Summer Happenings and Beyond

A lot has happened since my last blog post (par for the course, these days), which if you don't count random video clips, includes hiking a valley,

building a suspended, wooden platform, biking a 24 mile trail,

losing a suspended, wooden platform to vandals, hiking a backyard mountain,

hiking another backyard mountain,

moving into a pre-existing house in the woods,

backpacking another backyard trail for three days,

and squatting in a tent outside a shed-turned-cabin.

Forest Fair, treasure maps in progress, and dog-sitting at various houses throughout Girdwood also fit the bill of 'Ye Olde Summer Events'.

Oh yeah, and the heading picture for this post is from the Waikiki Beach Camp-out 2009 in Cooper Landing!

Not that I'm trying to pass buck or anything, but there are a plethora of photos covering these events on my facebook page, or you can visit the individual photo albums without a facebook account by clicking these links:

Upper Winner Creek Hike
Biking Johnson Pass
Hiking Max's Mountain
Hiking Crow Pass, Part 1
Hiking Crow Pass, Part 2 (backpacking trip)
Hiking Crow Pass, Part 2 (10 minute backpacking video)

And for those of you who've been following these events via facebook and questioning whether this post is just a rehash of previous events and not worth reading, you'll be glad to know that getting this far in the post warrants a prize and a warning all wrapped up into one tasty tamale-of-a-heads-up:

Krikkit anyone?

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." ~Lao Tzu

I'm collecting quotes for a project I'll be working on over the next few weeks. Quotes I'm looking for should be on the subject of nature, solitude, and treasure hunts. If anyone feels compelled to add to my compilation, please note the quote and who uttered the words of wisdom. I've got a healthy 15-20 right now, but I'm welcoming more as space allows.

"Look closely at Central America, and try to imagine what would happen if this vital region were to fall into Communist hands. What would happen is a lot of Communists would be stung repeatedly by vivious(sic) tropical insects the size of mature hamsters." ~Dave Berry

Planning continues for a vacation in the heart of America, and by that I mean Central America. The current itinerary is as follows:

October 29th -> Fly from Anchorage to Seattle to visit Emily, Toby, Tiny Toby, Michelle, and Michael.
November 3rd -> Fly from Seattle to Cancun to begin the journey from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico into Guatemala (and beyond?).
Tentatively, January 15th -> Fly from Cancun to Anchorage to embrace the Alaskan winter once more and collect money as work allows until the next summer. Possibly considering Cancun -> Medford, Oregon in lieu of Anchorage.

This all depends on how much money I can collect in the next couple months. :)

As always, apologies abound for the delay between posts and thank you for reading.