museo

Yellowknife, NWT

Published August 17, 2019

Saturday, play day.

And exploration day. Movie day, pizza day. Museum day too.

Whole lotta, whole lotta going on in NWT’s capital city.

Woke to sunshine. 5-mile run on McMahon Frame Trail. Quick shower. 2-mile trek to Old Town. Watched sea planes take off/land on Great Slave Lake after securing my first territorial meal.

Short summer season ‘north of 60’, no arguments here – digged Yellowknife’s cool August temps. Marathon bib pick-up at Overlander Sports – all to dos, ta done – finally, MUSEUM day.

History of the land, its native peoples & NWT’s Arctic mammals – musk ox, moose & polar bear!

Easy place to get lost 2-3 hours. Taiga vs tundra. Tree-line a factor of North Pole wind vs our high peak elevation in Colorado. Walked the row of township flags. Greek pizza & a late movie finish.

Yellowknife. Hip little town, lots to see & do.

Sunday forecast: 42 kilometers & RAIN. It’s only water, eh? 🇨🇦

: territory SUMMER

: ox ART ❤️

: Sled Dog tribute

: Gold Rush claim

: Community Flags of NWT

: City Hall totem

: Dene First Nations

: hockey FEVER 🇨🇦

: Sunday forecast

Northern Heritage Centre

: Arctic tree-line

: sledding HERITAGE

: Dene inspired

: gold & DIAMONDS

: MUSK ox

: polar BEAR

: global warming finds

: NWT originals

: Inuit diet

: native dolls

: mooseskin boat

Posted in Canada | Tagged bear, museo, native-american | 3 Comments

Cordova, Alaska

Published July 12, 2019

ALASKA for SALE 🌲

Calling? Obsession? too much Reality TV?

Think it’s ’cause Alaska’s so big, so rural. Being isolated, folks count more on each other, make do with what they have. Strong sense of community, similar to my own childhood. And of course the Into the Wild manifesto which inspired my Life 2^nd Half – that feeling anything is possible. We’re not stuck. Dream BIG. Life is meant to be lived.

Alaska, the Last Frontier. Hopefully outta my system next 5 years; that’s the strategy. Reality – I enjoy my creature comforts. Fresh vegetables, seasonal fruits, accessibility to the Rockies. In Colorado, they’re our playground. They don’t cage us in – mountains, road-restrict Alaskans. Made my list (pros/cons) & bought another plane ticket. LOL>

Denver-Seattle, Seattle-Anchorage, Anchorage-Cordova ✈️

Most isolated of my Alaskan pilgrimages. Fishing community, economy-wrecked by the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. Birds are back, fish numbers up – shellfish ‘bottom dwellers’ gone. Decades ago, but nothing surviving the inlet’s ocean floor. For us tourists, you’d never know. Beautiful scenic Prince William Sound; inland, massive Lake Eyak.

Cordova’s Baja Taco 🐟 – YUM!

Touchdown Cordova. Long travel day. 3 nights stay at The Reluctant Fisherman. Missed, not planned? Transportation. No Lyft, no Uber. ONE guy taxi service, 4pm to 4am. Cash $$ haggled to tag-along other vacationers’ arranged transport. Mudhole Airport 12 miles from port. So where’s my rental? Folks, it’s a one street town. Population 2500. Who knew? Alaskan adventuring on FOOT this holiday.

Hotel dinner. Black-out curtains & sleeps (limited night, 11pm-3am).

Up about, walk about. Baja Taco – by far, THE place to feed. Bib pickup @ the Community Center. Grocery provisions. Two-mile walk to Lake Eyak. Big beautiful QUIET Alaska. Dig the isolation. 50-50 culture split: Inuits or Anglos in fishing boots. Moms, kids. Teens in trendy boot brands. But all wearing tall/to-your-knee Gorton Fisherman garb. Fashionistas & dockworker alike. ‘Deadliest Catch’ Fashion Week.

Downtown shops. And yep, a museum (surprisingly HUGE, paid for by Exxon). Better understanding how/why/from where we came. Eyak, Tlingit, Chugach Eskimo. Sarah Palin’s Russian neighbors. LOVE LOVE history. Afternoon NERD escape.

Big, wild, beautiful ALASKA ❤️

Salmon JAM Festival starts tonite (music JAM not fish jelly) – I’d festival bus to Mt. Eyak tomorrow, after marathoning.

: North to Alaska

: Cordova Welcome

: Prince William Sound

: great name, right?

: first-night SEAFOOD

: Henrich Park

: Russian Orthodox ‘Little Chapel’

: Mount Eyak

: Lake Eyak

: ALASKA summer ❤️

: Yikes!

: SALMON tacos 🐟

: BEST EATS in Cordova

: 26.2 tomorrow

Cordova Historical Museum

: native long-boats

: Eyak Village

: Russian Alaska (1733-1867)

: Captain James Cook (1778)

: Cordova Alaska (1909)

: Copper River & Northwestern Railway

: salmon, halibut, razor clams

: Exxon-Valdez (1989)

Lake Eyak (Cordova)

Posted in Alaska/Hawaii | Tagged kyrkan, museo, rivers-lakes, road-signs | Leave a comment

Deadwood Day

Published June 1, 2019

Lotta planning goes into completing a 50 State journey.

Work, home life, travel, weather, expense. Places you wanna see, times of year you wanna see ’em. Running all the continents, all of Canada (ok, maybe that’s just me). But – when down to your last dozen states, ya start thinkin’: Where am I gonna finish? Like picking a burial plot, kinda a big deal. My first Quest was super strategized/organized/planned. Since marathon 10, knew my journey would end in Colorado. No HOME TURF REPEAT – May’s Colfax medal was Colorado #18.

Fast forward 2019. South Dakota or Wyoming. Just two states left, west of the Mississippi. Seemed poetic to complete at Bighorn (after 2 fails). Then, Pistol (in March). Far too much (self-imposed) pressure to finish BIG at goal races. Finish, finish with a smile. Go there & enjoy the day. Still registered, flying to Sheridan, running mid-June but… taking the mental outta Bighorn this year.

CHOSE the Black Hills of South Dakota for my Round 2 finish.

Scenic, historic. Right time of year & only 5 hours from my Colorado front door.

Land of Wild Bill Hickok. Lived/breathed THREE WEEKS here, yet he’s Deadwood immortalized (gunned down, buried here). Statues, billboards, black-n-white museum pics, name of my downtown Hotel. Not your typical marathoner journey (casinos, booze, cigarettes). But…the Wild West it is.

Deadwood Mickelson Trail, a runner favourite. More folks race-registered than town residents. Will complete marathon ONE HUNDRED FIFTY tomorrow. Add to the list; it’s a good one.

3 highway hours Friday, sleeps in Lusk [Wyoming]. Chuck wagon omelette, minutes from the border. South Dakota: Great Faces, Great Places. Bib pick-up, hotel check-in – all business done – 1pm ticket, Boot Hill bus tour (cash only please). Wild West stories. Gold claims, poker cheats, saloon girls, a U.S. President & the death of Wild Bill Hickok. Railroad Museum, Adams Museum, Days of ’76 Museum, a shootout on Main Street. Pre-race HISTORY NERD holiday, LOVE LOVED! Deadwood Social Club for dinner ❤️

5:30am, look for the trolley. 50 State road ends in Deadwood. SOUTH DAKOTA!