Friday, April 29, 2016

Shanty Chronicles #1

There is a projection, often seen as a reflection, that comes from snowflake made stickers elegantly and un-purposefully placed on the front window of the main house. The snowflakes have lost their sheen from the repetitive winters that always come; the icy spring rain that somehow is warm enough to wake the earth for a small delightful summer. They're aligned in accordance with a smiley face.

When the morning sun rises over the mountains, hits the dusted and worn window, the stickers block out the light that shines through the entire kitchen. The morning sun is like a sun saber that no hungover eyes want to meet. But if you catch the sun kissed faced on the bathroom door across the kitchen and through the hall you're day is deemed better than if you hadn't seen and noticed it that morning.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

The Alaskan Railroad - Anchorage to Healy

The Alaskan Railroad is one of the only traditional locomotive trains that operates on a regular basis still left in the United States. I've had an obsession with trains for awhile. Surprisingly enough it started when I was in India and smashed my ankle to hell in the middle of the night.

Luckily this time there were no injuries and only memories made.

Here is a video I made of my train ride through Alaska from Anchorage to Healy.


The Alaska Railroad - Anchorage to Healy

To get to Denali National Park in Alaska I took the Alaska Railroad. It's one of the only regularly running locomotive rail systems left in the United States.

It was an eight hour train ride from Anchorage to Healy.
Here is a video I made of that trip.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Beyond Alaskan Boundaries


I've been in Alaska for five days and I keep getting the same questions from back home. Instead of ignoring everyone and not answering anybody I thought I'd just lay it all out here for ya'll.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Sunday's Finest

Has anybody ever read  Into The Wild? No matter the cliché, with recent developments in my life I though it was time to sit down one Sunday not too long ago and read the book in its entirety. I'd seen the movie, and how can anybody not love Emile Hirsch? There is always so much more in a book than a movie will ever be able to offer. I also think anything Jon Krakauer writes is worth reading. He does a great job in all of his books of finding amazing and relevant quotes from others to highlight his own writing.

I have mixed opinions on Chris McCandless's actions and question his rationality. However, Krakauer does a great job at examining the ideal that McCandless strove, lived, and ultimately died for in the Alaskan wilderness.

As I transition into my new normal up here in Alaska, I leave you with these, Sunday's Finest from Into the Wild.

"There was some books... One was Pilgrim's Progress, about a man that left his family, it didn't say why. I read considerable in it not and then. The statements was interesting, but tough." - Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

"I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which I found no outlet in our quite life." - Leo Tolstoy "Family Happiness" (A passage highlighted in one of the books found with Chris McCandless's remains).
"It may, after all, be the bad habit of creative talents to invest themselves in pathological extremes that yield remarkable insights but no durable way of life for those who cannot translate their psychic wounds into significant art or thought." - Theodore Rozark, In Search of the Miraculous

Thursday, April 14, 2016

#SorryNotSorry - A to Z Not For Me

I'm sorry but the A to Z April Blogging challenge just isn't my style. I can't force myself to write if I don't want to. I know it's suppose to be a challenge but I feel false forcing myself to speak when I feel like I have nothing to say.
I'm not trying to entice anybody to come back day to day -- I do this for myself, my friends, and my family. So, I have to announce I will not be participating in the blogging challenge for the rest of the month. With my big trip to Alaska I just have so many other really important things to focus on.

However, I will still be blogging and posting about my travels, adventures, and thoughts while in Alaska. I probably will be updating and posting just once, or a few times, a week once I get up there, which I am leaving tomorrow! I will be there until September so I hope to have a  lot of amazing photos, stories, and writing to share throughout the next following months.

I really do believe in posting quality, authentic, and true work consistently and I feel as if the challenge requires me to give up on some of those things. I write daily in journals and for myself.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY do hope that everyone who has found my blog through the A to Z Challenge enjoys it enough to keep coming back, all the feedback so far has been really rewarding.

Thank you.

It is really all just beginning.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Sunday's Finest

My post on Thursday about Fear had me patrolling around for some of my favorite quotes that help me think about overcoming my fears.

So, here is your Sunday's Finest:

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” - H.P. Lovecraft Supernatural Horror in Literature

“Many times, the thought of fear itself is greater than what it is we fear.” - Idowu Koyenikan Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” - Paulo Coelho The Alchemist

Go and conquer your dreams this Sunday.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Sunday's Finest

Yesterday and Friday I wrote about leaving home for Alaska in a few weeks for the A to Z April Blogging Challenge. The Challenge is just beginning and going really well... I can't wait for the coming weeks. Today is a break day for the challenge participants but I still will be posting Sunday's Finest throughout the month.

And without further ado...

“If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel – as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them – wherever you go.” - Anthony Bourdain Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

“I told her I'd wait forever for her, but that was before I found somebody else who'd give me a ride home.” - Jarod Kintz This Book is NOT FOR SALE.


“At the end of the day, it isn’t where I came from. Maybe home is somewhere I’m going and never have been before.” - Warsan Shine