Eternal Sojourn

I could have sworn that I made a post about this, though I guess I didn’t!

I went to Alaska with my Dad and Brother at the beginning of August. We were there for a week. This was my first time going there, and since my parents bought some property, my first trip there was going to be building a cabin on it!

The flight there, man what a hassle! The flight leaving Tampa for Charlotte was delayed due to good ol’ Florida rain and lightning. Because of that delay, I missed my connecting flight from Charlotte to San Francisco. The next available flight was connecting through Las Vegas, thing was, I was going to lose almost an entire day in Alaska since the flight from Las Vegas didn’t leave until the next day.

Since it wasn’t the airlines direct fault, but rather weather, they didn’t offer up a hotel room or anything. They did at least upgrade me to first class :D, so that was cool.

I stayed the night in Las Vegas, luckily the airport there was pretty awesome with lots of things to do. As soon as you step off of the airplane and walk into the terminal *BAM* Las Vegas with slot machines and all.

They had a vending machine…for ipods.


After a long flight I finally made it to Alaska, the view from the plane was awesome.


Alaska was completely beautiful. This was how most of the view was when driving from Anchorage to Talkeetna.


So we totally should have packed light. I knew that where we were going was remote, I even knew that we would have to trek through the woods to get to the property. But knowing and experiencing are so completely different. Here is our baggage, also some building supplies for the cabin.


So I mentioned that the property was remote. Yeah, the only way to get there was by plane. My Dad and I flew in on plane while my brother flew in by helicopter. He was with the guy who was delivering the building stuff and our bags. Man we should have packed light.

The whole being-out-in-the-middle-of-absolutely-no-where is cool, it was so completely quiet out here.


Did you know these lakes are fed by melting glacier water? I can attest to it. Seriously, you know why? The water is a tad bit on the cold side.

So after some pretty strenuous hiking, my Dad and I made it through about a half mile of thick..thick woods and made it to our property. After about 6 loads of stuff on the helicopter (heavy lifting by attached cable) we got all of our stuff out there and my brother arrived with the last load. We didn’t waste too much time. Our first day there and we of course had to go fishing. The salmon were crazy. They were hoping around in the water just out in front of the property. I think they were dying or something, who knows. It was crazy because I saw this sort of thing on discovery channel, but here I was seeing it first hand. Once they get that far up stream they pretty much just die. This guy was probably pretty old. He still tasted good though.

We also didn’t waste much time with the building of the cabin. My dad built one exactly the same at his house to work out all of the issues and figure out the best way for things.


Fast forward a lot and you get this.


Fast forward some more.


Notice my red flannel that I picked up JUST for the lumberjack feeling? I couldn’t go to Alaska, camp out in the woods, chop down some trees, and build a cabin with my bare hands and NOT wear lumberjack flannel and jeans. Seriously. From left to right. Me, my dad and my oldest brother.

It really was beautiful there. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in the winter. We were told that the lake is frozen with at least 6 feet of ice!

After a week of being out in the woods, it was good to be getting back to a hot shower and easily available food. I must admit though, it was an amazing trip. I haven’t spent time with my brother or dad like that in a long long time. I can’t wait for the next time.

After the experience of first class on the way there, I upgraded my flight on the way back. It was worth it.


First class breakfast!

Once again, the view was stunning. I saw 100s of glaciers flying back.

I got back in one piece, 10lbs lighter and THREE belt sizes smaller. Weird how that works out.
I’m anxious for when I can return in the winter time. I look forward to freezing my ass off as well as seeing the aurora borealis. I highly recommend Alaska to anyone who wants to feel like they’re still in civilization, but completely distant to everything.

You can check out the whole photo set on my flickr page here Alaska Set