Summer is Coming!

Spring is here. 

The seemingly endless day, the blooming pussy willows, the fresh smell in the air, the mud everywhere all shout to the arriving spring, which in turn trumpets in coming summer.

Summer brings FISH! The great norther animal that brings all Alaskans so much.

Lyle and Heidi have a side business, fully supported by Lake and Peninsula Airlines, 

providing fresh, natural, high quality Sockeye Salmon to local Alaskans. 

Iliamna Fish Company 
sells shares of wild Alaskan Red Sockeye Salmon.  

Go to redsalmon.com, or to the front desk at LPA's Anchorage office,
 to find out more and to order your own shares before they're gone.

The time is now as summer is coming!

 Unlocking Alaska!

Iditarod Update...

 Typically the middle of the Iditarod Ruby was moved up in the schedule with the restart moved to Fairbanks. We were fortunate to stay at the Wild Iris B&B for two nights as the mushers moved through!

 Huslia was the midpoint of the race this year and the first time it has been included on the trail! The town was excited with the activity. All of us as well as the mushers saw the new location as a blessing and loved the energy! 

 Our first view of the Bering Sea coming into Unalalkleet!!

 Here is Dallas Seavey blazing out of White Mountain headed for Safety where Dude Like Hella who was part of our posse was waiting to chat with Dallas and see him through the checkpoint! 

Woohooo, Dallas wins his third Iditarod! I was a grip for one of the camera men holding his wires so he was free to roam around to film this monumental occasion!! It was a fun week on the trail with the KTVA ch 11 news crew and now I am happy to be home . . . planning our next adventure!!!

2015 Alaska Iditarod Dogsled Race

The Iditarod: the Last Great Race on Earth . . .

Lake and Peninsula Airlines is tracking this year's great Alaska Iditarod Race.

Currently the race is in full swing with hardy mushers traveling between Ruby and Huslia, Alaska.

As many of you know the Iditarod race is a 1,000-something mile long dogsled race honoring the rich Alaskan History of using dogsleds to navigate Alaska and the Iditarod Trail's impact on Alaska's early development and history and the United States history. Currently the trail is a National Historic Trail.

 The race usually begins in Willow and ends in Nome, but this year the route was changed quit a bit to accommodate the lack of snow and ice throughout the state.

This did not stop participants, officials, spectators, photographers, news crews, and any other interested individuals from heading north to experience this unique race.

And Lake and Peninsula Airlines got in on the fun as well.  Anchorage's Channel 11 booked Lyle to fly them around the trail.  He is currently in Ruby and will be continuing on to Huslia tomorrow.  He is posting on Facebook, daily, the fun sites, events, and pictures surrounding the race.  

Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/

LakeAndPenAir?ref=bookmarks.

Also check out iditarod.com for official information on the epic race.

Lake and Peninsula Airlines also got in on this renowned race through its very own Brian. You know Brian, the friendly face that meets you at the Anchorage office and greats you with "It's a great day to fly Lake and Pen" whenever you call in. It turns out he is a man of many talents, one of them being photography.  He even went to college for this very cool skill. All these pictures are his handy work.

Except for this one: Brian's the guy in the huge orange coat.

Tell him how you love his pictures next time you see him.

Our Back Yard

We live in a place full of change. One day sunny and bright, the next freezing temps and copious amounts of precipitation, and that's just August.

But she is a glorious place with big lakes, big game, and even bigger open country. A place where there's a chance you are standing on a patch of ground never stepped on before by ten toed feet. A place that makes you feel small and insignificant, yet powerful and special all at the same time. A place worth calling home or a place worth calling the greatest adventure of your life.

Whatever your position, check out the 7 Reasons to Visit Lake Clark National Park (generallodge.com/7-reasons-visit-lake-clark-national-park/) and be reminded of why you live here, or be inspired to live a little more.

 (Thanks, Peter Goodwin!)

New Staff!

Like the winds that lift our shinny planes high up into the air to carry us to far off wonders or cozy home fires, time is ever changing things and Lake and Pen Air is no exception. Over the last five years we have seen tremendous change. Yet you, our faithful customer, friend, neighbor, have stuck with us. For that we you thank you and wish to inform you of new changes.

As most of you likely know we lost Laura to the Hawaii sun and beaches in June, but she is back, in a way, as the new LPA Director of Marketing. It will be exciting to see what she comes up with for us.

We also have amazing Lisa, our new accountant, who has been with us for over six months now! The billing office moved from Port Alsworth to Anchorage, and she is the go to girl for all your financial questions big and small. This is a shift from always being able to have all your questions answered in the Port Alsworth office but we hope this change will be a great improvement in our service to you.

Another new face, although really not brand new, is Jen. She has been in the Port Alsworth office doing dispatching and flight bookings. Now you will get to actually see her face in Anchorage as she continues dispatching and flight booking there and in general making life better for all of us!












And in the air you may get a chance, if you haven't already, to fly with CJ, another Port Alsworth based pilot, who is always in a great mood it seems! Any day flying with CJ is a good day, that's what Lyle says.

If you are prone to love consistency and shun change: worry not. There are still a lot of familiar faces around LPA, eager to help when they can.  

                                                       

   LPA

       Unlocking Alaska!

Look out folks, here it comes!!!

So with the family grow'in we decided to start making plans for the "addition". You have a few options when the kiddos come along: build an addition, move to a bigger house, or just stick'em in the closet. We chose the latter option but we are guessing that will only last a few years as we only have so many shelves in the closet and literally they can outgrow the closet, we've been told. This has not happened yet but the little squirt is growing pretty fast. So the end result is new digs for the little Wilders.

We are planning a hangar to put a plane in and on top of that will be our house. Off to the side we are planning a little LPA waiting area so folks can have a nice warm place to hang out in Port A. 

We dug in our heals and here we go! A huge 'thank you' to Edvin Trefon for clearing the land and doing a lot of the dirt work getting it ready! The land is now almost level and we are wanting to pour cement in the spring! We'll keep you updated on the progress!!

 

Little known factoid about my boy, ya, no, he doesn't suck his thumb like most kids, he sucks his pinky : )  Ya that's my boy, not conforming to the norm, attaboy Bones!!

5th Sourdough Fly-In

People came to the BBQ ready to eat this year! We ran out of food - twice. No worries though, the BBQ'ers just rummaged through the Wilders freezers for extras and no one walked away hangry.  

It was another great year folks! Over 300 people stopped by. Were you one of them?

Sun. Food. Lyle. That's all we needed, plus a few airplanes. And we got it all! 

Thank you Last-Minute-Helpers, Edvin, Jon, and Tim!!

The day started with a 5-K race that took runners on a footed tour around Port Alsworth and over it's varied terrain. There was dancing to the Coyote Creek Band. And Bones Wilder's grand debut...Then it was off to the runway where a cheering crowd congratulated the expert pilots on their landings, takeoffs, and water-balloon dropping accuracy. Here's Lyle in his super-cub....

The next morning the community enjoyed a sourdough pancake breakfast feed before filling Lake & Pen Air's hanger for the film festival! And there was even refreshments!

Join us next year for more fun over Memorial Day weekend...