2021 Recap

Welcome to my yearly life recap. I can't believe how fast 2021 flew by - perhaps we were all thinking that this was the year covid would finally be behind us and were anxiously awaiting things to get back to normal. Even though that didn't happen, 2021 was still a good year with some great experiences with family and friends. I read way more books, watched way more shows, and listened to way more music than I have in previous years. We didn't make an international trip, but Lauren and I still enjoyed exploring many beautiful parts of Alaska and the US West Coast. Work was tough but incredibly satisfying through progressing multiple projects. To top it off I completed the hardest hike I've ever done over 3 days. Read on to see more!

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Top 10 Songs

2021 has to be one of the weirdest years in my history of music discovery. Never would I have guessed that half of my top 10 list would be k-pop, but here we are. My wife showed me the diving board, but it was ultimately up to me to dive in, and I am so thankful I did. Thank you BTS and Kim Taehyung for adding so much joy to 2021 with your beautiful music & style. BTS and TXT were cool, but Loathe and Sleep Token ultimately took the top two spots with some of the most epic songs I've ever heard. Enjoy!
 

1. A Sad Cartoon - Loathe

2. Dark Signs - Sleep Token

3. Mic Drop (Steve Aoki Remix) - BTS

4. Can't You See Me? - TXT

5. Black Swan - BTS

6. Pied Piper - BTS

7. Fake Love - BTS

8. Two-Way Mirror - Loathe

9. Constance - Spiritbox

10. Heaven and Back - Chase Atlantic
    Bonus:

11. ABSOLUTELYCRANKINMYMF'INHOG - Bilmuri

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Travel Destinations (* = New Destination)

Le sigh, 2 years in a row of no international travel. Alas, we are incredibly lucky to live in a place that affords so many great new places to explore without having to travel long and far. Beyond Alaska hiking and backpacking trips, we were able explore a new part of the US west coast as well. 

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• Salt Lake / Park City, Utah

• Seward, Homer, Talkeetna, Fairbanks, Haines*, Alaska

• Miami, Florida

• Portland, Oregon*

• Mt Rainier National Park*, Washington

• Redwoods National Park*, California

• Yosemite National Park*, California

• Los Angeles, California

• Chicago, Illinois

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Favorite Memories

One of my favorite sections of the yearly recap! Each of these memories will hold a special place in my heart and I thank all the family and friends that were there to make them special.

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1. Backpacking the Mint Bomber loop with Tony and Trevor across 25+ miles and 6000ft+ of elevation gain. Setting out and camping in dense fog, having a random stranger Mia join us along the way, scaling up bomber pass in the fog, seeing the crashed bomber, getting lost in the boulder field, finding a random alpine lake to camp, hiking 12 miles the last day, exploring mint hut, and enjoying amazing pizza and beers from Lauren at the end of the hike. 

2. Doing a west coast road trip with Lauren including exploring Portland botanical gardens and Multnomah falls, hiking in Mt Rainier National Park with a bazillion people, driving through Oregon's wildfires, staying in a cozy airstream in Redwoods National Park, exploring beautiful redwoods hikes and the fern canyon, driving down to Yosemite, hiking with Ryan and getting attacked by squirrels, and enjoying beautiful views of the park. 

3. Going to Haines with the family including an epic ferry ride from Juneau, hiking Mt Ripinski, going kayaking on Chilkoot lake, exploring the Chilkat valley, exploring the local breweries and distilleries, taking a float plane back to Juneau, and staying at the most incredible house ever with inlet views, hot tub, trampoline, and basketball court. 

4. Backpacking Resurrection Pass with Lauren, Chantelle, Paul, Athea, Rocky including some amazing huts at Devils Pass and Juneau Lake cabin, surviving the ice bridge with an unfortunate injury for Lauren, drinking all the whiskey too fast, exploring the lake on a canoe, meeting up with Lee & Kristina, seeing Juneau falls, and enjoying the most satisfying beers and burgers at the end of the hike.

5. Flying to Katmai Natl Park with Lauren for the weekend including camping at Brooks camp along the beach, seeing 20+ brown bears over the weekend, getting with 10 ft of a huge brown bear, driving to Valley of 10,000 smokes in a lifted school bus, hiking to the base of volcanic layer, and enjoying a fun float plane trip back before almost missing our flight home to Anchorage. 

6. Traveling to Fairbanks with the Harris family including seeing the northern lights right outside the cabin window, going dogsledding, swimming in Chena hot springs, going snowmobiling, and exploring an awesome antique car museum. 

7. Seeing BTS live at SoFi 2 nights in a row with Lauren and Jordan, hanging out at Venice beach, and exploring Huntington gardens. 

8. Exploring Alaska with Ann and Adrian including skilak lake lookout hike, staying at a beautiful oceanfront airbnb in Homer, kayaking in Tutka bay, exploring great new restaurants, and hitting up some great breweries. 

9. Visiting Salt Lake City to ski snowbasin, snowbird and canyons with Tony, Andy and Laura; including snowmobiling adventure, sick pool table + hottub airbnb, and getting a huge powder day full of fresh stashes at Canyons.

10. Traveling to Miami for AZ and Daphna's beautiful wedding, and to Houston for Pat O's amazing wedding.

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Honorary mentions:

• Fatbiking adventures with Lee, Kristina, Aaron, Eileen, Phil around town and to Portage & Spencer Glaciers

• Buying a four wheeler with $GME gains and going to knik glacier, bird valley, eklutna lakeside and crown point mine road

• Summer mountain biking with Lee and Kristina including an epic ride at Russian Lakes trail

• Going to Talkeetna to celebrate my bday with David, Amy, Phil, Caroline, Lauren; epic four wheeler adventures, dance parties late into the night, and enjoying the brewery

• Driving down Nabesna road with Lauren, Paul, Athea; exploring the abandoned Nabesna mine, hiking skookum volcano, and enjoying games, movies and books in the midst of a day full of downpour

• Fishing the kenai with Tony, David, Trevor; catching my limit and watching the other guys get almost skunked

• Camping in cooper landing with Lauren, Caroline, Phil, David, Amy, Raffie and kiddos; playing around on the beach, biking tern lake trail, enjoying the brewery, and hiking ptarmigan lake

• Visiting West Virginia to honor Pat Harris' beautiful life and spending time with family

• Seeing Andy run the Chicago marathon; exploring van gogh museums, seeing the most insane magic show at chicago magic lounge, and enjoying some great dinner spots with both families

• Taking a helicopter flight tour over bear glacier, landing next to the lake, and then getting dropped off to hike Mt Marathon; enjoying beautiful views and berry picking on our way down

• Visiting Seward for a fun weekend with David, Trevor, Meg, Lauren, Tony, Laura - enjoying our epic cabin with a hot tub and exploring town

• Hiking twin peaks with Andy, Lauren, Chantelle and then hiking to stay at Yuditna cabin overnight; enjoying whiskey by the fire and great views of the surrounding mountains

• Hanging out with Petersons for Halloween murder mystery party and Thanksgiving dinner

• Growing the whiskey collection to new heights and enjoying tasting parties with Phil & Josh

• Hiking new areas in the chugach range including bird ridge and mt magnificent

• Skiing alyeska on some incredible powder days; skiing arctic valley in a 4ft+ powder day; getting into backcountry skiing at Peak 2/3, arctic valley, and bear valley

• Getting some amazing northern lights shows at flat top

• Enjoying quality snuggles with Gilly & Pauly while Pauly was in a full body pajamas for half the year

• Watching a lot of YouTube with Lauren of many great BTS music videos and concerts

• Going to Houston for Xmas and seeing Pandes, Harrises, Hogans, Tony, Laura, Vials, Dorans, Eversmans, Trevor, Jack, Turners, Meredith, and all the cousins. Enjoying amazing eats and cocktail bars in Austin and flying back home on Delta's 767-400 one suites.

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Top Accomplishments
Despite another year of covid setbacks, there was still plenty of opportunity for personal, physical, professional growth. 

• Great year at work as the GKA PIM progressing a major project and multiple strategy evaluations

• Reading Leviathan Falls, We Are Legion, For We Are Many, All These Worlds, Mistborn, The Well of Ascension

• Enjoying multiple shows including Demon Slayer, Jutusu Kaizen, The100, The boys, Bridgerton, Victoria, Dark, Yellowstone, You, Sex Education, Squid Game, Sweet Home, Alice in Borderland, Better Than Us, My Name, Hellbound, Locke and Key, Lost in Space, Manifest.

• Buying a four wheeler with $GME gains

• Launching and making big updates to explore907

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Pics

No year is complete without looking back on pictures. This year was fun as ever especially with the addition of the Insta360 camera for videos. If browsing on a phone the page will have to hit the Show More button as you scroll (there are about 70 pictures).