Learning To Fly - Dec 6, 2012

This is a text-heavy post, only because for once I was completely living the experience and didn't take time to get behind a camera and take many photographs. It was an awesome experience, so I can't possibly exclude it from the blog! :)

A deal came across on Groupon several months ago for an introductory flight lesson. I tried (pretty hard, I think) to talk myself out of buying one, but I couldn't do it. Learning to fly is something I've wanted to do for a long, long time. How could I possibly turn down a great deal to do something like that?!

The flight was from Talkeetna Airport, so I had decided when I bought the Groupon that I'd like to do the lesson during the winter since I'd already seen that area from the air in the summer and fall. I almost let the Groupon expire (oops!!), but thankfully I caught it in time and I had a day I could fit it in. The weather was just perfect... clear blue skies and almost no wind. Not to mention 0 degrees F in the middle of the day. :) It could have been much colder!

What I expected from this experience was this: I'd be sitting next to the instructor and he'd do most of the flying while talking to me about what he's doing along the way. Perhaps he'd let me try a couple things during the lesson before taking the controls back. I was pretty excited for this scenario because I love flying, seeing the lay of the land from the air, and learning about all things related to flying. This scenario would make me a very happy person!

Well, this isn't exactly how it went. At all. My first clue that maybe I didn't completely understand what this would be was when I was in the office of the company waiting for the previous lesson to end. I was talking to the office manager there, saying sarcastically how terrible it was to have to look at Denali the whole drive to Talkeetna. She agreed and talked about how great it is to see it while flying, and then she told me that if I want to take any pictures while I'm up there I can ask the instructor to take the controls for a moment while I grab a couple shots. I honestly didn't think much about what she said at the time though!

So the previous student and the instructor return, and then the instructor starts asking me about my experience with small planes, flying, etc. We walked out to the plane and the first thing I notice is that it's not side-by-side seating... it's front and back! Still, I figured I'd be in the back seat. The instructor starts going over the safety briefing and showing me all the equipment on the dashboard and stuff. Then he says, "I need you to at least know what's what here because I will not be able to reach them from the back seat. If I tell you to do something, you'll know what I'm talking about." Uh... what?!

And with that, I got settled in the front seat (trying not to get anymore nervous than I already was) and we went through the checks, I started the engine, and we started taxiing to the runway. Not we... I. We had to wait for a plane that had just landed to get off the runway before we could take off, but once he moved, I was instructed to gently give it some gas and take off. Ha... suddenly, I was flying! We practiced keeping the plane level, turning left and right, going up and down, and "simple" things like that. It was gorgeous flying around the Susitna Valley!

In the end, the amount of flying I did was the inverse of what I expected. I did at least 90% of the flying, with the instructor just briefly taking the controls to show me a couple things. I even got to land the plane (after the instructor got us lined up) and taxied back to our parking spot! Crazy crazy day compared to what I was expecting. I got a student pilot log book with my hour of flying time and take off/landing logged, and then I was on my way back home.

I was able to take a couple quick photos while we were "coming in low over the river" on our way back to the Talkeetna Airport (the instructor was clearly in control at this point, never fear!), and this one below is my favorite one despite (because of?) its askew angle. You can see the (mostly frozen) Susitna River that we're flying over as well as Denali in the upper left corner of the photo. This photo is taken at about 3pm... just before sunset in early December up here. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day and a more rewarding experience! The instructor had a great sense of how much leeway to give the student before either saying something helpful or taking over. Too bad I don't live closer to this airport so I could take more lessons from him!

The plane I just flew... I think I'm still a bit in disbelief!

'Til next time...

Another Great Aurora Show! - Nov 23, 2012

With the return of dark nights, we had an opportunity to see the Aurora Borealis at the end of November. I ended up going to Point Woronzof in Anchorage with a couple friends to see what we could see, and it was a great show! I think the photos pretty much speak for themselves, so without further ado...

I'd love to be able to see the Aurora from a plane sometime... like these people got to do as they were taking off from the airport right behind us!

It's really starting to get good now! I love seeing it reflect off the ice in Cook Inlet, too.

'Til next time...

Enjoying Some Fall Color Around Town - Sept 2012

I just love fall colors, smells, and temperatures. Trees are so pretty, and they leave a carpet of color beneath them as the leaves drop. These are just a few fall photos that I took trying to capture what I love about the season. As you can see, yellow is the color of the season around here, but there are some reds mixed in from some bushes and other plants.

First are some photos I took around work with my SLR camera one day.

One of my favorite trees around the office, and I know I'm not the only one that loves this tree in the fall!

This is one I took with my phone as I took a break from work to walk up near our upper air building. You can see why we love to walk up this way (and it's even more spectacular when you can see the full mountain view!)... we sure do have some incredible views to enjoy! Sort of reminds me of the views from the office in La Crosse, WI.

Another phone photo... I took this one as I was walking around my neighborhood one day.

These next few are from Baxter Bog Park, a park that a friend introduced me to not long after I moved here. It is a beautiful spot in the middle of the city!

Winter is surely on its way! This'll be my 3rd Alaska winter... and I'm starting to get excited for it again now that fall is here! 'Til next time...

My Favorite Time of Year For a Visit to Denali National Park! 9-10 to 11-12

The last of my “summer” visitors were my parents in early September. They intentionally came out at this time because we planned to go to Denali National Park during my favorite time of year… fall foliage time! We decided to not make any reservations until they arrived so we could find the best weather days to get up there. The morning after they arrived (they got here at 10:30pm AK time Sunday), I looked at the forecast and saw that Monday and Tuesday were going to be the best days. I asked if they could be ready to go in 30 minutes or so, and that’s what we did. It was a clear blue day for our drive up, as well as our time in the park the next day. We could watch Denali "grow" as we drove north. It is quite a sight to see!

One of our first stops when we got to the park was to visit the sled dogs. I wanted to see the puppies again (although they're looking less and less like puppies!), but the adult dogs there are just as much fun to visit and they love having visitors! We once again missed the demonstration they do there, but you can visit the dogs anytime thankfully.

This is Nuna, one of the dogs from the 2009 litter. Her bio says, "Nuna is one of the strongest girls in the whole kennel. Already, she has broken two doors from jumping on them out of excitement for dinner." She's very pretty!

While we were there, one of the kennel staff took Annie (one of this year's pups) into the office. I'm not sure what happened in there, but her brother (Lucky) and sister (Polly) were quite curious about what was going on and why they didn't get to join her!

As you can see, Annie has grown into an armload!

Polly is taking advantage of the open top half of her door to check out the view.

Lucky has joined her... and of course there's some nipping and playing!

"What do you think they're doing in there, brother?"

Lucky has moved on, but Polly is still curious!

Annie is back (we missed them bringing her back while we were visiting other dogs) and looks quite content. Must not have been too bad an experience! ;)

One of the goals of this trip was to catch myself on the puppy cam. My sister and I have been diligently watching the camera all summer and seeing all the visitors (mostly their feet but sometimes their hands reaching in to pet the puppies) there. So we coordinated the effort and we got it! I had to practically lay on the ground and get in just the right spot. See me there in the lower right corner while Polly and Lucky are wrestling right next to me?

For a little trip down memory lane (for me) and a comparison (for you), I believe these are the first couple screen shots we saved last summer. Their mom, Sultana, is with them at this point and there is a ramp just for the puppies to get into the kennel. They sure do grow quickly!

The rest of the family went inside the cabin, but little Annie stayed out on the ramp a little longer. So cute!

Ok, enough of the dogs. It's hard to tear myself away sometimes! After we visited the dogs, we drove along the part of the park road that anyone can drive on and took in some of the fall foliage and mountain views.

After we got done with our drive, we went for a walk on the "Roadside Trail". This trail actually leads you to the kennels, which is one of their suggested means of getting to the kennels since there isn't a lot of parking there, but we didn't go that far.

We fit a lot in that first day, especially since it took a few hours to drive up there. When we got to our hotel room that evening (I had made a reservation that morning), the manager told me that after I called, it wasn't long before their last few rooms were reserved for the night. Apparently we weren't the only ones taking advantage of the beautiful fall weather!

The next morning we did our bus tour of the park. We didn't see as much wildlife as I'd hoped, but we had some beautiful views the whole way! And near the end we did come across a grizzly bear that was relaxing up on the rocky hillside above the road.

We had to look at stuff like this through the bus windows/windshield. Terrible, eh? ;)

The Great One, Denali!

I tried stitching a bunch of photos together to give a better idea of the panoramic views all over the park.

This is at one of the rest stops. FYI, glacier water is chilly!

I don't know what these sheep are finding to eat here, but they do stand out at least so we can spot them!

The Great One again...

This is probably the most popular spot to photograph the mountain, complete with a leading line. :) What a gorgeous day we had! Days like this really don't happen THAT often, and I've been fortunate to be there for several.

Zooming in from the same vantage point...

This was our best wildlife sighting, and we only knew he was there after we stopped by some professional photographers and one of them pointed him/her out to us. These photos are zoomed in to 300mm, and some were even cropped a bit from there. So he/she wasn't too close. Fun to watch though!

One of our great views on the way back to the visitor's center. Clouds are coming in... we're heading out just in time!

A successful trip all in all with a couple more satisfied customers, I'd say! 'Til next time...