Skinny jeans and Vans in Alaska

Who would have thought that within less than 48 hours of sipping wine on the southern beaches in france with nothing but a pair of trunks on I would be stepping onto the moisture rich (code for a lot of rain) soil of Alaska.  Come to think of it, this was the first surf trip I had done outside of California that I needed more than a spring suit in as long as I could remember.  Man that makes me sound spoiled.  I'll tell you what though, I have never appreciated surfing in trunks as much as I did the minute I stepped off that plane.  Being from Southern California definately has its advantages, that is, until your camera and your next photo assignment fly's you to one of the most northern parts of the world to go surfing.  My lack of rain, weather, and all around warm clothing made this trip unique to say the least.  As we gathered our belongings and made sure all the boards made I realized that not only was I one of the two people in the entire place not wearing wading boots, my so-called "jacket" was actually a shell.  So here I am, no real winter clothes, no rubber boots, tons of rain, and a week ahead of me.  This is going to be fun!  Luckily Ashley (aka Mom) our host and guide for this next week had planned for this and had us ready to rock and had laid out the red carpet for us.  Alaska Brewing Co and Surfing Magazine teamed up along with coastalcode.com to entertain Joe "bud" Curren, Chris "skinny jeans" Del Moro and 4 lucky contestants who entered essays into a competition to win a free trip to surf with the boys and help spread the word on being environmentally conscience.  Our days were filled with Zip-lining, wakeboarding, surfing, helicopter landings on glaciers, eating fresh snow, drinking warm coffee, and my personal favorite the Winter Ale (it has hints of spruce in it).  Look for our story to come out in an upcoming issue of Surfing Magazine to see all the cool stuff we got to check out and learn a new thing or two about how we can help the enviornment stay cleaner!