All good things

I’m sick and it’s no fun at all. It started with a sore throat about a week ago and became rather miserable this weekend. I’ve gone through more tissues, than I can count. Despite this present misery of sickness though, I must say that it is amazing how things have worked out as of late. I have so many things to be thankful for. Here’s just a few things off the top of my head.

1. I made it safely to Utah from Alaska with zero problems while at the same time seeing more amazing sights that I thought possible.

2. I got a job working for an awesome organization where I get to work with some of the coolest people I’ve ever met.

3. I found a house to live in the first day that I started looking.

4. I found a church that even though I’ve only been going to it for a month now is starting to feel like home.

5. There is a van pool that I can ride to work every day. Instead of having to drive 25 miles each way every day, I only have to drive about 3.

I still can’t believe the course of events that has lead me to where I am right now. If you had told me a year ago that I was going to spend 6 months in Alaska then move to Utah to work for Sundance I would have said, “huh?” It’s exciting to know that God has things planned for us beyond our wildest expectations.

The picture above was taken at Byers Lake in Denali State Park, one of my favorite places to visit this summer.

Just so I don’t forget

Ah Mt. Denali (or McKinley if you want to call it that) how I miss being able to stare at you on a daily basis (weather permitting). For 6 months I lived 40 miles away from this mountain and I never once got tired of looking at it. I remember walking to work on those awesome clear mornings without a cloud in sight and a sky so blue you would swear it was fake. The mountain would be there larger than life, demanding your attention.

This particular picture obviously isn’t one of those awesome clear days. It was taken on the Denali park road about 20 miles or so from the mountain I think. I just love this view and how big Denali looks next to everything else. I’ll go back there someday. I’m sure of it.

Wednesday’s random thoughts

I am back. To my blog that is. I’ve neglected it for far too long so it’s time I start writing again.

This might be the quickest cold that I’ve ever had. I woke up with a slight sore throat yesterday. My throat killed me last night and now my throat feels fine and I just have a runny nose. That’s pretty quick.

I currently live at 4,500 ft. and my job is right at around 7,000 ft. That’s over a mile up. I guess you could say I’m moving up in my career.

For some reason Comcast doesn’t have Bravo out here. I hate missing Top Chef. I have to find it online every week.

I have really cool neighbors. It’s 5 girls that invite me over for cake and cookies.

I thought fast, cheap Mexican food didn’t get any better than Chipotle. That was before I discovered Cafe Rio. Don’t worry Chipotle, I still love you.

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t quit my job and moved to Alaska. I’m sure I wouldn’t have ended up here in Utah. I hope I wouldn’t still be at my same job.

I miss my little black Sentra and all it’s 175 horses under the hood. My poor RAV4 can barely stay above 50mph on the highway going up the canyon to Park City. Sorry Nancy, I still love you. You got me safely through the middle of nowhere in Canada.

 

 

Up to speed

I haven’t written on here in forever. Part of the problem was that I was driving around living in a tent for the last 2 and a half weeks. Now I don’t have any internet access until comcast will let me activate my cable modem. I have so much to share and more pictures than I can count. Here’s a quick rundown of what I’ve been up to.

I left Alaska on September 25th.

Drove the Alaska highway for 1200 miles.

Drove another 1300 miles to get to Idaho.

Drove through Jasper and Banff national parks in Canada which were just amazing.

Spent 2 days in Idaho at a friends house.

Found out while in Idaho that I got a job working for the Sundance Film Festival!

Drove to Vancouver, BC and spent 3 days seeing the sights.

Remembered why Vancouver is still the number one city that I want to live in.

Drove to Seattle and picked up my sister.

Saw all the sights in Seattle like Pikes Place and the Space Needle.

Drove to Mt. Rainier National park and hiked around.

Drove back to Seattle to drop off April at her friends house.

Drove to Astoria and Cannon Beach.

Drove to Portland and walked around.

Drove to Salt Lake City.

Found a townhouse to live in.

Started my job with Sundance.

So yeah, that’s the short version. If you couldn’t tell there was a LOT of driving. Just under 5,000 miles total. All in all it was an amazing trip. I got to see more in 2 weeks than I’ve seen in the last couple years. Now I am settling in here in SLC. I’ve never been to Utah before, but I like it so far. The scenery is beautiful and my job is going to be a lot of fun. As soon as I get some internet and time I will begin sharing more pictures and stories.

Hello from Canada

Just a quick update. I made it safely down the Alaska Highway to Idaho this week. We left Friday morning and got to Idaho on Tuesday afternoon. It was an amazing drive and I have lots of pictures to show. I spent 2 nights in Idaho at a friends house before deciding that I should check out Vancouver for a few days before I meet up with my sister tomorrow in Seattle. This is my third visit to Vancouver now and I love it just as much as the first time I saw it 7 years ago.

Goodbye Alaska

This is it. Tonight is probably going to be my last night in the great state of Alaska. Tomorrow morning, 3 of us will load up my car, and begin a 2,400 mile journey through the Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta to cross back into the lower 48 in Idaho. It’s going to be a long trip, but at the same time I’m excited to see lots of new places. I will try to update this if I find some internet access along the way.

I would like to take some time to write a nice reflection post about my time here. It has truly been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I’m sad that it’s over, but at the same time I am excited for whatever is next.

Byers Lake and standing on a glacier

Here’s a couple more pictures from the summer. This one is from Byers Lake which was a couple miles up the road from the lodge. It had a nice 4 mile trail that looped around it along with a nice waterfall that you could hike to. I kayaked here a couple times as well. The last time was awesome because the bright red salmon were swimming all around us and I saw a black bear looking right at me as I went by a little stream.

I think I posted this before, but I’m going through my favorites and this is one of them. I took this while I was standing on the Ruth Glacier in the middle of the Alaskan mountain range. I flew in on a plane that landed on skis.

Blair Lake

I took this one on May 10th on Blair Lake. We hiked down a trail that the boyscouts made that starts at the back of one of the employee housing areas and goes to a nice little secluded lake in the middle of nowhere. The lake was still frozen over enough to walk across, but it wasn’t solid for sure because there were lots of cracks like this running across it.

Picture time

I hope you like pictures because I’m about to start posting a ton. Now that I only have a few days left in the “last frontier.” I’ve started going through all my pictures from the summer and picking out the best ones to share. Last night I learned how to do my first panorama in Photoshop which was ridiculously easy. Really, like 2 clicks and some cropping and Photoshop figures out the rest for you. Just amazing. The final image was a 33 megapixel monster. (I scaled it down for the web though)

This is 5 shots stitched together from Independence Mine in Hatcher Pass. We climbed way up one of the mountains high above the mine to do some exploring. It was earlier in the summer so there was still a lot of snow everywhere. Click to view it full size.

I’m going to post more pictures every day as I go through them.

Sunday’s random thoughts

The end is nigh. Yes, I have only 12 days left here at my temporary Alaskan home. I’m going to miss the mountains, the remoteness, and most of all the people.

I’m really enjoying Phillip K. Dick’s first collection of short stories. He came up with so many interesting concepts. I want to adapt a couple of them into screenplays.

I went to a BBQ last night and had some amazing grilled salmon and moose kabobs. So good!

I am going through all my pictures from the summer so I can share some on here. I have so many, it is just overwhelming.

I can’t wait for my upcoming road trip, although the 3 days or so it’s going to take to drive the Alcan is going to be rather long and boring. I’ll share some more details soon.

How I Met Your Mother is a very funny show. I’m about to finish the 4th season tonight after starting at season 1 this summer.