Emily & Luke's Travel Blog & more: August 2009

Luke fishing for grayling on the Delta

Emily making a late dinner (10pm) on the Delta / Lower Tangle Lake campspot

So it has been awhile! This spring/early summer was CRAZY for emily.At the end of April she took off up north to the Brooks Range & Coastal Plains for snow surveys for 10 days and then back to FBKS. Didn't do much else than work for the next 2 months due to a new big project. Field prep work and field work had her working 80+ hours per week until mid June! We visited some rarely and previously ungaged streams to measure streamflow. It was unbelievable. Icebergs float past us.... snow, rain, sunburn, stressed co-worker relations.... we had it all. She returned at the end of June and missed part of her favorite month in alaska! But it was a good experience.... and even Luke got to join emily for a few days.

Anyways, summer was in full swing, it was really HOT in fairbanks June and July. It was so hot that the nearby wildfires were blowing extremely thick smoke into town daily in late july. We did a few trips, a float down the Yukon River from Dawson City, Yukon, to Eagle Alaska and then we floated the Delta for our anniversary. Luke floated Birch Creek (or was it Beaver Creek???) and biked the Denali Park Road. Emily had her longest bike trip w/ friends Sveta and Martin, biking 54 miles (OVERNIGHT in 7 hours) down the Denali Park Road, in July.

Now it is August and the rain is here to put out the terrible fires. Luke is into his hunting/fishing activities in full force....... Sheep hunting now in the Brooks Range and then a fishing trip in So Central AK, and then another fishing trip in the Brooks Range. Emily is gearing up for another work trip up north on Sept 1.

Other good news...... Luke accepted a new job! He has been working part time for my old boss at GW Scientific. It is convenient for him because he can take much of the summer off... but those days are over and he needs to get back into his career and make some money so we can build our NEW HOUSE next summer.... So, he'll be starting at the Alaska Dept of Transportation as a hydraulic engineer in mid-September. Although emily had a very stressful spring/early summer, she'll stick with her job at the University (after many thoughts of quitting). Deep down she loves her work and thrives under the pressure.

We bought a lot on Summit Drive in Fairbanks last fall (2008) and plan to build next summer (2010). We've been busy with designing the plans for our "passive solar" house. We hope to use the sun for heating water, heating the house, etc. We are very excited about it. Hopefully we can get a good builder.

Emily has a trip to the lower 48 to visit Anika and Joe and her new niece in October. Then to MN to attend Carrie's wedding.

We'll be vacationing in Mexico in december/january this winter.

Anyways, here are a few photos of our summer fun. Enjoy!