The Westons: Life and Times
In case you have questions about anything on the DVD, here might be the answers. The menu photo was taken at Swede Lake, of the Alaska Range.
Alaska Flying. The menu photo is Hubbard Glacier, near Yakutat.
- Beach Landing. September 24, 2004. (5:06) Dennis and friend Lee flew to Silver Salmon Creek, across Cook Inlet from Anchorage and about 100 miles down the Alaska Peninsula. Lee took movies. It was a tricky beach landing for a couple of reasons. The tide was high (but receding). It’s best to land on the wet sand. The big log was an obstacle and he wanted to land beyond it to be closer to where they were going. But the bears (a sow and cubs as well as a boar) were further down the beach, so he didn’t want to land long. The first pass was to inspect the surface. They flew around a bit looking at the bears. The second pass Dennis landed but bounced (watch for it) and landed a little long. They would have had to get out and push the plane up on the beach uncomfortably close to the bears. So he took off and went around again. The third time he landed and stayed. Don’t be alarmed that the propeller seems to stop and even change directions. It’s just the way the camera records it. The stall warning sounds when the plane is about five miles per hour above the actual stall. The idea is to stall exactly when you hit the ground. He came in low and slow, and added power at the end to smooth out the landing.
- Flight to Southwest Alaska. April 25-28, 2005. (4:27) This was a “work” trip like we used to take in the early 90s. We flew to a number of small villages and visited the schools with my books. We went through Lake Clark Pass, to Port Allsworth, Nondalton, Naknek, King Salmon, Dillingham, Togiak, Bethel, and Napaskiak. The old church and cemetery were out of Clark’s Point. Notice the Orthodox crosses with an extra cross bar. We flew back through Merrill Pass in the Alaska Range. The big mountain in the film is Mt. Redoubt, an active volcano.
- Mt. McKinley Flight. June 17, 2005. (7:11) It was a beautiful day so we flew to Talkeetna for lunch. It was so beautiful that I wanted to fly around the mountain, something that’s been on my “life list.” Dennis was reluctant but I pushed. When we found out how much it costs to go on a charter flight up there, he relented. We visited the Flight Service Station for details. Planes flying up there must frequently broadcast position reports as a precaution against midair collisions. We had to circle and circle above the Kahiltna Base Camp (for climbers) to get over a high pass. Then we turned and flew along the North Face, the biggest cliff in the world. Most big mountains begin to ascend from a high plateau. Just after clearing the pass, we heard a broadcast from another plane that had just crossed. We communicated and looked for each other. The other pilot said, “Look up!” He flew right over us, very close, then banked and flew in close to the mountain. I finally found him through the viewfinder.
Alaska Boating. The menu photo is of our sailboat, Zephyr, 25 ft.
- Prince William Sound 2003. July 25-August 22, 2003. (2:34) This was one of the first slide shows I did in iMovie. The fish head on the dock is an Irish Lord. Some of the other shots are of herons, bear, and sea lions. The landslide must have happened during the winter. Bet that made a wave!
- Jonathan and the Pink Salmon. August 21, 2003. (3:09) We took Dennis’ grandson Jonathan, age 5 at the time, and the Dowd kids I’ve been working with in the Family Partnership Charter School for a day on the boat. Granddaughter Megan didn’t want to come. Shotgun Cove is just a few miles from Whittier. Halfway through the hike Jonathan complained that his feet hurt. We took off his boots and discovered blisters were starting because he’d left his socks behind after getting them wet chasing fish. Susan lent him her socks.
- Prince William Sound 2004. July 7-August 10, 2004. (3:05) The first shots in this slide show were taken from the air. The pack ice hung up on the terminal moraine is from Columbia Glacier’s rapid retreat.
- Prince William Sound 2005. July 12-22, 2005. (5:55) We had a relatively short trip between Susan’s diagnosis and surgery but it was a GREAT trip, with near perfect weather. Look for dall porpoises, humpback whales, sea otters, grizzlies and oystercatchers (birds with bright orange beaks).
- Sailing and Shotgun Cove. August 15-16, 2005. (5:11) This was a couple of weeks after Susan’s surgery. Dennis’ grandkids didn’t want to come, so we took Steven and Julie Dowd. Our friend, Ron Hightower, went with us and took pictures of us sailing. It is difficult to get pictures of your own boat any other way! Ron got us excited about fishing for shrimp. On a canoe trip, we found a dying octopus. We learned later that octopus lay their eggs and then die. The birds by the waterfall are kittiwakes.
- Prince William Sound 2006. (5:58) The weather this summer was the worst we’ve experienced in all our years of boating. We rented a slip this year so took several short trips rather than one long one. The photos are organized more or less by topic. The first series, Tidal Whitewater and Ice, was taken near Nellie Juan Glacier. We’d gone there to get ice for our coolers. I noticed a lagoon on the map so we canoed to explore it. The tide was coming in, creating a swift current. Six hours later, the current would be the other direction. Our first attempt at shrimping fetched LOTS of huge shrimp. We thought we’d found a special secret spot, but shrimp move. Later we caught almost no shrimp in that location. Dennis and our friend Ron tried searching for gold, but without much luck. We did get an appreciation of how much WORK it is, and it was even worse in the early 1900s when gold was discovered and the mines were working. The photos are of the Granite Mine. The tunnel was open in June, but when we returned in August it was barred and locked. I dropped the video camera battery in the water a few days into our long trip so had to use the small camera. We’d have stayed out longer but the weather was terrible! Dennis’ brother John joined us for a couple of days out there in early September (and pulled our shrimp pot).
Alaska Scenes. The menu photo is a moose in your yard. That's our water well.
- Dall Sheep on the Highway. December 26, 2002. (0:51) These were the first photos with our new (now old) video camera, taken right along the main road heading south from Anchorage.
- Turnagain Dall Sheep. July 3, 2005. (1:31) Dennis left Jonathan, Megan and me to watch the sheep while he returned home for the key to the boat.
- Swede Lake. September 16-18, 2005. (4:45) Dennis’ son and friend Matt came to hunt. Jonathan (aged 8) stayed at the cabin with us and we had a great time shooting, splitting wood and filming him riding the four-wheeler.
- Jumping off the Roof. November 25, 2005. (7:00) It had snowed and the kids had the idea to shovel a pile of snow and jump into it. This shows where we live in Anchorage and you can get to know the kids a little. They’re doing great. The driveway is a wonderful sledding hill. I included this so you can get to "know" the kids a little.
- Scenes from the Northland. January – August 2006. (3:01) This is a collection of some of the better photos we (and others) took this year. The frosty trees were near Eureka in January. Dennis got the caribou shots at Swede Lake in May. We took an amazing two-day trip down the coast to Yakutat in May. Our movie camera was broken so we bought a new one but still it hasn’t worked out that well. None of the videos from that trip were usable. Hubbard Glacier occasionally surges and blocks off the narrow channel, stranding marine mammals. A big rescue effort was mounted by animal lovers years ago. Most animals found their own ways out. McCarthy/Kennicott was a huge copper mine in the 1930s. The mine is now owned by the National Park Service. The loon was nested on the island at Swede Lake and would NOT leave her nest. We floated by in a canoe and got several shots of her with the telephoto. The eggs aren’t hers. They’re tern eggs. The “new playground” was supposed to be for kids. We didn’t take these shots but thought you’d enjoy them. The Kenai River sibling rivalry shots I didn’t take, either, but one of our guests did and she said I could share them. The Keystone Canyon has a road through it. This illustrates how the weather was this summer!
Winter Travel. The menu photo is of the Chocolate Mountains near where we have been going in the dark of Alaskan winter.
- Utah Canyonlands. May 11-15, 2003. (3:19) Dennis didn’t fly down with me for this trip. Mom, Lyle, Monica and I met in Moab and spent a few days exploring Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.
- Washington D.C. and Virginia. October 23-November 8, 2003 (3:08) Since 1987, I’d wanted to go with Dennis to the Air and Space Museum. We finally did it in the Corvette (which was sold this year and replaced with a Honda S-2000 convertible).
- Shenandoah National Park. November 12, 2003. (2:54) The park was practically empty as it was so late in the season, but animals were everywhere. We got some of our best bear shots ever on this drive.
- Luray Caverns. November 12, 2003. (3:28) Dennis had never been in a cavern with stalactites and stalagmites, so we couldn’t pass this up. The music is from an organ some guy made by attaching hammers to stalactites that had been carefully tested for pitch.
- Monterey Aquarium. February 24, 2005. (5:06) Uncle Frank took us to the aquarium where it was EASY to get good underwater shots without getting wet. I love the leaf fish that looks like seaweed.
- Painted Canyon Hike. March 6, 2006. (5:12) Our friend Sherrie Reed led us on an amazing hike near Mecca and the Salton Sea. It’s a round trip. You go up a very narrow canyon using a number of ladders, then back down through the main canyon. This was Sherrie’s first big hike since chemo, operation, radiation and recovery from a year of fighting the same cancer I had. The only difference was mine was caught sooner.
- Salton Sea Mud Volcanoes. Dennis’ brother John and his wife Jan came down from their winter retreat at Lake Havasu to see us. One of the things we did was visit the local mud volcanoes.
- Baja Backroads. March 15-22, 2006. (24:00) Sherrie’s husband Don, his son Donny and brother Bob went with us on a trip down the east side of the Baja Peninsula, from Puertecitas to San Ganzaga Bay to Bahia de Los Angeles and back. It was a great adventure! I made this movie to give to the guys as a memento.
Some of our favorite music and artists: