Johnson Pass

Scott and I traversed along a section of Johnson Pass two weekends ago. It was the best hike that we'd done yet! The views and array of scenery were spectacular; the trail was clear and groomed. We came across about a half dozen piles of bear scat, which unnerved me a bit. Especially when we saw the bear tracks...!!! We also came across some moose tracks. We never saw those animals in-person, although Scott was hoping to!! He was making me nervous, thinking he was giving us bad karma!!

Here are the photos from our trip:

The Girdwood Tram

Leyla's friend Patricia is visiting from Puerto Rico for a week. And ironically, from her trip to Alaska she moves to Springfield, MA for her residency.

At any rate, Leyla, Patricia, Joshua and I were able to hike out to the tram in Girdwood (about 45 minutes south of Anchorage).

Leyla (and her boyfriend Zac) have different days off from Scott and I, unfortunately. So if there is ever an opportunity for any of us to hang out, we try our darndest to! Because Patricia is in town visiting Leyla, Leyla switched days off at work so that she could have a Saturday off.

We were supposed to go kayaking in Whittier, but the weather forecast was too grim. So instead, we all piled into "Jo", my Volvo, and headed out to Turnagain Arm.

The hike was relatively short and pretty easy. The terrain wasn't too steep, and the trail was very well established.

The tram itself was a lot of fun to work. It's constructed on a pulley system and transports individuals over Glacier Creek. The scenery was pretty stunning, although because there were a bunch of people on the trail, it was tough to justify planting ourselves over the middle of creek to take pictures. There was a line starting to build on either side to use the tram.

Just after the tram, we came upon Gorge Bridge. What fantastic scenery. We felt like we could've hung out there for hours, just relaxing and watching nature.

Pretty darn splendid.

Here's some photos:

don't even know what to write

Scott left tonight for Las Vegas for an NPPA conference.

It was a really tough goodbye.

Missing him so much.

Wow. Am I pathetic?

I pick him up on Sunday. Four days away.

Does that tell you something after 13 months?

Another trip!

This past weekend, Scott and I went camping with our friends Kendra and Goat. We camped at the Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Site, and hiked around the nearby glacier for awhile.

The whole trip was just wonderful and hanging out with Kendra and Goat was a lot of fun!! They are a real hoot!

The hike around the glacier was amazing - I've never experienced something like that. We took a bunch of photos and took in the stunning scenery.

The drive to the campsite was two hours north of Anchorage, on a road I hadn't traveled more than 45 minutes on. So all the scenery along the way was new to me and quite possibly the most scenic I have seen in all of Alaska so far. It was literally stunning!

This slideshow starts out with a couple of pictures of the drive and then on to the glacier hike.



Temperature update: 56 degrees and mostly sunny in Anchorage; 63 degrees and mostly sunny in Whitman.
Sunrise/set update: 4:27a/11:33p in Anchorage; 5:08a/8:18p in Whitman.

a practice renewed

I've gotten out of the habit of putting some of the stories that I work on here on the blog. I have a ton to get up, so bear with me as I get them web-ready.

This story was about the murder statistics for 2008. I believe this aired New Year's Day, 2009. If not that day, then very soon after. Rebecca Palsha is the reporter.

copyright 2009, KTUU-TV