Post Christmas Ski and Visiting New Friends

I know, this can get boring . . . let us guess . . . you skied again.  Yup!  Back to the trails, but today at least, sunshine as bright as you can get when the sun doesn't make it up very high in the sky!  I diagonal skied today and Brian skate skied.  We had just a light dusting of snow and went out about an hour and 45 minutes.

Then back for a light lunch about 2:00 since we were going to visit Klaus and Laura in Trapper Creek for dinner.  Before we left for Trapper Creek, we drove to the end of Main St. where, as we'd heard, the flooding in the fall and then a subsequent ice jam, has forced huge boulders of ice up along the banks of the river, some of them nearly as tall as Brian!  We wanted pictures, but it was getting dark, and we may go back today on our way (detour) out of town!

To get to Trapper Creek, which is directly across the river from Talkeetna, one has to drive 15 miles back down the spur road from the "highway" to a Y connection, then up the other side 18 miles!  When the river freezes over, they can ski across the river!  Klaus has a log home, and we had a wonderful meal of goose (first time eating goose for me, and it was their own goose!) that I wish we'd taken a picture of - it was quite delicious and served with potato dumplings and gravy, homemade cranberry sauce, red cabbage, and carrots.  Oh, and we started with homemade eggnog from their own eggs - not at all like store eggnog, very light and fresh.

They have real candles on their tree, in the European tradition, if you look closely at the picture.  They had a Swiss friend visiting, who lives in Anchorage now, and both men have a tour guide business with float trips, some as long as 11 days in the Brooks Range.  Klaus also has a machine shop and does fabrication and milling work for small airplanes - Brian of course liked seeing the machine shop!  Great company and enjoyable evening - we headed home very late for us!

Merry Christmas All!

And Happy Holidays from Talkeetna, Alaska.  Last Christmas we came up here too, a little over 2 hours from Anchorage.  Talkeetna is located at 62°18′41″N 150°5′13″W (62.311397, -150.087053)^[1] at the confluence of three rivers, the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna. The Talkeetna townsite was established in 1919 when the railroad surveyed and auctioned 80 lots. The average price at the sale was $14.25.^[2] Flightseeing, rafting, mountain biking, hiking, camping, fishing and hunting make up a large portion of the local economy. Talkeetna is a 2.5 hour drive from Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. The core downtown area is classified as a National Historic Site, with buildings dating from the early 1900s including Nagley's General Store,^[3] Fairview Inn and the Talkeetna Roadhouse.  Population = 772!  Talkeetna is close to salmon fishing areas and Denali (also known as Mt. McKinley). Tourists travel to Talkeetna each summer to fish, raft and go flightseeing.(All from Wikipedia!)  We come here to ski -- and because it's a neat place to hang out and not too far away! 

Skiing at XYZ Lakes

And we had dinner at the Roadhouse last night, a community potluck that everyone is invited to -- turkey & mulled wine put out by the owners, and everyone brought a dish.  We made pearl cous-cous with vegetables and there were lots of different dishes - potato dumplings from Klaus, and everyone's "special recipes."  Cookies, pumpkin pie and fudge for dessert!  We're staying in a wonderful house loaned by a friend, a big change from the tiny cottage that we were in last year.  Karen and her partner are up on the slope working, and look what we are enjoying! 

What a good frined!  In between skiing twice a day (very closely scheduled since the sun rises a little after 10 and sets about 3:45!), we have two jigsaw puzzles with us, this one that's completed of Ketchikan. 

Today we had a little pile of presents - no tree, but we opened them on the big island in Karen's kitchen.  

One of my real surprises was another of the Alaska Native sculptures that I love, a drum beater.  They are carved form soapstone and ivory by Edith Oktollik, a woman from Point Hope, Alaska, who is in her 80s now.  She began carving in 1978.  Brian bought it at Aurora Fine Art, where I "store" the rest of my sculptures that I don't actually own yet! Isn't she wonderful?!  

Today, for Christmas, we missed all of our friends and family, but we made the best of it skiing and eating.  We skate skied for about an hour and 20 minutes after it got light, about 11 am.  Back for soup, etc. and a rest (and puzzle doing), then out for an hour again about 3 pm.  The light was strange today, overcast and like it never really got to be daytime completely!  I was whooped by the time we stopped - we had intended to classic ski in the afternoon, but the conditions were better for skate skiing.  Christmas dinner I puzzled over - didn't want to cook a big turkey for the two of us.  We ended up with our wonderful shrimp in a shrimp cocktail and a very nice cheese fondue - I guess it DOES make a difference if you spend an arm and a leg on the cheese - and use wonderful white wine that you could just as easily have drunk!  

All in all, a great day, even missing all of the people who are most important to us.  There was live music in town tonight, but we were too tired (and full!) to move.  Love and best wishes for the entire holiday season to all of the people that we love and care about!  

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Finally - it snowed 9 inches, a record snowfall for this date in Anchorage!  It was a rough drive to work, and it snowed most of the day - Brian had a day of pushing cars, keeping the driveway clean with Mary (downstairs), and waiting for the plow - which seems to never come down our street - cars just struggle through the snow!  Perfect for skiing though - they may not get the roads plowed, but somehow the trails get groomed!  Or at least rolled - there wasn't a track set yet tonight but lots of people had been out on the multi-use trails!

We skied up to Goose Lake from Valley of the Moon park, and what a beautiful night - near 30 degrees.  Brian's gone out the last two nights and skate skied for a short workout, but this is the first night that I'd skied since Thanksgiving and Sheep Mountain.  The temperature is supposed to go back down in the single digits by the weekend, but for now, it surely was an enjoyable evening.  We didn't even go out til about 8 o'clock after dinner - ya gotta love these lit trails through the city - it's really great!

Waiting for Snow

The one un-redeeming factor of living in a cold climate is when it refuses to snow!  The only thing that gets you through the dark and the cold is being active.  Brian and I have been going to a workout place called Elite Performance in a class with other skiers on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a pretty good workout, but there have been days upon days with single digits and no snow to play in!

Brian went skiing on Friday (being the one with more time on his hands!) in Portage, the only place that's really had a LOT of snow, and he went down to check on the boat at the same time.  He said his eyes were frozen shut!  They had 20 inches of snow there, and it's only a little over an hour from here, but nothing even 15 minutes north of there!

We spent part of Saturday at the annual Craft Fair at the Anchorage Museum and finished up our Christmas shopping for presents that had to be shipped.  http://www.anchoragemuseum.org/about/aboutus.aspx
Later we bundled up and walked up to Sullivan's, a restaurant and bar with jazz on the weekends - we like to walk up and sit in the bar for appetizers and a glass of wine!  http://sullivanssteakhouse.com/index.php
That was pretty much the high point of the weekend, other than WAITING FOR SNOW!

Work has been pretty intense - last week of classes - with presentations by my students on Monday night and Friday morning and lots to get ready with end of semester for our other students.  Next week - finals - and then finishing up til the 21st, and out of work til probably January 7th.
Friday early evening it began SNOWING - FINALLY, and Brian and I went for a walk in the middle of what felt like a blizzard - the wind was blowing harder than we realized.

We walked up through the Town Square, where all of the trees are strung with lights, very pretty, and on to my favorite gallery where I keep all of my Alaska Native sculptures that I haven't actually paid for yet (stopped in for a visit with them and also to dry off and get out of the wind temporarily.  Here is the sculpture that I have managed to pay for and bring home.  The rest are still being held hostage.

Isn't she gorgeous?  Carving in soapstone by Edith Oktollik, an Alaska Native woman in her 80s living in Point Hope, AK.  Many more that I want!  And, as they should be, they are expensive!

I was in a Wisdom weekend all weekend (Webex) and Brian skied on Saturday with Lance in Girdwood and then joined me for a Community Sunday this morning.  We went out for a long walk afterwards in the snow, and then Brian went for a quick ski by himself - still minimal snow, I'm waiting for the "real thing."

Back to work tomorrow, a busy week again til finals are over and grades are in -- looking forward to Christmas vacation, but it will be one without family again - we decided not to spend the time and money to go back east.  :-(

Eagle River Nature Center

A beautiful November day and in the teens by the time we got closer to Anchorage, so we stopped at Eagle River Nature Center on the way back from Sheep Mountain.  We had a membership the first year we were here, then last year the snow was so good close by that we skied every weekend and didn't go out of our way to leave town as much. We renewed our membership today, since you have to pay to park anyway, and it's a great organization to support -- the trails are among the prettiest around.

About halfway through our trip down the highway, the hoar frost began -- this often happens in Anchorage, and is defined in Wikipedia as follows: "white frost or rime is the tiny solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air which occurs when the temperature of the surfaces is below freezing point. It occurs generally with clear skies."  It was stunning at the Nature Center especially, and the pictures don't do justice for the exquisite crystals that form over the grasses, on the ice, on the trees and even the tops of railings.  

We took a longer walk than we had intended, and the temperature was dropping by the time we got back.  It's a beautiful spot, and the trails are snow-packed, but not nearly enough snow to ski -- we ended with a trail along a pond that's frequented by beavers as evidenced by the very obvious gnawing of the trees in the pictures below!  

We've been here on skis a couple of times and this is probably the second time that we've hiked here -- we'll be back!  

Thanksgiving at Sheep Mountain

Our second Thanksgiving at Sheep Mountain Lodge with Mary and Lance Mearig was a big success -- not as much snow as last year, but the turkey and everything that accompanied it was at least as good!  We headed up there on Wednesday night and relaxed in the cabin with a jigsaw puzzle after fish stew and homemade bread and a wonderful salad with pomegranate seeds, candied pecans and goat cheese with leaf lettuce and arugala -- and a honey mustard dressing - really good!  Oh, and I played speed scrabble for the first time!

It was below zero overnight but balmy single digits during the day -- we took a long (uphill) walk in the morning after waffles and eggs, then more jigsaw puzzle (and food preparation) before Lance and Brian and I went for a pretty good ski - no tracked trails but enough snow to diagonal ski anyway.

Brian picked up a Nouveau Beaujolais, which doesn't usually make it to Alaska in time for Thanksgiving, and we had a mid-afternoon glass of wine while the turkey was finishing.  Dinner was great, as was the company!  Then more games - dominos this time.

We finished off with a chocolate torte that I made and then forgot to take a picture of!  Take my word for it - it was over the top - a flourless torte with a little cayenne and cinnamon topped with a bittersweet chocolate ganache and finished off with sliced almonds and dried mango.    And a walk after dinner in the cold, cold, cold before the other two couples went for the wood-fired sauna they'd built up over the evening -- Brian and I chickened out and went back to our cabin next door to finish our jigsaw puzzle!

Actually we had one going in both cabins, and they just finished theirs this morning (Friday) before we left -- one more ski on the way out, skate ski this time up the road a bit.

First Ski This Weekend!

Saturday was a trip to Hatcher's Pass, where we skied early in November two years ago, probably two or three times before the snow was good in Anchorage - last year though snow was early right by our house, and we began November 4th.  Yesterday was the 17th, and we thought we had waited long enough!  There weren't too many people out on Archangel Road at Hatcher's Pass (about an hour from our house), but we passed a few late afternoon, as we began skiing about 2:50 pm.  You can see that it's getting to be late in the pictures, as the sun is dropping behind the mountains, and it was probably relatively dark by 4:30.  We skied out about an hour (slow climb) then back in about 20 minutes!  It was about 13 degrees when we finished, so certainly cold enough!  A good start to the ski season, though they have minimal coverage, and it wasn't tracked.  The sun is setting behind us, and we could watch it skiing back in the cleft of the mountains.

We can drive home through Wasilla or Palmer, and we drove through Palmer to stop at Turkey Red, one of my favorite restaurants around -- I hadn't had dinner there, and when we arrived at 4:45, we were starving!  The baked brie with berries that we had to start with was creamy and delicious, and we ate every drop.  Then I had sesame-seared tuna appetizer and a salad, and Brian had mahi mahi with a cream sauce with shrimp, brown rice, and brussel sprouts!

Sunday was a lazy morning, then errands before a quicker ski - skating this time - at Goose Lake.  We went back and forth on a trail with barely enough snow for about 40 minutes then quit and went home to put groceries away and make dinner - Lance and Mary, our landlords, came home from a vacation in Hawaii tonight, and we picked them up and made dinner for them.  It's good to be out on the skis again - and hopefully there will be skiing at Sheep Mountain when we head up there Wednesday for Thanksgiving!  Taking games and puzzles just in case!

Sunday in Anchorage

Our usual morning, coffee and papers in bed -- not quite the maid serving but Judy the maid -- and then a walk down to the trail and Westchester Lagoon.  Just 3 or 4 blocks from our house, though, we saw a big bull moose just lying down in somebody's yard, presiding over the happenings in the neighborhood.  We had to walk back home for the camera - we never get tired of seeing moose right downtown - and on the way we talked to people walking their dogs who lived there who said she had to open the door and look out to see what the noise was, and there was the moose, right in her face -- he'd been eating the pumpkins by the front door!

We continued on down by the lagoon and then were sorry that we hadn't brought our skates since it was a bright, sunny morning, and people were out on the lagoon skating, shoveling for a hockey game, lacing up for a family skate, dogs were running, and you'll notice in the picture, a bike and a baby carriage out on the ice!  

 We both had things that we had to do for the afternoon but we had a later evening movie at the Bear's Tooth Theatre Pub -- a little booth we reserved the day before with a "Popeye" pizza and beer while we watched - "Trouble with the Curve."  All in all, not a bad day -- but we're already a week later than last year for skiing!

A Sponto Trip to Seward!

First weekend back home - 2 days actually - and I read a Facebook post about a fundraiser at SeaLife Alaska in Seward, 2 1/2 hours away - a wine and beer tasting with silent auction.  I saw it at noon, and by 1:00 we were packed and on the road, stopping for a hike at Johnson Pass along the way!  We drove through a little snow, a little drizzle, and finally clear skies before arriving at Hotel Seward.

The drive south along the Seward Highway between Anchorage and Seward is worth it in itself, and the hike was fun but flatter than we had expected.  We had forgotten to take our guide book with us, and we only had 1 1/2 hours to spare, so we went out about 45 minutes or so then turned around.

The Hotel Seward is just 2 blocks from the SeaLife Center.

It was originally built in the early 1900s as Seward’s Best Hotel.  Since it was so close, we could safely sample the beers from a number of microbreweries from around Alaska, vote on the 3 outstanding seafood appetizers (smoked halibut mini-tacos were our choice!), and then vote again on the desserts (below).  It was a tough decision!

We met some friends there who had originally posted the Facebook announcement and also came home with way too many things from the silent auction!  Including a "Puffin Encounter" for me the next time we go back, a float trip down the Kenai River, and two kayaking trips in Prince William Sound.

Home the next day with another stop for hiking, this time from Bird Creek with a seemingly vertical climb right from the road!  We didn't go to the top, constrained again by time, but we'll go back there - it was a great workout!

What a weekend!  Did we mention that we love our lives here in Alaska?!

Hunting for Deer on Naked Island

Brian and Carl "went a-hunting" in mid-October, but they came home empty-handed.  It was a different way of going hunting, since they crossed Prince William Sound to Naked Island, supposedly home to small and tasty deer -- they said the deep snow and cold last year decimated the population, as there were few signs this year.  Although they had thought they might fish on the way back, it was a very rough day with small craft warnings, so they headed back as directly as possible.  I think it was a cold trip, but Kakwik has a heater, and they had enough provisions to last at least a week in case weather socked them in for awhile!  In fact, they didn't leave until 5 at night the day they prepared to take off, because there was a blizzard! The sky cleared about 1/2 hour into the trip enough for them to see blue sky ahead!


Right after Brian got back, I went to Whistler, British Columbia for 9 days for a Leadership Conference with Werner Erhard, Michael Jensen, Steve Zaffron, and Kari Granger.  We had beautiful accomodations and long but very effective days focused on an ontological and phenomenological model for the effective exercise of leadership -- leadership as when being a leader, all possible ways of being are available to you, and when exercising leadership, all possible actions are open to you.  It was beyond great!  And our suites were exquisite!  My roommate and I, in the little bit of time we were actually in our rooms had a suite with separate bedrooms, each with their own baths, another den and half bath, big great room with gas fireplace also with a big dining table and open to full kitchen and a laundry room.

The conference was held at the Nita Lake Lodge, and a trail around the lake led about 4k later to Whistler Village, which you might remember from the 2010 Winter Olympics.  The entire area is gorgeous, of course, though little snow yet and mostly 35-40 degrees and gray while I was there.

It looks just like Alaska, doesn't it?  It was very similar!  And lastly, I got to meet wonderful people, beginning on the 3 hour ride up to Whistler from the Vancouver airport!  Bob from Denver, Peter from California, Deidre, also California, Richard from London, Haley and her husband whose name I've forgotten from Texas, my roommate Cari from New England, we had a great time together, and a couple of nights we had wine and pizza in one of our suites!  Early to the airport on the 1st of November to go back home, we kept running into each other at the airport -- Rich and Noreen had a last cup of coffee with Richard and Peter and I before I had to run for the plane!

What a great group!  And, it was wonderful to get home to Brian and to Alaska!  

Catching up - Weather, weather, weather!

Rain, rain, rain - it's been an incredibly rainy time in Anchorage -- and right after I told everyone that it really doesn't rain in Anchorage - in the two years that I'd been here, I'd never seen a downpour or even a steady rain.  It's a very dry climate here, and mostly when it's overcast or "rains," it's a drizzle or even a mist.  Not this year!

We've hiked a little in the rain or walked in between the drops, but it's not been really inspiring.  Brian's been working on a job for a couple of weeks, and Judy's work has been busy, so it's been easy enough to mostly work and fit in a little recreation along the way.  We've been yearning to go out on Kakwik, and the weather just hasn't been conducive.  Brian's friend, Carl, pulled the shrimp pots - the season was over on 9/15 - and I don't think we have NEARLY enough shrimp in the freezer!  We drove down to check on Kakwik on Sunday and had a very rainy and windy trip.  There have been high winds here along with the unusual storms, sometimes up to 100 mph or more -- not directly where our house is, but not far away.  Some homes have had power outages several times.

Saturday at least was one of the last days for the Farmer's Market - next Saturday will be the last of the outside markets at least!  Beet greens, swiss chard, celery, potatoes, carrots (potatoes and carrots are absolutely wonderful in Alaska!), even tomatoes (some unusual growing techniques here for fresh tomatoes), leeks!  I could take a picture of the potato-leek soup, but we've eaten it all!  Oh, and the Matanuska sharp cheddar cheese, which is expensive but only made about 20 miles from here and delicious! I'll miss the Farmer's Markets and always long for their return in May.

Brian was supposed to go fishing this week on the upper Kenai, but there has been so much rain and flooding that no boats were allowed on the water, and the trip was cancelled.  We missed out on the silver salmon this year, and we're hoping the Copper River reds last us through most of the winter.  We thought we would get more, and weather (high water) had even interfered with THAT fishing in May.

We joined a new workout routine, not really a gym, but a circuit-training place for skiers, and it is a tough 1 1/2 workout twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday after work.  After all, it's only a little over a month away probably to ski time!

Lastly, David Shipler, Pulitzer Prize winner is here this week to talk about his book, The Working Poor - great to work at a university and have access to so much!

Catching Up to Fall

The last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy as we settle back into life in Alaska, especially since Judy left over Labor Day weekend for a quick trip to see Jessica in southern California!  Brian did a long hike with Lance the same weekend up Wolverine.

Jet Blue flies to Long Beach from Anchorage direct between Memorial Day and Labor Day and very reasonably, so it was a good trip, even though it was 1 - 7:20 am, so very little sleep!  We made the most of the weekend with a trip to Ojai to see my sister and her family, shopping at a wonderful Farmer's Market in Santa Monica (oh, the tomatoes and the basil!), a night at the Hollywood Bowl for a concert, and a day at the beach.

In Ojai, we got to see my niece, Piper, playing with Emy Reynold's in The Emy Reynold's band at a coffeehouse in town.

I wish that I had taken more pictures in Ojai, but -- short trip, and I even made a huge batch of pesto while I was there to freeze and take back to Alaska with me.  We were just there overnight and then, back on the road to Santa Monica.  That night, there was a concert at The Hollywood Bowl, a huge, open amphitheater, celebrating 100 years of Paramount.  They had the symphony playing movie themes and huge screens playing the film clips at the same time - very fun.

And as if that wasn't enough, you can bring in a picnic, bottle of wine, etc. and have it while you're watching and listening.  A beautiful night, as you can see!  Each day we had taken a walk along the beach, but Monday, before I left to come back to Anchorage in the evening, we spent several hours at the beach, me reading of course! It's a beautiful beach and has a bike trail right up the middle that goes for maybe 50 miles?  These were taken from up above, as there are stairs down to the beach level.

A great vacation spot - thanks Jess!  Back to work and into a Wisdom on the Web Weekend this weekend, but we managed to fit in a great bike ride out the Chester Creek trail, where we could see all of the damage from the storm last week - trees down and uprooted, etc.  Leaves all over the multi-use trails . . . and two moose munching it up right on the side of the trail, big as life -- or bigger!  The storm was said to be more powerful coming off the Bering Sea because it was so much earlier than usual - more usual in winter.

Shrimp season is over, so whatever we have in the freezer will have to do til spring - hope we get one more trip out on Kakwik at least - though she won't come out of the water since it's salt water here.
Time to get Brian up and get both of us to work!