In Fairbanks

It's been warm in Fairbanks. Its very dry and the pollen is pretty thick. I went up to the ski trails at UAF to join in an ABO bird walk but only three of us showed up and none of us were the guides! Another couple and I walked around for a little while until we decided to part ways. I walked down to Smith Lake and then back through some of the trails that I like. I saw several songbirds and some ducks.

You forget how expansive Fairbanks is and how far away the mountains are. There's a lot out there between town and the Alaska Range.



I went with my sister to the nursery to pick up some of the vegetables and flowers she needed for the garden and yard. How fun! I thought this was a silk flower but its real!



Its nice to see kids playing in the old neighborhood again. I spend many years playing in this yard with the neighbor kids and as the homeowners grew older so did the kids. Its been enough time not that there's a new generation of kids who are whopping it up!


And I just have to say - the camera on the iphone isn't very good but it sure is handy!

This and That again again and again

Dairy-Free, Sugar Free RAW Chocolate recipe - this sounds delicious!

And this was delicious! I thought we'd try out something different with some red chard this week. I normally steam the chard with some garlic and black pepper and maybe some onion slices. Then before serving drench it with rice wine vinegar. We like the taste and its easy. But we had that flavor last week so I wanted to try something a bit different: Red Chard and Caramelized Onions. The blend of brown sugar and sweet onions combined with the salty from the olives and the tartness of the lemon juice and caper - lovely explosion in the mouth! I would suggest slicing in the olives in half so they mix better with the onion slices and chopped chard.

When I was in Fairbanks in May I stopped by the Georgeson Botanical Garden to see how the Ohlsen Family Garden spot was taking shape. It looks like they might be starting work on the upper part where they wanted to turn it into a sort of outdoor patio with pavers and moveable raised beds. Our request was to incorporate some diamon willow benches or trellis' or something. Its a multi-year project but it looks like they might be starting the first phase.

Fairbanks Clouds

I know what you're thinking, why would someone living in Juneau take pictures of clouds! We don't get these types of clouds very often and I didn't realize until I saw them on this last trip to Fairbanks, that I missed them.

I was walking at Creamer's Field after a very warm day and watched the big thunder clouds start to roll in. They gather together to form larger masses, rolling and churning until they get darker. On this occasion, thunder never developed and I didn't get rained on as I walked through the fields.

Bunches of Berries

One of my favorite hiking trails in the Fairbanks area is at Granite Tors. Its a 14 miles loop trail that most people do as a night over trip. Tim and I have been up both sides of the loop but haven't done the complete loop up by the Tors. The East side of the loop follows the river then a creek until it starts climbing up a side-hill. The West side of the trail goes through the tundra and lower muskeg. Right before we left town they put in a 3-mile loop which makes for a really nice walk that takes advantage of both sides of the valley's scenery.

I convinced some of my buddies to take a little wallk with me one night after work while I was in town recently. Here's one of the bridges that's on the new loop cross-over trail.


Chris and John

After we made the turn we walked a little ways beyond the trail back and headed up the west side. The blueberries started to get thicker as we walked up the valley. We found that they were pretty big right by the creek. Kim with the east side trail in the background.


and Dorothy showing off the wonderful berries we found along the creek.


This was a strange hike...as we were starting out we heard someone calling and then when they finally got our attention a man told us his wife and two kids had taken off for a hike along the east trail at about 11 and were supposed to be back by 2 pm. He said that the rangers and helicopters were on their way. It was about 7:30 or 8 pm when we started out. We weren't sure if he was pulling our leg or what. We kept our eyes open but didn't see anyone who looked lost. About an hour later we heard a helicopter and then saw it start doing a searching pattern. On our way back we ran into a couple rangers who were sweeping the trail. And then we started hearing answers to their calls. When we got back to the parking lot they still hadn't shown up yet but we told them we had heard voices, and one that might have been a kid or higher pitched woman's voice. As we were packing up a young boy and a ranger can into view and it was the missing party. The boy seemed a little worried about maybe getting to trouble. He said that they were never lost - they just lost track of time. I guess the strangest part if this adventure was that they father never hugged the kid or expressed any strong emotion. He didn't actually start yelling. The ranger had to tell the guy to get the kid in a warmed car. We didn't stay to see the rest of the party come back. It seemed like maybe the mother had a hip problem and had to take her time. Anyway, really glad it turned out but it was a baffling experience.