Dodging Blizzards and Volcanic Ash

Just in time for spring, winter's back! There was some type of scheduling mix-up here in Unalaska during February, when we had summer-like 50+ highs. Our snow was long gone, and along with it, all prospects of snowboarding. That changed as some blizzards moved through in mid-March. We've had lots of 20 degree temps for a couple of weeks, which is pretty exciting.

It was a good week for friends, as Boppa went surfing with his new BFFF and his old BFFF came up to visit.

Scotty Matthews from Bobcat football days of yore came up for a visit. He's heading off to law school in the fall, so he got a first hand look at the fast paced life of Aleutian Island law. It wasn't super fast paced, so he kept busy brushing up on case law like Marbury v. Madison, which he is sure to encounter not long after starting school. Here's Boodah helping him spot the wild horses.

Scotty came up from Phoenix, accustomed to Porsches and fancy things and a non-rugrat lifestyle, so it was quite a big change for him. We like to think he enjoyed it. He did get to pet wild horses and freeze while watching blizzard surfing. What more could a person ask for?

He's also the luckiest traveler in recent times. The day before he left, all flights were canceled on account of Mt. Redoubt erupting. Then a large blizzard came along on his departure date. He looked quite relieved when his plane somehow made it in. Here's the view from our window about 15 minutes after he left (some of you may recall there's a large mountain called Ballyhoo that is normally visible:

And today, no flights at all. Even Anchorage flights were cancelled. But, he somehow got out just barely, right before Redoubt erupted again.

Travel Advisory: Alaska's Mt. Redoubt has erupted and all flights to/from Anchorage are canceled.

Crazy! Anyway, it was nice to have a visitor and friend up here. Thanks for visiting, Scotty. Good luck in law school!

He also showed us the wonders of this new invention you might have heard of. It's called the "eye phone" or something like that. It appears to be magic. Here are some pictures he took with it: