Spring trip to Seward, Alaska

Flew to Anchorage and drove to Seward the 3rd week of March to set up a couple of instruments to be put in the waters of Prince William Sound/Gulf of Alaska. I didn't get to go out and put the instruments into the water because of conflicts in my schedule .

Photos along Turnagain Arm between Anchorage and the small town of Girdwood and the ski resort of Alyeska. The blocks in the foreground are mud/ice blocks that build up over the winter as the muddy waters of Turnagain arm flow in and out with the tides. Water rushes in and out of this area where tidal changes are 20-30 feet.
From Alaska.com:

"If your visit is timed right, you are in for a special treat along Turnagain Arm. Most people have never heard of a bore tide, and Turnagain Arm and Knik Arm are the only places in the United States where tidal bores occur regularly. Experts say Turnagain Arm has daily bore tides, but they are difficult to spot when the tide changes aren’t big.

A bore tide is a breaking wave up to 6 feet high rushing up to 15 mph with an incoming tide. At times, a wall of water stretches from one side of Turnagain Arm to the other."

The mountains around Girdwood. Alyeska ski resort is on the right side of the picture. You can just make out some of the runs/lifts.

Mtns behind Girdwood.

Ice chunks flowing out with the tide. The water was moving like a river.

Looking out over Resurrection Bay in Seward.

Stepping out of my hotel room the next morning.

The waters from the Seward Marine Center where I was working.

Out on the pier at the Seward Marine Center.

From the pier.

Driving back to Anchorage on a beautiful sunny day.

Looking towards Turnagain Arm.

Looking out along Turnagain Arm. Anchorage is around the bend at the end of the mtns on the right side.

Winter house work

A few pictures of work done on my house in December and January, 2008.

Sanding rough cut lumber at -10 F!

Lumber waiting to be installed inside.

Its destitnation, the end walls upstairs.

The finished board and baton and the windows all framed in. Only thing left to do is to put a finish coat on all of the wood besides the window framing. I'll do that this summer when I can open up the windows and ventilate.

Finished tongue and groove. The north room, my bedroom.

North room, west side.

Finally decided that I would sand the logs downstairs. There were some pretty rough spots and some discoloration/dirt/scuffs. I walled half the downstairs off with plastic. The sanding actually went pretty quickly with 50 grit sandpaper. I wasn't going for a baby-butt smooth surface. The most time was taken vacuuming up the dust. Yuck!

The 15 lb sander was a bear to handle.

Here you can see the big difference in the before and after.

More of the after.

Ready to go to the other half. Each half took a day.

Pretty snow covered trees outside my door.

Looking down my driveway.