Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks!
They’ve won the Stanley Cup for Chicago – the first time in 49 years!
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09Jun
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11Mar
Testing from my phone.
Let’s see if this works.
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20Sep
August is the time for air shows, and I was able to get to one that is fairly close to home, the Rockford, IL AirFest. I haven’t been to the Rockford air show since it resumed after a lapse in time, but I wanted to head to this one. The headliner for the event was the F-22 Raptor. Now if you’ve read my site a little bit, you’ll know that In attended the EAA air show in Oshkosh, WI last year. The Raptor was there too and it put on a heck of a show, but the ceiling was low and there were storms in the area, so it didn’t do its full routine. I was hoping for better weather this year.I wasn’t disappointed by the weather. Sunny with broken clouds provided a bright, magnificent day – so much sun that I got burnt (forgot the sunscreen!). I didn’t spend too much time at the static exhibits since I arrived at the show just as the aerial portion was just beginning – a Czech built Albatross was flying as I entered the grounds.
Highlights of the show
I usually go to air shows for the rip and tear of the air as jet aircraft scream by and I wasn’t disappointed by this show. I really enjoyed the Navy/Marine heritage flight. The F-18 put on quite an individual show. At the end of the F-18 show, the two aircraft paired up while in flight and did several fly-bys in front of the crowd. In all of the shows I’ve been at, I’ve never seen a WWII Corsair in flight – it was great! After several photo passes, the Corsair came in for a landing. As the craft was slowing down after landing, the F-18 screamed over the top in a high speed fly-by that excited the crowd.The AH-64 Apache helicopter and the Sea Harrier also put on good shows. The Apache cruised up and down the flight line showing off its capabilities. The Sea Harrier flew as a normal plane does in flight but then it also transitioned to vertical flight. I’ve seen several different Harrier versions in flight and it never ceases to amaze me how an aircraft can transition from straight flight into a vertical mode.
Towards the end of the show, a B1-B did a series of fly-bys before coming in to land at the airport. This aircraft flew from its base in Texas to put on the show in Rockford. The B1-B come in low and slow with the wings extended and then did a couple high speed passes with the wings swept back. It’s always amazing to see how long it takes for an aircraft of this size – traveling at high speed – takes to turn around.Lastly, the F-22 put on a HECK of a show. If you look at some of the pictures I got, you’ll see that it was able to pull vapor off of its wing and controlling panel surfaces. It is an amazing aircraft. This plane combines stealth, supersonic speed and a high tech weapons system into one lethal airplane. Toward the end of its solo performance, the F-22 paired up with P-51 Mustang for an Air Force heritage flight.
Lowlights of the show
One of the things that bugged me about the Rockford AirFest is that they have pavilions from sponsoring companies that obscure the view of the runway and flight line. While I can understand the need and desire to keep sponsors happy and reward them in some way, there has to be some way to do it so that all paying participants can fully enjoy the show.
But I’ll probably be back – maybe not next year,but I’ll be back. Check out my gallery of images from the Rockford AirFest!
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07Aug
I woke up before anyone else and waited for a while before taking a shower and getting ready for the day. As soon as I was done, I made sure my bags and everything were
in order before I headed out the door as my sister and Rusty headed off to work. I was lucky to avoid paying for a rental car by borrowing one from Rusty’s parents. They loaned us a Dodge Durango that they had available, so I hopped into that and headed down Seward Highway for Portage, AK. The drive down was peaceful enough considering there had been a fatal accident on it the day before. Clouds still loomed over the mountains and at one point a light mist covered the windshield. The clouds made for some pretty dramatic shots. I went past most of the turnoffs along the Turnagain Arm because I wanted to get to Portage, do my stuff and then be back in Anchorage to take my sister to lunch. Soon I was turning down the road that leads to Portage and as I did, the clouds parted slightly and let the sun shine through.Once in Portage, I visited the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center to get a map of the area and the see the available trails. While I was there, one ranger was telling a family about an interesting trail while the other ranger told me about a fish watching platform where you could see salmon coming upstream. After leaving the visitor center, I walked to Lake Portage and took some shots of the surroundings. For some reason I love this valley – it has a little bit of everything. After viewing the lake, I decided to hike the Byron Glacial trail.
I drove the short way to the trail head and parked. While there I noticed two things – I was the only one there and would probably be the only person on the trail and there was a sign on a board by the start of the trail warning hikers that there were bears active in the area. Now, I know that the chances of me running across a bear were minimal, it was still a risk. But the weight of wanting to hike the trail and set foot on the icepack tilted the scales toward me going. So, remembering what I had learned earlier in the trip – that the human voice was the best deterrent against a bear attack – I started singing out loud. It’s safe to say that my singing probably chased pretty much anything away with its paws to its ears, but it worked for the hike out to the end of the trail. I took some time to admire the view, explore around and take some pictures. Once I was satisfied, I started to head back, using the same strategy I used coming out. This worked well until I met a group of seven people on the trail. They probably heard my bad singing but only said a polite hello as they passed by. Once out of range, I continued to sing. Toward the end of the trail I met a family of four who again said nothing about my singing but asked how much further until the end of the trail. Once past, I continued until I come to the trailhead, signed out on the sheet that rangers could use to try and locate my body and went to the car.
After looking at my cell phone I determined that I had enough time so I headed to the Williwaw Campground area to go to the fish viewing platform. At the fish viewing station, I was able to see a couple of salmon trying to make their way upstream. They were under the platform and were trying to swim against the current. They made a slow go of it but they progressed. Other salmon were visible farther down the stream working their way up. A couple who was watching the salmon spotted me taking pictures and offered that there were more upstream along the path. I
thanked them and then headed down the Williwaw nature trail for a bit, peeking at the stream and taking pictures as I went. I had the polarizing filter on my camera so I was able to peer through the water to get some good pictures. Since I didn’t have time to go salmon fishing on this trip, I “caught” some salmon with my camera. Once I satisfied my craving for photographing salmon, I headed to one of my favorite areas – Moose Flats. Moose Flats contains a small lake that is bordered by trees both living and dead and has a spectacular view of the mountains behind. This area is usually so peaceful, and it was again for me today. The contrast of the living trees with the dead, preserved trees that were killed in the 1964 earthquake are reminders of the cycle of life. The water is so still that it acts as an almost perfect mirror of the surrounding mountains. This area just strikes me.Once I decided to leave, I realized that this was the last of wild Alaska that I would experience during this trip. I was now heading back to the big city of Anchorage to have lunch with my sister. Once back in town, I had lunch with my sister, got the tour of where she works and met her boss. I was also able to spring her for the rest of the day to help me grab some last minute items. During my trip to her work, I realized that she has made a life for herself up in Alaska and has worked hard in her job. She has gained not only the respect of the people that she works with but also the love of Rusty’s folks. We headed to some shops and then headed downtown. After accomplishing my purchasing objectives, we headed to Glacier BrewHouse to have a drink. She had a coke and I had their Imperial Blonde (aka Ice Axe Ale) – it had a little bit if a kick to it (9% alcohol), but it was smooth. After that, we headed back to her place to grab my bags, head over to her in-laws house for a halibut dinner and conversation and then I was off to the airport.
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06Aug
After the fun day in Denali, it was time to head back to Anchorage; I have only a couple days left with my sister in Alaska now. Fittingly, the day started with drizzle and overcast clouds, the only bad day we’ve experienced during my trip. None of us minded though since this was a down day that included the long train ride back to Anchorage. After a filling breakfast, we checked out and headed over to the Denali National Park Visitor’s Center. We looked at the interpretive displays and did some people watching too – people from all over the world were there. We then took the short hike over to the Science Center and then over to the bookstore. Once I purchased my final souvenirs for the trip, we walked down to the train station to await our train. After a while the train came and although it was late, we got rolling down the tracks soon. I was tempted to just sit down and close my eyes to doze but I couldn’t let my time here be passed by sleeping. Instead I found myself taking pictures, moving around the train car and standing in the exposed area between the individual cars to get better pictures. I thought the overcast skies gave a dramatic look to the landscape and I tried to capture it. I also wanted to get pictures of things I missed on the ride up. There is so much to see in Alaska since it is so big, untamed and wild.One of the animals that I didn’t see in Denali was a moose. Not surprising since in three trips up, I’ve only seen a moose in the wild once (the cow moose and the two
calves in Homer). I was bound a determined to get a picture if I saw one. Well, I failed on the picture taking but I did see two bull moose as we rode down the rails. One moose was startled by the train and was running alongside a lake front. By the time I could get my camera into play, it wasn’t visible from my position. Then my sister was joking with me that there was a moose in the meadow out her window (she was having some fun with me) but her boyfriend actually spotted the rack of a bull moose. Sure enough, there was a moose out her window. So I did see two bull moose, but alas, no pictures. I also wanted to get a picture off of the Hurricane Gulch bridge. This 900+ foot bridge covers a span that is almost 300 feet deep. I was able to get a few shots of this breath-taking view. As we rolled along, the railroad employees told us about some of the things that were passing by outside. I think that the team on the Denali-Anchorage trip did a better job than the Anchorage-Denali crew did. Because of this narration I was able to see a beaver dam that was over 75 years old, got some history on how the railroad was built and I now understand how to list out the types of Alaskan salmon.There were other things I was trying to capture with my camera. One was the amount of ferns along the way, but those are hard to photograph as you’re moving at speed down the rails. We passed fields of ferns that lined each side of the track. When you think of Alaska, you think of cold and snow, but the southern part of Alaska is actually a temperate rain forest. The ferns grow there naturally and in abundance. Another thing that caught my attention was the amount of erractics that I saw, particularly in the rivers. An erratic is a large boulder that a glacier just dropped. Also along the way we saw beaver dams, lots of fireweed and just some simply beautiful settings with the sky and mountains.
As we moved south, the skies started to clear but they didn’t clear fully. This allowed me to take some more dramatic photos as we neared Anchorage. The clouds were still low in the sky and brushed over the tops of the mountains outside of Anchorage. Slowly we worked our way into the city, past Elmendorf Air Force Base and into the Alaska Railroad depot. It was nice to get out of the train and stretch but it was also a little sad since I had so much fun and valued the experiences I had with my sister in Denali. After being denied a pizza at a popular restaurant in town (it was still packed with people waiting to get in at 8:30) we went back to my sister’s place and had sandwiches and chips for dinner.As we ate, I thought about how I needed to pack, because my flight back home left the next day. I needed to make sure I could fit all the souvenirs I picked up for my wife and kids in my bag since I was at my limit. Shortly, the day ended with my sister and her boyfriend heading to sleep since they had to work the next day. I have one last adventure planned before I leave Alaska and I soon hit the hay myself so I had enough energy for that as well as the long flight home.
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