New digs

It was a little later than first anticipated, but I've finally moved into the cabin I've had my eye on for a couple months. Its on the same property, so I have the same landlord and same deal, just a $50/mo increase in rent. I said, "Good deal!" Same everything, really, just Cabin A instead of B.

Interior is a little different, though. A-frame construction makes for some interesting angles. I haven't decorated yet, I think I'll put up some of my old 35mm prints and some shots from this summer's travels.

Kitchen area. I'm getting used to cooking with gas. I am quickly understanding why people prefer it to electric! Nice to have real cabinets. I have all kinds of good stuff behind those doors.

A little nocturnal illumination... those fluorescent shop-lights are a little too much. The couch came with the place. It has been called "ugly", but I am happy to have it.

The roof up here is about 6 feet probably, I don't have any trouble moving around. I'll probably rig up some kind of pole for hanging clothes up here.

1691 A. The move took only a couple carloads of stuff and shouldering a hang glider down the street and around the corner.


The shortest day of the year is almost upon us. Here is a sunrise as viewed from the roof of my building on campus. Time of day: 10:46a.

A Homer Thanksgiving

Being my first Thanksgiving away from home, I certainly wasn't about to sit around at home alone. Lucky for me, Oliver and Brittany were planning a trip down to Homer and invited me along. So Thanksgiving Day we made the 12 hour drive south to the coast to Homer, a little town on the end of the Kenai Peninsula.

Turnagain Arm. This is a little section in between Anchorage and the Kenai. Looks very different than the times I have driven it with my Dad in the summer!

This is the cabin we stayed in. Photo courtesy of Oliver, a great night shot. I forget the exact connection, but Oliver's parents lived in Alaska for a period and through their connections we were offered this cabin to stay in free of charge. We weren't exactly sure of the place when we got there, and knocked on a neighbor's door - Chuck and Julie. They told us how to find the place and we went back the next night for some drinks!

This is the end of the "spit". Homer Spit is a tiny outcropping of land that stretches about half-way across the bay. Its full of fishing charters, restaurants, shops, and the Salty Dawg Saloon.
We spent a lot of time out of the spit walking around and taking pictures. The cabin was nestled back in the hills.



Weather was certainly "variable".

Its no wonder the place is deserted in the winter. Here a place marker stakes spot in an empty RV park.

The spit also seems to be a place where ships go to die...


... or where others choose to live on a new function. (take a close look)



The clouds broke and we got a little sun. It was nice to see the ocean, too. Once we had our fill of taking pictures, Oliver enlightened me on how Norwegians have fun.


I'd say the expression on his face says it all.

Random updates

No big news to report, but a few tidbits. The met tower and profiler from the field study (pictured above) have been taken down and the campaign is officially over. There are a few lingering things to do, but mostly now its get everything back to the lab and help Dea with data analysis.

A couple days ago these two critters livened up my drive to school. Good thing I turned left to check the PO box! They just strolled along like it was their own backyard, pouncing on each other and peeing on things like two dogs with no human to report to.


So that's Julie, and that's a weather balloon. She is doing some research on inversion layers in Fairbanks (they can become very strong around here). In order to track the inversion over the course of the night, she launches a balloon every few hours. They record temperature, pressure, relative humidity, and location via GPS. With this a whole slew of things can be calculated.

This computer program tracks the balloon's progress and location, takes in data, and spits out a bunch of calculations.

So Julie let me launch this one. Its big and buoyant. I imagine it swelled to a huge size at high altitudes. Ready? Release! We even got clearance from the nearby FAI Control Tower.


Let the balloon go and let it yank the radiosonde (little white box with all the instrumentation in it) right out of my hand. The computer program recognizes an immediate change and kick starts the data collection. Cool. I think I'll always have a soft spot for meteorology.

I'm off to Homer, AK for the Thanksgiving weekend with Oliver and Brittany. I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Snows and skis

The snow is stacking up these days, turning Fairbanks into a true winter wonderland - complete with temperatures well below zero. The other night my car thermometer registered a -22F in the lowest part of Goldstream Valley! Lucky for me, I am at a slightly higher elevation.


The snow falls so slowly and steadily that it can balance on just about anything. Its even a surprise when the wind blows. Here the branches have caught snow well beyond their size and are feeling the weight.

All this snow means it is time to hit the trail! I've been doing some classic cross country skiing on trails around campus for exercise. Last weekend Oliver, Brittany, and I trekked out on a trail only about 30 miles out of town. But as you can see, it doesn't take very long to isolated...

Here I admire the master winter fire-maker at work. Those Norwegians know how to do winter!

One pair of socks wasn't quite enough at -5F, so I had some warming up to do. Also pictured is Oliver's pot of campfire hot cocoa (stirring with a stick). Pure awesome. Like I said, Norwegians know how to do winter!


The angle of the low winter sun make for some spectacular lighting. This is about mid-afternoon. The above photo is my favorite winter shot yet. You can click on it to see a larger version.

Meh, it's only zero

I was hesitant to inhale as the hot, humid air hit my face and engulfed the rest of my body. A little sniff through the nose brought a tingle to my nose hairs. "Relax, and take a deep breath," I told myself. "Your lungs have to like this more than the cold air out there." Sure enough, the hot, moist air rich with the scent of citrus oil was nothing but pleasing, relaxing the lungs and enriching the skin.
We sat in the hand built, cedar sauna for a couple hours. I listened to the veteran hang glider pilot and the young, but experienced, paraglider pilot swap stories. Stories of soaring above the clouds, looking down on storms, drives to the middle of nowhere, and the feeling of slicing the air in a turn as if you were skiing. I sat back, gulped water to try to cool down, but had to learn to accept the heat. "Oh yeah," I thought. "This is what it feels like to be hot."
I quickly came to the point where I didn't think twice to stand naked outside. It was a welcome chill. With my body core temperature well above normal I came to embrace the frigid break to watch the snow slowly drift to the ground.
Afterwards, I insinuated I was ready to leave for the evening and stated, "Pretty cold out there, gonna have to warm up the car for a while?" He took a quick glance at the thermometer out the window. "Meh," he replied, "it's only zero."

Mom, Dad, and Sky

Now that I am somewhat settled and into a groove of things, it was time for a parental visit! Mom and Dad came up for the weekend, last weekend, just in time for a drop in temperature. It was wonderful to see them, and they enjoyed their visit.
Winter is here, and so is a halfway decent snowpack. There was no wasting time when they arrived. We went straight from the airport to Creamer's Field were I got to try my hand at skijoring!
Pictured at right is Dan, he was kind enough to let me get hitched up to his dog, Sky (front and center). Sky was hyped up and ready to go!
Myself being quite the newbie, Sky got tired pretty fast. The idea, when you're good, is that you skate ski along and the dog assists by pulling. I, however, didn't get to skating much and Sky pretty much pulled me all around the field.
The rest of the Mom and Dad visit consisted of coffee shops, showing them around the school, and my cabin.
Mom and me out front.
The outhouse was hit. They handled the dry cabin livin' like champs!
We also took a drive out to the infamous hut. This is where all my research is currently going on. I haven't really blogged about it, since part of an outreach program is a blog of the research! This can be found here: http://n2o5.blogspot.com I'll link it from my page. It is mostly upkept by Dea, but I post every so often. Let me know if you have any questions!
Chugging right along up here. It will be Christmas before you know it. Also, I should be switching cabins (same property, just an upgrade) in the next week or two. Hope all is well with everyone.
Patrick

Denali Hwy

Not to be confused with the Park Road that goes into Denali National Park, the Denali Highway is a beat-up dirt road that runs ~130mi from Cantwell E-W along the south side of the Alaska Range. This makes it ideal for driving till you feel like stopping, getting out and hiking away. Oliver, Brittany, and I did just that.


This sign greeted us on the trip. Scary, yes, but its there to stop ill-prepared people from getting into an ugly situation in winter time (blowing snow, -40F, deep powder). Considering we still had not gotten our real first substantial snow-fall, we were okay.

Oliver taking in the scenery with his d40. He taught me a valuable lesson: always bring your nice camera! The water in this shot on the right is part of the most elaborate beaver dam I have ever seen. Multiple ponds, dams wider than a house, tons of water.

It was a bit frosty in the morning, but this view and hot cup of coffee is hard to beat.


So just how big is a moose? Well, they like to chew on trees to eat the bark and the stuff right underneath. Its common to come upon a tree like the one pictured here, gnawed down to the wood just above head level. So put the moose head where you see the bare part of the tree - and there's your scale. Moose are really big. We ended up seeing 1 browsing around in the morning, 2 on the hike out, and another 2 crossing the road on the drive out.

Oliver snapped this one.

A truly Alaskan evening

I'm not sure if my evening began in the Fred Meyer parking lot, or perhaps in the Subway, but it surely must have started after I left the concert. This afternoon I attended a classical-ish male accapella ensemble concert. They turned out to be very good, mixing it up here and there with some percussion and light comedy. They appealed to the crowd that would enjoy a good classical symphony, but Oliver and I were certainly not the youngest in the room.
Oliver and I parted ways and here my evening must have began. It was about 6pm and I had a few hours to kill before my intramural soccer game at 9:30p. I figured now as good time as ever to try to track down a 36mm allen wrench I need to complete the winterization of my car (to remove the radiator plug and insert the engine block heater so my coolant doesn't freeze). I swung by Alaska Interior Hardware, but considering it was a Sunday evening, they were closed. Alright, no small business this time, I just need a wrench - onward to Home Depot. Well, Lowe's didn't have it either, surprise surprise. I'll just have to catch the little guy when he's open.
At this point I decided to grab some food. I had seen 3 Subways since I started driving around, so I picked the closest one and headed in. I was patiently waiting for my turn to order a sandwich when I realized something strange on the belt of the man in front of me. A sidearm. Plain and simple. Couldn't tell you if it was a glock, 9mm, or even a BB gun, but there was a gun on this guy's side nonetheless, in a Subway sandwich shop. Not sure what threatened him, but hey, if he feels he needs it. He ordered a sandwich for him and his wife, got in his beat up red pickup truck with a dog, and a birch tree cut into pieces in the back, and drove off. Nobody seemed to take a second look, except me...

Not four minutes after I sat to eat my dinner a homeless man came in and sat straight across from me in the empty chair and asked for some money. This put a bad taste in my mouth (not to mention the smell) and appeared to make the elderly people enjoying their dinners around me uncomfortable as well. The manager quickly ushered him out. I was thinking of buying the guy a damn sandwich, but when I left there was no sign of him.
Onward to Fred Meyer! If you've never heard of Fred Meyer, don't worry, I hadn't. It is pretty much an Alaska equivalent of a super walmart. In the parking lot it is possible to observe anything from ladies with mullets smoking cigarettes to young asian women parking cars at very odd angles. On this evening in particular I observed both the aforementioned. I talked to Lauren on the phone a bit and then went in to do my shopping. Nothing special inside really... this time.
After making room for my groceries next to my water jugs freshly filled courtesy of the Fox Watering Station, I headed to the Student Rec Center to play some indoor soccer. We won, 1-0, which completely made my night considering we don't win very often. Sweaty and smiling I headed just a quarter-mile up the road to IARC to take a shower. Showering at home in the dry cabin would consist of a bag on a tree, so the free hot showers for IARC employees are very much appreciated. I sang a little song and hopped back in the car to drive to my cabin.
I decided to take the scenic route, which I often do, which leads me out of town on a large loop to the Goldstream Valley. About a mile or two down the dark road I came to a car pulled over, no signals, lights on, hardly off the side of the road. "What is this? A moose? what are you doing?" I looked, I can't see anything, so I drove around him real slow and kept onward. I did notice a bit of illuminated smoke, but nothing special.
I took me a minute to realize that this was not the moonlit clouds and smoke I have become accustomed to seeing in the valley. "Spellbound" by The Doves was playing. The sky was glowing. In a high, long streak, it ebbed and flowed like a slow moving whispy cirrus cloud. It was barely green, mostly a dull white. I had finally seen it - aurora!
Sure enough, I happened to have my camera in the car so I pulled up next to the mailboxes on Willow Run, right before I'd turn on to my street. Here I had a stellar view of the glowing northwestern sky. I got out, shut the door, put the camera on the hood (I didn't have my tripod). Before I had a chance to push the shutter, something pulled my attention from the glimmering night sky.
"Munch munch munch munch."
Brush brush swish swish.
"Munch munch munch."
"Oh shit." Sure enough, directly across the road were two moose. They didn't seem to mind me, my car, my noise, or the passing of other cars. They were about as indifferent to me and headlights as they were to the aurora. I figured it was moose at first, but I didn't get to see their sheer size until a car passed. The calf (who was no baby) looked almost as if he'd been caught in a prison spotlight, looking guilty with half a shrub hanging out of his mouth.
Nice. So there I was: on the side of the road in only a fleece at 32F, hair still wet, snapping shots of the aurora, listening to the crunching of bush in the dark. I snapped this shot off.

The green in the shots comes from the length of exposure time I needed to capture the faint light of the aurora. To my eye, it was a white glow with a hint of green. As impressive as this little display was to me, I've been told that this is nothin. Hopefully only a taste of whats to come!
My camera battery died and I figured it was a good time as ever to get to the comforts of my cabin. I felt as though I had finally arrived in Alaska. And I also feel now a bit more comfortable with the idea of encountering a moose on the trail to the outhouse! Thanks for reading,
-Patrick

PhD anyone?

Nice.

First snows

Well, winter has certainly arrived. I logged the first snowfall a few days ago, but today I woke up to the first complete layer of snow to coat the upper hills. There's been a steady, light snowfall all day so far, so there is already a bit more than this. It seems this is how snow will normally fall, too. Slow, steady, peaceful.

This is the view from the outhouse. Much better than the back of a door, huh?