Chums get no respect.

In many places in Alaska, the run of pinks and chums more or less coincide with each other. These runs also coincide with the silver salmon run, and often people will be actively fishing for silvers, but catching pinks and chums. Most people don’t keep the pinks – by the time they reach fresh water, their flesh is quickly deteriorating in quality, and since people prefer the silvers, they toss the pinks back. Almost nobody keeps chums. Chums are for dog food. Nobody eats dog food.

Yesterday we were fishing (for silvers) and catching a lot of chums. They may not be the choice for the table, but I tell you what, they sure are strong. They’re not jumpers, they’re pullers. Pullers and head-shakers. They’re aggressive and take lures readily. They can get quite large. They’re colorful. The lure of choice is typically a Pixie or a Vibrax, and this is exactly the lure you’d be using for fishing for silvers. Unfortunately, chums are so strong that they often straighten the hooks on the lures! So when you’re fishing for silvers and hook a chum, you often experience the double-disappointment of catching an undesirable fish and having to retire your favorite lure, because the hooks are ruined!

When I was fishing this weekend, I had a couple of guests with me from the East Coast. Neither had ever caught a salmon before. The silvers were being elusive, but the chums cooperated, and both of my friends landed hard-fighting chums. It is an experience I am sure they won’t forget.

After my friends left, the rest of our fishing party started to discuss how chums really need another name… something that doesn’t conjure images of ground-up fish gruel. The commercial fish people have done just that, and when you see chums in the supermarket, you’ll see them under the name “silverbrite” salmon. Seems a little misleading, doesn’t it?

In the spirit of full disclosure, until yesterday, I had been disparaging the chums myself, by grouping them together with pinks, and calling them “humpies and chumpies”. But I am past all that – I have seen the error of my ways, and now I have a new-found respect for them. I may not want to catch them and take them home and cook them… but as fighters, they’re top notch.

So, we narrowed down our new name for chums to two choices. Which do you prefer?

Alaskan River Marlins or Tiger Tuna?

In past years, I hadn’t purchased a derby ticket, and in most years I catch some pretty respectable fish. Last year I caught a fifty pounder, and the year before, a forty-eight pounder. These fish aren’t winners, but they’re close… I figured if I put the time in, and focused on catching a really big fish, I’d have a good shot at the top prizes.

What a mistake.

So I started fishing hard in June, and I caught four king salmon… But I released them all, because they were too small.

Then it happened… with three weeks left in the season, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed the rest of the king salmon season. The numbers of returning kings was so small, they were concerned about making sure that there were enough fish to spawn.

When fishing closed, I hadn’t kept a single fish… and I realized that I hadn’t really enjoyed fishing all that much. Fishing, when there is money (or prizes) on the line… and making a choice to compete for them, is a lot more like work than fishing.

Don’t get me wrong… fishing derbies can be fun, and in Alaska, they raise money for some great charities. But doing what I did was a mistake. I thought it would be fun, but it wasn’t near as much fun as just fishing would have been.

I usually make the trip to Denali once a year to go into the park – I have gone both in the spring and in the fall, and both are worth the trip. Both times of year have their advantages, but the weather can be iffy, too.

The National Park Service does not keep the road clear in the winter, so once the road gets snowed-in in the fall, it remains closed until spring. A friend of mine who works for the National Park Service alerted me to the fact that it is now time to start clearing the park road of snow.  This annual ritual, called “Spring Road Opening” or SRO, started a few days ago. I find it amusing that something as mundane as getting the heavy equipment out and plowing the road has an acronym.

This activity also has its own web page, so you can follow the progress. Fortunately for all of us, the page is actually rather entertaining – you get updates on the latest progress, see photos of the park and the snow removal effort, and reports of animal sightings are posted.

According to the latest update, there is a chance that the road will be open as far as the Savage River this weekend. It will take a few more weeks to get the road open to Teklanika, which is as far as they allow the public to go in the spring… but you can hike or take bicycles beyond that point, if you like.

If you get the chance, head up to Denali before the middle of May, and take the drive out to Teklanika. It is a great trip, and a great opportunity to see wildlife and experience Denali National Park without the crowds.

And if you can’t make it, follow the progress on the SRO web page!

One of the main reasons I moved to Alaska was my love of winter weather. I moved from Washington, DC to Fairbanks in 1986, and to say that the winter weather in Fairbanks was different, well… that would be an understatement. But I fell in love with the Fairbanks winters, and when I got into the business of creating custom tours for clients, I always thought that there was room to do winter tours in Alaska – after all, the first thing that many people think of when it comes to Alaska is snow and cold.

No matter how much I love winter, I thought it was a bit of a stretch when I heard that The Weather Channel had declared that Fairbanks was among the top ten winter weather locations in 2009-10.

Wow.

Really, it isn’t that big a stretch to realize that winters in Fairbanks are pretty spectacular… but it is a little surprising that others would figure it out. It is true that Fairbanks gets modest amounts of snow, but the climate is otherwise dry, and late in the winter (like in February through April), the skies are clear and the sun is bright most days. The weather is just perfect for winter activities, and a lot is happening in Fairbanks in March, including the World Ice Art Championships, and the Open North American sled dog races. Many of our guests go to Fairbanks in the winter for dogsledding adventures and a visit to Chena Hot Springs. I even created a special website just for Alaska winter tours.

So, a hearty thank-you to The Weather Channel for recognizing something we here in Alaska already knew.

We do winter right!

The cruise industry’s arguments are specious. While it may be true that the taxation and regulatory environment in Alaska is rather stringent, it isn’t punitive. The revenue from the head tax goes directly to infrastructure and services costs that are related to the industry itself. With regard to the wastewater standards, I think that it is fair to say that any community would enact standards to protect their local waters, especially when the use of those waters are shared with other sectors, most notably, commercial fishing.

In the same Miami Herald article, Governor Parnell is quoted as saying, “I heard clearly the need for some change to the head tax and the need to have environmental regulation based on good science. . . I’m going to try to work to reduce costs for the [cruise] industry,”

Back in December I wrote a piece detailing the cruise lines objections to the head tax. Their complaints are no more valid today.

The cruise lines have decided to punish Alaska by reducing the number of cruise passengers coming to Alaska by 140,000. In some Southeast Alaska communities, that will be a disasterous blow. But there are some (myself included) that believe that just because the cruise lines reduce the number of sailings to Alaska that does not necessarily mean that demand for Alaskan destinations is reduced. That isn’t the case.

While the cruise lines scale back their sailings, the airlines have added 930 seats a day between the Lower 48 and Alaska. That is almost 100,000 additional passengers coming to Alaska by air. When you consider that many Alaska cruises are one-way — meaning that they originate in Vancouver, BC and end in Alaska (or the other way around), most cruise passengers use airlines to complete their cruises. If you estimate that half of the cruise passengers travel to or from Alaska by air, then the reduction in cruise-related air traffic might be around 70,000. So does it make sense that the airlines would add 100,000 seats to Alaska routes while there are 70,000 fewer cruise-related air passengers? Not unless there was going to be other demand for Alaska travel.

While the reduction in the number of cruise passengers will hurt port-call communities in Southeast Alaska, the rest of the state is going to benefit. In addition, the cruise lines stated at their conference in Miami that they plan to introduce 26 new ships between now and 2012, and these new ships represent an 18 percent increase in capacity. Clearly the cruise industry expects growth, and that would suggest that the demand for Alaska will remain strong. I doubt that $50 per passenger is going to make much difference at all in the demand for cruises in the long term.

Governor Parnell should stand firm against the cruise lines demands.

The park itself is the largest park in the National Park Service system, and is the home to numerous glaciers and powerful rivers, and nine of the 16 tallest peaks in the United States.

Mount Wrangell, seen from the Richardson Highway near Copper Center. Note steam plume in the background from the summit.

But like anywhere in Alaska, the scenery and landscape only tells part of the story. If you venture into the center of the park, you’ll experience one of the most interesting and beautiful places in Alaska – the towns of McCarthy and Kennicott.

Kennecott (sometimes spelled Kennicott) was born of the search for minerals and metals. Unlike many of the locations in Alaska, the draw here was copper, not gold. The Kennecott Copper Company built a mine and a company town to extract the rich copper ore. Along with the buildings and machinery for the mine, a railroad to the sea was built to haul supplies and copper back and forth.

The town of McCarthy sprung up next to Kennecott – and while the mine closed in 1938 and was abandoned, McCarthy continued on as the small, remote outpost in the middle of the Wrangell Mountains.

Visitors to McCarthy and Kennecott come for the exceptional beauty of the land. Kennicott Glacier flows past Kennecott and right to the edge of McCarthy. A short walk from town takes you to the toe of the glacier, where you can walk across the moraine, and sit at the edge of the lake as ice and rocks fall off the face of the glacier. From Kennecott, daily guided hikes head off up the valley and guides take you out onto Root Glacier (a tributary glacier of the Kennicott Glacier).

Hikers on Root Glacier, Wrangell St. Elias National Park

Hikers of all ages head out onto the ice with guides, and the more adventurous can head out for extended glacier hikes and ice climbing seminars. If you’re both adventurous and a history buff, you can take a guided hike to the mine entrance, over 3000 feet above the valley floor. If you’re a history buff but prefer to stay in the valley, you can take guided tours of the mill building, or just walk around and explore on your own.

Photographers will love McCarthy and Kennecott, because there are so many varied subjects. Whether you want to photograph the ghost town, or prefer landscapes and scenery, you could literally spend weeks there choosing interesting things to shoot.

When it comes to finding a place to stay in McCarthy and Kennecott, there are a number of great choices. The two main spots are Ma Johnson’s Hotel and Kennecott Glacier Lodge.

Ma Johnson's Hotel in McCarthy

Ma Johnson’s Hotel is in McCarthy. The building itself was a rooming house in the early 1900’s. It has been converted to a hotel. The rooms are rather small, but are decorated with period-authentic furniture. When one walks into Ma Johnson’s, you can’t help but feel that you’ve been transported back to 1920.

Kennecott Glacier Lodge is located among the old abandoned mine and mill buildings in Kennecott. The architecture is striking, as the building itself hugs the mountains, and overlooks the glacier.

McCarthy is what I call an “end of the road” town. What that means is that it is a place where people are drawn who prefer to avoid some of the trappings of modern life. As a result, the town is full of colorful and eclectic people – all of whom have interesting stories about how they ended up there at the end of the road.

Getting to McCarthy and Kennecott can be a bit of an adventure. The McCarthy Road is a 60 mile gravel road between Chitina (pronounced ‘Chit-na’) and McCarthy.

Kuskulana Bridge on the McCarthy Road

The road itself was built on the old railbed that ran to Cordova. The road is narrow, and drivers should take their time. But you’ll be rewarded with spectacular scenery and some thrills along the way. If the road seems a little too adventurous for you, there are companies that will either fly you in to McCarthy or take you by van. You could even combine the  two, and see the road, and also experience the park from the air.

We include McCarthy in many of our packages. It is a great destination for visitors that are looking for some adventure, some history, a great photo safari or just an amazing authentic Alaskan experience.

Alaska Vacation Store has been doing Iditarod packages since 2005, and they’ve increased in popularity every year… to the point where they are booking up earlier and earlier. The problem planning an Iditarod adventure is that in some of the locations, lodging is very limited, so there is a limit to the number of guests we can accommodate.

That is the way it has been this year… until yesterday, when I was able to find a few more rooms in the Talkeetna area. That means we can take another party or two for the Iditarod this year. So if you’ve been thinking about coming to Alaska for the Iditarod, but figured it was too late, here’s your chance to see the Last Great Race.

Our packages start in Anchorage, then head to Willow and Talkeetna, where you will fly out to Rainy Pass checkpoint for the day. After that, there’s plenty of room to customize your trip.

As I mentioned, space is limited… but I am really glad I was able to find a little more space. One of the best parts of this job is making people’s dreams come true… and the Iditarod is a dream of a lot of people.

Here’s your chance!

We do get some sun, though. Would you like to see how much?

Check out this video made last week at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. You get to see sunrise to sunset in one two-minute video.

Relax.

There are a whole constellation of things conspiring against our client – the weather, the fact that everyone is trying to get back to Alaska after the holidays, and unfortunately, unrealistic expectations.

As a professional travel planner, I arrange a lot of airline flights, and coordinate them with our custom tour packages. One of the most important aspects of planning a trip is to make sure that potential for airline delays don’t impact your other plans. For example, when we plan a trip for clients, we never plan any activities for the day you arrive in Anchorage – the flight is long, and you’ll be tired… but more importantly, there’s no guarantees your flight is going to arrive when they promise it will. And for our Iditarod packages, we often will allow for another full day, especially if the guests are coming from the east coast or Europe.

Airline delays have become such a problem that many airlines have taken to pushing back arrival times – it doesn’t slow down the travel, but it changes the expectation. On a recent trip, all four of my flights arrived early… presumably because the airline added another half hour to the expected travel time to help pad their ontime performance.

But really, this isn’t what our client is complaining about. She wants to be here in Alaska, and she’s stuck in some airport along the way, and because of weather and heavy holiday traffic, she’s not going to arrive here when she had hoped. That’s a shame. But being upset about it doesn’t fix it. She needs to relax.

Once I was traveling from Fairbanks to Washington, DC for the Christmas holidays, and it took me twenty-four hours, four airports, and a lot of improvised scheduling to get around the weather and traffic delays.

I had a blast.

Whenever I travel, I bring a book… or two. It is really the only time I get to sit and read, so for me, the book is the treat. I also bring my mp3 player and some really nice headphones. I don’t go anywhere without my laptop… but that can be a mixed bag, because that is just one more heavy thing you have  to lug around with you. If I have a layover – whether scheduled or not – I make sure I take in some of the amenities that hub-city airports have to offer. For some, it could just be a nice lunch, or a drink a the bar. If the layover is extended, you might want to consider buying a one-day pass to one of the airline suites. Most have free Wifi, snacks and drinks, comfortable seats, a friendly concierge or two, and all the latest information on your flights. Sure they’re a little pricey, but when it comes to your sanity, it is often worth it.

The most important thing you can bring with you to the airport is a good attitude. Of course, you want to get where you’re going as quickly as you can. But if you can’t – so what? Make the most of the time you have. Be prepared to have fun. Treat yourself  to a good meal, people-watch, browse the Internet, catch up on your reading, or get to know a fellow traveler. And the key to it all is in the planning. Make your travel arrangements so that a delay of an hour or two doesn’t end up stressing you out and screwing up your plans.

After all, it’s a vacation!

That seems like a lot to me.

I started to research what a company like Alaska Vacation Store could do to become more environmentally-friendly. I thought it would be really cool if you could create a carbon-neutral vacation package.

It turns out, from a practical standpoint, you can’t.

Sure, you can get on the Internet and do a search on carbon-neutral travel, and there are plenty of web pages there… but nobody has made it easy, or even practical, to take a carbon-neutral vacation - and this is really the key. The people who are passionate about it (perhaps to the point of obsession) will do whatever it takes to be carbon-neutral. But there is a large segment of the population that believes that it is important to limit carbon emissions, but are unable or unwilling to make the kinds of sacrifices that you need to make for a truly carbon-neutral trip.

When I did my research, I was immediately drawn to the idea of purchasing carbon offsets. The average trip releases X-amount of carbon, and you purchase enough offsets to cover the carbon released on that trip.

But there’s a problem with that… and that is, from a consumer standpoint, purchasing carbon offsets is a lot like donating to a charity. Part of the cost goes to overhead. So in a really well-run charity, (or carbon offset company) most of the money goes where it is intended…  and in poorly-run ones, most of the money goes to overhead… or in the worst cases, somewhere else.

If I purchase a carbon offset worth a ton of CO2, I want to remove a ton of CO2 from the atmosphere. And since the whole  premise of carbon offsets is that they are like commodities, one ton of carbon offset needs to be the same as another. But they’re not.

Moreover, when you research environmentally-sound travel, a emphasis of many websites goes towards making the office more green. I think that is important, and I have made some strides there. But in all honesty, the amount of carbon my office operation has released into the environment over the years I have been in business is an order of magnitude less than the average CO2 release on a typical vacation. And I’ve planned hundreds of vacations. Fixing my office doesn’t fix the carbon footprint.

In my office I am transitioning my record-keeping to a more electronic system. Almost all correspondence with clients and vendors is done by email, and I am reducing the amount of paper I use. I have switched my old CRT monitors to flat screens – they’re both energy efficient and larger. My next project is to turn my hundred-page confirmation packet into an electronic document. One advantage of my packages is that our vendors do not require vouchers, so a guest could, in theory, take his or her entire trip and keep all the documents on a CD or DVD, and never need a piece of paper. Unfortunately, that method of delivering documents is not practical for every guest, because not everyone brings their laptop to Alaska with them. But you could create an electronic document with all of the descriptions, maps, driving directions, etc. and put them on a CD. In fact, it could be cooler than any paper document packet. You could include audio and video. It is coming, but we’re not there yet.

That addresses at least some of the environmental concerns… but the larger concern – how to remove a ton of CO2 per person for every visitor to Alaska – remains unanswered. There are some human activities that by their very nature, and not particularly friendly to the environment, and flying across the continent is one of them. I am not suggesting that people stop traveling. Instead, I think the win-win here would be to find a way to negate the impacts of the travel. As the owner of a tour company, I would like nothing better than to be able to offer my clients a way to offset their carbon footprint in Alaska. I think it would be a great selling point, and great for the environment… Not to mention that this isn’t an Alaska-only solution. You could use this to offset travel (or anything else) anywhere.

Now one could argue that reducing the carbon footprint of a 737 is the responsibility of the airline… and that’s true. But for the moment, that part of the equation is not considered, and really, we’re not talking about reducing the footprint of a jet, but rather, eliminating our footprint as passengers through offsets. A jet is always going to emit CO2. If at some point in the future they come up with a more efficient and carbon-friendly jet, or  the airlines decide to offset its emissions in some other way, that just reduces what we as consumers need to account for when we shoot for carbon-neutral travel.

When someone comes up with a carbon offset product that a consumer could buy that actually removed carbon from the environment, and assured the consumer that the money spent was actually going towards  removing carbon rather than paying salaries (and other things), my guess is that travelers will be eager to use them to make for carbon-neutral transactions.

Rejoice, Alaskans! Tomorrow there will be nine seconds more daylight in Anchorage. In Fairbanks there will be thirteen more seconds of daylight.

Barrow, you’re out of luck until the end of January.

OK, most of Alaska can rejoice!

It is the winter solstice, and the days are now getting longer.

For people that don’t live in Alaska, it is a little hard to fathom how important this is. My partner and I went out yesterday with our cameras intent on taking some photos. There wasn’t enough light to get good ones. Winters are cold here, but they’d be a lot easier to take if there was more sun, and soon, there will be.

Nine seconds doesn’t seem like a lot. It isn’t. But in a week, we’ll be gaining two minutes a day. In two weeks, it will be over four minutes a day. By March 21, the daily change will be almost seven minutes a day – about forty-seven minutes a week.

We’re headed in the right direction… which is more than I can say about yesterday. Yesterday we lost twenty-six seconds.

Rejoice, Alaskans!

The Iditarod starts in Anchorage on the first Saturday in March, and the race lasts about two weeks. Most guests arrive on the Thursday before – you wouldn’t want to schedule a Friday flight into Anchorage and end up stuck in Chicago because of a Midwestern blizzard – you’d miss the start of the race!

Dogs discuss race strategy while sitting in the back of a musher's dog truck.

The ceremonial start is on Saturday. This is when all of Anchorage turns out and lines the the streets to watch the mushers as they head through town. Most people head to Fourth Avenue, which is the starting line… but there are many great places to watch the mushers all over town, so it isn’t necessary to fight the downtown crowds. Among the more favorite spots are on the hill on Cordova Street as the mushers head down towards Chester Creek.

The route winds its way south through the parks in Anchorage. At one point the mushers cross a bridge over Northern Lights Boulevard, and a tunnel at Tudor Centre. In 2009, the Anchorage trail ended at Campbell Airstrip in Centennial Park.

A view of the "chute" at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod.

One advantage of heading to Fourth Avenue is to see the mushers prepare their sleds and dogs for the race. While the festivities on Saturday are purely ceremonial – the clock on the race doesn’t start until Sunday – there is still plenty to see in the “chute”. The area of downtown on Fourth Avenue west of D Street (the actual starting line) is fenced off, and each musher brings in his or her “dog truck”. A dog truck is how the dogs, sleds and equipment is hauled to different locations. The most distinctive feature of a dog truck are the boxes on the back where the dogs ride. You’ll often see dogs sticking their heads out of holes in the doors of the dog truck.

This is a great opportunity to get some photos of the mushers, talk to them a bit, and see the dogs. Most people can’t imagine the preparation and training that goes into a run to Nome. While the show on Saturday is just a very small piece of the entire process, it is very clear from watching the mushers get ready that a run to Nome in the Iditarod is something that takes years of planning.

Musher heads down Fourth Avenue in Anchorage at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod.

After the ceremonial start, the mushers pack up the dogs and sleds and head for Willow, where the race restarts on Sunday afternoon. Several thousand spectators attend the restart in Willow, and this event is an even more authentic Alaskan event – people arrive by car and truck, snowmachine (this is Alaska-speak for snowmobile) and even a few by airplane.

The atmosphere is a little different in Willow; the trail heads out across the frozen lake, and spectators line the trail and cheer as the mushers head out to Nome. At the same time, snowmachines race across the lake, and airplanes on skis come and go.

After the restart, many guests head north to Talkeetna, where they catch a flight out the next day to some of the remote checkpoints in the foothills of the Alaska Range. Flights leave in the morning and head to Skwentna and Rainy Pass. The first day is often a very entertaining time to be on the trail, because this is when the fastest of the teams try to set the pace.

For guests that are serious about the Iditarod, you can fly from checkpoint to checkpoint in a “Chase the Race” package. Other guests take a few days off and head to Fairbanks where you can take in the World Ice Art Championships, do a dogsledding adventure, where you can actually learn to drive a dog team and spend the night under the northern lights in a cabin or arctic-weight tent. After your dogsled adventure, an afternoon soak at Chena Hot Springs sounds like a very good idea.

The following week the lead mushers approach Nome, and guests fly out to this Norton Sound community to greet the mushers as they arrive on Front Street.

Iditarod packages have become more popular over the last few years, but there is still time to arrange your package if you’re up for a winter adventure in Alaska. Alaska Vacation Store creates custom Iditarod packages that include lodging, rental cars, and all of the activities. Packages can be as short as four days, or last for as many as twenty.

At issue is a head tax passed by Alaska voters in 2006. The $50 tax is intended to offset infrastructure costs associated with the landings of large cruise ships that would otherwise be borne by the very small communities in Southeast Alaska. The cruise lines argue that the tax is a significant disincentive for budget-conscious travelers to choose a cruise. However, a number of studies have shown that the additional cost makes little difference in a guest’s choice to take a cruise.

Supporters of the tax think that many of the cruise industry’s protests are disingenuous. The number of Alaska visitors in 2009 was down considerably, and many ascribe this decline to the state of the economy. In Ketchikan, a city that is heavily-dependent on the cruise industry, hotel stays were down about 20 percent from the previous year, while the overall cruise passenger numbers to Alaska decreased only .5 percent. In general, cruise passengers do not overnight in Ketchikan. One interpretation of these numbers is that the cruise industry fared comparatively well despite the head tax and despite the poor economy, while other segments of the Alaska visitor industry suffered.

Andrew Halcro thinks that the head tax is good for the Alaska visitor industry. At the time that the tax was being debated in Alaska, he argued that the cruise lines do not pay taxes at the same rate that other transportation providers (airlines, car rental companies, etc) pay.

For people planning a visit to Alaska, the picture is actually quite good. The reduction in the number of cruise ships in Alaska will tend to increase the cost of cruises and require that cruise guests book earlier, there is still ample capacity for independent travelers to visit Alaska. Also, since many smaller operators had difficult years in 2009, most are reluctant to raise prices in 2010, so the costs of an Alaska vacation will be very close to the prices that we have seen over the last two years.

In the process, I found some blogs that I thought were really interesting – the life of the flight attendant.

Another Flight Attendant Writing talks about the day-to-day life of the flight attendant. The author has been writing for a while, so there’s a lot of content there. There are also links to other flight attendant blogs – at least one of which I found on my own… and that is:

The Flying Pinto… A Flight Attendant Blog is another prolific blog that covers a lot of the bases when it comes to the life of a flight attendant.

The third one I found was Traveling with MJ, which is a little more about travel and a little less about being a flight attendant.

I think there are a lot of stereotypes we have about different professions, and perhaps one of the more misunderstood is the job of the flight attendant. The nature of the job – one where we see and interact with them fairly often, but probably don’t really understand the scope and breadth of the job itself – makes blogs like these rather compelling.

Check them out!

This morning’s Anchorage Daily News contained this piece which describes Alaska Airlines decision to begin charging for even the first checked bag on most flights.

Bad idea. Really bad.

I suppose if you’re some airline revenue guru, this makes some sense – a way to recover $15 per passenger each way on most routes… since on most routes, most people check a bag. I just traveled to Washington, DC on Alaska Airlines, and I checked a bag. And that makes sense, I was there for ten days.

Thirty bucks. Cha-Ching.

But here’s the thing… Alaska Airlines isn’t any airline. It is our airline. Alaskans are very loyal. They fly Alaska even though other carriers are often cheaper to the same destinations. Alaskans want to earn Alaska Airlines miles. They don’t want Delta miles. They don’t want USAir miles. If you have doubts about how important Alaska Airlines is to Alaskans, ask the Alaska Airlines folks what happened when they decided to change their logo and remove the smiling face from the tail of their planes. It was Alaskans – all 500,000 of us – that objected. Alaska Airlines is a part of the Alaskan identity… even if the company is headquartered in Seattle. When you mess with Alaska Airlines, you’re messing with us.

As the owner of an Alaskan business, I do all I can to direct business to Alaska Airlines because the Alaska Airlines experience is superior to other airlines. My guests are happier and are treated better on Alaska Airlines. Let’s face it, ten hours on an airplane is taxing even for people who like to fly, so anything we can do to make that part of the process more pleasant for our guests makes it better for us and our business… There’s no sense starting off your vacation any more unhappy or uncomfortable than you have to be… And happy customers are repeat customers.

If you took Marketing 101, you know that what Alaska Airlines has done is to differentiate themselves in the marketplace – that is, create the perception with consumers that the experience you get with Alaska Airlines is not like the experience that you get with others. There is a benefit that you get with flying Alaska Airlines, and for many customers that benefit is worth paying for. It certainly has worked to keep Alaskans loyal for all these years. But what the revenue guys will tell you is that isn’t the way many consumers buy their airline tickets. What matters for those consumers is the price of the fare.

Where consumers are damaged, and where companies like Alaska Vacation Store are damaged is that the experience is downgraded when customers are presented with what they believe are hidden costs. Certainly one can’t argue that Alaska’s new policy is a hidden cost, but for the same consumer who worries about a $5 difference in fare, getting hit with a $15 charge for checked baggage he or she doesn’t expect negatively affects the perception of the experience.

It would be naive to think that travelers today expect the same level of amenities that were available on a plane years ago… and there is some sense in the “pay to play” mindset – I would add that I heartily applaud Alaska Airlines adding on-board WiFi to their fleet. But there is a substantive difference between charging for value-added items, like WiFi, or DigEPlayers or even a sandwich or beverages, and charging to bring your basic clothing and toiletries on the plane.

The other day, one of our clients came into the office to pick up his airline ticket, and he asked us about the policies regarding taking his prescriptions on board the plane. He uses several creams and ointments that come in tubes and bottles that are larger than one can carry onto the plane, because of the security rules imposed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). His solution was to put a day or two supply of the different drugs in empty film canisters, and then place the remainder of his prescriptions in his checked bag. As it was, he had no other option except to check a bag, since he couldn’t bring the existing containers on the plane. Now, he will be charged $15 each way for the privilege.

Southwest Airlines is making hay on these different revenue generators. As they should – they understand that there is a certain basic level of service that you should expect when you travel, and those things that go beyond basic… well, you pay extra for those.

All of the airlines that have taken to charging for all bags are coming dangerously close to crossing the line between pay-for-play and failing to provide a basic and expected part of the service. As much as I didn’t like it when airlines started charging for a second bag, I was resigned to the fact that certain passengers have abused the privilege in the past (count me as one) and this was a fair and equitable way to increase revenue and discourage that abuse. Charging for any checked bag seems petty and unfair.

Until now, I hadn’t really worried about this issue, because my airline still offered one free bag. But now that has changed.

So to Alaska Airlines, I have this to say: You’ve spent your entire existence working hard to set yourself apart from the rest of the industry. You’ve owned and embraced what is important about being an Alaskan, and being a part of our community, and you have spread that Alaskan hospitality across the country. You’ve asked us to be loyal to you, and we have – even when it meant spending a few more dollars to travel with you as opposed to another carrier. Alaskans understand, perhaps more than most, that there are costs associated with doing business, and that times are tough. And don’t get me wrong – this isn’t about $15. It is about treating your friends and neighbors like… well… your friends and neighbors. The message you send by charging $15 for the first bag is that really, you’re just like the rest of them. It won’t be long before Alaskans realize that if it is really only about getting between here and there, then any old airplane will do. We’ll cram everything we can into our carry-ons. We won’t check bags, we’ll fly Continental’s red-eye to Seattle and take Southwest the rest of the way… because that will be the cheapest way to go. If you need the $15, then raise your fares $15. Alaskans will stick with you. Just please, don’t tell us that you’re just like the rest of them.

On the tail of every one of your planes is the beautiful face of an Alaskan. It is the face Alaskans fought to keep on your planes back in 1988, and it is a symbol of Alaskan hospitality across America.

Imagine what it will look like without a nose.

Summer view of Kenai Lake near Renfro's Lakeside Retreat

View of Kenai Lake from Renfro's Lakeside Retreat

One of the things that made Renfro’s Lakeside Retreat such a good fit for Alaska Vacation Store is that Mike and Sharon share a lot of the same beliefs about what is important when it comes to taking care of your guests. I believe that Alaska is not just another vacation destination – certainly it wasn’t for me when I first came to Alaska in 1985. Alaska was about a lifetime of dreaming and planning, and when you spend that much time thinking about a one or two week visit, your expectations are very high.

What made the difference for me when I first came to Alaska was the wonderful people that I met… and while Mike and Sharon were not among those first Alaskans I met almost twenty-five years ago, they were certainly cut from the same cloth. To be sure, Alaska is an incredibly beautiful place, but more importantly, Alaska gets into your blood, and the place changes the people.

A few years back, Mike and Sharon decided that it was time to take some time and entered into retirement, and sold their place. The new owners took over, and we continued to send guests there… But it didn’t seem the same.

This past winter, my phone rang, and it was Sharon Renfro. She was calling to tell me that retirement wasn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, and that they’ve taken ownership of their cabins once again. It was definitely the best news of the winter for me – Mike and Sharon were destined to take care of their guests on the shore of the lake, and now they were getting back into it!

Renfro’s Lakeside Retreat really combines all that Alaska is about: Mike and Sharon are the quintessential Alaskan hosts, committed to making sure that you have an amazing stay with them. But combine that with the beautiful cabins on the shore of the turquoise-blue Kenai Lake, and there are few places that I’d rather send my guests.

I really missed Mike and Sharon, and I am sure that their guests did, too. So as we end March, 2009, Mike and Sharon are getting everything just-so for the next season of summer guests.

I couldn’t be more excited!

We had a few hours of notice, so I put a sheet of notebook paper out and let the ash collect on the paper. In four hours, I collected about a teaspoon of ash on the paper. If you go to the Alaska Volcano Observatory website, they describe the proper procedure for collecting an ash sample, and I did a passable job following their directions.

Here is what I collected:

When I went to scoop the ash into the plastic bag, the air smelled strongly of sulfur. It occurred to me that just a few hours earlier, this ash had been molten rock deep inside a volcano. This ash was essentially the youngest rocks on Earth.

I think most people just take rocks for granted. If we bother to consider the age of a rock, we’re not really able to fully grasp what the age of a rock might be. Even if one has no idea of the age of a rock, the first number that pops into our mind is likely to be in the millions of years.

This volcanic ash was less than three hours old when I scooped it into the bag. And before that, it had been molten rock deep inside a volcano. This ash was ash from Hell… literally!

UPDATE: Here it is, one day later… and as you walk through the stores or around town, you can still smell the sulfur, and people are wearing masks. The snow, which just yesterday was a brilliant white, is now grey, and becoming more grey by the hour as it melts. Footprints in the snow are white inside, surrounded by the dirty grey of the ash.

We had an eruption this morning, and most of the low-level ash traveled south and east from the volcano, and is now falling out in the Homer area.

There is a steady stream of images and information being published online, but one of the best sources is the Alaska Volcano Observatory. On their website, they have two webcams of the volcano – here and here - and some of the other volcanoes they watch, like this one, historical information, and collections of recent photos.

Hard-core volcano watchers also know to watch the National Weather Service Radar, where you can see the radar representation of the ash plume.

I think it is just a matter of time before Anchorage gets its dose of ash. This is not a good thing, by the way. Volcanic ash is microscopic glass particles, and they’re very irritating to the eyes and lungs, they damage machines, particularly cars and airplanes, and all in all make a mess.

It is strange here today in Anchorage – the plume is overhead, and all of the airports are closed. It is rare to see a sky without airplanes in Alaska.

You can also see the plume in weather satellite images and on the National Weather Service Radar in Kenai .

For the latest information visit the Alaska Volcano ObservatoryWebsite or listen for official news and information from the media.

I then dashed out into the rain-and-50-degree weather. For the uninitiated, rain and 50 degrees is actually a fairly common combination in Alaska in the summer and early fall. In January, it is, thankfully, rare.

Alaska had been suffering from some rather intense cold weather, stretching back to around Christmas. Clear skies and falling temperatures were the rule, with many places in the interior of Alaska dropping into the -50F range. Here in Anchorage, temperatures ranged from -20F to -30F. In theory, Alaskans are prepared for such weather, and to our credit, we seemed to get along just fine. But one could not wander down the street or into a restaurant, or answer a phone without launching into a conversation about the relentless cold.

Alaskans can do cold, but we don’t like it too much. Even I was complaining – and I am usually pretty stoic about the weather.

Last weekend, I decided to make a trip to Fairbanks to visit a friend and take care of some business. I was greeted by -40F temperatures and ice fog*. I knew I would find these extremes there, so I packed all of my hard-core winter gear, and in fact, I was very comfortable wandering around in the cold. We even made a trip to Chena Hot Springs and took a dip in the outdoor rock pool.

The problem with the cold weather is that while most Alaskans have all the cold weather gear, it is rather tedious putting all the layers on just to make a trip to the store to get some milk. Heading out the door takes an additional five minutes of preparation as we stack scarves and hats and fleece and parkas over our sweaters, only to have to reverse the process when we get to where we’re going. So some of us skip a layer here or there, and shiver as we drive to the grocery store – and complain bitterly once we get there… “I wish it would warm up!”

So we got what we wished for. To be clear, our warmup was actually more extreme than our cold. On January 16, Anchorage set a high temperature record for the date, reaching 50 degrees (the old record was 44), and this was the second warmest official temperature ever recorded in Anchorage in January. Merrill Field, the large general aviation airport located on the north side of town reached 52. Up in the Fairbanks area, Eielson Air Force base reached 52F, and this is a 100 degree swing from the temperatures recorded there just last week!

You would think that we would be thankful for the warm weather… But in fact, the warmup has caused us all sorts of problems.

A winter of cold has chilled the ground quite well, and despite the balmy breezes, the ground is quite frozen. So rain and melting snow run into the roads, where they are immediately frozen to a sheen that any Zamboni driver would be proud of. All through our cold snap, Anchorage schools operated without a hitch. Warm things up to 50 degrees, and schools close for three days due to persistently icy roads.

To make it all worse, the warm weather is accompanied by strong winds. In fact, the warm weather wouldn’t be possible without the strong winds – the winds are warmed by their interaction with the mountains, creating what is commonly called a chinook. We get our share of chinooks every winter, but this one was accompanied by 100+ MPH winds, which downed trees and power lines. And to make the whole experience complete, the persistent warm weather and rain has melted snow. Storm drains are clogged with ice, so the water has no place to go, and forms small lakes on the roadways. The water that has managed to run off doesn’t sink into the soil, but runs along the ground and into ice-choked streams that have flooded several low-lying areas and roads.

My driveway is a sheet of ice. I am headed out today to get a couple large bags of salt (if there is any to be had), so I can try to break the ice up before it gets too cold to get rid of it.

The good news is, we’ll have just one more story about the weather to tell.

*ice fog forms when the atmosphere reaches a temperature where it has no capacity to hold water vapor. This is when temperatures are below -40. Moisture that enters the air from auto exhaust or from the burning of fuels are transformed into microscopic ice crystals that form a very dense fog.