Off to Seattle

Later that night after the Tracy Arm boat cruise we would have dinner in town and then re-join the group in the conference room to view the final slide show. Monday morning we departed a once-again rainy Juneau for –surprise! – sunny Seattle, to meet up with Shannon, Brad, Johnny, Grandma, Uncle Mark, Vicki, and Gary and catch the Orioles play a 3-game series at Safeco Park. We had a fun three days in Seattle seeing family, shopping (REI!), and otherwise relaxing, and departed SEA TAC on Thursday morning for our return flight to HNL. Here's one more shot of our boy looking at the activity at the airport before we boarded the plane heading home. This was shot with my cell phone. :)

Tracy Arm Photo Parade

Here are some of my favorite shots from the final day cruising that didn't fit in the earlier post. Eagles on ice burgs, eagle flying, mountain goat, birds on rocky cliff, swimming seal, and another close-up of an ice burg.

Mentor Trek Day 4 – Boat Trip to Tracy Arm

Sunday, our final day was a big day – an all-day shoot on a small cruise boat up through the Tracy Arm Fjord, a body of water off the Gastineau Channel down from downtown Juneau. Here we were hoping to shoot glaciers and seals and bears roaming the water’s edge and all things in-between. The final day was also the best weather. About an hour into the cruise, the clouds parted and the sun came through! First time I’d seen the sun since the Monday sunset on Oahu. In addition to the sun, we’d also be treated to some great sites. No bears, but we happened upon a major glacial event! I wish I had better pictures to share, but I didn’t know how to operate the lens Noel had outfitted me with that day, and Noel informed me back at the hotel that I had a card full of bad, blurry pictures. I got home and took a second look and they weren’t so bad.

I love seals, sea lions, sea otters…you name it. Another one of those things carried over from my youth in and around the Northern California coast and later the sea lions on the scene at Pier 39 after the Loma Prieta earthquake. So I was especially excited to hear that we’d be seeing harbor seals along our cruise route. As we were approaching the Tracy Arm Glacier, I asked one of the boat operators if the seals would be along the coast or in the water. He said they’d be on or swimming around the floating ice burgs, and you could count on seeing “six hundred of them” just around the corner. OK! Bring them on. Here are the first three that I saw. And then I would see maybe 9 or so more, making a grand total of 12 harbor seals spotted for the day. I have no idea where the other 588 were hiding!

Small boats like the one we were on are able to navigate around the ice burgs and get pretty close to sites – waterfalls, wildlife, glaciers, etc. So we “pull up” near the Tracy Arm Glacier and we’re all out on the outer decks, cameras in hand, shooting the glacier. Then the boat captain says over the intercom, “Get ready for a glacial event on the left.” So we all rush over, and within seconds we see huge chunks of ice moving toward the water, then breaking off from the glacier and splashing down. One huge chunk fell with a large splash, went underwater, then popped back up and bounced a bit. It was really amazing to see. And no, I didn't get any good pictures! I was hanging out at the back of the boat and didn't have the right angle. It was rumored that someone in the group got it on video, but it wasn’t shown at our end of trek gathering, so I can’t confirm it. But if I can find footage of it, I’ll YouTube it for you folks in a heartbeat!

As the day went on, we lost most of our bright sun from the morning. But, that is actually good for pictures of ice burgs. The blue color comes out more. Here is an interesting (to me) close-up I took late in the day…and yes, no Photoshopping here. That’s really the color we saw with our naked eyes.

After spending most of the day cruising the Tracy Arm, we turned again to Juneau. Back in the larger channel, we had a small window of time to look for humpback whales. Just like the other day, the captain got in touch with a few other captains in the area and asked for sitings. We ran around for a few minutes, found a bunch, but really didn’t have time to get close. No breachings though.

Mentor Trek Day 3 – Back at Mendenhall Glacier

That afternoon, we returned to Mendenhall Glacier with the group. I had shot earlier in the week when the three of us were there alone, so this time Noel went off with the group onto some of the trails surrounding the park. Robbie and I roamed the tourist-friendly grounds for a while, up and down the ramps and stairs to the visitor center, and out and back from the Glacier viewing areas. The day was overcast but it wasn’t raining, so it was a better day to shoot than our earlier attempt and we would get these pictures with Robbie. We also learned our little guy just might be the adventurous type. At every turn he wanted to climb the surrounding rocks – big and small. I was so shocked and constantly pulling him off the rocks that I wasn’t able to get a picture. He didn’t even care when he got a little wet and muddy. At one point his socks got wet, and you could see him processing the first-time sensation of falling into a small puddle and getting soggy feet, but it didn’t slow him down.

Mentor Trek Day 3 – Supposed to be Float Plane Day

Saturday was the day that the gang would fly in groups of 6 -10 in small float planes up to Taku Glacier Lodge, deplane, take pictures, and enjoy what was billed as some of the best wild Alaskan salmon they would ever have. But, Saturday, while it wasn’t raining, turned out to be the foggiest day of the week and the flights were cancelled. As previously mentioned, Noel was going to do this part of the trip, but within 20 minutes of leaving the hotel room, he was back. I had settled in with Robbie and was writing postcards when he returned and said they were instead going to have some “digital review sessions” in the conference room while the coordinators threw another shoot together. I grabbed my notebook and headed down, as Noel wanted to get me as much exposure to the digital sessions as possible. It kind of backfired on him. Instead of getting into Photoshop, I became fixated on another Adobe digital editing tool – Lightroom – which has some of the basic editing features but none of the heavy hitting features of full-blown Photoshop. But I digress. Here’s where I need to give special props to the Gastineau Guiding tour group. Our coordinators called the owner immediately upon learning the float planes were cancelled. He found a bus for us and personally drove us to Douglas Island, over to a small park with a trail through a rain forest that leads to the water’s edge along Gastineau Channel. All of this on his Saturday off, and he missed his son’s soccer game! This also turned out to be one of my favorite shoots. Down near the water, I put on my macro lens and took some shots of the greenery on the edge of the forest, and on my way back through the rain forest to the bus, I snapped these shots looking up through the tree canopies.

Mentor Trek Day 2 – Noel’s Bear Encounter

The shooting for the day concluded with the whale watching tour, so I headed back to our hotel room. Noel had been in the room all day for the most part and was getting restless for some activity. He declares, “I’m going for a run!” I said, “Ooh, you should head out on the water front and go right. Eagles hang out along the shore.” But what does he do? Unknown to me, he ignores my suggestion completely and heads left, in the direction of the Mt. Roberts Tram, the waterfront crowded with tourists, and the trail he spotted the previous day. About 45 minutes later, he's back, sprinting through the hotel room door, and bursts out, “I saw a bear!” He was about 10 minutes up the hill, taking in the surroundings of the trail that sadly was littered with junk and large-scale abandoned items – obviously not kept up for tourists. He was going at a good pace, when he ran past a bear searching through garbage. Noel slowly put on the brakes and thought, “Wow, there’s a bear! Why don’t I have my camera?”
But reality set in within seconds when he realized that he was alone on an isolated trail, and to get down the trail he’d have to pass the bear again, which was more or less blocking his descent. Keeping his wits about him, and remembering some stuff he’d just read about bear encounters, he didn’t run, slowed down, and jumped up and down to make himself look imposing. When that didn’t work and the bear continued to stare him down, he started picking up large rocks from the trail and pitching them at objects around the bear, but not at the bear. He said he continued this act for up to 5 minutes, when he finally threw a rock that hit a large, rusting camper shell. It made a loud noise and splashed pooled water from the earlier rains, and this finally drove the bear off away from the trail and Noel’s exit. Noel then headed straight down the hill at an adrenaline-fueled pace and didn’t stop running until he entered our room.

Mentor Trek Day 2 – Whale Watching

After a lunch break, we boarded the bus once again and headed up the road to Auge Bay, where our group would split up and board three small whale watching boats. It was an overcast, semi-cool day, damp but no rain, and we all had our long lenses on and were all anxiously anticipating whales, whales, and more whales! It was my first whale watching trip, I haven’t even done one here in Hawaii, but I’m guessing they are all kind of the same. The boat captains immediately head out to their lucky spots, or maybe just a location where they had good sitings earlier in the day. They’re in constant communication with other boat captains, who are also on the lookout for the best sitings. Within about a half an hour, we spot humpback whales! Unfortunately, they weren’t very active, and not breaching, just popping up and down, showing a bit of fin and the traditional blow spouts.

So, the captain being bored, speeds off in another direction when he hears the news that Orcas (killer whales) are spotted in another cove. After a little cruising and circling, we spot them, too. Nothing dramatic, but I was lucky enough to be on this boat, because from what I gathered, the other two boats would only see humpbacks. The pictures from the day therefore are just so-so. Of the entire group, only one or two people got a picture of a small breaching (think tail standing up in the water) and I don’t think they were on my boat. As we headed back to the dock, the captain took us by a buoy that seals and sea lions lounge on. Again, I was on the only boat to cruise past it while a bald eagle was perched on top.

Mentor Trek Day 2 – Treadwell Mines

Across the Gastineau Channel from the tour ship docks and the Mt. Roberts Tram is the Treadwell Mines historical site, our scheduled shoot for the second morning. We had a good weather and a good chunk of time (for a Mentor trek that is! still a wee bit short) to explore the beach, trails, and mine ruins.

Mentor Trek Day 1 – Mount Roberts Tram

The Mount Roberts Tram station is on the waterfront, literally a stone’s throw from two major cruise ship docks, and within easy walking distance of all other docks, big and small. Our group planned to go up the Tram for a brief hike, the “cultural” shoot, and dinner. Noel and Robbie came along. Once up the tram, Noel went on the hike with the group, and I stayed behind at the Visitor’s Center entertaining Robbie. Turns out I also sat out on the first of two bear sitings of the trip. Michelle, one of the Mentor series coordinators, was apart from the group but only a few feet off the very public path when she spotted a bear, much too close to her for her liking. She knew what to do (speak assertively, move slowly, don’t run…) but she somewhat panicked, shrieked, and hightailed it up the hill to catch up with the group. And didn’t get a picture. A cardinal sin with this group, one for which she would be teased about the whole trip. It was during the Tram outing that Noel would see and make a mental note about a mountain trail snaking up the hill that he wanted to explore – and where he would later have his own bear encounter!

Mentor Trek Day 1 – The Rain Lightens!

Our next stop was Eagle Beach, where we would shoot and have a prepackaged lunch. The heavy rain had stopped but I had created a makeshift rain hood with a plastic bag and was ready if it ever came down hard again. The rain and clouds made for a very overcast day, but with a little bit longer to walk around and setup, I came up with some shots I am willing to share here. Multiple times later that weekend the mentors would comment that they were very impressed with our group that we ran out into the rain and just started shooting. Well, we had all paid a pretty penny for this trip (not including airfare!) and had all seen the four day forecast which called for rain, rain, and more rain, so what were we going to do? Luckily, we did get some decent weather later on. After Eagle Beach, we got on the main road in the direction back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped briefly at two stops literally right off the road where we could view and shoot the Mendenhall Glacier, a much different view than I had seen the day before. The glacier is on the right.

Mentor Trek Day 1 – Getting Started and Getting Wet

Between Noel and I, the Alaska trek was the third between us. Noel went to Montana last September, and we trekked together in Maui trek in December. Since we had Robbie with us this time, our plan was for me to do most of the events and shooting, and Noel and Robbie would join us for the shoots at public places. Noel would also do the activity I nicknamed “Float Plane day” as it didn’t appeal to me. So on Thursday morning I headed solo across the street to the conference room which would serve as our home base for the next four days. Within a couple hours of our meet and greet and introduction to our professional mentors, we loaded the bus in the rain and headed to our first location shoot.

Being a trek veteran for the most part, I really blew this first outing at the grounds of the Shrine of St. Therese. I hopped off the bus, and noticed that there was an attempt to group or bunch of 30 or so photographers. So I diligently went off in the direction of my assigned group even though the time allowed at this one destination would be brief. It was a mistake. I should have trusted my instincts and gone in the opposite direction without a group, down the hill toward the actual shrine. Instead I set up the tripod and took some rather poor, boring shots of water running under a bridge and that’s when the rain started really coming down. I dashed into the bus to get a break and dry off the camera (I also didn’t take the precaution to cover it with a rain hood) and then I was out again. But I only had about 15 minutes to hike down a small hill, take in the sites, and set up some shots. At this point the tourist in me took over and said, “Heck with it! Just stretch your legs and take in the scenery!” and no more shots were taken before I fast-walked back to the bus and we were on to our next shoot location. I didn’t make it all the way to the shrine at the water’s edge. Noel would go later in the week and was not all that impressed. Still, would have liked to have seen it myself.

More at Mendenhall

Here's a shot of Robbie on that rainy day, looking out the window of the Visitor's Center.

Mendenhall Glacier

We had Wednesday, July 11 on our own before the Mentor Trek started Thursday. It was still raining, so that threw us off a bit as we didn’t know whether to head on out as planned or tweak our itinerary. I’d read about and wanted to photograph a local botanical garden, but we decided to put that off. (We’re hardy people you know, it was just the photo equipment we had to take precautions for!) After taking it easy in the hotel room for the morning and heading out into town for lunch, we decided to pack into our rental car and head “up the road” from downtown Juneau toward Mendenhall Glacier, a part of the Tongass National Forest. A National Forest, Noel would later explain, is only different from a National Park in that they can log in a forest! (Remember, one of my blogging goals is to inform. :) )

I tend to think I’m a fairly well-read and traveled person, but I had never seen a glacier! I guess I hadn’t done my homework either, because I was completely unprepared for the site of it. Huge ice fields coming down from mountains that form a walls where it meets water. Small and large chunks of ice are constantly on the move (although rarely to the naked eye – but I did witness a pretty incredible glacial “event” as they call them, more on that later). We were told (and I now believe them, although at first I was suspect that they were just trying to make us feel better in the rain) that overcast days are actually the best days to view them because they appear “bluer.” I won’t even try to explain why they appear blue, although many people over the course of our near-week long trip did their best to educate me on the science of light rays, etc. I’ll let you Google it if you’re interest is peaked from the pictures!

Ready, Set, Juneau!

On July 9, the three of us boarded a redeye from HNL to Seattle, bound for our final destination of Juneau, Alaska. We arrived on July 10 in Juneau to grey skies and steady rain. And chilly temps! I think that’s the coldest Robbie has ever experienced, and it was probably only in the 60s. But the look on his face when we stuck him in his stroller and layered him with heavy pants and a sweatshirt while the misty rain hit him was priceless – he was dumbfounded as to where we were, and for the first time didn’t fight us when we tried to put socks on him. We headed downtown from the airport, drove around a bit, and then parked to explore the city on foot. Still raining, one of my first stops was at a sporting goods store to buy a warm wool beanie for my head and hair. The rest of the afternoon we wandered the tourist areas, crowded with shoppers from the major cruise ships, and then we checked into our hotel late in the day. We dined on take-out in the room while we watched the MLB All-star game, and all three of us crashed near the end and woke up the next morning with only a fuzzy recollection of who was leading in the late innings.

The Golf ball is back!

On Oahu, military activities and movement of people, ships, Strykers, etc. are big news. Late in 2005, early in 2006, the “Golf ball” cruised into town for a fresh coat of paint at Pearl Harbor and made the news. The Golf ball is a powerful, 280-foot-tall Sea-Based X-Band Radar, a $900 million-plus floating platform containing a huge white ball perched on six thick pillars. When the paint dried in early 2006, it made the news again as it set sail for Alaska. Then it came back into Pearl after only a few weeks on the open water – and you get the idea, it made the news. Feel free to insert your favorite military intelligence jokes here. It finally departed after a short “fix it” stint, and I thought we had said goodbye for good. But now it’s back at Pearl. I’d seen it from the freeway and read something about it in the paper, but I hadn’t seen it up close. I went to swim at Pearl one day, and as I was following the directions to the pool from the guard at the gate, I turned onto a side road and caught site of it, looming above the trees and buildings. The first time you see it you really can’t take your eyes off it. It draws you in like a magnet. The picture included here is actually an "archive" of my own...taken in February 2006 from the top sections of Aloha Stadium during the Pro Bowl. The radar is on the left, the Might Mo (USS Missouri) and the Arizona Memorial are on the right. The picture is lousy as it was snapped with our digital point-and-shoot, and the end of the day when the sun glare was strong.

Barber’s Point Lighthouse

The recent release of “Pacific Lighthouses 4” from the USPS inspired me to take a close look at the lighthouses on Oahu. Unknown to me, Noel had not heard about the stamp release, but had been researching the Hawaiian lighthouses as they had come up in some of his net surfing. So one afternoon in mid-June we headed off to find and photograph the Barber’s Point Lighthouse. For me, it was really just a warm-up and practice photo shoot for our upcoming Mentor Series trek to Alaska. I hadn’t done any shooting since last December, when we ventured over to Maui for a long weekend for another Mentor Series Trek. I was feeling photo-rusty and physically out of shape due to my bout with morning sickness (aka “the black hole”) from mid-February to early May and needed some outdoor activity – pronto!

As noted by the Lighthouse People, the lighthouse is adjacent to a large luau. I had no idea this luau existed, but on the afternoon we headed out, there were plenty of folks bused over for the evening so someone is getting the word out to Waikiki visitors.

The lighthouse itself is pretty basic, nothing fancy. For the most part it is in good shape and appears to be well-maintained, but some chipped paint can be seen near the top. Amazingly, it is not covered with graffiti. I don’t know why that impresses me so much, probably because the surrounding area is now really industrial and other than the luau, very quiet and you would think prime area for tagging. Unfortunately, the surroundings are no longer as scenic as in some of the web shots. The one tall palm tree you can now frame in the shot is withering away (we’ve had a dry year, not sure if that has anything to do with it). And unless you nail a day with perfect blue skies and puffy clouds, the skyward shots are a bit dull. And there’s not much room anymore for you to back up and get the sea in the background for a wide-angle. But, nonetheless, a good enough opening shot for my first official photo post!

Greetings from Leeward Oahu

Hello to family and friends, thanks for taking a look. I’ve started a blog to try to correct some of my wrongs in terms of keeping in touch with folks and letting all know what we are up to out here. One of my biggest sins…not letting a fair number of you know that our family will be increasing by one little boy on or around October 12, 2007. For those keeping score, that will be two adults, two boys, and two dogs, all of which this blog will heavily rotate around! Robbie will be 2 1/2 years older than the coming attraction, and outside of the fun he is having rubbing my expanding belly, he really doesn’t know what’s going on just yet. I may not be giving him enough credit though. Just the other night after his bath, I caught him in front of the mirror sticking his belly out, just like me!

Noel has also resigned from his job effective later this fall, so he’ll be a civilian no later than January 1, 2008. I’m still working a contract here – when October rolls around, it will be one solid year with the gig to add to the resume - but I plan to take time off after the baby arrives. At this point, we think we’ll be leaving Oahu in early 2008, so I thought I’d also let you know a little bit more about our life here before we move back to the Mainland.

I pledge as a new blogger to try to as best as I can, keep the narrative short edited, inform, and make you laugh. But in reality this is for the extended family to get the latest scoop on our activities here and show what Robbie and (soon-to-be) Boy #2 are up to, so my posts will get boring! I also promise the stories will be clean and family-friendly (i.e., OK to check from work!), and you won’t be subjected to an overdose of YouTube links unless I someone I know is in it. Or that darn cute Panda sneezes again…I loved him!