Category: Life in Alaska
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Slow Start
Mornings are better in retirement. I like a slow start so much that I try to avoid scheduling anything before 11 am. While I usually get up between 7 and 8, there’s no pressure to do so. Sometimes I set an alarm, but if I don’t want to get up, I just shut it off. …
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Flow
One of my minor goals this year is to achieve a psychological “flow state” most days. I consider myself successful if I accomplish that state of timeless immersion while birding or cleaning or gardening or tax planning…. My approach, which might be ridiculous, is to have 5 to 10 tasks on my calendar for the…
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Belugas, Whittier, and Cordova
Healy was begging us to leave on August 29. It was rainy and cold with “termination dust” snow on all of the peaks around us. Water was rushing across the road as we drove it for the last time. The weather became worse as we drove the Parks Highway through the edge of Denali National…
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Healy Cabin, 2 weeks remaining?
We spend almost all of our limited time in Healy sorting and packing. We’re either packing for our next fishing trip (leaving again tomorrow!) or packing to move home to Virginia. In the last 24 hours, we have been distracted occasionally. See the three photos from our upstairs north window taken in the past day. …
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Showers
This is embarrassing, but I haven’t had a shower in 8 days now. Although…if I look at it another way, I am in a shower nearly every day as it has been raining a lot! It seems it should count for something, even if I’m wearing raingear for my showers this week. With the cool…
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Wild Life
We have spent the past week in Healy, where my primary focus has been volunteering at Denali National Park. We have a good group of volunteers providing Wildlife Safety and Education at Savage River Trailhead. I am the only returning volunteer in this position and am working regularly until the middle of June. While I…
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Owl, Moose, and Caribou
We are enjoying viewing wildlife and scenery in and around Denali National Park. Snow is disappearing rapidly, though every few days we get fresh snow that doesn’t last long. We finally saw our first caribou of 2025, just above Teklanika River. There were 2 mature females. One of these had large antlers for a female,…
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Aurora 2025
After days of snow and clouds the weather finally cleared. Even though the Aurora Forecast wasn’t great, I suggested we set an alarm to look out the windows just in case. We saw so much magenta this time. The northern lights were everywhere all at once, in all directions, as well as directly overhead. We…
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Tracks in the Snow
We have a new friend this year. It’s nice to watch a snowshoe hare hop about first thing in the morning while one relieves oneself in the privy. This morning it was snowing when I got up and the dusting of fresh snow added interest to the tracks on my walk. Notice the fresh snow…
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Day 16 Arrived in Healy Spring 2025
After 4085 miles of driving plus 3 lovely days on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry, we have arrived! The snow isn’t deep, and our little dry cabin is warming up at a reasonable pace. Top priority tomorrow is to drive 20 minutes to get water. Our 6-gallon aquatainers are completely empty (if we had left…
Me & C 