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Michael Armstrong, left, wears a flight suit while doing a helicopter tour of agricultural sites in Kachemak Bay in 2008. At right is cattle rancher Chris Rainwater. (Photo provided, U.S. Department of Agrculture)

Sports

Out of the Office: Planes, trains, automobiles and helicopters

Every new Alaskan has a bucket list of things they want to check while living here (hopefully, a…

A pair of sandhill cranes feed Friday, May 8 at Green Timbers on the Homer Spit in Homer. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Sports

Out of the Office: Earth Day is bird day

Celebrate Earth Day every day by growing close to nature.

Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion
The west fork of the Moose River in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, March 23, 2022.

Sports

Out of the Office: Precipice

On Oct. 31, 2021, I ran down to Headquarters Lake in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge hoping to…

People wait in line for Mochileros Guatemalan street food in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 18, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

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The pitch for Anchorage

My first time on the Kenai Peninsula was a solo trip in the late fall of 2020. When…

Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion 
Skiers take off for the men’s 40K freestyle race at Sunday’s Tour of Tsalteshi event just outside of Soldotna on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022.

Sports

Out of the Office: Back in rhythm

At the beginning of February, I began reading “If Beale Street Could Talk” by James Baldwin.

My mom Alex Botello and I take a photo on the way to Denali National Park on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. (Photo provided)

Sports

Chasing the lights

My mom loves looking up at the night sky.

Mt. Redoubt can be seen across Cook Inlet from Diamond Ridge on the Marathon Ski Trail on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, near Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

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Out of the Office: Falling in love with Diamond Ridge and winter

Since winter lasts from October to May on Diamond Ridge, you’d better love winter.

Sarah’s flowers for Valentine’s Day. (Photo by Sarah Knapp/Homer News)

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Out of the Office: It’s all about ‘give and take’

My fiance Michael and I last Monday celebrated our third Valentine’s Day together with a trip to city…

tease

Sports

Out of the Office: Catching COVID

I caught COVID a couple of weeks ago and it sucked. I’m not sure how I was exposed,…

Dr. Alan Boraas leads a tour of Kalifornsky Village, a former Native settlement, in April 2014. Boraas was a professor of anthropology at Kenai Peninsula College, an honorary member of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe and the driving force behind the creation, maintenance and expansion of the Tsalteshi Ski Trails.
(Photo courtesy of Jenny Neyman)

Sports

Out of the Office: Best ski of the year

Memory is strongly tied to place. That’s why I can never take the ski from Arc Lake to…

Benito lays on North Kenai Beach on April 16, 2021. (Camille Botello)

Sports

Out of the Office: Furry friend

Adventuring in Alaska has been much better with my fur buddy.

Michael Armstrong, seated, in sled, gives his mother, Sylvia Jander, the unique Alaska experience of driving a sled-dog team in February 1989 in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Jenny Stroyeck)

Sports

Fill out the squares of the Alaska Adventure Bingo Card

Moose, bears, sled dogs wolves, whales oh my: Alaska offers many adventures to check off.

The moon sits above Mount Redoubt on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021 near Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Out of Office: Chasing sunshine

The winter solstice fell on a beautiful Tuesday last month. I woke up to flickers of sunshine peeking…