Vancouver, BC

In April I flew up to Vancouver, B.C. to give presentations for work.  Me and one of the guys on our project decided to stay an extra night to give us a chance to explore part of the city.

We took the Skytrain to downtown and started our adventure.

After briskly walking through Chinatown, and suddenly finding ourselves in the middle of drug requests, we made it to a stretch of water.  The view of the mountains was amazing.

There was lots of people mulling about enjoying the sunny and warm afternoon.  We basically continued walking along the waterfront for a good hour or so, before cutting through a large park area to get to the south side of the city.

We sat on the beach and watched the sunset over the ocean, before walking back into downtown to catch the Skytrain back to the airport, and then have the hotel shuttle driver pick us up.

Riverside, CA

I had a couple days off work, so I went down to Southern California to visit my cousin Townsend at college.  I got out on the first flight from Spokane, to Portland.  On the way I got some gorgeous photos of Mt. Hood in the morning sunlight.

                                           (Mt. Hood, with Mt. Jefferson in the distance)
  I decided I'd rather spend a few extra hours waiting in Portland to get a seat on a flight that was wide open, than be packed into a full one.  The extra wait was worth it.  I flew into Santa Ana/Orange County airport and Townsend picked me up.

We walked around his college, and then went out to the Aviation department's location, next to the small airport.  One of the instructors gave us access to the flight line and we got to walk along looking at all the aircraft, including an old C-47 from WWII.

That evening we went to the cafeteria there... I wish I could have had food that good while I was in college.

In the morning Townsend drove me up to Ontario, and I flew back to Portland from there, on one of the Alaska flights operated by Skywest.

On the way, I was trying to get a picture of Mt. Shasta.  I'm 99% sure it was Shasta, but I couldn't get any great pictures.

Day Trip To San Diego

Wednesday, February 4, Jason and I had planned on going to Seattle for the day.  We weren't really keen on waking up too early, though, and we ended up getting to the airport too late to get seats on the STAR flight to Seattle.  At the last minute the gate agent changed us over to the Salt Lake City flight, and it was a spur of the moment trip to San Diego from there.

It was a quick hop to SLC, and then we literally boarded an Alaska flight right next to the Horizon plane we stepped off of.  From there it was about 1.75 hours to San Diego.  Warm sun greeted us.  We rode the bus to downtown, from the airport, and I took Jason through the Maritime museum.  We also splurged a little on a lunch at Anthony's Seafood Bar & Grill.  I had an appetizer of clam chowder, and then a fish platter.

Included in the admission was a harbor cruise (which I didn't do last time I was in San Diego).  So we got about a 45 minute boat ride on an old harbor patrol boat that the museum operates.

At that point we still had some time to kill.  So we went to the Santa Fe Depot and took one of the trains to "Old Town".  When we got there we browsed a couple shops that we didn't find interesting.  However, we finally found Old Town hidden inside an old park.  It's not easy to find if you don't know what you're looking for.  We only had time to explore a couple buildings, one of them being a cigar shop, and a couple general stores.

We didn't leave without a couple samples, and made sure to grab one for a friend in Boise.  Unfortunately we didn't have enough time left to explore the rest of the shops.  It was pretty neat though, with everyone dressed up from the 1800's and running the stores.

We caught an Alaska flight back to Portland.  Our plan was, to hopefully run down to the Horizon gates and make the last flight into Boise for the night.  And if we were too late, we would be in position to catch the first flight into Boise the following morning.

Unfortunately for us, we were seated in the back of the plane and everyone took their sweet time getting off the plane.  Then, in the hurry to rush to the gate and make the cutoff time, we ran in the wrong direction.  When we finally made it to the Horizon gates we were 2 minutes late, and were stuck in Portland until morning.

Living in Alaska for a Week Part 2

The next morning Jason and I were up to go to the airport and fly up to Fairbanks.  Earlier in the year Horizon had started service between the two cities, and we had always wanted to take one of the flights up there.  And in true Horizon spirit they decorated a couple of their aircraft to represent a couple university sports teams in the state.

It was a quick flight up there and while it was cloudy, I did get some nice views of Denali poking above the clouds.

The flight up to Anchorage was wide open.  There were probably only 20 people max on the plane.  When we got up to Fairbanks it was very cloudy, but when we got below cloud level I could see the gorgeous colors.  Fall had already settled on the area.

Arriving at the airport we saw how small it was.  Jason and I grabbed some souvenirs from the gift shop, and then then walked outside.  It was cold.  We didn't realize the bus would come and we could ride into the actual city.  But I also happened to check the flight loads back to Anchorage: almost all full.  So we decided it would be a good idea to start trying to get back.  We missed the first couple flights (including an Alaska Combi flight) because they were full.  So we went to the cafe and Jason bought us some chili dogs.  It was by far the best chili dog I've ever had.

Jason and I did get lucky, however, and got out.  Two people happened to no-show, and we got their seats.  We were pretty happy.  We enjoyed the flight back home, and to celebrate I even tried some of the free Alaskan Amber that they served.  Jason was proud of me for even finishing it before he did.

We had "plans" to get up early and catch another Horizon flight, to Kodiak Island, but we halfheartedly said "screw it" and went back to bed in the morning.  Instead, we caught an afternoon flight up to Barrow, making a stop in Prudhoe Bay.  Prudhoe Bay is pretty much just a town existing to support the oil company there.  It feeds the Alaskan Pipeline that travels down to Valdez.

The temperature was hovering right below freezing, when we arrived in Barrow.  I wanted to go eat dinner at Arctic Pizza, with Jason, but we couldn't find it.  So we just wandered the town for a while, and walked out onto the beach of the Arctic Ocean.

It was pretty muddy, and there was snow on the ground.  We trekked through the part of the town close to the airport, but didn't have time to go to the main part.  But we did get to see a big whale skull outside the city hall "building".

I hope to make it back to see the rest of the town (and maybe a polar bear too).  But we didn't have much time.  If we didn't make this flight, we were stuck until the next morning.  And who wants to be stuck in Barrow?

We didn't go through security until we boarded the aircraft; that's how small the airport is.  But we got boarded up, and once again had to stop in Prudhoe Bay.  We got back to Anchorage, and into the motel around midnight.  And thus ended my fun flying experiences around Alaska, for this trip.  Now it was time for my boring work training.....

                                                    (Point Barrow)

Living in Alaska for a Week Part 1

Again, back in September, not soon after getting back from Mexico, I had a big trip planned.  Jason was meeting me up in Anchorage.  I followed up the morning of the 19.  We had checked bags full of gear, and cheap food from the grocery store to eat.

I arrived late morning, and we got checked into my motel room at the Millennium Hotel.  I would be up here later for training, so I just came up early to do some traveling.

We really didn't do much that day except relax and sleep, after long flights from Boise.  We used our coffee maker to get hot water for our noodles.

In the morning, one of Jason's friends that lives up in Anchorage came and picked us up.  He had offered to drive so we wouldn't have to rent a car, to drive down to Exit Glacier, near Seward.  So after stopping at a store to get some butane fuel for my stove, we set off.  It was about a 3 hour drive down to Seward, through some really pretty country.  We drove along the Turnagin arm, and then down across the Kenai Peninsula.

It was pretty chilly, and it had been raining off and on.  The humidty was high as well.  The three of us fooled around on the easy foot paths at the mouth of the glacier, before starting the 4 mile hike up to the top of the trail/ridge where we would see a view of the Harding Ice Field.

For a while we didn't get good views.  But after we cleared the tree line we started to get better glimpses of Exit Glacier, as we gained height.  I believe it was about 1000 feet of elevation gained for every mile of trail.  It was pretty steep.

As we got closer to the top the view began to open up and we could see the glacier getting wider.

The view from the top was pretty incredible.  I can only imagine how much better it would have looked on a gorgeous clear day.  I won't complain though.  It would be fun to traverse the ice field, like some groups of people do.

We rested at the Emergency Shelter at the top of the trail.  We pulled out my stove, and we boiled water for some meals, stocked up on calories, and then eventually started the hike back down.  We drove into Seward to see the town, and we also got to see somebody's boat burning in the harbor, as well as a baby moose alongside the road.

We got back to Anchorage late.  I was able to mostly stay awake and talk with Jason's friend.  We had been planning on flying up to Barrow in the morning, but we decided to switch that trip to another day.  Instead, we would sleep in a bit and try to make it up to Fairbanks.  We wanted to fly on Horizon's flights they operate between Fairbanks and Anchorage, now.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

I've been majorly behind on my traveling posts, but this one is about a short trip I took to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico back in September.

On Saturday, September 13 our station manager sent my roommate, Jason, and I down for a 2 night stay at an all inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta.  We had a long day of traveling; flying to Portland, then San Francisco, and finally arriving in Mexico.  By the time we got checked into our place it was dinner time.  We didn't do much the entire trip, and I only got a couple photos.  We ate food, sat in the sun, ate more food, had drinks on the beach.  Sunday morning we did go see a timeshare.  In exchange for our time that morning, we were given taxi fare to and from the airport, free tequila, and free snorkeling tickets (which we weren't able to use because we didn't have another day in Mexico).

Flying home, we connected through San Diego.  We barely made it through customs, rechecked our bag, and got on our flight to Seattle.  Then we arrived on the last flight into Boise for the night.  It was neat to see the area, and experience the jungle and some authentic Mexican culture.  However, it wasn't really worth all the travel time and headaches we put up with for the trip.

Shreveport, LA

Wednesday, April 23 I left Boise in the afternoon.  The flights out of Boise had filled up the next morning, so I made the decision to leave a little bit earlier than usual.  I was trying to make it to Shreveport to visit Daniel and Lauren.  So I took a flight to Seattle, that stops in Lewiston on the way there.  I was barely able to make it to my connecting gate and reach my flight to Phoenix, AZ from there.

I had to spend the night in Phoenix, but I got on the first US Airways morning flight to Dallas.  Daniel met me there and we drove the 3 hours to Shreveport.  That afternoon we went over to a couple's apartment nearby, Patrick and Suzanne, for dinner.  We played a game and visited for a while before they went to bed sort of early.

For most of the time in Louisiana, I spent my time doing nothing but relaxing and working on a book with Daniel.  But there were some "bigger highlights."

That Saturday we went to the local Air Force Base.  The Thunderbirds were performing there.  I cared more about one aircraft: a B-17 bomber from WWII.  I'd never gotten to go inside one before, but now I finally was able to.

The following Monday we drove out to West Monroe, LA.  The purpose?  To visit the Duck Commander warehouse.  We also ate at Willie's Duck Diner.

Later that night Daniel and I made a giant meat filled sandwich.

The next day Daniel took me to Cross Lake.  I got to see a little bit of what "swamp" in Louisiana is like.  There were some areas of backed up water into the Cyprus groves.

I didn't sleep any Tuesday night.  Wednesday Daniel and I were up at 1:30 in the morning to drive me into Dallas.  I was sick and had a fever, but at least I made all my connecting flights and got home.  I flew on US Air from Dallas, to Phoenix, to Portland.  Then I flew Horizon back to Boise.