Thursday, July 2, 2009

Ryan's Alaska Trip

I had planned on posting these pictures earlier while I was still in Alaska but (the dog ate it, I was too busy, I didn't get the memo...you know how it goes...). I got back Monday night and found out on Tuesday night that I will be going to Hickam AFB, Hawaii for a three week exercise. Luckily, I'm able to bring Sarah and Micah along, so we will be able to vacation a little when I'm not working.

The Alaska trip was really cool and the pictures don't even begin to do it justice. We participated in Distant Frontier and Northern Edge exercises while we were there. Distant Frontier consisted of dropping bombs, shooting the gun, and firing some air-to-ground missiles and doing some larger scale air-to-air engagements with the F-16 agressors stationed at Eielson. After that was done, we did the Northern Edge exercise which was a huge exercise with F-22s, F-15Cs, F-15Es, F-18s, F-16s, B-52s, bombers, tankers, AWACS, and lots and lots more.

On the few days that we didn't have to work or mission plan, we tried to get out and see what kind of outdoors Alaska had to offer. I wish that I had some pictures that really showed how beautiful that place was, but I don't. We hiked two days in Denali National Park and went on a weekend King Salmon fishing trip. Denali was an awesome park that you could spend years exploring and not even scratch the surface. In just two days, we caught just a glimpse of what the park had to offer and wished we could have stayed several weeks. Denali is the park where the John Krakauer book "Into the Wild" took place. The fishing trip did not dissapoint either. An F-16 aggressor pilot gave us the contact info for an awesome fishing guide who knew exactly where all the fish were. All twelve of the guys from our squadron caught a King Salmon (one fish per year limit) during the trip, which is pretty much unheard of. We had a great day out on the boat and saw some amazing sights. Unfortunately I didn't get many of them on camera. Anyways, enough of me bragging about my trip, here are the pictures. Enjoy!
















2 comments:

SesmithCreations said...

Awesome pictures Ryan! I'm just a little bit jealous about the Eagle picture! An Eagle in flight is one of my picture taking goals!!!

Kristy said...

I miss Alaska - in the summer time at least. You're right, it's gorgeous and pictures can never do it justice! Have a great time in Hawaii!!