HOLLYWOOD North…
Jake and I returned Thursday night from Kodiak (surprisingly, right on schedule!). Our Kodiak adventure was blessed with outstanding weather and near-perfect conditions. The accommodations were deluxe, and the “HOLLYWOOD” sign on the hillside was not far off the mark! It was a Grand Hyatt by Kodiak standards, and we ate like kings and slept like logs. A BIG THANKS to Pete from Jake and I for arranging this once-in-a-lifetime adventure…it was everything we hoped for, and a whole lot more! It’s great to be home, but we’ll always cherish special memories of our time on Kodiak last week. Love, J/D/GP
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isaac said:
Great photos – glad you managed to fit a camera into your weight allowance.
wedin54 said:
isaac…yeah, i was really pleased with the pics! i didn’t post any of the aerials i took on the way down and back…beautiful weather both ways, and i got some great kodiak topog shots. if anyone’s interested in those, you can view them at: http://gallery.me.com/johnwedin1#100215
i wish i’d got a shot of (or a shot AT) your dad’s buck…it was a beauty! l,j
prispig107 said:
Wow I really enjoyed these photos! Looks like you guys had a great time! How cool that Jake got to feed the fox! Looks and sounds like quite the adventure. Good for you! Love you and miss all of you!!!!
wedin54 said:
hey priss! my in-box this morning was peppered with “prispig107″ org comment notices…fun stuff. looks like you do the same thing i do when i haven’t been on the org for awhile…go through all the new posts and comments since i was last there…sometimes it’s a pretty amazing journey. replying to your 11/7 email is on my to-do list today…still catching up from last week, and that reply is now close to the top of the list. our hunting trip was pretty extraordinary…a friend of mine from connecticut who flew up here to join us (he’s an avid lifelong hunter) said it was the most fun and best group he’s ever hunted with. he also said it was, by far, the hardest and most challenging (as in terrain) hunting he’s ever done. for me, it was just an incredible change of scenery and lifestyle, and a wonderful opportunity to spend time with jake in a common purpose outside of our normal routine. good stuff. more soon. hugs around, love, jack
lisa said:
Looks like an awesome trip. You guys really lucked out with the weather.
wedin54 said:
lisa…yeah, the weather was unbelievable! we got a light skiff of snow one night, but other than that it was pretty dry and mostly sunny. the flights down and back were the most remarkable…sunny and smooth both ways! amazing. looks like we’re going to get some snow here this evening…good thing i swapped the snowblower for the lawnmower this weekend
love, dad
lisa said:
Just in time for the snow. We may go sledding after school tomorrow.
isaac said:
Those aerial photos in your mobileme gallery are spectacular!
Looking forward to our first snowpocalypse here – should probably stock up on toilet paper and pork rinds now before the shelves are bare.
Pete said:
Thanks for this post and the others on your photo file site. As you know, I dropped my camera in Kodiak for weight, but am not really very photo-prolific anyways. I did get some good bison shots and one of you guys digging fossils. The weather for the hunt was out of a fairy-tale book. I have experienced it all come together like that before, but not often. Debra and I had a taste of that ambrosia last night and oh my….it was so worth the effort. The aerial photos ARE spectacular…although I have had those views in my minds eye for years, I have never pulled a camera out….too busy hoping a down-draft wouldn’t dash us into the rocks! Although the skiff worked okay, next time I will procure and send down one that I can depend on for sure. That’s alot to ask John to take care of for me. I’ll also look into the Widgeon as an option for transport, although the option of the mail plane seemed to work out for you two. Well, back to the home remodel that has to get done before Thanksgiving. I’ll try to post a few photos soon. Love, Pete
wedin54 said:
pete…i thought jake and i dropped enough weight there to get your camera back in the mix, but i guess harry and russ filled the void with beverages…ha. anyhow, making weight there was touch and go (no pun intended), and i was REALLY glad jake and i pre-weighed our gear (and ourselves) before heading for kodiak…i also regretted that big breakfast monday morning when he and i first tipped the scale at 3# over
not counting the blustery first day there, the weather for the hunt reminded me of that week we spent on prince william sound in march back in ’93…as you may recall, the weather was near-perfect that entire week, even the final day when we commemorated the “rocky trip” alaska style.
i’d love to do that hunt again some day! sam expressed a lot of interest in going, so i’d like to do that before i need to R&R the ball joints in my knees
i’d do a few things differently next time…for ONE thing, i’d definitely hit the treadmill for a few weeks prior to the hunt. keyboarding is decent prep for the trigger finger, but not much else. i’d also want to build in a day (or two) to process meat THERE before leaving. if possible, it would be GREAT to have everything packaged and boxed up prior to flying out.
also, i’d want to be more pro-active about helping to make arrangements and outfitting. this time, we had our hands full just getting our individual gear together (and rifles sighted in). next time, we’ll have that all ready to go, and can take on some of the general planning and outfitting load. again, that was the trip of a lifetime…memories jake and i will treasure always. mainly, it was fun for he and i to be on relatively equal footing in a pursuit like that…and as for tundra traversing and tussock tromping, he was MILES ahead of me! in hindsight, the 45-70 was a good thing to have along just in case, but next time i’d like to have access to something that had better optics and a little more “reach.”
anyhow, THANKS for everything! if sam and i are fortunate to have an opportunity down there in the future, maybe jon, slim and sage could round out the group. the widgeon would be really deluxe, too, though i cannot imagine flights like the ones we enjoyed in the beaver on the way down AND on the way back. we had nary a bump on the return flight, too. more soon…love, jack