Alaskan travels

David arrived home from Anchorage again yesterday.  This trip was just a "down-and-back" which means he drove down 360 miles one day and came back the next.  In the winter, David's unit will typically fly between the two posts due to the unpredictably changing weather in the mountainous regions, but in the summer they use the bus, which David is assigned as one of the drivers.  Yesterday, he was in the duty van.

The Army has three posts in Alaska but only one band, which is stationed in Fort Wainwright, near Fairbanks.  The band is responsible for serving the needs of Fort Greely, the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (along with the Air Force band which is stationed there) and various communities around the state.  Since we arrived here in April 2006, the Army has brought David to Anchorage, Delta Junction, Eagle River, Fairbanks, Juneau, Nenana, Palmer, Sitka, Seward, and Valdez.

A Coast Guard helicopter formation flies over the 9th Army Band as they march in the Alaska Day Parade in Sitka

In addition, David has also hiked on the North Slope, near Lake Galbraith (in the Arctic Circle), fished for halibut in Homer with Ben, and camped and fished in the Kenai Penninsula with Ben.  The family has been to Anchorage, Chatanika, Chena Hot Springs, Delta Junction, Denali National Park, Fox, Nenana and wilderness locations along the Elliot, Parks and Richardson Highways.  We're hoping to see just a little more of Alaska before we leave the Great State in the fall, as well as visiting many of our friends that we have met during the time we have been blessed to call this place home.

Ben catches a rockfish when fishing for halibut in the Gulf of Alaska