January 2008 visit with Bethany

Between Christmas and the first week in January we visited with Bethany and Mike in California. We had a wonderful time and of course time went by to fast. Grandpa taught Amanda al about cookie monster, and all-la peanutbutter sandwiches. Just a few shots of our time there.

April 15, 2008 Juneau, Alaska

In April 2008 I flew to Juneau, Alaska to inspect two of the hydroelectric project that are under construction, on in Juneau and one in Skagway. While I was there an avalanch knocked out one of their primary transmission lines and they had to switch over to their backup power, desiel. At the current cost of desiel, the utility told people to conserve as much as possible, but to expect power rates to go up 300 to 500 percent a month. This was expecially annoying since they were working on a new plant that could have carried the city in this case. The new hydro plant wont be finished until August 2009, but the damaged line was fixed in a little over two months. The weather was great for my inspections, but the morning after we woke up to see the trees across the parking lot covered in snow. This is at sea level and as you can see my car was covered pretty deep. We wern't able to go anywhere that morning, but by the afternoon the sun was out and the countryside was beautiful. The roads cleared very quickly and the fresh snow on the hillsides was spectactular. The following shots were taken looking both north and then east of town. Juneau is getting to be a big time city with its own walmart, costco, and homedepot. The urban sprawl has hit even Alaska. Actually when all the comercial fishermen come into to town those Costco carts get pretty full and the crew members from the cruise ships load up on all kinds of things to take back home duty free. Hope you enjoy the pictures of the hills around Juneau.