good things.

 

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