New Day, New Animal

So last post mentioned ice fishing, but we changed up animals for this one.

The view out to the bay

The day after ice fishing, Mick and I headed out snow machining to check out the conditions and hopefully find a couple ptarmigan.  It turned out great--the snow was good and I hit a ptarmigan on my first shot!  Mickey got one himself, which was good, but not quite enough for a feast.  So, the only logical thing to do, would be to go again the next day.  The snow was still adequate and the hunting improved remarkably!  We spent nearly the entire day in the same area and ended up with 10 ptarmigan, which was enough to make a delicious stew.  Since the hunting was so good, the only logical thing to do was to try again the next day--so we did!  We also wanted to try to ride from near the house, rather than driving an hour to the trailhead, but needed to check snow conditions.  Unfortunately, I checked the conditions a bit too closely this day as I spent more time stuck or flipped than I did riding it seemed.  At least there was snow to land in!  The week ended with a Homer High basketball marathon, although I only made it through 3 of the 4 games.

Day 1

On Saturday, I had to ref in the morning, then went to watch Rylyn's basketball game, then back to ref another game before coming home and just enjoying an evening home with everyone.  As most of you heard, on Saturday, there was a rather large earthquake centered nearly 50 miles away from here around 1am.  Luckily, no damage was done to the house or toy-hauler.  However, one second I was fast asleep, then the next it felt like I was on a mechanical bull--strange feeling!  Sunday, the fun continued as Wendy, Mick, and I went for a great ride. Unfortunately, we didn't see any ptarmigan, but fortunately (we did see a moose though), I stayed on my machine the entire time!  Afterwards, Ry and I played some cards and hot tubbed--a great end to the weekend.

Now, here we are again, starting another week.  Yesterday, I ran several errands around town, including the world's most boring sub training then went to a workout class with Wendy.  Just when I thought I was in shape again, that was a rude awakening!  Today, I helped Mickey replace the brakes on Wendy's car in the morning (thrilling, I know), then skated with Wendy's class, met with someone from Fish and Wildlife and bought my fishing gear for the job.  I ran on the spit since the sun came out today and in a 35 minute run counted 9 bald eagles!

Carcasses after day 2

 I lost track of the moose count, but it must be around 7.  Anyway, I'm loving getting the chance to get out, explore the area, make connections, and eat fresh meat.  The hunting and fishing around Baranof Island where I'll be working looks incredible too, so I'm excited for that!

A New Beginning

Well, after spending a weekend enjoying the warmth of Florida, it was time for me and my ridiculous amount of luggage to head northwest!

Sunrise from Ian's porch

After a very fun overnight-ish layover in Las Vegas with my high school friend, Matt, I carried on to Denver, where I had a much less eventful stop.  However, the Denver airport has a very homey feel to it still!  Finally, 23 hours after leaving Dulles, I made it to Anchorage with a beautiful view as we came in.

A buddy from CSU, Ian, lives in Anchorage now with his girlfriend, so he picked me up and I spent the night with him.  After a quick nap, we headed to Moose's Tooth Pizza--the number 2 rated pizza restaurant in America on TripAdvisor and it didn't disappoint!  Ian is in med school and had class in the morning, but I slept in--strange to wake up at 9am and it still be pitch black out!  I found myself some breakfast, then walked out on to the patio to admire the incredible view they have.  That afternoon, we grabbed some bbq for lunch, then I went on to the airport for the last leg of the journey to Homer.

Bishop's Beach in Homer

An uneventful, 40 minute flight, got me into Homer--my temporary home.  Wendy and Mickey were out of town, and Rylyn was at her basketball tournament, but I managed to find their car, run a few quick errands, then head to their house.  While on the Homer Spit, I saw countless bald eagles!  Needless to say, I crashed fairly early that night, and got up early to watch Ry's basketball game, which they won by 17.  It tortured her to wait until after the game to be able to hug me!  On the drive, I saw my first moose of the trip--crossing the highway nonetheless.  The school also had some cross-country ski trails, which I wasn't equipped for, but I strolled in the snow for a few minutes until I couldn't feel my bare hands anymore.  I got right into the hockey scene here, reffing two games of a tournament that night, before finally getting back and spending the night with Rylyn.

On Sunday, I was up bright and early to be at the rink to begin reffing at 8am.  4 games later, I got back home, to spend the afternoon playing in the snow and hot-tubbing with Ry.  Through reffing I made lots of new connections, some just recognizing a new face in town and other who had heard that Wendy and Mickey's nephew was coming!  Some of them could possibly become great job contacts!  Otherwise, Sunday was relaxing and we both got to sleep in Monday.

My first ever fish through ice!

Wendy and Mickey finally got in early Monday after Ry and I had breakfast and threw some food in the crock-pot for dinner.  Later that afternoon, Rylyn had another basketball game, then we got my temporary home (the toy-hauler, which is basically a motorhome) set up with heat and electricity, ate, hot-tubbed, and got the snow machines ready to hopefully use later in the week.

Finally, today, Mickey had an appointment in Kenai, so I tagged along, tried, unsuccessfully, to speak a few people about jobs, then ice-fished!  We each landed one rainbow trout, but we won't discuss who got the larger one...  Anyway, it was great to get outside!  There were, again, eagles all over squeaking and squawking and probably stalking our trout.  A moose was also casually grazing in a backyard just along the highway!

If you can't tell, I'm thrilled to be in Alaska, excited to spend the next couple weeks in Homer with the Todds, and looking forward to starting the job on Baranof Island!