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Seabrook, Washington

Kerrie and I just got back from a lovely week with friends in Seabrook, a lovely little planned beach side community on the Pacific coast of Washington. We were there for a week with a few of our friends and had a wonderful, relaxing time. I don't have the energy to write more but if you'd like to see pictures just head over to my Flickr account.

Photo Backlog Posted

I've been remiss about posting pictures but I just went through and dumped a bunch into Flickr for you all. You can see (in reverse chronological order):

• Our icy, snowy house
  
• A few pictures from our recent Mexico trip
  
• My dad's newly acquired steam engine
  
• Our Halloween Jack-o-lanterns
  
• Some pictures from Bumbershoot, Seattle's music and arts festival
  

As always, you can see my latest pictures in the photostream here.

A Tribute to My Dad

My dad Lee was 65 when he died, but everyone said he looked 10 years younger. He grew up on a farm in Kansas. Even though he was a practicing CPA, he was on the farm at heart.

He was loving and kind. He always saw the good in people, often to the point of not seeing anyone's faults. He was always ready to help anyone. He'd give the shirt off his back, and then some, to anyone. I know people tend to exaggerate this sort of thing when someone dies. In his case it's true.

He wore glasses like the ones in this picture my entire life; up until a few years ago when his optician couldn't replace the frames.

He loved sweets. Candy, cookies, cake -- it didn't matter. He often had chocolate in the corners of his mouth. One year he ate a five pound box of candy between Christmas and New Year's. Really.

When I cooked or baked, he cleaned up the kitchen. If I burned the cookies (which was often), he'd patiently stand at the sink, scraping the black off the bottom of every cookie. I'm sure it was as much about making me feel better as it was about eating the cookie.

He worked hard. Hart's and my first house in Phoenix was built on the road of old farmland. My dad came over with a pick axe and broke up the hard soil. He was 57 at the time. That's just one example of many, though. He was always at work on many projects simultaneously.

He was devoted to his church, serving on countless committees, volunteering for whatever needed to be done, cooking huge meals along with my mom, singing in the choir. If he wasn't at home or work, he was doing at the church.

He loved to watch sports. He'd sit in the corner of the L-shaped sofa. His legs stretched out on one end and a pile of newspapers on the other side. He was so laid back that my sister's friends thought he was on drugs.

He was always forgetting things, often driving away with his coffee cup or cell phone on his truck's bumper.

My parents taught the three-year-old Sunday School class for almost 20 years. He spent many Saturday nights in front of the TV, cutting out parts of craft projects.

He loved to exercise. When I was young, his obsession was the NordicTrack. The Bowflex was the miracle exercise machine for about the last 10 years. He thought the Bowflex could do anything. All spring, he talked about getting back on the Bowflex, knowing he would feel better if he could just build up his muscles again.

He was proud of me and thought I could do anything. He got it in his head that I was going to write a book. When I was with him at the hospital in July, he asked several times how my book was coming. (I'm now starting to work on a novel.)

I miss him. It hurts more than I can possibly describe. But as far as grief goes, I have it pretty good. After he started getting sick two years ago, I'd sit next to him on the couch when I'd visit. He'd put his arm around me and tell me how much he loved me.

I'm the only person who could out-stubborn him and we butted heads a lot. But I know he forgave me for anything I've done to hurt him. I got to spend a lot of time with him in the last couple years and we laughed much of that time. I don't have to wrestle with regret or what ifs. I just have to learn to live without him.

When he got out of the hospital he wanted three things. To volunteer at the church, sing in the choir again, and get a new truck. He only wanted more of what he already had. What a beautiful testament to how he lived his life.

This is basically the same post I put on The Daily Headache, but wanted to be sure Tacky Magnet readers would see it too.

Kerrie's Birthday

Kerrie's birthday was this Sunday and we celebrated with our friends Marisa and Victor by getting lots of time outdoors. It was unseasonably warm and sunny most of the weekend and we wanted to take full advantage. On Saturday we followed up on a flier Kerrie saw at our local grocery store and went out to the East side to do a self-guided farm tour. We saw a few of the farms that come sell at our local farmer's markets and Kerrie even milked a goat!

On Sunday we took it easy but still spent most of the day outside. We started by heading over to Ballard for brunch at one of our favorite spots and then some shopping at the farmer's market there. Then we headed back to our neighborhood, walked around a bit, got some coffee, and played Frisbee in a nearby park.

You can see the pictures in my Flickr stream or just take a look at Kerrie milking a goat below.

Alaska Adventure Winds Down

Today's our last full day in Alaska. We got up pretty late, had a nice big breakfast in Homer at an all-organic cafe called Sourdoughs, and hit the road for Anchorage. We're staying at the same B&B we stayed at on our first night here so it's kind of a nice bookend. Tomorrow we catch a 3 PM flight back to Seattle, where we get to enjoy just hanging out at home for a few days before our friends Jon and Carey, and their kids Hamilton and Edwin come for a visit next week. We're both looking forward to sleeping in our own bed.

I've uploaded some more pictures to our Alaska stream (if you're still tuning in). You can jump into the stream here or view the whole set here.

Oh, Homer

Yesterday we woke in Seward and took a self-guided tour of the SeaLife Center. It's mainly a research center created with part of the funds from the Exxon Valdez settlement. When scientists wanted to quantify the impact of the oil spill they realized that they didn't have the baseline data on local wildlife they needed. It's the mission of the SeaLife Center to track life in the Bering Sea for all uses: personal and commercial fishing, conservation, and pure research. They also have a nice visitor's center with examples of the local sea life, outlines the research and conservation work, and shows some of their tools and techniques. Oh, and you can see some animals there, too.

After that we hit the road and made our way around to Homer, on the other side of the Kenai Peninsula. We had heard great things about Homer, and it is a nice little town, but it appears to be focused on fishing excursions and shopping. We're not very interested in either so we've had a low-key day of sleeping late, poking around some of the shops and galleries, and playing cribbage in a coffee house. I've also worked through more of my photos and have uploaded the rest from our time at Camp Denali.

Tomorrow we'll drive back up to Anchorage and spend our last day in Alaska. We fly home on Thursday. Neither of us particularly wants our trip to end, but both of us are really craving our own bed (and shower) so it'll be good to be home.

Here are a couple of my favorite shots from the latest bunch:



And the "proof we were there" shot:

Denali Pictures

I managed to sort through some of my picture backlog tonight and get some shots uploaded to my Flickr account. The first few are from our approach towards the park, and the majority are from inside the park itself (including a few wildlife shots.) You can jump to the newest pictures in the Alaska set or start from the beginning of the set.

Here's a sample:

We Managed To Not Barf

Alternative Titles:

• Four For Four on Gloomy Fjords
• Ze Wristbands, Zey Do Nothing!
• We Managed Not to Barf
• 10 Foot Swells Make Me Sick
• Glaciers are Cold
• Whales Are Big and Neat
• No New Mosquito Bites

After staying in Seward last night, we took a cruise to see glaciers off the southeast point of the Kenai Peninsula today. As with the three other fjord cruises we've taken over the years, the day was gray and rainy. We were still able to see all the glaciers, though.

The first hour was packed with amazing wildlife sightings. A sea otter floating on its back, rolling around in the water and eating. He stayed there a long time, so we got a great look at him. We caught a glimpse of a humpback whale then were visited by black and white porpoises. They are attracted to the sound of the boat and soared out of the water right under the bow. Not long after, a humpback whale and her baby appeared about 150 feet from the boat. They swam around visible for a few minutes, then dove down with the mother flipping her fluke high in the air.

The glaciers were pretty, though not as spectacular as the one at Glacier Bay National Park. Earlier on the trip, someone told us the main glacier on this trip was calving non-stop. It had stopped before we arrived, but the water was thick with ice.

The trip back to shore was low in wildlife and high in waves -- we were on 7-10 foot swells for a couple hours. We did OK watching the horizon from the bow, but the waves were so big the captain called everyone inside. I'm shocked neither of us threw up, especially because acupressure wristbands were our only defense. I'm pretty sure all they did was bruise the inside of our wrists.

Now we're making dinner out of various snacks and hoping to catch The Simpsons on TV. It isn't the healthiest or most adventurous option, but it's all we're up for. Perhaps tonight we'll finally catch up on our sleep.

We've Run Out of Superlatives

When we last left you, we were headed to adult summer camp at Denali National Park. We drove north from Willow on spectacularly clear day, and made a bunch of stops to take pictures of the mountains from the highway that runs up the right side of the park. On the night of the Sunday the 15th we stayed at a great lodge that's run by a man who was a Denali National Park ranger and sled dog musher for the park service for many years. Now he and his wife run a lodge all year and give sled dog tours in the winter. It was a great spot and we got to tour the kennel and meet all the dogs in the morning.

On Monday the 16th we drove down to the entrance of the park and met our bus. You can only drive a private car 14 miles into the park without a permit, so most people tour on buses that drive in and out in a single day (180 miles round-trip). We lucked out and got a last-minute reservation at a place called Camp Denali, which is one of the very few places to stay deep within the park. Our bus driver was also a naturalist and pointed out animals and geology to us on the whole 8-hour ride into our camp. The highlight of the ride in was having a brown bear walk along the length of our bus, not more than 5 feet away. Amazing.

Camp Denali was unbelievably great. We had a little cabin with a wood stove and water just outside the door. Most cabins had outhouses, but we were right next to the real bathrooms. We were fed gourmet breakfast and dinner in a communal dining hall using local, organic ingredients. And there was a lunch line where we packed up our own sack lunches before heading out for the day. The sandwich bread was incredible and the brownies were even better.

Each day we had our pick of strenuous, moderate, or "foray" hikes (we always picked moderate) that are led by the camp's team of naturalists. Camp Denali has a special agreement with the park service so they are the only camp/lodge/etc that's allowed to lead groups in the park, which meant we got to do awesome things like hike across spongy tundra (unreal!) and drink water from a spring. The guides identified and told us about all the wild flowers, other plants, wildlife, wildlife scat (poop) and tracks, geology and more. The entire staff was amazing in both their knowledge (they all had at least master's degrees), kindness, skill, and just general coolness.

The other guests were also fascinating. We were by far the youngest people there except for a honeymooning couple that kept mostly to themselves. But we still had a great time joking around and getting to know almost everyone there. The camp is small--they don't like to have more than 40 guests at a time--so we got to know just about everyone.

And the national park itself--amazing. At first it seems stark in so much of the park, but being able to get up close to the plants was just incredible. The mountains were stunning. Denali (also known as Mt. McKinley) is the largest mountain in North America and creates its own weather systems that keep it clouded almost all the time. We had overcast skies and rain regularly, but that didn't reduce the beauty at all. On Friday we woke at 5 AM for breakfast and our bus ride out, and the day cleared and we saw all the mountains, including Denali, in all their glory. Absolutely amazing. As the title says--we've run out of superlatives. The only bad part was another superlative--the most and largest mosquitos either of us had ever seen. A combination of repellant, mosquito netting for our heads, layers of clothing, liberal use of Afterbite, and (eventually) a zen attitude got us through that.

While in Denali we saw brown bear, moose, caribou, red fox, short-tailed weasel, dall sheep, snow shoe hare, hoary marmot, ground squirrel, red squirrel, beaver, and we even got an up close viewing of one of the most elusive animals: a wolf.

Pictures won't do our experience justice, but I'll try to get something posted soon.

After we left Denali we made our way back south to Anchorage for the night, and then south again to Seward. On the way down we stopped at a wildlife conservation center that takes in animals that have been injured by humans and can't stay in the wild anymore, and then by the Exit Glacier for some close-up glacier viewing on foot. Tomorrow we're taking a 9-hour cruise to see the glaciers at the south part of the Kenai Peninsula. We're so exhausted even posting is a challenge but having a great time. Alaska is awesome in the original sense of the word.