Top 100 Things I Love About Living in Alaska
Alaskan Artist - Elise Tomlinson
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Gallery 1 - Rain Country
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Why I Love Alaska
FAQ - Living in AK

 

Life in Alaska

Wetlands - Oil on Canvas
12 x 24 - $300 +8% S&H

People ask me all the time what life is like living in a remote area in Alaska with no road access in or out of town. How do I deal with the weather, wildlife, isolation, and other issues relating to living in the Last Frontier?

This is where I'll give a guided tour to all things relating to my life in the largest state in the union including photos and links to posts in my blog that deal primarily with life in Alaska.

See my Top 100 Things I Love About Living In Alaska
and this FAQ about Living in Alaska I put together from questions I've received in emails.

Read this brief article titled Local Lingo: How to Speak Alaskan which talks about all the colloquialisms here in Juneau Alaska, including things such as "sucker holes" or expressions like "the dogs are running".

Links To blog Entries on Alaskan Topics:
Humpbacks and Orcas and Sea Lions...Oh My! (photo blog entry - sailing)
Psych! (photo blog entry - rainforest)
Juneau Rates High in a National Quality of Life Study
THE TOURISTS ARE COMING!
Artist Trading Cards - Wild Alaskan Horses Attacked my Truck
It's not all glaciers and northern lights!
A Photo Blog Entry
Northern Lights on Douglas Island
Wind Driven Rain
More Amazing Northern Lights
Lights Cameras, Depression
Ravens Stole Me Meatballs, and other tales
Taku Winds
Shakespeare and Tlingit Culture
The Ravens Stole My Meatballs and Other Tales
Studed boots, falling, and goldrush photos of Douglas Alaska
Photos of the Library Where I Work, University of Alaska Southeast

Young Bay #1
Oil on Canvas
24” x 30”
SOLD

Calisto from the Deck of the Commitment

Shot of the Sailboat Calisto from under the spinnaker of the Commitment. This was taken during the Rum Cup, a race that takes place over three weekends to Admiralty Cove and back.

Gib and spinnaker of the Commitment

I took this shot up at the gib and the hanging spinnaker of the Commitment, the boat I was racing on with Gerald, the skipper of this 36' Catalina, and my sailing buddy Delynn.

Cory and Emily on the Rozinante

Emily and Corey Wall on Rozinante, the 22ft
Catalinal I bought from them in Fall of 2001

Rick at the waterfall of Perserverance Trail

Rick Quinones at the waterfall near the Perserverance Trail, Juneau AK

Mountains near UAS

Photo of Alpen glow on mountains taken from the University of AK Southeast where I work

Looking up through Devil's Club

One of my favorite images, sun shining through devil's club leaves, Juneau Ak

Picture of my house and front yard with flowers

A picture of my house on Douglas Island, AK

Fog in the trees

Southeast Alaska gets a lot of precipitation in the form of rain, snow, and fog. This is how it looks a lot of the time where I live. We have no roads in or out of town and the airport often gets shut down due to fog.

Scuba diving in Whittier Alaska

Me learning to scuba dive in a dry suit, Whittier (South Central Alaska).

Biking Ressurection Pass Alaska

From a mountain biking trip over the Ressurection Pass. The trail head starts near Hope and leads over about 38 miles of forested and alpine terrain to the trail head on the Sterling Highway near Cooper Landing. The elevation change is about 2000 feet. This was an amazing trip I took with three guys from work. We had rented a forest service cabin but Davin and I ended up sleeping out under the stars without a tent.

Digging for Clams in Alaska

Clam digging on the Kenai Peninsula, near the village of Ninilchik. Clam digging is more fun than clam eating. You look for air bubbles and when you see them you stick the metal tube into the sand up to the handle and then quickly pull up, sucking up the clam with the sand.

Outside the Frontier Alaska Cafe after Mout Spur Eruption

In August of 1992 Mount Spurr errupted depositing an 1/8 inch of ash over Anchorage. The oncoming cloud of ash looked like a dark storm cloud moving toward us. It was my second volcanic erruption since I moved to Alaska. This is a photo of Jenni Williams and me in front of the Frontier Alaskan cafe the day after the erruption. There are also a lot of earthquakes in Anchorage.

Fly fishing in Russian River Alaska

This was me catching my first Rainbow trout in the Russian River. My boss was big into catch and release fly fishing so we played hooky from work. Shhhh. I love the turquoise color of glacier fed water.

Rick Fly fishing near Russian River Alaska

Rick attempting to catch our dinner on another camping trip on the Kenai. As I recall, we were counting on the flies I had tied and they all fell apart as soon as they hit the water!

Edwin at blugrass music festival

My friend Edwin Osowski from a camping trip for the Talkeetna Bluegrass Festival. I think, that or it was the scary redneck bluegrass festival we went to in Wasilla.

Edwin still lives in Anchorage where he's become a slum lord (I mean a respectable land owner). This was back in his hippy days.

My tracker, the Gatormobile

The Gatormobile named after a plastic alligator Jenni & I found in a lake in Seward AK. I bought her in 94 and she's still going strong. Once it got attacked by a band of wild horses when I parked it on a beach in Kachemak Bay (near Homer AK). True story! I had to have the hood and nearly every panel on the vehicle replaced.

Jenny and Elise at Summit Lodge Alaska

My sister Jenny and I at the Summit Lodge near Moose Pass on a little trip we took after I moved back from Hawaii and before I moved to Juneau in 1999.

Jenny moved to Alaska a few years after me (I came in 88 and I think she came around 93?). She still lives in Anchorage with her awesome husband George. She works for Alaska Airlines so she flys in to see me whenever she gets the chance.

By the way, this is the last time you'll ever see me tan!

Jenni Williams rock climbing

A shot I took of Jenni Williams rock climbing. We took a class through the Alaskan Wilderness Adventures program at the University of Alaska Anchorage (where we went to college).

My cat Osiris

My Cat Osiris

My cat Lemoni

My cat Lemoni

Juneau from Douglas
Oil on Canvas
12 x 16 x ¼
SOLD

Mayflower Island
Oil on Canvas
12 x 16 x ¼
$275

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