On my way home to Pennsylvania, I stopped in Las Angeles to visit family. After coming from Central America, the things I see in California almost border on the abnormal for me. Clean, organized, and just so obvious that the great State of California, although theoretically bankrupt, has so much tax revenue to spend making the Venice Beach area a fairly nice place, despite it's freak show reputation. The freaks weren't really out today as Iwalked north but the c...

It's my third season working at the Royal Coachman Lodge in Alaska. And one of my job perks this year was a visit to the legendary Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park. Everyone knows this waterfall from the National Geographic photos of salmon jumping right into the mouth of a grizzly bear. Well, this is the place. The bears are everywhere eating fish and berries to fatten up for the long winter and you can't walk very far before having a close encounter. The r...

With a fresh supply of "fun tickets" in my bank account, I am armed and ready for more international adventure. A nice long vacation is what I need at this point and that's what I'm going to do. In order to call it vacation, however, I've learned that one must actually do work first. I just spent the last four months working at The Royal Coachman Lodge near Bristol Bay Alaska north of Dillingham. This was my second season working there and this year brought a few...

The summer is at a close here in Alaska. The days are getting shorter, the nights longer and colder. The leaves on all but the evergreens are turning bright yellow and starting to fall to the forest floor. The fishing season is over. There are no more more clients coming, no more meals to prepare, no more work to be done. It's time to go home. Most of the crew members will make their way back to whatever part of the USA they came from and spend the winter doing w...

I am working at a lodge in Alaska for the summer. Internet is not something I have access to frequently and photos may be an even bigger challenge. That's all for now.... Finally, a quick update. I am working at The Royal Coachman Lodge, 65 air miles north of Dillingham Alaska, which basically puts me right in the middle of nowhere in the Wood-Tikchik State Park... America's largest. The location is a fly-in, fly-out only camp using float planes older than I am t...