I had every intention of posting the itinerary for the trip before we actually left, but its been a crazy week here trying to get everything ready to take off. Andy and I are leaving in a few minutes to start the drive, so I'll have to wait and update y'all from the road.
We'll be driving from Today, May 12 til Thursday, May 15! Catch us on our cell phones on the road!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Packing
I always find it interesting that your last few days in any place where you have lived seem to be the busiest. You need more time at home and to yourself to be getting organized and getting packed and reconciling yourself to the fact that you're leaving. Yet at the same time all the people you love and care about want to spend as much time with you as possible before, in my case, you disappear into the woods. I think I've managed to work out a pretty good balance between these two things, but it still means that the last week here is going to be fairly crazy. A great crazy though.
The apartment here in Mankato is about half packed up. I'm making piles of stuff that are getting stored in MN for the summer and early fall, and then other piles of things that are going to be making the trek up to AK with me. Knowing that I could be in AK until as late as October and probably spending more time in town than I did last season means that I'm taking more stuff than I did last year, so I think the car is going to be pretty full. I'm trying to pack carefully and strategically.
It's definitely a tearing situation I find myself in these days. Mankato has become my home, and I love my community here and it breaks my heart to have to leave it. But at the same time I love being in Haines and what I do up there. I'm getting really excited for the first trip (24 day Sea Kayaking course in Glacier Bay that goes out on May 24th!) and just to be back in ALASKA!
I'm working on finalizing the itinerary for the trip north and should have it posted soon. As of right now I'm leaving Mankato on May 12th, which should land me in Haines on May 16th!
The apartment here in Mankato is about half packed up. I'm making piles of stuff that are getting stored in MN for the summer and early fall, and then other piles of things that are going to be making the trek up to AK with me. Knowing that I could be in AK until as late as October and probably spending more time in town than I did last season means that I'm taking more stuff than I did last year, so I think the car is going to be pretty full. I'm trying to pack carefully and strategically.
It's definitely a tearing situation I find myself in these days. Mankato has become my home, and I love my community here and it breaks my heart to have to leave it. But at the same time I love being in Haines and what I do up there. I'm getting really excited for the first trip (24 day Sea Kayaking course in Glacier Bay that goes out on May 24th!) and just to be back in ALASKA!
I'm working on finalizing the itinerary for the trip north and should have it posted soon. As of right now I'm leaving Mankato on May 12th, which should land me in Haines on May 16th!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Haines Community Website
This is one of the many reasons that I love living in Haines, AK.
Oberhalsie goat
Posted: 2008-04-19
Contact: 766-XXXX
Price: $100
Description: Prime breeding age Oberhalsie goat. This goat has a great personality, and is for sale to a very good home.
so classic.
Oberhalsie goat
Posted: 2008-04-19
Contact: 766-XXXX
Price: $100
Description: Prime breeding age Oberhalsie goat. This goat has a great personality, and is for sale to a very good home.
so classic.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Home Sweet Home
For the last few weeks I have been totally consumed with working on getting the thesis ready and getting ready for my last conference here at Minnesota State. The thesis is over and approved (yay!) and the conference is next week, and everything is going to plan. So now that things have settled down my mind is starting to have some free space to think about a moving to AK.
I talked to the boys out in UT and it sounds like housing options are pretty slim in Haines this year. I'm still looking around for something a little more stable but for now, it looks like this is going to be home base for the summer.
It's going to be tight, but at least its cheap! Something else might come up, but if it doesn't at least I have something that is relatively warm and dry to spend the time in when I'm not in a tent in the backcountry.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
5 Weeks Out
Sorry the posts are a bit sparse, there isn't that much exciting going on with relevance to AK just yet.
I'm heading north in 5 weeks, which is really exciting. Andy (a friend of mine from grad school) is going to work for a youth wilderness program in Wrangell, AK, so he is going to drive with me to Haines, and then head down to Wrangell from there. It's going to be really nice to have someone to split the driving with. Plus, it's just going to be nice to have someone else with me along the Alcan. There were times last year where I realized that I was a female traveling alone along really isolated roads and I wondered if that should potentially concern me.
Andy and I plan on leaving Mankato on May 11th and we should hit the Alcan on the 13th and be in Haines by the 15th.
I'm still trying to figure out housing for the summer since it sounds like I'm going to be in town a little bit more than I was last season, which means more time to experience Haines and more time to update the blog! (Which means you have more opportunities to procrastinate reading it instead of doing more productive things on the internet..... like checking facebook.....)
In other news: I passed my thesis defense! So the two years of hard work wasn't for nothing and I get to graduate! I'm really ready to be done with studying for a while and to be back in the field working with students.
Thats all for now, stay tuned!
I'm heading north in 5 weeks, which is really exciting. Andy (a friend of mine from grad school) is going to work for a youth wilderness program in Wrangell, AK, so he is going to drive with me to Haines, and then head down to Wrangell from there. It's going to be really nice to have someone to split the driving with. Plus, it's just going to be nice to have someone else with me along the Alcan. There were times last year where I realized that I was a female traveling alone along really isolated roads and I wondered if that should potentially concern me.
Andy and I plan on leaving Mankato on May 11th and we should hit the Alcan on the 13th and be in Haines by the 15th.
I'm still trying to figure out housing for the summer since it sounds like I'm going to be in town a little bit more than I was last season, which means more time to experience Haines and more time to update the blog! (Which means you have more opportunities to procrastinate reading it instead of doing more productive things on the internet..... like checking facebook.....)
In other news: I passed my thesis defense! So the two years of hard work wasn't for nothing and I get to graduate! I'm really ready to be done with studying for a while and to be back in the field working with students.
Thats all for now, stay tuned!
Friday, March 14, 2008
The Return North
Remember that time I was going to keep this going over the winter? Yea, that was wishful thinking. Turns out there isn't much to say about life in Alaska when you are actually living in Minnesota and spending all your free time in the library.
But now seems as good a time as any to re-start the blog... because yesterday I got my trip schedule for Alaska this summer!
For those of you who tuned in last summer, you'll be glad to know that at the moment I am only scheduled for 2 maybe 3 long trips, which means a little bit of a slower pace this summer, and some time to really enjoy being in Haines. (Also, for all of you compulsive blog checkers this is going to mean more updates and more ways for you to procrastinate!)
So for now I have somethings to finish up in Minnesota (like graduating, hosting a conference, etc) and then I'm due in Haines by may 15th!
Tune in for more updates as the departure date approaches!
But now seems as good a time as any to re-start the blog... because yesterday I got my trip schedule for Alaska this summer!
For those of you who tuned in last summer, you'll be glad to know that at the moment I am only scheduled for 2 maybe 3 long trips, which means a little bit of a slower pace this summer, and some time to really enjoy being in Haines. (Also, for all of you compulsive blog checkers this is going to mean more updates and more ways for you to procrastinate!)
So for now I have somethings to finish up in Minnesota (like graduating, hosting a conference, etc) and then I'm due in Haines by may 15th!
Tune in for more updates as the departure date approaches!
Friday, September 7, 2007
Picture of the Day
So there have been some requests to keep the blog updated.... and some other comments that the blog lacks some serious picture action and even more serious lacking in good stories from the time up on the Last Frontier. So here's my solution... Picture of the Day (ish). Every few days I'll update the blog with a picture from the summer with some details about where it is, what trip it was on, why its cool, etc. That way everyone can continue to have a procrastination destination at work/home and I can get more of the pictures online without having to upload them all at once. Genius!
This picture was taken on May 18th on my first 12 day Sea Kayak trip in Glacier Bay. It was about 5 days into the trip and we had stopped for lunch on this beautiful day on a beach in Maquinna Cove. The tide was just starting to come in, and we were planning on riding the tide up toward the upper arms of the bay. While we sat there enjoying the sun we had to keep moving the boats up on the beach every 10 minutes or so or else they would float away. My boat is the 3rd from the bottom in the picture. The mountains across the way in the picture are part of an unnamed range that divides the two major arms of the bay. By the time I got back to this same spot a month later most of the snow from that range would be gone. This is probably my favorite beach in all of Glacier Bay, I love how clear the water is, and there is such a great view of the east arm from the place I am standing!
This picture was taken on May 18th on my first 12 day Sea Kayak trip in Glacier Bay. It was about 5 days into the trip and we had stopped for lunch on this beautiful day on a beach in Maquinna Cove. The tide was just starting to come in, and we were planning on riding the tide up toward the upper arms of the bay. While we sat there enjoying the sun we had to keep moving the boats up on the beach every 10 minutes or so or else they would float away. My boat is the 3rd from the bottom in the picture. The mountains across the way in the picture are part of an unnamed range that divides the two major arms of the bay. By the time I got back to this same spot a month later most of the snow from that range would be gone. This is probably my favorite beach in all of Glacier Bay, I love how clear the water is, and there is such a great view of the east arm from the place I am standing!
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