Much going on and some sadness and some good things.

A few quick notes...

I'm back from DC and the desert.  

I've "discovered" face book and have been spending my internet time there.  

The sadness is that Dave Lacey passed away yesterday afternoon.  He'd been fighting cancer for a few years.  He was an amazing, strong and generous man.  There will be a Dave shaped hole in Fairbanks.  

The good stuff is that some friends of mine "swapped" kidneys.  Well, not really swapped, no one got the bad one.  Both are recovering now.  

Some old sadness is that my cat Shouply died early this month.  He's chasing butterflies now. 

More good stuff is facebook has allowed me to get in touch with people I'd lost track of and cousins I rarely see.  I've also finished some socks and am making good progress on a pair that have been sitting for about a year.  Poor neglected socks.

Let the parties begin!!

Oh, and "Strike up the bands!"

Sean and I went to the Inaugural free concert on the Mall today. The NPS is guessing that there were over 300,000 people there. We were near the Washington Monument and the crowd extended back from there and forwards to the Lincoln Memorial.


The big thrills for me were Stevie Wonder and Pete Seeger and Obama's speech, and U2 and Bruce Springsteen and.... When Sean mentioned that we were from Alaska several people turned around and one said "Wow, you ditched Sarah Palin and came all that way." Sean also has had fun saying "Jon Bon Jovi!" just 'cause it's a fun name to say and now he knows who that is.

Sean at Washington Monument

Sharon at the Washington Monument


Jon Bon Jovi!


Pete Seeger!


OBAMA!!!!!


The happy and cold people!

Inauguration run up!

Porta pottys and White House. Hmmmmmm.....

Sean and I finally made our way to Big Bend and I'll tell more about that and what we've been up to there later but for now we are at my sister's in Falls Church, Virginia, just inside the beltway.



Capital getting ready for the big event!

We are caught up in the inauguration fever. Yesterday Susan and I went down to the mall to check things out. We got pretty close to the Capital and it was a great day with a festive atmosphere. Every one is HAPPY and it's a very diverse crowd. I'm so excited, words are failing me. Sean and I feel that is really one of the great things in our lives.

Sean and Susan on the Metro

A New Toy...I mean tool.

I got myself a traveling laptop, A little one with wireless that I can take on the road and blog and stay in touch. I like it so far...

...open your Golden Gate

San Francisco.  We made it!

Note absence of back strap on canoe.

It took us a while to get out of northwest Washington but that was because there were good people to see and visit.  Our 1st night in Bellingham we stayed with Lynn and Laura and the 2nd night was at Dan and Sarah's.  We got the royal treatment and tour of a great little town, even the best hardware store I've ever been in.  We had to buy some rope and a tie down strap to replace the one we lost somewhere along the way.  At least we didn't lose the canoe.

On Monday, Marie and Tony and their 2 boys came for for breakfast and we got to have a regular Fairbanks reunion.  Marie is loving the program she is in and they all love the area.  Dan and Sara are trying to get more friends to settle in Bellingham and Dan gave us the hard sell by taking us up Whatcom creek which goes about 2 blocks from their home.

Sharon and Sean on Whatcom Creek

Monday afternoon we drove to my mom's cousin's place.  David and Sharon live in Monroe on 10 beautiful acres of trees with a cocker spaniel, pond full of ducks, 3 heavy cats, a bunch of chickens, a few turkeys, and some peacocks.  I think thats all but I might have missed something.  David and Sharon are kindred spirits, environmentalists, and progressive Obama supporters.  Sharon is a collector of many things and we got to see her collection of S**** P**** (I won't type her name) cartoons and Obama buttons.  We had a great visit and I was proud to show off my relatives to Sean and vice versa.  

The Sunset Unlimited at Cocker Creek (note new strap on back of canoe)

One of the highlights there were the wood ducks.  They look like mallards going to Mardi Gras.  The other highlight was the election returns recorded on disk.  Sean and I hadn't seen them since we were out knocking on doors when they called the election.  We got to relive the happy occasion all over again including the victory speech.

Then we drove south with a quick stop in on my cousins Eric and Addie in Portland for about an hour.  

We slept at a rest stop north of Medford Monday night then Tuesday finished the drive to Sean's parents in Berkley and Wednesday to my folks in San Francisco.

We made it...Step one at least.

Refugees from Winter

The Sunset Unlimited with 2 of the 6 inches of snow that fell Thursday night in Prince George, B.C.

If felt as though the cold claws of the clutches of winter reached out and almost snagged in our escape as we fled south from -40 F in the Upper Tanana Valley and the 5-15 cm of snow in central British Columbia that turned to ice pellets and then rain on the snow-packed roads.  

Monday night was Tok and COLD, Tuesday was Whitehorse and cold, Wednesday was Ft Nelson and cold, Thursday was Prince George and SNOW and Friday was Bellingham with a little rain Saturday morning.

Sean has done all the driving so far and that has left me only to worry.  The anxiety would have been much greater if I was driving though, much.  

 

Out of the snow (Whew!) but you can see the icing on the canoe and the rope.

We are in Bellingham tonight with Lynn and Laura who graciously put us up on short notice and took us for a walk down to the Alaska Ferry dock.  Today we are visiting other Alaska folks here and then tonight at some cousins of mine in Monroe, east of Seattle.

It's good to be out of the cold and snowy mess, that dry pavement was so nice yesterday after most of the day on snowpack.

Made it to Whitehorse!

Sean adding some cardboard to block the radiator

The Sunset Unlimited!

Connie's house.  This house was built by our late friend Bill Fuller, Wu-Lu Master.

Spent last night at Connie's in Tok  and woke up to -40 F and clear and beautiful.  Not much traffic on the road so we better not break down!

We drove to the Yukon today and then to Liard Hot Springs tomorrow. (Liard was shut down tight so we just kept on driving.)  This is some big beautiful country.

ROAD TRIP!

Sean and I are heading south tomorrow for the winter migration. Step one drive to the Bay Area. We're heading south in the Sunset Unlimited, a red '91 Toyota truck with 160,000 miles, extended cab, a sleeping platform in the back and a canoe on top, complete with a retro-fit customized rack. I'll post pictures later, after I take them. We're heading to Tok tomorrow or further depending on how fast we get out of town after all our last minute errands.

We're planning on visiting friends and relatives on the way down. I'm nervous but I know I will feel better once we are on the road and past North Pole!