So many things...

Sometimes I don't post anything on here for a long time because I don't have anything to write. Other times its because I actually have too much to write about. Then again, sometimes its for different reasons entirely. But recently, it's basically been the second reason.

I know I put up a picture from Beth and my wedding, but I haven't actually written a single word about the wedding itself. Or the week leading up to the wedding. Or what life as a married man is like (hint: just like my recent life as an unmarried man). I haven't mentioned going to the beach in North Carolina for a week back in early July, or going back to Canada this month for a memorial for Beth's grandparents as well as some much needed R&R. Speaking of Beth, did I mention that she and I are starting to plan our honeymoon? Nope. I didn't mention that she's changed her name, either, or any of the construction projects that she and I have worked on this summer. Also, I got a promotion at work. This makes me a 30-something married homeowning doctor with a career, none of which was true 2 years ago, which is probably worth a post in its own right but still hasn't gotten one. Lets see what else has happened.... well, there was a full season of softball in which I went from being incredibly rusty and the worst player on the team for the first couple of games to getting back in a groove and starting to rake like the old days, to making the mistake of stretching for home and sliding and losing significant chunks of skin from my arm, shin and butt. Our friend Jen moved back to town about a month ago and has been hanging out a lot, serving as a valuable consultant as I continue to try to perfect my margarita and bloody mary recipes. Meanwhile, our friend Chris is in the process of moving out of town, but he, Beth and I bought packrafts and took them out for a quicker-than-expected float down the Eagle River, just north of town....

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of things I probably should have written about, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Let me know if there's anything above that I should try to write about ASAP, otherwise I'll just see if anything grabs me in the coming days.

Bike Trip (finally!)

Remember long, long ago when I went on a bike trip in Oregon with my dad, as he finished his ride across the country, but I didn't have any pictures because I smashed my camera on day 1? Well I recently recovered the pictures I had taken that morning, at least, so here they are:

There's my pa, pedaling his way out of Redmond, OR.

Some of the Three Sisters (probably), outside of Sisters, OR.

Me and the old man posing for a picture on just about

the perfect morning for a bike ride.

More of the Cascades, from outside Sisters.

The Three Sisters, again.

Three-Fingered Jack mountain, with what I think are 1,500 year-old

lava flows in the foreground.

Hmmm... this looks more like Three-Fingered Jack to me than the

last one. Maybe there are two mountains with the same name.

My dad, biking past some of the lava flows near the top of the climb.

A pretty barren slot of road near the summit.

Nothing but lava on both sides.

McKenzie Pass: just a bit over a mile high, and almost 4,000

feet above our campsite for the evening!

The biker boys at the pass.

Still at the pass, with the Three Sisters (or at least two of them) in the background.

It was right after this that I tried to use a triangular monument as a tripod for my camera and had the pleasure of watching it bounce 173 times as it fell the 4 feet to the ground. That was the end of the road for my camera, so unfortunately I missed a bunch more great photo opportunities over the next couple of days. But mostly I was just so glad to be there for the trip. I felt totally welcomed by the group and had a great time on the road in camp. And of course it was the best to get to spend a couple days biking with my dad!

little sister, bigger surgery

My little sister went under the knife today to either fix or remove a torn meniscus (depending on what the doc finds in there). I'm guessing she should actually be out of surgery by now, but she could probably still use it if people sent some love her way. Have a quick recovery, sis!

(Note: I realize that in the clever graphic I created, the phrase "please stand by" might seem a bit ironic and cruel in this situation. No pun was intended, and given that my only alternative image showed a puppy unplugging an electrical cord (i.e.: pulling the plug), I thought a monkey eating film was the way to go.)

Parents visit - Part 2

On the Saturday morning of my parents' visit, we (Beth and I, my parents, Bella, our friend Bryn and her dog Dash) made a leisurely getaway around 11 AM to head north of town for a quick canoeing and camping trip. It was an overcast and chilly morning, with a bit of wind thrown into the mix by the time we reached Nancy Lake State Park. From the trailhead it was a 3 mile hike in to Red Shirt Lake, where our canoes were waiting, and by the time we pushed off from shore there was hardly a cloud left in the sky.

Despite the good omen of the weather, I was pretty nervous as we set off in the canoe for the simple reason that this was Bella's first time in such a tippable boat. She did just fine, despite a really tempting fly-by from a dragonfly where she thought about making a lunge, probably because she was just as nervous about her maiden voyage as I was. In the end, after only about 10 uneventful minutes we were pulling ashore.

Home for the night was a small (~200 feet across) island with a rustic (amenities include wooden sleeping platform and table!) cabin looking southwest across the lake. It was the perfect place to let the dogs run amok, which they were more than willing to do. That left us two-leggers to enjoy a beautiful, sunny and warm afternoon however we wanted.

Not surprisingly, we based our entertainments around food, drink and a cheery campfire (which was also a welcome source of warmth as the evening wound down). Sunset in late September was still nearly 8PM, so we were able to prepare dinner at a leisurely pace while sipping from a variety of wines (carried in our brand new Platypus PlatyReserve wine reservoirs - YUM!). The main course was Spaghetti with Parmesan and Bacon - a favorite new recipe that I highly recommend - with a dessert of baked apples filled with brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. It was all delicious, even according to my mom who had uncharacteristically assured us that she would not be enjoying the pasta recipe.

Sleep was restless, especially with two dogs who each interpreted the other's every move as an invitation to play, not to mention Dash's attempt to French Kiss me in my sleep (note: this was only unsuccessful because I had the misfortune of waking up a millisecond before Dash licked my tongue, not because Dash in any way failed to take advantage of me). It also got really chilly in the cabin by the time morning rolled around, although I may have been the only one who needed to add extra layers overnight.

{Dash, you saucy dog, you}

In the morning my mom rekindled the campfire, my dad made a ton of pancakes, Beth and Bryn got water and I... well surely I must have done something. I probably kept the dogs out of trouble. It was a beautiful morning, and when a few snowflakes drifted down on us they seemed so out of place with the mostly sunny skies that I thought they were just ash from the fire. We took our time packing up, with some folks taking the opportunity to head out in canoes to explore the lake a bit before we headed out.

We left our island a bit before noon and were back to the cars a little after one. The weather turned nasty on the drive home, and when we stopped for a late lunch on a detour into Palmer it was raw, windy and dark. There was snow on the mountains and reports that it was snowing hard (but not sticking) in Anchorage. But by the time we got home the sun was out and shining off of the newly frosted peaks. Quite the view from our cozy living room. I'm guessing we celebrated our safe return with a hearty dinner and some wine. I know Bella celebrated by sleeping from about 5 in the evening straight through to morning.

Parents visit - Part 1

Since they were already going to be in Minnesota (Editor’s note: MN is still very far away from AK. In fact the two should generally be considered nowhere near one another, but I guess we’ll have to ignore that for now.), my folks decided to fly up for a visit about 2 weeks ago. They got in on a gorgeous Wednesday afternoon while Beth and I were still at work and spent an hour or so settling in at our house and playing with Bella before I got home (I left work an hour early so Beth arrived about an hour later.). The plan for the night was eggplant parmesean, Ceasar salad, beer, wine and conversation, and it went off without a hitch. Shocking, I know, given the folks involved.

Beth had to work on Thursday, but I took the day off and after a leisurely start to the morning my parents and I took Bella and drove up to Powerline Pass, an area of the Chugach State Park right at the edge of town. Our hope was to see some of the moose that congregate there every fall and even though we didn’t see any up close we did see several from long distance (Note: that’s not my picture below, but this blog’s been seeming kinda drab ever since my camera bit it). We also saw several sheep in typical sheep-sighting fashion (i.e.: a clump of white dots on a far-off ridge) and my mom and I saw a bear scampering through some clearings across the valley. It was a gorgeous day, with a touch of frost on the ground, the whole city of Anchorage below us, and Denali visible on the horizon 145 miles to the north.

After heading home for a quick lunch it was time for the part of the visit where I put my parents to work. First it was a trip to the grocery and liquor stores, where we stocked up for what appeared to be a much larger group than our party of 4. Next, I set up my mom in the kitchen making spaghetti at Beth’s special request (amazing that the girl can win points with my mom by making her cook a major meal, but my mom was quite tickled to find her spaghetti sauce in such high demand) while my dad and I loaded up construction debris and headed for the dump (with Bella along for the ride). After offloading 800 pounds (my dad was determined to get our before and after weights in the car) of junk that used to be my house, it was back to the house for another major meal accompanied by libations and conversation.

On Friday morning it was back-to-work for the DC-ers. Beth and my dad worked at putting up vinyl siding on the front of the house (which I’ll let her describe on her own blog) while my mom and I worked at burying metal flashing to cover the foundation of our house ahead of putting up the rest of the siding. We worked pretty much straight through from 9 AM until about 6 PM, with a break for a robust lunch (spaghetti, eggplant parm, leftover meatloaf sandwiches, etc.), before the traditional post-construction dinner at Don Jose’s. It was fajitas and a margarita for me, and if I recall correctly it was margaritas all around as we were all feeling pretty parched from a full day of labor.

My folks claim to have enjoyed putting in the work on our house, and were very complimentary of the work Beth and I (and her parents, and Chris, and other assorted helpers) had already done on it. Still I bet they were pretty happy the next day to not find themselves at work. Instead we drove north of town for a canoeing and camping trip in Nancy Lake State Park. But this post is already pretty wordy, so I think I’ll make that trip a separate post for another time.

Eric's Bigish Ride

As you may know, a couple weeks ago I joined up with my dad for the last few days of his cross-country bike ride. You can read about his whole ride here, and if you want a more detailed description of the parts I was on look here, here, here, here and here. Unfortunately my camera got in a fight with some rocks (and lost) on the first morning of the ride, so I don’t have any pictures of my own, but my dad put up plenty of shots of his own. That should take care of the need to visually document my participation.

Anyway, since he also took care of the major summaries, I’ll just add a few points. First, putting a bunch of 50- and 60-somethings on bikes for 5 hours a day is basically the equivalent of putting their metabolisms in a time-machine and sending them back 40 years. The old folks seem to enjoy this, as evidenced by the near-constant face-stuffing witnessed throughout my 4 days with the group. This extended far beyond my dad’s well-documented affection for pies and seemed oblivious to both gender and nationality.

Second, my dad sucks at spotting wildlife. On one occasion he nearly got attacked by an osprey as a result, but mostly it just makes him not see deer off in the fields at the edge of the road. I suppose that his desire to keep his bike on the pavement, out of traffic and in a wheels-down position plays some role in keeping his eyes fixed on the road ahead. And I should admit that this “eyes forward” approach not only guided him safely across the country but briefly jived with the desire to see wildlife when we surprised a deer on the soft shoulder in the first hour of my ride. But mostly, for a guy who claimed to want to see wildlife so badly, I just didn’t see the effort or the execution. Fortunately I was there to point out a number of additional deer, a bald eagle, osprey (one with a big fish!), some wild turkeys and a few other varmints.

Third, I feel a little guilty about the timing of my trip, since I since I hitched it onto the front end of my friend Garry’s bachelor party and wedding. Before Garry’s dad passed away abut 3 years ago, the two of them were really close and a lot of their bonding took place on fishing trips – the same way biking has been a great way for my dad and I to bond. I’m not sure if Garry ever saw the same connection between his fishing and my biking, but I would hate to have my trip bring any sadness into the picture for Garry’s wedding.

Fourth, although I’m sure there were individuals on the trip who didn’t get along with one another, it was really nice to see that after 4000 miles the group as a whole still had fun hanging out together. I’m sure things could’ve gone another way, but these people were still joking around and having a great time right to the end. The whole mentality of the group helped me to fit in and have a great time pretty much right away, which was great.

Fifth, my dad was nice to not point out that on the last uphill he beat me to the top by a solid 20 seconds*. My bathroom break a mile from the top didn’t help, but I was stopped for less than a minute and couldn’t close the gap. It seems likely that our respective levels of training to that point – specifically his constant riding for 3 months straight – might have made the difference there.

* It’s entirely possible that he didn’t even notice this, since he was probably trying to wrap his mind around the idea that after 4000+ miles this was the last hill between him and the ocean. But I did, and you can be sure that next time we’re on bikes I’ll be ready. And no I don’t care that I’m 32 years younger than him. He’s getting “the look.”

Sixth, that ride a lot of fun! Loving my life in Anchorage doesn’t mean that I don’t miss things like my family, biking and sunshine. It just means that sometimes I’ve got to do a little travelling in order to get those things. This was one of those times and man was it worth the trip!

Eric's big-ass ride

I'm leaving Anchorage tomorrow morning and flying down to Oregon for my friend Garry's wedding which conveniently doesn't happen until over a week later. In the meantime I'll be meeting up with my dad in Redmond and biking with him on the last few days of his cross-country ride. I kind of feel like its poor form to show up at the end of this epic journey as they cruise towards the coast, but that is outweighed by the fact that it sounds pretty cool to me that after crossing the Cascades on my first day we'll be on flats or downhills for virtually all of the remaining 175 miles or so. Also, I plan to be on hand as a photographer for all the riders once they reach the ocean, so that has to carry some value.

Anyway, it might not be too much of a ride compared to my dad's trek, but I've been looking forward to this trip for awhile and can't wait to get started.

Beth's brothers were in town for a bit over a week. As predicted, several hijinks ensued. Here's the evidence:

The first stop of the trip was Homer, Alaska. Allegedly it's the halibut capital of the world, but we didn't even see one.

We camped out on the Homer spit, which is basically a 4-mile long sandbar covered head-to-toe in tacky tourist crap, which is just what you'd want if you had a really unique geological feature in a gorgeous setting. We camped on the beach next to the road and next to some rather amorous neighbors who failed to show proper vocal restraint. Bella was, needless to say, intrigued. There were eagles, seals and sea otters, though.

On the way down to Homer the weather was beautiful and we could see across Cook Inlet for some of the clearest views of Mt. Redoubt and Mt Iliamna that I've ever had. Very gorgeous.

In the AM, after a quick boot check by Beth and Ian (results: success!), we were told that we couldn't go on our planned bear-viewing and flightseeing adventure. Although this was technically the point of our trip to Homer, I'd say we did a beautiful job of transitioning to Plan B: eat a giant breakfast and then hike it off.
This was the destination of our hike: a beautiful lake at the toe of a glacier, complete with icebergs. The scenery was gorgeous and the weather was the best we've had in weeks. Unfortunately, Beth's only footwear was her Xtra-Tuffs. They're not exactly ideal for a 5-mile hike, but she's a trooper.
I just love this picture of our friend Louis with his beard and deadpan expression on the one hand, and his foofy drink in a cat mug on the other. Trying out Bloody Marys made with different flavors of vodka (bacon, salmon, pepper) was one of the main activities for the rest of the week. They were all delicious. Since I had to work while Beth and her brothers were going off on their adventures during the week, they were very good at making sure that once I got home I had one of these (or a beer or glass of wine) in hand as soon as possible.

This classy shot was taken after Ian decided to see our classiness (we were having our second bottle of Eric's-birthday-related champagne) and raise it with a pack of fake moustaches. Well played.
Ian did the better of the two Wilson boys when it came to wildlife. Here he is with a nice rainbow trout that he caught.

And here's a moose that Beth and Ian saw wandering around in a busy intersection near our house. I think Ian saw so many moose that he got bored with them. For Andrew we had to go on a special moose-finding mission after Ian had left just so he could see one. We were successful, though, and found him a big bull moose with huge velvety antlers.

Well, there you have it: a photo journal which chronicles 2 or 3 of the many many more things that happened while Beth's brothers were in town. Hope you enjoyed!

Wilson boys headed for Alaska – hijinks expected

In a stunning turn of events it appears that the Wilson siblings not only stand on the verge of tying the Moore/Monte siblings in terms of total Alaskan visits 2-2, but are also poised to take a commanding 2-1 lead in the number of individual siblings to visit the 49th state. Observers have noted, however, that neither Wilson brother is expected to be accompanied by a spouse or significant other, thus missing a crucial chance to gain an advantage in the primary tie-breaker should both clans eventually tally the same number of visits and/or visitors. Progeny are not to be considered in the event that a tie-breaker is needed, as the risk of an inter-family arms race in the form of rampant childbearing was deemed too great.

The visit will kick off with a weekend in Homer, Alaska, including a bear-viewing and flightseeing tour to nearby Katmai National Park. Later in the week Beth, her brothers and BFE Chris will backpack into the Talkeetna Mountains and visit the wreckage of a B-29 bomber that crashed on a glacier over 50 years ago. On top of those two events are plans for a joint 30th birthday celebration for myself and Ian, the possibility of additional hiking, gold panning and all sorts of other uniquely Alaskan activities. Along the way, I expect beer to be consumed, hijinks to ensue and a good time to be had by all.