Alaska raised

When most people think of Alaska, they think of mountains, lakes, rivers, bears, salmon, bears eating salmon, and really awesome selfies in front of bears eating salmon. But I think of cold, dark, windy nights in Skagway, the small town I grew up in. I'd be lying if I didn't also mention the things I loved, like my friends, the beautiful mountains, the lakes, rivers, salmon, bears, and bears eating salmon.

But I knew I had to get out and experience the world.  I headed to Chicago for university at Illinois Tech, Portland for my first career job, New Zealand for a year of backpacking, and San Francisco for an exciting time at a fast growing startup.  

Portland, Oregon

After I finished school, I moved on to Portland, Oregon.  I learned the quality of craft beer the beauty surrounding mountains, forest, and coast, and to value the balance of a small city so close to all these things. 

I love mountaineering, skiing, rock climbing, kayaking, and mountain biking. I spent a year traveling, and found a true love for New Zealand. The 8 months I spent there backpacking and living in Wellington, Chistchurch, and Dunedin was life changing.  (New Zealand pictured right and above)

Pastimes & Hobbies

When I'm not outdoors, I spend my time on my other great passion: fixing things up. When I was a kid, I loved to "disassemble" my toys and other misc household items, much to my parents' dismay. But I did so because I loved seeing how they worked, and more importantly, so I could put them back together again!

Nowadays I spend some of my free time working on my vintage motorcycle or Land Cruiser.  The feeling of completely rebuilding something and have it work perfectly when you start it again is overwhelming satisfaction.  Though, when it doesn't work I can think of nothing else till it is sorted out, which brings even higher rewards than it working initially.