Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.
- Stanley Horowitz
Autumn is, in my opinion, the preeminent Alaskan season. It creeps up on the senses after the manic summer onslaught. Initially it's a patch of red here and there in the mountains or a brisk morning where you wish you had grabbed your jacket. Maybe you see a bull moose with a little velvet still hanging off of his red antlers. About the time the temperature at night starts to tickle the freezing point you usually get the first whiff of it in the air: the wet dog smell of high-bush cranberries, the gentle decay of the first leaves to fall or wood smoke from someone (most likely of Norwegian descent) in the neighborhood that insists on being first one to have the fire stoked for the season. You hear the sandhill cranes trumpeting as they fly overhead with their necks doing that funky dance. Winter is a sly middleweight with quick hands, dancing around and throwing jabs while he guides he opponent in position for the haymaker. At this point things start happening real fast. Pretty soon the mountains look like they've been set ablaze by summer's final desperate fury as it falls to the mat. Then the brilliance spreads into the birch and aspen in the lowlands as they turn to gold. Shortly thereafter the leaves create a golden blanket on the forest floor. The white stuff will not be far behind, but that is a tale for another time. Early in this progression I probably should be worried about getting things around the house ready for winter - as many more responsible folk are - but there are three things that rank a good bit higher on the hierarchy in my mind: sheep hunting, fishing for rainbows on the Kenai and the Green Bay Packers. For those three reasons alone fall is the best season (as added bonuses fall also includes upland bird hunting, berry picking, the Equinox Marathon, basketball sized cabbages turned into sauerkraut, kick ass bonfire parties and Monday night football with free tacos).
Team BIZP looked real good in this year's Equinox marathon. With a 5th place finish in the Men's relay division (including crushing a team with 2 olympic x-country ski team hopefuls) we've been fielding numerous sponsorship offers.
Emily with our bounty of herbs.
Livin' the dream
Neenish Chrish
Shawn with the fish of the trip
Brian with a nice Dolly Varden Char
Nice knee bend
