I met John many years ago when he was a mountaineering ranger at Denali National Park on Mount McKinley. /…

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I once had lunch with Daniel and Ruth Boorstin and two grizzly bears...



I once spoke fluent Arabic, but couldn't find a job...



This is a 100ft high petrified penis:




And, since it's Thursday....

Complete with tuxedos and formal gowns, it was the 25th annual Anchorage Nordic Ski Patrol's Champagne Brunch at Hatcher Pass, Alaska.  As with many Alaska venues, it's at the end of the road to the Independence Gold Mine. Gray granite peaks rise above the old mine, now an Alaska… Read full post »

"There ain't no cure, there ain't no cure, there ain't no cure for love..."

When I was 14, I discovered mountain climbing.  By 17 that was all I could think about; it's the same today, 5 decades later.  Two of my climbing partners played the guitar and banjo whenever we were together,… Read full post »

When I was a young boy, barbers cut men's hair.  A trip to the barbershop was a journey into the world of men.  The shop in the basement of Zion's bank in Salt Lake City was huge: granite columns holding up the building, marble and tile floors, and a row of/…

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It's been a rough week for Alaska governor, Sarah Palin.

First, nationally, Sen. John McCain wouldn't commit to supporting her for president if she ran in 2012.  On this week's  'Meet the Press' he said "Well, we'll have to see..."

Second, she was replaced (or uninvited as some say) as the ke… Read full post »

Imagine my amazement. I was reading the sport page of the Anchorage Daily News this morning after an evening of birthday partying last night at Alyeska ski resort, having enjoyed the Telepalooza event. I didn't watch the races, preferring to do my own telemark turns. So, there in the paper sat… Read full post »

A young moose stares in my window

Snow covers the yard

We dream of Spring

Thursday dirty haiku

Fun to read, fun to dream

much more fun to do

My dad went fishing every Friday or Saturday his whole life.  At age 85, he was just as passionate about the sport as he was when he was young.  He was unsteady on his feet but had the spunk of a teenager.  A purist at heart, he would only fish his… Read full post »

My father bought me a little chair when I was three.  It was WWII. We were living in Aurora, Colorado, and Dad was a military doctor at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital.  The chair had a maroon wool needlepoint seat with a flower pattern.  I loved the chair; it was a part of… Read full post »

A Brief History

The Valdez Ice Fest was an institution. Dr. Andrew Embick and friends started it in 1982, and the event ran until a year or so ago.  Each February, I would take the family and participate in the Friday bonfire at the beach near the Valdez, Alaska, harbor where at… Read full post »

Lance Mackey is nearing the end of the Iditarod Trail Sleddog race.  Early this morning he arrived at Elim, a small village along the Northwest Arctic coast of Alaska, 825 miles into the thousand mile race, way ahead of his next competitors.  The temperature is -11 F., with wind to 35… Read full post »

Recently in the New York Times, “In Tough Times, Humanities Must Justify Their Worth” (Arts pages, Feb. 25), the author Patricia Cohen argued that because of the hard economic times, the humanities are under increasing scrutiny to justify their usefulness.  Otherwise, they are the fi… Read full post »

She was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, my skinny blond girl with the high-pitched voice. Her mother, the toughest woman ever, so independent and capable, grew out of the 50's and was so much her own person.  And so D. learned to be her own woman from the start; she never knew… Read full post »

From an Alaskan who lives across Cook Inlet from 4 active volcanoes, one, Mount Spurr, about to erupt again: The U.S. Geological Survey has been a great service to the nation since John Wesley Powell. Jindal's mean-spirited and ignorant quip on federal funds being spent on volcano monitoring rang hol
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I had seen hardly any of the films nominated for any category in the Oscars.  There were many reasons for this: Hollywood put out most of the good movies in one gob after Christmas, so it seemed like they weren't even '08 movies.  I rebelled and didn't see them.  Besides it… Read full post »

When I was a young man, I attended a lecture where the husband/wife team stated, "Security is not something we thought about; the Depression was the best time of our lives and we were very insecure."  During WWII, the whole country contributed to the war effort; mothers went to work in… Read full post »

It's an impossible task to list a single favorite movie, so many great ones, so many genres, so many criteria!  But which one have I watched over and over again?  Hands down, "A Man and a Woman".   Still in love with Anouk Aimee, still dreaming the music, still feeling the wheel… Read full post »

Daryl Miller is a great friend. He and I worked together in the National Park Service for many years, Daryl as the South District Ranger in Talkeetna, AK, and I at the Alaska Regional Office in Anchorage. In 1997, Daryl invited me on his patrol up Denali; we spent 37 days… Read full post »

Every so often I read an outwardly dense, technical, and mind-numbing tome that at first glance should remain on the shelf as a reference book for experts, but from the first page it holds me "with its glittering eye", and I remain as still as the wedding guest, lost in the… Read full post »

WE'VE HAD EIGHT YEARS OF A COWBOY IN THE WHITEHOUSE; WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER WILD MAVERICK!

A "maverick" was not necessarily thought of as a good term in ranching.  It was an unbranded calf that could be picked up by the first person finding it.  Now it is a politician who… Read full post »