We've moved

If you want to keep up with us and our goings on, you'll have to visit us at http://www.patrioticandromantic.com/.

A year later

Well, one year ago I was in surgery to get my left ankle repaired. A lot has happened since then. I had a second surgery to remove the hardware from my ankle, bought a house and got married. Somethings, however, remain the same. I still have very limited mobility in my ankle and most of my inner left foot is still numb. I still cannot run, at least not without looking like I'm galloping. Also, the pain most days is more than I would have imagined, but I am glad to be walking and lucky that the bones are all still alive. I am back to climbing, albeit, I haven't done so outside since the accident, but maybe that will happen before the summer is over.

Rainy Sunday

Final Update - We finished most of the projects for the day. Zach is relieved to be done filleting all of the salmon. Just another two fillets to smoke and one fillet to turn into gravlax tomorrow and then it will be all preserved or frozen for eating later. Finished the night with some of the sorbet and it was very rich and tasty, probably could have passed on the bacon.

Update - The marmalade is made and other blueberries preserved. We ended up going with blueberry lemon since blueberries were on sale at the store. Here's the basic recipe. Also put the finishing touches on some Dark Chocolate Bacon Crunch Sorbet that I had started last night. Zach has the grill ready and starting to smoke some chicken and salmon.

It's raining here, which we're happy to see, since its been quite dry of late. Taking full advantage of staying indoors, we've got ambitious plans which include, making raspberry lemon marmalade, preserving blueberries, more salmon filleting, preserving cherries, laundry, cleaning and making meals for the week ahead. Oh yeah, somewhere in there, I need to devote a couple of hours to work. We'll see how it all goes, but at least some of the tasks are underway and we've still got more than half the day to go.

A Good Appetite

I stumbled on this blog about a week ago and I love it. The couple seem to be a lot like Zach and I and I appreciate that she puts all the recipes on the blog.

Getting Back to Normal

After two weeks of last minute details and hosting friends and family, things are starting to get back to normal around here. What a great and exciting couple of weeks. We enjoyed seeing everyone and had a great time. The wedding went off without a hitch, but the one that matters, Zach and I, and the reception was a lot of fun. Below is a photo of us during the ceremony.

The next adventure starts tomorrow as we go to the Kenai to try our skills at dipnet fishing for salmon. Wish us luck!

Hard Work

As many of the readers know (if anyone still reads since we've been so lax posting), Zach and I are getting married in about a week and a half on the 4th of July. While its a mad dash and lots of hard work to get all the loose ends tied up, including a second functional bathroom, its been a lot of fun. We've made scads of progress on our updating of the house that we hadn't planned to do for some time, the yard is looking nice and despite my impatience, things are really coming together.

The rest of the week will be getting the bathroom functional and finished and final touches on the yard. Over the weekend we'll have to do all the cleaning we've been neglecting, but then starting Monday night with the arrival of the first guests, we'll be able to devote the week to friends, family and enjoying ourselves.

Well, back at it; more wine research for the wedding to do. I told you this was hard work!

Making up for lost time

Since we haven't posted in a while, one of the other major developments in our lives is that we bought a house. While its under renovation and in constant progress, pictures can be seen here.

Summer Solstice

Yesterday was the solstice and longest day of the year. For Anchorage that meant the sun came up at 4:20 a.m. and set at 11:22 p.m. Zach and I certainly made the most of it with more work on the house, wedding preparations and drinking wine. All in all, not a bad way to spend the solstice.

Queue up one Buff Orpington and one Barred Rock Hen

Coming soon to our shores (and never posted about new house), eggs from the as-yet unnamed fine-feathered fowl friends:

the barred rock hen -
the buff orpington (RIP, a victim of Honey the dog):

Any name suggestions?

Poor Honey

Here's a picture of Honey following surgery to get a lump removed from her tail.  She had had the lump for about 6 months and it didn't seem to bother her, but it was getting bigger.  So, last Thursday, off it came.  She has been really good, except that she constantly wants to lick the stitches, hence the doggie cone.  Hopefully, after today, she won't need the doggie cone any longer. 

It's really quite funny to watch her with the cone on since her whole perception of where objects are located is thrown off.  She's very careful to go through doors.  And if she accidently bumps the cone on anything, it scares the bejeebus out of her.

We'll start posting again, really, we promise.

Once again we have been remiss in getting anything posted to the blog. But, never fear, we're going to try again. You know, the new year, new resolutions. As a starter, here's a picture of me out skiing on New Year's day. We promise we will post more very soon.

Recent Adventures

Once again we have been remiss in posting on the blog. So, here is a link to pictures we have taken on our recent adventures, including a trip to Juneau at the beginning of the month.

We'll be in Iowa in about a month and hopefully we'll be able to see folks while we are there.

Break-up begins

While spring officially started a couple of weeks ago, here spring has just started with what is called break-up. Unlike spring in most other areas with early blooming crocuses and the greening of grass, spring here begins the big melt. With a good 6-8 feet of snow piled up it take time and makes things soggy and muddy. However, as depressing as that may sound, we know that spring is here as the days continue to get longer - 14 hours from sun up to down and growing and warmer - its supposed to be a balmy 50 degrees today, but I doubt we get there.

Recently, Zach and I got away for about a week. We drove from Portland to San Diego, mainly on the Pacific Coast Highway. During our trip we were able to experience spring and the start of summer - it was 85 the day we left San Diego. Pictures to come...

In the news...

Check out this link to a story by the Anchorage Daily News last week about a case I am currently handling at work:

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8599675p-8492514c.html

A real update

Since it has been since August since we last posted anything substantive, here's what has been happening in a nutshell:

1. October, the arrival of Darby, our third dog, see the post below. Really, three dogs rounds out the pack.

2. Camping at the Matanuska Glacier. The picture at the top of the page was taken by Zach during that trip. It was beautiful, but extremely cold, probably -20 degrees or colder while we were out taking pictures.

3. Travels back to Iowa for the holidays which were hectic, but it was very nice to see everyone.

My nephew, Jaden, enjoying his Christmas presents.

4. SNOW!! After returning home from Iowa, we found several feet of snow had fallen and it continues to fall a couple of times a week. It makes for lots of fun skiing and snowshoeing. Also, it's very pretty.

Just off the trail at Russian Jack park here in town.

Other than those highlights, Zach continues to be busy with finishing his masters degree as this is his last semester. I am as busy as ever with work, often traveling a couple of times a month. We have plans in March for a bit of a vacation - driving from Portland, Oregon to San Diego, California and seeing what we see along the way, while camping, sightseeing and visiting friends out that way.

New Look

Zach and I have taken the time to finally spend some time on the blog. As you can see we have given the blog a makeover adding some pictures and updating our links. On the right you can find a link to Zach's photo page on flickr as well as the new blog we started for our Anchorage gourmet night gathering that happens once a month. Hopefully, we'll be more diligent in keeping this thing up to date, hence the picture of the week. However, since the pictures are usually taken by Zach, I'll leave it up to him to update the picture, so you know where to direct your complaints if the picture doesn't change.

Also, below, you can find a picture of our newest addition, Darby. She joined us in early October. Yes, yes we are quite behind with updating the blog.

Summer Vacation - North to the Future

Zach and I recently planned and started a vacation of biking from Anchorage to Denali National Park and back. We biked over the course of 3 days, 168 miles, to the Denali North View Campground, about 70 miles from the national park. Unfortunately, rain forced us to head back to Anchorage. Once back in Anchorage, we took a day to dry out and then headed back out for our vacation, this time with the car since the rain didn't stop.

We camped one night in Denali National Park at Wonder Lake Campground, which is 85 miles inside of the park, reachable by a 5 hour bus ride. The rain let up the following day, though the cloud ceiling stayed low. Rather than spend another soggy night at the campground for the slight chance of seeing Denali, we decided to hop the bus back out. Our bus driver must be a distant cousin of Bob Ross. The ride out was fairly devoid of wildlife - a single wolf in the distance, a few caribou and a bunch of dall sheep high up on the mountain sides.

Rather than return south, we decided to head north along the Parks Highway to Fairbanks. After finding dinner at Gambardella's Pasta Bella, longing for a dry bed we stayed the night at Ah, Rose Marie Bed and Breakfast.

Early monday morning, we explored Fairbanks and took a tour through the University of Alaska Museum. Highly worth a visit if you're ever in the area.

We next drove south along the Richardson Highway. Our first stop was just a short drive away, at North Pole, Alaska. There was everything you might want, even candycane painted lamp posts.

Further south along the highway, we passed through broad expanses of empty, mountainous terrain. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline runs alongside the Richardson, both above and below ground.

We saw the Black Rapids Glacier, which
apparently tried to eat the highway in the 30's when it advanced some three miles over the span of one winter.

After passing through Delta Junction and Glenallen, we pushed further south, headed toward Valdez. Our first stop was the former mining boom-town of Copper Center. We camped at a campground a short ways out of town, though returned the following morning for a warm breakfast at the Copper Center Roadhouse, which was a stop on the trail north for the goldminers in the late 1890s.

Back on the highway south, we passed through Thompson Pass, the scenic final high point before the long downhill into Valdez. A quick stop and hike revealed some beautiful alpine tundra and snow (in August) looming not far away.

Valdez was rained in when we arrived. Without much to see, we found some lunch to kill time and see if the clouds would lift. We drove around the town for a short while, saw Valdez Glacier, thousands of salmon spawning and a few sea otters out for a swim, before returning north along the highway.

We drove to a small campground named Liberty Falls just inside Wrangel-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. A beautiful, most likely glacier fed waterfall and creek flowed past our tent flap.

On the final day of our trip, we drove further along the road into Wrangel-St. Elias. We stopped in another former mining boom town, Chitina, for coffee and breakfast. While eating, we noted a turkey apparently making its nest across the street among some rusted out trucks from the 1930s. The town was quite large in its day, where the some of the workers at the Kennicott Copper Mine lived, until it closed in 1938. Today, the town is quite small, often a starting point for salmon fishing trips on the Copper River. The highway ends and turned into a gravel road for the final 60 miles into the town of McCarthy and the park. We only traveled a few miles down the road, crossing the Copper River in a beautiful valley. There were a few interesting salmon catching contraptions on the riverbank.

Back on the highway heading north, we passed through Glenallen again and headed west and south along the Glenn Highway toward Anchorage. We stopped for lunch at the Sheep Mountain Lodge, where there were a bunch of cute dog-sled puppies. After lunch, we stopped at Volvo-valhalla behind the lodge before heading back to Anchorage. We picked some blueberries and grabbed some wheel rims for snow tires. Maggie, the dog at the yard, growled until you rubbed her tummy.

Substitutions

A few substitutions of late in the apartment standings.

Remaining steady - Honey & Frodo - (upload soon)

Leaving the apartment - Otto -

New arrival - Caffey -

New arrival - Hutch -

(two additional arrivals to be photographed soon...)

Biking to Girdwood

To recover from a quiet spell for a while - a few photomontages and notes from the land of North to the Future™. We took a saturday a couple of weeks ago to bike from Anchorage to Girdwood, which is about a 40 mile trip, one way. Well, 40 miles from some arbitrary point where they start measuring such things (my guess - the start of the Seward Highway). The point being, when we started at about 7:30am, it wasn't until 9am-ish that we actually got out of town. Ahh, sprawl (and a brief, unsheduled trip to Fred Meyer to pick up some zip ties to do a quick, sidewalk repair).

So after we got out of town, we set off, on the side of the highway. Generous shoulders on the side left plenty of room to bike. One of the first scenic points that we stopped at, after maybe 20 miles, to take a break and a few pictures -
Yes, I need a haircut. I know. I'll be shorn one of these days soon enough.

A few miles later, once the shoulder of the highway turned into an actual bikepath at the small (small!) town of Indian, we started to work our way up, much higher than the ~sea level highway. Needless to say, two some miles into a seemingly endless uphill climb, we paused for a brief break where Meg asked,

"They call these things Altoids?"
Yes, along with zipties, we bought a package of the new (to us) Altoids gum. Minty and chewy.

A short few miles later and we were nearly in Girdwood. Pictured just outside of town -


A short uphill mile into town (ha), we enjoyed some much deserved lunch and a drink. A little lounging and rock skipping followed on the stream that runs from Alyeska glacier to the Turnagain Arm south of town, out to Cook Inlet and ultimately the Pacific.

The wind-gods were not as friendly on the trip back. A constant headwind of 10+mph made for slow going. In fact, we eventually admitted defeat, some 5 miles outside of the southernmost edge of the Anchor-sprawl when a good friend Kelly (and Jackson) came to rescue us. It was one of those 'a car never felt so good' moments as we drove back, even if I was crammed into a very small space with a couple of bikes. A good warmup ride for our trek to Seward and Kodiak later this summer.

Nome & Savoonga, Alaska

Hello all,
Writing from the airport in Nome, Alaska, hoping to eventually get out to St. Lawrence Island and to Savoonga in the Bering Sea. Lucky for me there is wireless at the airport, where I have been stuck for about 3 hours. I did take a walking tour of Nome and I will post pictures of Nome and Savoonga when I return to Anchorage.

copyright paratours.net

Until then... now posted!

Scenic, downtown Nome -


Bering Sea, as seen from the Nome coast -


Our sentiments -


The remanants of a whale carcass in Savoonga. There was still eight feet of snow when the picture was taken...



Savoonga -


The hull of a traditional whaling boat in Savoonga. Is seaworthy when covered with walrus hides -

A boat with the walrus hides attached is on the left in the photo -