Tricia Brown Books

-20 IN FAIRBANKS

But the temps didn’t seem to bother Coco at all. She and her handler Opal Welton came over to my sister’s place for a visit, and we took turns taking pictures, of course! Coco started digging in the snow and snacked on some of that tasty grass.

The experience turned bizarre and wonderful when Coco came into the house for a walkabout. The reindeer knew just where the ends of her antlers were, and nothing was knocked over. Opal said just make sure she doesn’t see any mirrors or her window reflection, or Coco’s natural curiosity might get a little too aggressive.

Sometimes Opal brings Coco for school visits. This reindeer is tame and smaller than you might imagine. She just hops into the minivan, and she’s ready to go.

Did you know that reindeer ankles (and caribou’s, of course) make a fascinating clicking sound with each step? I could hear Coco’s clicking when she was just walking around the kitchen and living room. Those who’ve been fortunate to witness a caribou migration are blown away by the sound. For our part, we just sing, “Up on the house top, click-click-click!”

Alaskan Night Before Christmas

(or how one selfish caribou almost wrecked Christmas for all of us!)

If you’ve read this Christmas story, you know about how Kotzebue the Caribou lands on the naughty list—for a short time, at least—for making Christmas an “all about me” proposition. It’s also the story of how Star the reindeer shows the spirit of Christmas better than Kotz. Alan Stacy painted the illustrations for this cute story of one crazy Christmas Eve in Alaska.

Right now, I’m packing for a flight to Fairbanks/North Pole and a series of school visits that are bound to be fun. This year, I’ll be stopping by University Park Elementary, Ticasuk Brown Elementary, and Nordale Elementary. I’m looking forward to meeting all those great kids!

Meeting my readers is a pleasure that I can’t describe. Most often, I write alone, and read and reread alone. (There’s a lot of mulling over in writing a children’s picture book.) But when I get to read to a big group of kids, their interest and energy feeds me and inspires me to get busy on a new batch of stories. I love visiting schools! Let me know if you’d like me to come to your school this winter, or next spring. Meantime, Merry Christmas to all!

Coming Soon!

I’ve been busy lately reading page proofs on a couple of new books due out this Spring.

The first is a story that captured my interest years ago when I wrote about a special dog named Patsy Ann for LitSite Alaska and the Alaska Digital Archives. (The grant-funded project allowed me to write online content to support/explain a fraction of the archival images in the collection.) As I wrote the piece for adult readers, it occurred to me that this would make a good children’s book.

Patsy Ann was an independent sort who refused to belong to any one household. She roamed Juneau and often stayed at the Longshoremen’s Union Hall. She was deaf from birth, but always sensed when a steamship was approaching Juneau, and she hurried to meet each one. She was so popular among the townspeople and the tourists that the mayor named her “Official Greet.” It’s a sweet story of a dog whose presence was so missed even fifty years after her death, the Friends of Patsy Ann installed a bronze statue of the dear girl on Juneau’s docks. So she’s still getting lots of petting. The first edition will be published by Sasquatch Books of Seattle, Washington.

BOOK RELEASE NUMBER 2!

The 4th edition of the World-Famous Alaska Highway, published by Fulcrum of Golden, Colorado, is slated for release this Spring, too. Like the Patsy Ann book, it’s already available for preorders, while I’m about to begin proofing the first round of page proofs. It’s so heavy with detail that I’ve appreciated my editor’s help tremendously. She has a good eye.

I hope the new edition inspires many of you to make a plan. Pack up the TV or the car and head north. For fun, I’ve included many stories of early travelers on the road, and some great historical photos . . . plus a good selection of those wildlife photos that I wrote about while we were traveling. Check it out and start scheduling.

Meanwhile, I’m available for school visits, and I’d love to come to your favorite elementary school to read any of my children’s books. Let’s talk!

Summer’s far from over, but as for me, it’s time to settle in and get serious about writing. Researching a travel book like The World-Famous Alaska Highway is a lot of fun, then it’s time to pull over, apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair, and produce some copy. I am a deadline-oriented creature, after all. We’ve produced three editions of this travel guide, and now it’s time to write number four.

Perry and I traveled 4,500 miles one way by RV: through Washington state and well into British Columbia, across and through Alberta, then trailed across the Yukon and further to Fairbanks, Alaska. There we took a breather, got a haircut, ate well at the Food Factory and the Turtle Club, and spent time with friends and family. Then it was southbound, first on the Parks Highway, then across on the Denali Highway to the Richardson, and onward to the Glenn. Anchorage at last. More lingering over good meals amid good company. And off again down the Seward Highway, southbound on one of the most gorgeous highways in the country. A few days later, we hopped a one-way flight back to the Lower 48 to recuperate from “vacation.” You know how that goes.

Now, how about you? I’m grounded in my office for now, but there’s still plenty of summer left for you. If you’re still dreaming about taking that Alaska vacation by car or RV, do pick up a copy of the 3rd edition of my book for panning and as your take-along companion. It’s available online or order through your local independent bookstore.

Happy travels!

Every year, dozens of people fail to really understand this sign at Haines Junction, Yukon Territory. Either way leads to Alaska, but unless you take a right turn at this crossroads, you’ll end up in the coastal community of Haines, Alaska, which dead-ends on Lynn Canal. Not what you had in mind if you thought you were progressing toward Fairbanks. We turned right, and drove onward to Kluane Lake and pulled into a campground at Burwash Landing late at night.

Yesterday, we pushed onward toward the border and the giant “Welcome to Alaska” sign, where we found another gathering place–a pair of bicyclers from Germany who’ve been traveling for two years, a couple from Alabama who claimed their camper was held together with duct tape, and a mob of Kiwanis members who were reinstalling a plaque at the border. People handed cameras off to each other to be included in their own photos. They exchanged road stories, and they drove onward a few hundred feet and waiting in line for processing at the border corssing.

Today we toured around our old hometown of Fairbanks. Summer in the Far North can’t be beat. It was 75 degrees and sunny most of the day. As I write, it’s 11:35 p.m., and bright enough to read the ingredients on a cereal box. Perry keeps reminding me to imagine myself in a down parka and bunny boots, standing in the dark. Okay, I remember those days, too, but moving through the sweet, well-lit landscape that is Fairbanks this time of year, I’m not ready to crawl back into the freezer, even in my memory.

The “end of the road” milepost along the banks of the Chena River in Fairbanks is yet another gathering place to mark a finish. And yet the real finish line lies in Delta Junction, Alaska, 98 miles away, where a nearly identical milepost stands outside the visitors’ center. We paused at both places for photos, feeling pretty satisfied. And yet we’re not done driving! Tomorrow, we’re going south. No, no, only to Anchorage, not yet back to the Lower 48. We have a few more days yet. Loving’ it!

The new green shoots along the Alaska Highway are an attractive nuisance–for bears emerging from hibernation. This is the fresh salad that the bears are craving. Yesterday we saw about eight black bears, two grizzlies, and another eight or ten giant woodland bison. Oh, yeah, and a couple of caribou. This time of year, everybody’s up and moving, and there’s little traffic on the road. Basically, unless you honk or make other obnoxious people noises, they don’t care if you’re there–over there, in your metal shell. So yeah, we always stay in the vehicle to take the pictures and give them the right of way.

There are exceptions, of course. Some people have bad judgment. We came over the rise of one hill and saw two Stone sheep frozen in place, wondering which direction to run, because a young guy was approaching them on foot. He had a guitar slung over his back. Had he been serenading? Engaged in a musical experiment?

Bottom line, he had no business walking closer to the wildlife. That’s harassment. I took his picture for later. Let’s see if he shows up in the next edition of the book.

Stay in your car, man!

We had a nice respite from the road yesterday at Liard Hotsprings–a must for any time of year. But this is a holiday weekend in Canada. Monday is Victoria Day, and while a dear young Canadian mother at the hot springs couldn’t say what her country does to honor Victoria, she told me people do make family camping an emphasis on this weekend. (She also sweetly suggested that maybe Victoria Day was when they named Victoria the capitol?)

Okay, we’re off to Whitehorse, Yukon, and places beyond today.

I liked hanging around the “World-Famous Alaska Highway” sign in Dawson Creek, even at this time of year when tourist traffic is still sparse. Within minutes we met an Alberta man who’d left his job and was encouraged by his wife to take off and see Alaska with his camera. He’s always wanted to do it, and finally he’s doing it.

Then a German couple drove up to pose by the sign. They’re making a pan-American trip, having started at the southernmost tip of South America in 2006, driving a squat, industrial-looking Toyota RV. While we were talking, a minivan came roaring up, a young guy hopped out and climbed up on the cairn under the sign and had his picture taken in a blink, jumped down, and they roared away again.

And then, just as we were about to leave, a big luxury car with Alaska plates pulled up and an older couple stepped out to photograph each other with a box camera. I offered to take their picture together. What a pleasure to meet the Gages, on their way Outside for some family celebrations. He was wearing a WWII Veteran hat, so I asked if, by any chance, he had worked on this highway. No, he said, he was in Germany at the time, serving in Patton’s Army. Further probing told me that George C. Scott played the general very realistically. “I met the man,” said Mr. Gage, “and I didn’t like him much.”

All these lives intersecting in one very active place in the far reaches of Canada. All following an adventure of their own making.

ALBERTA’S OLD WEST

We’ve been driving through a land that’s so foreign to us, it feels as if we’re extras in a Hollywood Western. Today we explored Lethbridge, Alberta, the home of Fort Whoop-Up, where the Yankee whiskey traders made money off their Canadian neighbors on a well-used trail between Montana and the Canadian West.

Here too is where the last great Indian battle occurred in the late 1800s. But as for today, it was quiet–three goats, a couple of cowboys, and some pale-faced Yanks named Brown were in the middle of the fort. We did get a personal roping lesson from Phil, the fort’s teamster and carpenter, who said he’s been “cowboying” for years. He’s the real deal. OK, I’m not about to put in a picture of my roping lessons, but I will put in Perry’s–he was much better than I at this hand-eye coordination thing anyway. Onward to Edmonton and points beyond this afternoon. Stay posted.

ROADIES

Perry and I are on the road again to update my research for The World-Famous Alaska Highway: A Guide to the ALCAN and Other Wilderness Roads of the North. In this first week, we’re doing those “other wilderness roads” part and trying to cover as many miles as possible. Mile 0 of the ALCAN is a long ways away.

Perry patiently stops often, whenever I see something I like and want to pause. And we’re making good use of an itty-bitty RV from Cruise America. It’s a one-way rental, and we’ve figured out how to store our things and move around each other, basically by taking turns.

We’ve seen formal gardens, lots of cattle and pasturelands, entered the rolling, arid hills around Cache Creek, and in eastern B.C., we viewed a mama black bear and her twin babies (who were standing up out of curiosity). Yesterday we crossed from Prince George, B.C., over to Calgary, Alberta, via the Icefields Highway. It’s got to be one of the most beautiful routes in North America. Yes, there was still snow down to the road at times, and those mountains overhead were booming. 

A steak dinner in Banff last night, and today we’re headed to Calgary’s Heritage Park. We’re driving south next to cover some of the towns and attractions along the route from Sweetgrass, Montana, to Dawson Creek, B.C. 

We’re going through long stretches with no radio reception, and I brought only three CDs–Hawaiian, Irish traditional, and Frank Sinatra. What was I thinking?

The quiet reminds me of the old days when we regularly traveled Alaska’s Parks Highway from Anchorage to Fairbanks. We had your very basic minivan with no cassette player (right–a long time ago), and we just talked and talked. Nothing like a long road trip to get caught up with life.

More later . . .

A New Book in the Family!

EDD ROUSH: A Biography of the Cincinnati Reds Star

ISBN 978-0-7864-4407-6

McFarland, April 2010.

Here’s a new book to be proud of, even though I didn’t write it. Still, I’m compelled to spread the word, because this is an excellent selection for your favorite baseball fanatic, written by my favorite baseball fanatic, my award-winning sportswriter cousin, Mitchel Conrad Stinson. 

Released by McFarland, this is the biography of the deadball batting king and Baseball Hall of Famer, Edd Roush. The publisher writes, “The story] centers on the events of the 1919 Black Sox World Series, but covers Roush’s life in full. Born in Indiana, Roush would eventually receive two National League batting titles and become a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. The work contains interviews with Roush and as well as a large collection of photos, many from the Roush family collection.”

Many years ago, when Mitchell was still a young teenager, he had the good fortune to meet Roush in person and wisely brought along his tape recorder when he interviewed the baseball great. When Mitchell grew up, he entered journalism and his career has taken him to newspapers in Indiana, Guam, Kentucky, and Alaska. Speaking of Alaska, Mitchell was a reporter on the Wasilla newspaper, The Frontiersman, when Sarah Palin was just entering local politics.

 I’ve got my copy of Edd Roush already, inscribed by a man who knows I prefer following the mushing circuit to major league sports. Nonetheless, he scratched this note inside the cover: “If you can’t get into it, just insert ‘dog sledding’ every time you see the word ‘baseball.’ Both center around smelly, scruffy teammates who scratch themselves in public. So it’s not a stretch.”

Yeah, he’s got a great sense of humor, too.

 Click here to find Mitchell’s book on Amazon.