Alaska Grown

So this happened yesterday:



A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Anchorage, Alaska. I'm from Eagle River, AK, just outside of Anchorage, and things have been crazy. My parents and two younger brothers were all there when the earthquake happened, and it just sounds awful and insane.

In Alaska, you grow up relatively used to earthquakes. Tiny ones happen all the time, and on occasion (maybe once or twice a year, sometimes more frequently, sometimes less) you'll feel something in the 4.0-5.5 range. Right around 6.0 is when the quakes get kind of scary. I think I've experienced a 6+ once, maybe twice. I've never been in a 7, at least not that I can remember, and I can't imagine how terrifying it would have been.

And there have been hundreds of aftershocks--smaller earthquakes after the big one, anywhere from 3-5 on the scale. I know a lot of people who had trouble sleeping last night because the aftershocks were so frequent and relatively powerful.

So, anyway, it's a crazy time. The next few days, weeks, and months will constitute a lot of cleaning up and assessing damage for pretty much everyone I know up there. I imagine there will be a shortage of dishes, bookshelves, and plumbing services for a while. Thankfully, at least, most areas have power again--it's been hovering right around 32 degrees, and that's relatively warm for this time of year.

The following photos taken by my Dad, Brad Husberg, and show just a snippet of the damage:

Structural damage to my parents' house.

My Dad's office--thankfully he avoided getting crushed by these huge bookshelves.

My family's kitchen.

I mean...

Local grocery store.

Basically, it's a huge mess for a lot of folks up there, and my family didn't even get the worst of it. A part of me is glad I wasn't up there to experience it, and another part of me wants to get up there asap and help out with the cleanup.

All of me, however, is proud to be an Alaskan. They're some of the toughest, most practical, independent people I know, and they're all bad-ass and awesome. I'm proud of my family and friends, I'm so happy that everyone I've heard from is safe, and I'm sending them love and hope the best for them.

And, in the tiniest token of solidarity, I'm wearing one of my favorite sweatshirts today.

Alaska Grown 💪.

Bears!

So last week my family and I went on adventure.

We took an airplane to the tiny town of King Salmon, AK, and from there a float plane to Katmai National Park.

While there, we camped in an electric fence enclosed compound, for reasons you'll understand later.

We hiked into the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, where the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century occurred.

My daughter was a straight up adventurer. She's also freaking adorable.

Like I said. Adorable.

Also, we saw bears. Because that's what you do at Katmai.

Lots of bears.

Lots and lots of bears.

We were very close to these bears.

Fortunately, they were distracted by other food. Also, there were pretty strict rules in place around the camp that helped. Bears have the right of way throughout the entire place, which means they're often wandering through the middle of camp (only the campground itself has the electric fence). It was crazy.

This cub was not happy with his sibling.

B was often oblivious to the bears.

But on occasion she thought they were pretty cool. DID I MENTION ADORABLE THO??

Seriously though. BEARS.

Anyway, it was quite the adventure. If you want to get a taste of what we saw, check out this bear cam, set up in one of the major viewing areas at Brooks Camp (where we stayed) in Katmai.

Nice to have some time away. Now, back to book four! 🐻 💪🙌⚔️

Reading/Signing in Anchorage, Alaska!

Hey folks!

If you're in the Anchorage, Alaska area, I'll be doing an event at the Anchorage Barnes & Noble on 14 July, 6-8 PM! I'll do a reading, answer some questions, and of course sign books. It'll be fun.

HERE'S THE LINK TO THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE!

Also, turns out Duskfall is a staff pick at this particular B&N, so that's neat!

(I grew up in the Anchorage area, so none of this is particularly surprising, but all very cool nonetheless!)

Alcan Drive

I went on an adventure a couple weeks ago and it was pretty great.

I drove down the Alcan Highway (the highway that runs from Alaska and down the majority of Canada), and continued south until I arrived home in Utah.

It was cool. I really enjoyed the first three days of the trip in particular. I took six days to do it--not too fast and not too slow, and I was able to get some writing done on a lot of days as well--and my stops included the following awesomely named places: Destruction Bay, Toad River, Grand Prairie, Red Deer. Also Helena, Montana.

I listened to the audio version of Ready Player One, which I have many opinions about, but will save them for later. I also listened to various episodes of The Adventure Zone podcast, Bossypants by Tina Fey, Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick, and the Graphic Audio version of The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett (it was like a 50 hour drive so I had a lot of listening time, and it was actually pretty cool).

If you ever have the opportunity to make the drive, I recommend it. It's definitely an adventure (especially in late March/early April, which is definitely still Winter in AK and Canada), and I enjoyed it.

The following are a series of selfies and other photos I took on the trip that are surprisingly boring but constitute the majority of my documentation from the thing.

Prepping for the trip. Northern Canada doesn't have wifi or cellular service for hundreds of miles at a time, so I had to tackle it old school.

Departing from my parents' home in Eagle River, AK.

Getting gas in Glennallen. Hey, I warned you these wouldn't be exciting.

Where I stayed in Destruction Bay.

Notice my incredibly versatile selfie expressions. Also sunrise as I left Destruction Bay. Also, Edward M. Kovel accompanied me on my quest.

Hot Springs in Liard River.

The roads were usually much better than this. The views were typically this awesome.

On rare occasion, the roads were like this. What road, you ask? That sheet of ice. Yeah. That sheet of ice is the road.

Biggest mall in North America in Edmonton. My fuzzy black sweatshirt was my constant companion, if you couldn't tell. Other than in the hot springs, clearly.

Adventures in Alaska

So the other week Rachel and I went up to Alaska to raft the Gulkana river. It was a blast. I floated that river three or four times as a boy scout, and it was fun to go back with Rachel and the rest of my family.

My parents can count on one hand the times it's gotten above 80 degrees in AK since they moved up there almost twenty years ago, and--lucky us--it was in the mid-eighties the whole week we were on this rafting trip. We seriously couldn't have asked for better weather, and the river was perfect temperature for cooling off with a quick dip.

Anyway, check out the photos!

Meet 0.5 of the 2.5 places to eat in Glennallen (population: 493 persons): this Thai food truck.

Mmmmm. Thai food is delicious. You can tell by the way my eyes are closed in food-induced bliss.

The river was totes gorge.

I told stories in a writerly fashion around camp while wearing this very fine hat. Actually I didn't, but this photo makes it look like I did. That hat is very fine, though.

Our campsites along the river were F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.

The Very Fine Hat makes another appearance, this time enhancing my rowing skills. You can see my brothers agree.

The Very Fine Hat strikes again, this time with an accomplice: the Very Fancy Hat.

Ah, life on the river. Also, the Very Fine Hat enjoys photobombing.

Me taking a break from rowing--not oaring, as I was wont to call it for some reason--probably because, by removing the Very Fine Hat (as seen in the lower left corner), I lost my rowing power.

The Very Fancy Hat on a solo op. Also, my wife and brother.

The "other raft." Quotation marks intended. Also pictured: Very Dandy Hat, Very Posh Hat, Very Snazzy Hat, and The-Hat-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named. 

My sister taking a turn at oaring. ROWING. I mean rowing. Also, notice the lethargic state of my brothers (slumped on the bow and stern of the raft, respectively)--that's due to their lack of Hats. obviously.

We camped along the river. Twice. (Which further proves that my wife is a total boss, considering she's preggo and all.) Also, if you look closely, you can just barely see the shadow of The-Hat-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named... #ominous

The whole fam. Eight, +1 on the way. (This is at Portage Glacier, days after the river trip. We did not raft through iceberg-infested waters.) Notice the stark lack of Hats--their souls were not meant to be bound up in these coils of mortality. But they will always return to us, in an hour of need. Because they are the Hats we deserve, not the ones we need right now.

'Twas a great trip.

Wait, it's almost July?

And suddenly a month has passed. Yikes.

I've been busy. First of all, what should, *hopefully* be the final-ish revision of Duskfall (you can tell how confident I am about them already, can't you?) has taken more time and effort than I'd hoped. Ain't that always the way. I'm happy to be wrapping them up, though.

I've also joined a writing group, so that has been cool. I'm sure I'll talk more about that later, but I'm very happy about it so far.

Oh, and I went to Alaska. Had an adventure or two. Because, you know, that's where I'm from and such.

Between those things, which are for the most part very awesome, and some decidedly not-awesome other things like Hugo award controversies and the recent murders in Charleston, I've been avoiding saying much on the internet of late. But I think I've collected myself a bit and I'm ready to jump back into blogger-ness, which means continuing my How I Got Published and #FIF Series (Serieses? Serieses'ses''''? Stupid english...), checking in more with general updates on my writing (including writing group stuff) and life in general (including Alaska stuff), and maybe even sharing some thoughts I have about recent events. So, that's that.