Ski Trip to Whistler/Blackcomb

A ski trip to Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia with Ralph, Thomas, Stephanie, Mike and Nanci turned into a hiking/touring trip in the absence of any significant snow.  Sadly, California was getting loads of snow while we were away!  And now we will *never* let Ralph live down all his talking up of Whistler that he subjected us to prior to this trip! ;-)

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Burning Man

Pictures from my first Burning Man experience! 

So what is Burning Man? Oh geez.  Well… it’s this massive yearly gathering in the high desert north of Reno, Nevada. It’s a festival of art and creativity, of community and self-expression. It’s a temporary city where commerce is not permitted, giving is widespread and people meet each other through their participation in the event.  It’s definitely an experience.

The event runs a full week but FileMaker’s Developer Conference always seems to coincide with it. So this year I decided to at least taste a few days of it. Bonnie and the rest of her burning clan were kind enough to let me join them at their camp, “Heaven a la Cart”.

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Exploring Southcentral Alaska

This is a collection of images from a three week trip to the southcentral portion of Alaska.  The first six days were booked with Alaska Wildland Adventures to explore the Kenai Pennisula and involved a series of separate guided day excursions while staying at a couple of lodges. (This flexibility was helpful since a different outfitter cancelled a week-long group trip at the last minute.) The middle ten days were arranged through REI Adventures and handled by Alaska Alpine Adventures. This guided group trip passed through Prince William Sound, visited McCarthy/Kennicott, traveled the Denali Highway, and included three days visiting Denali National Park. The final three days (and a couple of intermediate days) were on my own.

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