"testing, testing"

Passing Castle Cape on the AK Peninsula

Thanks to my colleague Laura, I'm trying out a blog this year since my history of consistent email updates is so . . . bad.

Summer is here!? I can't believe it for 3 reasons:

First off, I had a great time in sub-arctic Fairbanks. The school year was busy but I had a couple of "shady bar" adventures and winter camping trips to break up the studying a bit. Dad got me an awesome bike the day after I got in town, and besides having some air-headed lame-o stealing my bike seat, I discovered I LOVE bike riding. So much, in fact, that I’ve hauled it all the way out to Sand Point for the summer. I don’t think there are too many bikes in the world that get the privilege of such scenic trips. The more I see of this state, the more I’m convinced that to live anywhere else is not for me (sorry Mom and Dad and Cori).

Secondly, when I left Fairbanks it was 70 degrees and rising. Today in Sand Point is the nicest of the three I’ve been here, and it’s about 40 F with sideways rain and variable winds gusting to 20 knots. Everything is brown, brown, brown. Yay! (Not really.) Actually, it is awesome to be back on the coast no matter how windy and cold and wet it is. After a frozen and still landscape for most of the 9 months I was in Fairbanks, where there aren’t even smells because things are so frozen, the brown, cold and moody Shumagin Islands seem more alive than I can describe.

Finally, getting off the ferry after a 30 hour ride from Kodiak to Sand Point felt surreal because it seems as though I just left last weekend. This time, however, I have another year of experience and lessons in me. I’m still at that age where the learning curve is extremely steep and you feel so much wiser than you remember being last year. It’s great to grow, but I have to confess I wouldn’t mind hitting a plateau sometime soon. Learning is painful and humbling most of the time. But also fun and motivating. I know you all who have been before me can relate with the kind, wise smiles that make us youngin's feel sooo young. Not in a bad way.

Look for more later and pictures when I take them!