Photo Snack!

Tyler.

Theory of a Deadman came to play the state fair a few nights ago and it was a great show! However, the rain and jerks pushing into me by the end did not leave the most amazing impression in my memories, so we're going to leave it at a photo snack. Look forward to seeing these guys again if I ever get the chance!

Turnagain Arm

Oh you know...just representing 5,000 miles away. Clearly, we are proud Hilltoppers!

Jake, Whitney and I did a mini evening hike along Turnagain Arm. I always love coming up on waterfalls and creeks whenever I'm out enjoying the last frontier.

Meet the 2 newest members of your ak link...Jake and Whitney!

We found this little flat hideaway and had to soak up the view.

Whitney joins the AK Link team from Chicago, although she's actually A Texan!

Whitney doing her best Jack from Titanic impression...haha not quite.

MMJ's relaxin' like it's nobodies business on top of a mountain, AK style.

I think that I could make a bazillion photos of the mountains along the Seward Highway and I would love each of them equally.

Clearly, these two have some adjusting to do as they brave the last frontier with me....

Moose! Moose!

It's no secret...I still get giddy when I see a moose!

This moose was hanging out feasting on some tree leaves just off of Northern Lights. There was actually another moose with this one but I couldn't get a photo of that one.

I know it's not the most amazing photo...but in due time I will make a better moose photo, I have faith.

Jake Finally Made It!

Jake and I went to WKU and worked at NC-12 together...After a loooong 3 month wait, we were finally able to get him into the Your Alaska Link sports department. I was so excited when I found out he would officially be joining the team!

When Jake got here it was dark and there wasn't exactly much to see, but when I saw how pretty the next day was I knew I had to take him out along Turnagain Arm...it is my favorite place to drive around Anc after all...

It wasn't exactly a hike to get out on Beluga Point, but it was still really nice to feel the last of the summer sunshine as fall winds blew across my cheeks. AND WE SAW WHALES! I would never pay to see them because it's not like dolphins jumping in the air but it was still cool to see a pool of them migrating and blowing through the surface of the ocean.

We ended the night at Bird Creek...I really wish I had gotten a fishing license this summer...maybe next year!

Photo Snack!

Birds and Your AK Link! I pulled in the parking lot yesterday, mid morning after shooting a few things in town and looked up to see these birds kept circling our dish.I knew if I could catch them on the right circle it would be pretty cool. This was round 3, after round 5 they planted themselves on the sat dish and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. Alaska, I love you.

Knit Away. Knit Away.

As part of my quest to A: learn how to knit and B: have an indoor hobby for the winter, Lori Lester(formally Tipton) has taught me the knit stitch! This was my first potholder, but not my first knit project. That would have been the "scarf" I made for Mr.Motley...more pics on that around Winter! I'd hate to ruin the surprise. The problem was I kept adding stitches but I definetly got the technique down for the potholder. Know I'm working on a purl coaster to match this little jewel.

Mr. Motley's "scarf" about half way before I finished it.

My Favorite Part of Work...LIVE SHOTS!!

Jennifer and I headed to the Valley to do some live reporting from the State Fair Grounds. The fair opens in less then a week and I can NOT wait to be out there doing more live shots and telling the stories of the Alaskan people! Jen did an amazing job picking out the guest for the segments...one of which can be seen below. This was a Cumody? I kept calling it a bear-armadillo hybrid. You can call it adorable, I know.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

This was from the bottom as we started the epic climb...

At the 1/2 way point I turned over my left shoulder and saw this view of downtown.

More pics from the top.

This pretty much summed up exactly how we felt about making it to the top!

Meteorologist Maushart with the view of downtown from the top of the mountain.

Seriously, it's hard to show just how epic AK is but look at how small Brad looks! Enough said.

Maybe I'm a little bit of a ham for the camera...but dangit I was proud!

Representing Your Alaska Link...what what!

Seriously, WHAT WAS I THINKING?! When Brad and I decided to climb O'Malley's Gulley. I was a happy climber once we got to the top because the views really were breath taking...but let me back up a little and share how this "hike" er..more like mountain climbing went.

We were walking along Poerline Pass when Brad says we should try and get to the snow..well what we didn't know was getting to the snow was 3 miles away...AND over half of that was directly up hill. It took use about 3 hours to get to the top because we kept stopping along the way. But let it be known, WE MADE IT TO THE TOP!!! This photo was taken at the bottom of our journey.

As we were walking we came across a creek and filled our water bottles and kept on hoofing it...little did we know the climb was just getting started...

So this was taken from the top. We could see all the way to the cook inlet and downtown. Mind you, I can not reiterate the fact enough that this was a climb almost entirely up hill. And not even a solid ground climb up hill, we were dealing with that crazy loose gravel...but boy when we did get to the top it felt like my inner wolf came out. It's hard to describe but something about pushing your body to its limits and making it brings out this inner animalistic quality in a person.

Photo Snack!

It's been a while since I've posted a photo snack, but here you go! Seward Highway/ "The Scenic Byway" is by far my most favorite place to drive in AK. I can always see something beautiful on that drive even if it's crappy weather. As you can see, this was a nice day.

Growing Alaska

"Alaska Grown" is a pretty common term around here and Senator Begich is home from session for the month of August on his "Growing Alaska" visit. He's been traveling through the state discussing the various issues he hopes to address in the future as we prepare for continued prosperity in AK.

The Senator came on for a double segment on News and Views thanks to one of my amazing co-hosts, Jennifer Castro and her AK roots and networking abilities. it goes without saying, I was star struck by his visit and thrilled to have him on the show! I think he's doing a fantastic job and I was very impressed with how nice and down to earth he is!

Alaska, Have I Told You Lately How Much I Love You?

Not everything I post on here is about work...however, I love work so it ends up kind of being that way, but seriously, I love love love AK and can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be right now. So, sometimes I just need to post random pictures that show why I love AK.

 Glacier Creek out in Girdwood. I was just walking down the road and looked over my left shoulder and saw this little gem. Things like this show up in your view ALL THE TIME here. Sometimes, I fear that if/when I leave for another job somewhere else, I'll be disappointed because the natural beauty here is simply majestic.

 

I've only seen black bears 3 times since I've been here and never this close! I have to give credit to the AK zoo on this one though since that's actually where this pic was taken. I was on an assignment shooting the grand opening of the eagle aviary and it just so happens to be built right next to the black bears so I might have gotten a little distracted...

And what's not to love about a state that has a coca-cola logo over a graphic of the state?! TWO of my favorite things combined?! I'll take it! I just loved the side of this food trailer and had to snap a pic as soon as I saw it!

Weather Where You Are!

 

WWYA-Segment 2, Arctic Thunder Air Show, JBER.

 Weather Where You Are is a 2 minute weekly segment where I arrange to send the Your Alaska Link meteorologist, Brad Maushart out into the field and do a live weather report and then shoot the breeze with locals for about a minute.

The idea came about for a few reasons, 1-I want to make a product viewers look forward to tuning into every afternoon, 2- I want to increase our ratings, and 3- Brad and I needed an excuse to get out of the office for a few hours each Friday.

My goal with the summer WWYA segments is to send him to local events that are taking place over the weekend and give more info to our viewers that way. However, the first segment was such a fly by the seat of your pants decision that we just threw him downtown to enjoy sunshine and reindeer sausages! This past week we hit the rodeo and I hated to spoil the fun but I refused to let him ride a bull until he could prove to me he was still capable of giving the weather report and interviewing someone while on the bull. I'm a pretty tough producer like that.

Yes, I am A+ Pos.

So, growing up I remember dad always gave blood whenever the blood mobile would go to Royston, so it should come as no surprise that I give blood whenever I can.  

It seems so simple but it really is an easy way to give back. Blood bank of AK (BBAK) partnered up with local eatery, the brewhouse for their event "A Pint for A Pint" and I knew I wanted to give blood anyway since I had met the amount of time needed in between donations. I signed up as soon as we got the flyer in our inboxes. But this also meant an opportunity to do a little weekend shooting.

Technically, we don't have a weekend news..however, I have no problem with shooting on the weekend, so I called BBAK to see if they had any issues with us filming on the blood bus..they didn't! So, I went out and then after shooting gave blood.  They do this event a couple of times a year so my goal now is to get a complete set of Brewhouse pint glasses.