Climbing a Glacier – Alaska Day 3

This day turns out to be the highlight of the trip. Our party of 10 headed out to the Matanuska Glacier, an hour drive east of Palmer on the Glenn Highway. Not only were we going to hang out on the glacier all day, but we were going to ice climb it. Thanks to Dean and Carlene and their copious amounts of ice-climbing gear and expertise, we got geared up and climbing on the glacier by early afternoon. Helmet on, crampons strapped to my boots, I was ready to go.

Dean getting me ready to climb

Last climb of the day on the obstacle course

The glacier was beautiful, and the climbing was a ton of fun. Weather was beautiful yet again- I was hanging out in a tshirt for part of the day. While the others were climbing, Julie and I wandered around to get a look at the glacier. Gorgeous!


We wrapped up the day with dinner for 6 at the Lone Rifle Inn, a local place with a great view of the glacier.

Oh yes, these are real mountains - Alaska Day 2

On Saturday, Julie, her friend Celine, and I took off south down the Parks Highway. Beautiful sunny weather (you’ll see a trend here…) and the mountain was out the entire ride. The mountain? Denali to folks in Alaska, Mt. McKinley to folks elsewhere. I’ll take the opportunity to brush you up on your Denali trivia, ripped from Wikipedia: Mount McKinley has a larger bulk and rise than Mount Everest, although the summit of Everest is higher measured from sea level 29,028 feet (8,800 m). Everest's base sits on the Tibetan Plateau at about 17,000 feet (5,200 m), giving it a real vertical rise of a little more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m). The base of Mount McKinley is roughly a 2,000-foot (610 meter) plateau, giving it an actual rise of 18,000 feet (5,500 m). Only the experienced hikers take on Denali, as it is snow covered and creates its own dangerous weather throughout the year. I heard 3 different statistics about how often one can see it clearly; 10, 25, or 60 percent of the time it comes out from behind the clouds or haze to show its beautiful face. Why do Alaska people call it Denali, while seemingly everyone else calls it McKinley? Denali was its native Athabaskan name long before the peak was named in honor of then-Senator McKinley in 1897. I’ll stop with the chatter and get on with the pictures.

Not Denali in the background. Outside the park entrance

Denali from the park

From the South Viewpoint

Blowing snow at the top of Denali

After getting our fill photo snapping, we continued southward toward Palmer, where Julie’s friends Nikole and Jeff were gracious enough to let us crash for a few nights. First though, we drove through what is currently Alaska’s most famous town: Wasilla. If you like box stores, you’ll like Wasilla. If you want to hang out in the meth capital of Alaska, Wasilla is it. If you like traffic lights after cruising for hours at 65 mph, you’ll like Wasilla.

As we arrived in Palmer, I saw my first live moose (my first moose was roadkill)

This lady did not stop to check in

We got into Palmer in the evening, just in time for Jeff to cook us up some delicious steaks and squash. Mmmm, every road trip should end with steaks. After digesting for a tiny bit, we headed up to the Butte, a 20 minute drive from Palmer. A nice hike at sunset (10PM-ish) with a view of the mountains and surrounding area.

Pioneer Peak from the butte

Sunset from the butte, 10:15PM

Hello, Alaska

I hopped off the plane in Fairbanks looking like a zombie after leaving the apartment in NJ 12 hrs earlier. I got to watch the sunset in Anchorage, and rise and set again on my way up to Fairbanks at 11PM, that was pretty neat. Julie picked me up and we headed out to her cabin. My first impression of Fairbanks? This looks an awful lot like my hometown. Fairbanks is mountainous by East coast standards—the rolling hills I’m used to seeing in NY and PA (and to some extent, NJ). 2 lane highways, lined with trees. For those familiar with it, a whole lot like Sullivan County, NY. Just different trees. Julie even has a driveway similar to the puddle-ridden driveway at my mom’s house; if you’ve been, you know what a treat that is.

Julie's driveway @ 11PM

Slept very well that first night, even with the start of 24-hr twilight that first day I arrived. Friday we ran around University of Alaska-Fairbanks (UAF) and Fairbanks meeting people and setting up a yard sale for Julie’s Relay for Life team (which was pretty successful!) Julie gave me a refresher on driving stick (it had been 7 years since my mom’s lesson in the HS parking lot) on her Subaru, Suruba.

While Julie was taking a bear shotgun class (seriously), I hopped over on the trail behind her house to the Large Animal Research Station and said hi to the caribou and muskoxen. Beautiful sunshine streaming through the birch trees, too.


And, I’ll get it over with now… yes, Julie lives in a dry cabin. That means an outhouse and no running water. She picks up water from the water station (like a gas station) to do dishes, drink, etc. No shower, no toilet. Yep, I used her outhouse. Lucky for me the temperature didn’t get below freezing at any point during my trip.

Only the drinks were dark 'n stormy

Seems I only update this thing in bursts. I've been sent on a grand adventure yet again for work, this one to the fantastically friendly island of Bermuda. I'm sitting outside my hotel room in Bermuda right now, listening to the waves in the inlet, the crickets, and the frogs. Can't remember where the 21-sq mi tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic is?

There it is.

I spent most of the day today exploring a bit of the island with my co-worker M. I'm staying and working in Hamilton. A very short jaunt; I'll be on island about 36 hours in total.

Tacky tourist map, but it shows where I landed, where I'm staying, and where I went to the beach

First impression: HOLY CRAP THE WATER IS BLUE.

After that it was hey, there's different trees than palm trees here; they drive on the left; there's more cars than I expected (vs scooters); there are a lot of British flags (more than I saw while I was in London); where are the colorful, pretty birds; yes, it really is as expensive as everyone says; HOLY CRAP THE WATER IS BLUE.

Listen, all the water near everywhere I've ever lived is BROWN. This is not brown.

Today's high was 78, tonight's low should be 71. What? That caught me by surprise too. I've got a bit of splotchy tan and two dozen pictures to show for my time at the beach today, two dozen more pictures of the flowers around the island, and plenty of fish and Dark 'n Stormy's under my belt, so I'm pretty satisfied. Bermuda today, Alaska on Thursday. What a life.

Cambridge and Persistence

Yesterday I ditched London and headed an hour's train ride north to Cambridge. I very specifically left from Kings Cross station---no I didn't take a train out of Platform 9 and 3/4, but I did find it!

A bit of trivia for the Harry Potter fans: the platforms 4 and 5 substituted for 9 and 10 in Kings Cross, as 9 and 10 are actually in a separate building.

I spent the day wandering around Cambridge. It's a lovely city...it pretty much fits the idea I had of an English city (beside London). The weather wasn't too bad while I was there, either. Lower 40s, I'd say, and the sun kept trying to come out. Beats the 10F back in NJ right now!

The colleges of Cambridge were fantastic to see. Cambridge is celebrating its 800th anniversary this year. That's almost impossible for me to comprehend; most things in the US are so new compared to Europe. I heard a choir practice in the chapel in Trinity College while I passed through. It was neat to see the students wandering around these old, beautiful buildings and courtyards...I wouldn't mind living and studying here. Cambridge, here I come!!! ;)

Courtyard, I can't remember which college this is

Clocktower of Trinity College

The other cool thing about Cambridge was the bicycles. They're everywhere! It's the preferred mode of transport for the locals. There are parts of Cambridge that are touristy and commercialized, but the best parts of my day were spent wandering down narrow residential streets and alleys to get a real feel for the town.

Street in Cambridge

Today I moved my hotel room for the second time. I like having my curtains open, but don't particularly enjoy being looked at from the office buildings my previous two rooms looked upon. Persistence has paid off and here's the new view by day...

Tower of London and Tower Bridge during a typical dreary London day

...and by night

It's not as Vegas bright as the picture suggests; I used a 15s exposure and the windowsill

I can also see a piece of the old wall that surrounded London during Roman times...it's tucked behind the hotel and I didn't even know it was there till today. Amazing what you can find in London, if you look around.

Across the pond...again!

Just a quick update: I'm in London for work!! And, I'll be here till the first week in February, so that makes it a 5-week stay this time around.

A week in, and so far outside of work (and the pubs, of course) I've toured the Tower of London...

One of several towers at the Tower of London. This one is the White Tower.

Done a bit of shopping...

And a bit of sightseeing and museum going...

Gorgeous Chihuly installation in Victoria and Albert museum

2008 turns into 2009

Let's back up to Christmas…

I spent Christmas morning with my mom and Molly, same thing I've done my whole life…opening stockings, opening each other's presents, opening presents from Santa. Breakfast of cinnamon buns, and then it's off to Gram's. Gram's house was packed with people this year. All of my aunts and uncles were there, and many of my cousins. Lots of goofiness, laughing, eating too much, and enjoying each other.

Some of us missed the silly face message. From left, sister Sierra, me, sister Molly, cousins Rick and Josh, and brother Scyler in the front

I saw bffs Sara and Renee, which was more goofiness, catching up, and feeling like no time had passed since we saw each other last.

Since all the goofy pics ended up on Renee's camera, here are me and Renee's adorable niece, Graycie

I spent New Years in Pittsburgh this year. I stayed with my bff Julie, home for the holidays from Alaska. We ate at Eat n Park, a Pittsburgh staple. We toasted in the New Year with my other PSU meteo bud, Donati, at his apartment party.

Julie and I brought in the New Year by joining the Pittsburgh Polar Bear Club. She suggested it; I was crazy enough to say yes. Why the heck not!? Everyone else thought we were crazy. There were hundreds of other crazy people jumping into the Monongahela River (the Mon to locals) too, 9:30AM on New Year's Day. Yes, the water was cold. A nice shock to the system. But I warmed up quicker than I expected afterwards.

Me: Guess what I just did?
Ma: What?
Me: I just jumped into a river!
Ma: EW. What is wrong with you?

Molly: Why would you even think that jumping into a freezing cold river was a good idea?

The jump into the 38F water

The only other time I've worn a bikini in January was in Miami. 18F air temp here. I think my face pretty much sums up the feeling: exhilarating, with a touch of 'what the heck did I just do?'

We went on to watch Penn State lose in the Rose Bowl :( And after Julie went off to visit her sister in Florida, I scammed wi-fi waiting for Donati to get out of work for dinner, and was on my way back on a Greyhound bus to NJ.