Racecarlandia

This post is dedicated to Nana and Grampa Bill.

We live in Racecarlandia. There are many racecars here. More per capita than most places. Evos, STIs, and other tuner cars abound. Rumor has it that the script for Fast and Furious Five is set in Kodiak. Something involving a heist of a rocket. And windy roads.

It seems odd considering that we live in Alaska. On an island. Technically off the road system.

In the spirit of Racecarlandia, we took Boodah to the races yesterday. We can say this. His nickname is appropriate. (Not Boodah... the other one... Racecardrivernumerouno). He loved it. Unfortunately for him, he'll have to wait five and a half more months before he can race. Three is the minimum age.

Look at these little buddies go! Can you believe they are only three? Man, Boodah is going to love it here!

And of these buddies, I'm proud to report that the girl smoked them all. By a long ways!

Racecardrivernumerodos didn't appear as interested as 'Uno. But it could just be a rouse, in keeping with his laid back ways. Sidenote: his new nickname is StokoLocoVaca. Crazy cow, that's right. Boodah came up with it. Boodah doesn't speak spanish. That we know of.

We thought Boodah's hair was sweet, but we may have to consider some alternatives. This 'do is pretty awesome.

I love the snowy mountains. Not your typical background scene at the races.

They wouldn't let us take the Forester around for a few laps. We asked.

And now, a demonstration of all the fun that Boodah can look forward to next summer:

It's hard to believe those little pads and the helmet can provide protection when getting that much air. Safety first!

Here's a few seconds of the racecar scene. Just so you know:

Farewell Unalaska

Okay, it's a bit tardy. We left our old island for this new big one about a month ago. In perfect Unalaska form, our flight was canceled due to weather. Our dear friends who came to bid us farewell didn't realize what they were committing to. Six hours of hanging out at the airport waiting for updates! At any rate, it was great to see everybody one last time. Thanks to the airport warriors Akiko, Masakisan, Yuki, Ryo, Kristine, Max, and Yasuko! Thanks for the going away parties and dinners to Akiko, Masakisan, Yuma, Naho, Yuki, Ryo, Yasuko, Ko, Ke, Ryu, Theu, Dan, Amber, Jonathan, Kristine, Max and Joe! Thanks to Dawson's co-workers Rocky and Janie and everybody at the clinic. We got a few pictures on our newly repaired indestructible camera before realizing that the discs had been packed away.

We are so lucky to have met our Unalaska friends! They are truly awesome, and we hope that our paths will cross again some day! Thanks for teaching us how to find and harvest fresh seaweed, snails, and sea urchins. Thanks for the special tasty dinners! Thanks for the memories!

That guy in the goatee is Ryan, our new Kodiak friend. He used to live in Unalaska before moving to Kodiak, and was back out in Unalaska for work. He and his wife Shelly are also good friends of Kristine and Max and Joe. Ryan was also on our ill-fated canceled flight.



Of course, we wound up stranded in Unalaska for a couple of extra blue sky days, which was a nice way to end our time. Sadly for Boppa, there were perfect waves out at Summer Bay, and the surfboards were on top of the Suby in a container on a Samson Barge headed to Kodiak. Still, we managed to have a barefoot donut beach party picnic and have lots of fun with Max and Kristine.

Monster bee!

Kristine and Joe and Max were kind enough to take us out on a farewell boating adventure. It was an awesome last day in Dutch Harbor. We look forward to seeing them when they get back to their Kodiak island roots! Thanks Kristine and Joe and Max!






Goodbye Northwestern!

Goodbye sweet Pyramid powder turns!

Goodbye Unalaska!



Goodbye Beaver Inlet! (We hiked over the hill for a glimpse of the Pacific, our soon to be new ocean.)

One last long ass flight on the Saab (with stow-away oinking pig noises thanks to Kristine's handiwork)...



Boodah "getting some work done"...



And a nice view of an erupting Redoubt...



And our Lapacaca Part II Unalaska Chapter ends.

Hello Part III, Kodiak!

Some first impressions: Friendly... as evidenced by this, our new favorite stop sign:



Kodiak Sweet Home #1:



Kodiak Sweet Home #2:



Stay tuned for Kodiak Sweet Home #3.

PS We hope our Unalaska friends will visit us here in Kodiak some day! (We extend that hope to all our friends. Of course!)

Career Changes

Our friend Tom has found a new way to make a fortune in taxidermy. R2D2 and Splinter. It's famous on the internets here.

It's commanding a high price at Ebay.

The Norwegians are very interested.