They Could See Her House From There...

Gordo and I are at an award ceremony called the IDidAContest (if you don't get it, try harder). So we ran into a teacher that had been in our session earlier today. We chatted and spoke to her husband, a professor of education at U. of A.

So when we find out that they're from Wasilla, Gordo, who freely admits that he 'doesn't have that filter', asks the obvious question. The answer was that, indeed, they knew the former governor of Alaska. In fact, they were neighbors with the Palins.

They said that they were pretty nice. Turns out that her parents were both involved in education, someone's niece knew the other's babysitter - etc, etc. I must admit I tuned out because I was hoping that even Gordo's minimal filter would catch any reference to seeing Russia from their backyard..

It did.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

On Saturday...Pt. 3

So after the wildlife conservation center, we headed back up the Seward Highway and stopped at Girdwood. There's a hotel/resort/ski area up there called Alyeska. The reason for our stop? An incredible tram ride up to the top of one of the mountains.

On Saturday...Pt. 2

After hitting Portage, we got back on Seward and headed back up towards Anchorage. Before we did that though, we headed off to a wildlife conservation center. Check it out!

On Saturday...Pt. 1

On Saturday, Gordo and I decided that we could take a day to explore what we could of Alaska. So we rented a car, got ourselves some boots and headed south. We took Seward Highway, named after Lincoln's Secretary of State, William H. Seward. Or maybe it's named after the town south of Anchorage named Seward (which was named after the Secretary). Why so much Seward? A little something called the Alaska Purchase. At the time, it was called Walrus-sia (the Russians sold us Alaska - get it?!) or Seward's Icebox or Seward's Folly and even a 'sucked orange'. However, at two cents an acre (about $7.2M), it turns out to have been a great buy.

Our furthest point south was Portage, a town that was inundated by eight feet of seawater when everything shifted in the great 1964 earthquake. Now, the area is known for a lake with at least four glaciers. Because of much warmer temperatures lately, the glaciers are barely visible from the lake. Also, being winter, the snow covers up the ice-cold blue of a glacier. In the photo below, there's a glacier behind us and to the right of our heads.

Mobile Phone Photos (Friday & Saturday, 2/19, 20)

Here are a few cell phone shots of Alaska. Enjoy!

This photo and the next were at the Anchorage Airport.
A good reminder that you're in Alaska now, baby.

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Big Macs in NYC are for wimps. Here's they're called McKinley Macs.
Dave suggested we get on in the airport one the way home.
I disagree because we're leaving at 2:30am and who knows what'll happen
after one of these and a 10 hours on a plane.

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One of the top 3 breakfasts in my life, if not the best.
Called a Kodiak Benedict, it has King Crab in the eggs.
Plus, that's a reindeer sausage.

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OK. So we decided that, between the two of us, we needs boots, gloves, a hat, sunglasses and snack provisions.

So how do two hardy Alaskan adventurers get it all done - go to Walmart!
And when you walk to the back, next to the paper shredders and bedcovers - bush mail service.

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Though I wasn't the one who thought I needed boots,
when I saw these shit-kickers for $25, I was in.
(Bridget, I know you like these - don't lie)

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So we finally made it to the farthest southern point on Saturday's itinerary,
a town inundated in the great 1964 quake called Porterage.
From this viewing stop, we could see the remnants of three glaciers.
Unfortunately, my big head is directly in the way of nature.

So Happy Right Now...

No explanation necessary, right? Ranked 5th in the country...

I'm Alaska-Bound!

So if you're reading this, you're either a trusted friend or I've caused an international incident involving Russian, U.S. and, possibly Native American interests. Suffice as to say, this is my first time Up North and I'm very excited.

So you ask - what the hell are you doing up there? Playing taiko at a technology conference is my answer. Yeah - weird, I know. But my great friend, Dave Gordon is going up to expose the great people of AK to the work being done by his tremendous organization, Living Through Learning. Long story short, LTLF's goals are to:

* Connect students who are too ill to attend school using web cameras and other technology in a safe and secure manner.
* Provide educational, technical, and problem solving support to families, educators, health care providers, and community based organizations so that the child with a chronic illness can stay connected to their friends, teachers, and valuable learning opportunities.

Gordo's presenting at the ATSE (Alaska Society for Technology in Education) 2010 conference. I'm going to give an hour-long demonstration of the work he and are doing with my organization, Boundless Percussion. In other words, I'm going to get those tech folks to hit the drum like it made fun of their momma.

More soon...