alvin's blog

Mount Redoubt erupted very early this morning, and continued erupting five times during the early morning hours. Ash has now been detected as high as 60,000 feet above sea level, and the ashes have headed north and northeast, towards the towns of Willow and my former home, Talkeetna.

If it's March, it must be Iditarod time. Here's the 2009 Iditarod page at the Anchorage Daily News with all your update information. Before I go, here's a cute picture of Larry the lead dog. He looks a lot like a husky I used to have named Indy.

As I read a story about Lance Armstrong working on his comeback in Italy this morning, I'm reminded of the bicycle riders I used to see in Alaska and Canada. Back in May of 2007 I'd be driving down some rural road, see a couple of bike riders, wave as I passed them by, and then anywhere between 1-5 minutes later I'd see a bear on the side of the road. I always wondered what became of those bike riders? Did they really become "Meals on wheels" for the bears, or did they just wave and ride on by?

Wow, I just ran across this picture of Denali that I took from Talkeetna, and just had to share it here. This picture was taken while looking across the Talkeetna River (and partially the Chulitna River) looking to the northwest at Denali.

I've been reading the news stories about Mount Redoubt the last few days, and it looks like it really is an active volcano, and may soon kick out some lava and ashes. One of the pictures I've attached below has the phrase "fire and ice", and all I can say is no kidding, an active volcano in the middle of winter -- how cool is that?

I don't know too much about Mt. Redoubt yet, but I'll share what I do know. I've been to Homer several times, and these pictures were taken from Highway 1 (the Sterling Highway), somewhere between Ninilchik and Anchor Point, Alaska, looking across the Cook Inlet at both Mt. Redoubt and Mt. Iliamma. Without any further ado, here are several pictures of Mt. Redoubt and Mt. Iliamma, along with pictures of two road signs that give nice descriptions and history of the mountains and wildlife in this area.

I learned last week that I have a Facebook account, so out of curiosity I logged in (after having the password changed so I could log in), and then poked around. After a little while I started doing searches on Talkeetna, and then I found a wonderful post by my ex-landlord (Mike -- the landlord who I actually never met -- and his wife, Mindy) titled "You know you're from Talkeetna when ..."

I woke up this morning with a bad case of The Call of the Wild, which, yes, is just like the book of the same name. It's that feeling of wanting to be "out there", in the snow, deep in a forest, or climbing a mountain. Just you and nature, mano a mano, one of those times when you have to "risk it all just to feel alive".

Once again, Heather Lende describes the feeling very well in her book If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name:

Lately I've been reading a wonderful book about small-town Alaska named If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name, by Heather Lende. Ms. Lende has been a contributor to the Christian Science Monitor and NPR's Morning Edition, and she lives in Haines, Alaska. At the beginning of the book she writes about life and death in Alaska, and one of my favorite quotes comes from this section of the book, where a woman discusses the events following the death of her father:

"In the Lower 48, for thousands of dollars strangers will take over and do everything for you, in the mistaken assumption they are helping. It was so much easier for me to work through the grieving process when I had an active role in the preparations for the burial."

Ever wonder what the weather is like in Alaska? Well, tomorrow is Veterans Day, November 11, 2008, and it looks like a calm and mild day all the way from Seward up to Prudhoe Bay (Deadhorse). Here are the brief forecasts for each town in mid-Alaska, starting in the mid-south at Seward, and working our way up to the top.

Seward, Alaska

Rain and snow. No snow accumulation. Highs in the 30s. East wind 10 to 25 mph except east 35 to 45 mph through Portage Valley and Turnagain Arm.

Anchorage, Alaska

Cloudy with a chance of rain and snow. Highs in the lower to mid 30s. Northeast wind 10 to 15 mph except southeast 30 to 45 mph along Turnagain Arm and higher elevations.

These Seward, Alaska pictures are actually from September 20, 2008, but since I'm feeling really lazy today, and there's nothing special about the date in relation to these pictures, I'm just going to post them with today's date.

"Look for peace,  look for love, look for good things, look for moose." I can dig that. Both pictures remind me of Northern Exposure quite a bit.