Capturing the Moment

  I had Christian put me onshore here to get this picture while standing in a natural rock arch. This visit to the Alaskan Native town of Akutan, out in the Aleutian Islands, was very unique. We had very nice weather conditions, and I had touched base with April, who is the head of the Akutan Native Village Corp. She told us that she wouldn't be there, but the general store should be open. She also mentioned that the museum hadn't been opened for many years. The town itself only has about sixty-nine permanent residents. All the houses are connected by a boardwalk. The locals use four wheeler ATV's to ride up and down on the boardwalk. I even ran into my friend Mark, who makes traditional skin wooden kayaks, who was in the village replacing all the windows. It was my first time going inside the store, as the only other time I walked town it was a weekend so the store was closed. My group was ready to help the local economy by buying hats, snacks, and some energy drinks. Ther...

   Baby Neka, an adorable black lab, has been living the Vermont summer dream. For the past couple of weeks Heidi and I have been getting the trails ready out on Stave Island to take this little one out exploring.    Just like a little kid, Neka wanted to explore just about everything she could get her mouth on...including things like mushrooms and moths. So we kept a close eye on her as she raced excitedly around the forest and wildflowers of the island.    Now it's time to head back to work in Alaska, but I'll leave a little piece of my heart back in Vermont with this little cutie. And I know the don't stay puppies forever so I wanted to capture a few images of baby Neka.

Working Dog Sled Team The chosen ones Dog Mushing in Alaska    We couldn't come to Alaska without checking out some the national sport, dog mushing. Denali happens to have the only working dog sled team in any national park so we figured this would be a great place to start. They do a couple of demonstrations with the dogs daily out at the kennels so we jumped on a free shuttle from the visitors center to check it out.    After five minutes we were at the kennels. We were able to spend time with the dogs before the demonstration. They are all Alaskan Huskies, although they come in many colors, patterns, and only some had the typical blue eyes. Apparently they are bred based on demeanor, ability to work in a team, and pulling power. They were all so calm and definitely enjoyed a good pet or scratch which we whole-heartedly obliged.   When it was time for the sled demonstration we all gathered into the stands and one of the park rangers gave u...