Shelikof Beach, Kruzoff Island, Sitka, Alaska

I was looking at some of my photos today.  This was taken on Shelikof Island which is outside of Sitka right on the Gulf of Alaska.  ML and I took the bicycles over on the boat, rode across the island on an old logging road, and then walked another mile to a Forest Service cabin.  It was early September in 2009 and we hit a beautiful stretch of weather.  The cabin is right in front of a wide and beautiful white sand beach.  

This night, we built a fire on the beach and watched the sun go down. 

The moon was rising in the other direction.  For those of you who have been in Sitka, you're looking at the back side of Mt. Edgecumbe. 

It was a fantastic trip, and the boat didn't even drag anchor by the time we got back to it!

It always makes me think, too, how many great experiences and fun that ML and I have been lucky enough to have - with others and just us two.

Bicycling Santa Rose Beach, FL

ML and I had brought our bikes along, intending to do two different bike routes.  We had been cold on the Blackwater River the last couple of nights, but the forecast was for a real cold front with 20-25 MPH winds.  We intelligently opted for a hotel instead of a campground.

The forecast was right - it was COLD the next morning.  ML, also intelligently, opted to send me off.  I put on all the clothes I had, with my rain jacket over my helmet to keep the wind off.  It worked except for my hands and fingers froze with my little bicycling gloves!

ML dropped me off at Navarre Beach, FL, on route 399, a two lane road with wide shoulders.  There was a path along the road, which was lined first with highrises and then with single family homes.

I couldn't help but think about the flood insurance issue that is facing us as people keep building multimillion dollar "homes" on the beach.  Seems to me it should be like the "old days": put up a shack or trailer that is worth nothing and when it blows away, no harm done!

Maybe we should allow no buildings worth more than $10,000 and not have any flood insurance at all.

It wasn't long before I entered the "Gulf Islands National Seashore."  I couldn't help but thank the federal government for preserving a beautiful stretch of beach.  I'm happy to pay taxes to keep highrises off the beach.

Instead of drifting snow, I had to fight drifting sand.  Luckily I had my rain jacket to protect me against the occasional barrage of drifting sand.

The gulf water was a much prettier color than this photo shows.  My camera just couldn't get the water color very accurately - or maybe it was the photographer.  You'll have to take my word for it, the water was different shades of a pretty blue.

Rolling hills!!!  Up and down!   Not many hills in Florida unless you cross a bridge.

With a stiff wind coming just aft of my right side, I made some pretty good progress.  Before long I entered Pensacola Beach, greeted by some mighty impressive highrises. 

From there it was beach housing and boulevards, not my favorite riding conditions.

I turned right at Pensacola Beach and rode over the bridge and turned right on Route 98, a major stoplight highway access from beach to beach.  I connected with ML at the Gulf Islands National Seashore visitors center, which was well worth visiting.

We learned that so many live oak trees were being cut in the late 1800's, that the federal government started an oak tree farm to grow oaks for shipbuilding. 

After we goofed around the Visitor's Center, we drove the barrier island that I had just ridden so that ML could see it.  Then off to the east on route 98, not a very fun road.

But we ran across a road sign for a Eden Gardens State Park.  Florida does an excellent job of creating and maintaining State Parks - often from "donations."  The creator of the Eden Mansion and Gardens died and left the grounds to the State of Florida. 

The mansion was closed (it's in the background of the photo), but we walked around it and looked in the windows.  Then we walked the grounds.

The grounds were beautiful, made especially nice with huge live oaks, the very oaks that made such great wood to build big ships.  I did my best with the camera, but I just couldn't get the reality of the majesty of the oak trees with their spreading branches.

Bounty of Summer in Southeast Alaska

The weather in Southeast Alaska has been downright glorious this summer.  My brother and his wife visited last week.  Here's proof. 

Good eating.

Mt. Edgecumbe VOLCANO hike

Some days are rainy, some are misty, some are cloudy, and a few - but just a few - are sunny.

This was not one of the sunny days - in fact, it was pretty foggy and misty.  Not good when you're hiking 3000 feet up - the weather usually gets worse as you get higher. 

 The Mt. Edgecumbe trail is marked by a very nice gradual 6 mile walk - and then you climb up and up for one mile.  I took this photo at the wrong angle.  You can see how the earth surface is flat and the hikers are leaning into it.  Pretend the hikers are straight up and you'll get an indication of how steep the mountain is. 

Nice view, huh?

The rock cairn on the right, in front of the person on the right, marks the top of the trail.  They're pretty happy to have made it.  Hopefully, they have jackets, hats, and gloves - it's freezing up here!

Nice view, huh?

But there was a surprise on this hike.  Zuill Bailey, renowned cellist, brought his carbon fiber cello and gave us a concert.  I have to say I was very impressed.  My fingers were frozen and I had gloves on.  I don't know how he played one note, much less a whole (short) piece.  Zuill is pretty famous.  You can find him at zuillbailey.com, of course!

A better picture made the best photos at the Guardian News website.  I can honestly say that I helped make that happen.  James Poulson, one of my favorite photographers, took the photo and he was hypothermic - trembling, etc.  My friend Bob lent him his gloves and hat and I lent him my jacket.  Also, I'm clearly a star in the picture.  You can see me to the right of the guy in the green jacket and between him and the blond female. 

Someone on the Sitka Summer Music Festival Board brought some champagne.  I wasn't even insulted that I wasn't offered any.  I confess that I lead the charge downhill when it was minimally polite, and headed down to warmer elevations. 


Sometimes it's sunny and some days your head is in the fog all day.

Just Cruising with my Friends

I was trolling out of the harbor the other day, and saw this.  Tough to go to the bathroom.

ML's Green Thumb

Our Mom loved flowers.  As was the case "back in those days," she had certain flower gardens that were "hers" and our Dad took care of the rest.  She was proud of the gardens and they looked pretty doggone nice.  I remember her working hard in the evening when it cooled off a little and she had Dad to help entertain the little urchins (us!).  I confess that I didn't appreciate them nearly as much as I could or should have at the time, but now that no-one cares except my brother and sister, I think they were glorious.

ML also has a green thumb.  She has a real sense of what plants need to allow them to thrive.  In the last week or so, she planted some pots of flowers.  Take a look.  Pretty amazing.  The photos don't really do them justice.

This is the setting.  There is a short and cool growing season in Southeast Alaska.  But there is lots of light, although not always sunlight.  Containers, or pots, are often the best way to go and ML just sets them on the porch.

I won't ruin the beauty with commentary.  Please continue below.

Time is going fast, but there's still lots of Southeast Summer.  And the flowers will just get better.

Out and About Close to Home

We got back to Sitka and actually had some sunny weather.  That's always a good invitation to take a walk out the house and along to the cross trail.  It's always nice to not have to get into the car to get a good walk in.

Cascade Creek is a pretty little creek of cold clear water.  Now it has a bridge over it that the son of our good friends, Steve and Sandy, designed and implemented.  He used an old bridge that someone found somewhere and shipped in.  It is a beautiful spot.

This photo looks up the creek from the bridge.  There's quite a bit of water in it this time of year due to snowmelt.

I had to climb down off the trail and get closer to the stream for this photo.  Climbing back up, I banged my shin pretty well on a stump.  Not too smart.

The water in the stream is absolutely crystal clear.

If you're a bit tired from the long uphill from the creek, you can sit and watch Mt. Edgecumbe for awhile.  Do it today because most of the time you'll get your butt wet from the wet bench.

On a clear day in Southeast Alaska, take advantage of it because there might not be one for awhile. 

Up Verstovia on a beautiful sping (winter?) day

My friend Bob and I hiked up Verstovia to picnic rock.  Beautiful day.  Warm at the bottom and whipping wind and blowing snow at the top.

I confess these are "file photos."  I forgot my camera.  It's hell getting old.  Luckily, I have all too many of the many trips we've taken on this trail.

But as my wife says when I show her the pictures, "Huh?  Snow, trees, mountains, water - what's different than last time?"  As always, she's right!

In the photo up above, you can see Bob sloughing it out on the snowshoes.  The town of Sitka is in the background with Mt. Edgecumbe way in the back.

Another shot on of Sitka Sound and Mt. Edgecumbe in the far distance.

 This looks back at Mt. Verstovia on the right.  We hike up to the peak sometimes in the summer.  It's pretty steep, but worth it on a nice day.

HERRING! Part II

By the time I got finished whipping my friends at pickleball, the fog had diminished.  

 I couldn't resist taking a picture of the Chikimun across the channel.  My friend Stan owns and captains the Chikimun.  He comes down from Hoonah to pack herring for the fishermen and it's great to see him.  Stan played basketball and was in my classes in the early 1980's in Hoonah.  To be honest, I'm pretty proud to call him my friend.  He also seines salmon, fishes red and tanner crab, and longlines black cod and halibut.  I think he has troll and dungeness crab permits that he doesn't even fish.  I love it because he lets me ride along on the boat.

 I strolled down the docks to go visit Stan.  The herring and herring eggs have traditionally marked the end of a long winter for traditional peoples.  Herring and herring eggs are packed with protein and oil.  A hundred years ago and more, it must have been glorious to stuff those eggs into one's mouth after a lean winter  - maybe with a bit of seal oil if you were lucky.  In this picture, a boat came in with a pile of eggs (people put hemlock branches in the water and the herring lay the eggs on the branches).

It's a community event, and lots of people came down to get their share of herring eggs.  

Most of the boats are big 58 footers.  Here are three boats lined up with pumps and nets ready to go.  Unlike most netted fish,  the herring are surrounded by the net, but not brought aboard the boat with the net.  Instead, big hydraulic pumps are put in the water and the fish are pumped into the hold of boats that are standing by.  That's where the Chikimun comes in.

A boat with the net on the stern ready to go.

This photo doesn't give you the scale I wanted, but these are three big boats - 80 to 120 feet.  They can pack a lot of herring pounds.  They looked BIG standing where I'm standing, but the photo just doesn't give you the scale I wanted.

HERRING in Sitka

The end of March and the beginning of April is the time when herring come to spawn in Sitka Sound.  It is an exciting time of year.  The dark and rain of winter opens to an eruption of ocean life.  Sea lions and whales follow the rich nutrients of the herring.  King salmon show up in greater numbers to feed.

This year, I followed the herring into Sitka too.   I knew from the webcams that the weather had been glorious.  But the morning after I got there, it was a bit foggy.

I rode my bike over to play our traditional Sunday morning pickleball on Japonski Island.  The sun was glinting behind the fog.

 The bridge piers were barely visible in the fog.  A herring seiner was at the workfloat goofing around with the net.

When I looked down from the bridge, the water was milky and tinged with green.  Various flecks of foam dotted the water.  That means that the herring had spawned.  The females lay eggs in the water and the males spread their sperm all over the place.  It's not very specific like humans and mammals, but it works.   When I came in on the plane, I saw miles of spawn that looked  so white, green,  and foamy that it almost looked like frozen sea.

Here's a photo in the fog looking the other way from the bridge.  Streaks of white meander in the water.  The boats are packed into ANB harbor on the right, as well as all the harbors.  Humans follow the herring too - and the town comes alive with people and fish.

GASPARILLA !!

The pirates are about to attack!!

The City of Tampa has quite a celebration in late January.  It seems to have something to do with people, pirates, beads, lots of food, and copious quantities of alcoholic beverages.


We have a nice view of the "invasion" of the pirates weaving down Sneddon Channel, not far from our house.  It's always worth a jaunt to see the scene.  Watch out for the occasional patches of vomit.

The pirates are hanging all over the Gasparilla ship in the background.   They "land" and a big parade with various "Krewes" compete to see who can drink the most and throw the most beads.

There are lots of boats!  

People line the shore to get bead necklaces thrown from the boats. 

Put on your eyepatch!  Eat! Drink!  Be merry!

Aye Aye, Captain!

Photo!

Hurricane Sandy is making landfall, but we're moon watching and hanging out by the fire

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