Farewell Alaska

What can I say? These last two years have been quite the ride. I've made a lot of great friends, learned who knows how much about mountain and marine meteorology and learned some tough lessons in life. I can't thank everyone enough for everything they have done and taught me....the list would be huge! But I do want to thank Andy and Lisa Brown for taking me in and being basically my second family up here. I'm going to really miss them and watching their kiddos grow up.  I wasn't really sure how to close out my time here ... but thought that making a movie with a handful of the 16,000 pictures I've taken ... fitting. The movie is a chronological pictography (I can make words up... it's my blog!)...and all of the pictures are in order from my first days here....watching the 2008 Iditarod to early last week when I was out on snowmobile with Andy Dixon and Dave Stricklan.

I made the video over a week ago.. but wasn't able to add more to it because the movers took the computer away...so the true last moments were not able to make it into the video. Like the Australia video from last year... it is best viewed on the Vimeo website - with full HD and at fullscreen. I hope you enjoy it.

Goodbye Alaska from Samuel Shea on Vimeo.


This last part really isn't intended for folks to read or enjoy - more of a 'remember this' when I look back at this years from now:

Long summer days
Beautiful sunrises and sunsets
Mountains
Mountains
Mountains!!
Fishing
Fighting Red Salmon
Combat Fishing
Halibut
Planes landing 300 feet away on the lake infront of my bedroom window
Catching up on the entire Lost series before season 6 started
Evenings with the Browns
COD??!!!
Watching Katy & Alyssa grow up
The whit and humor of jim
The vast amount of knowledge from all of the forecasters
Shaun randomly breaking out in song or heated wine discussion.
Snowmachining with Dave in some of the most beautiful country in the world
Chatting about the latest ASOT with Dixon and music in general
Moose Tooth Pizza
Bear Tooth Grill
Midtown Brown microbrew
Studded tires in the winter
Knowing that my forecasts would either make the day of the deadliest catch fishermen... Or make them curse the earth.
No sales or state tax (Won't miss the 'Alaska surcharge on everything')
'Alaska Traffic' (where a jam is going 20mph)
Being able to be in the middle of nowhere in 30 minutes
Clean air
Watching out for Bears
Moose not being the brightest lightbulb out there
Hearing about the fishing suicide runs