A Different January

We skied a few days back in Anchorage while my "vacation" was winding down.  It got warmer and warmer, so the usual places that we skied sort of deteriorated.  I went back to work on the 7th, but Brian found another part of the trail that was still in decent shape.  Before it got too warm, we skied a little "backcountry" on the east side of Basher Rd.  It was much traveled by mountain bikes and barely enough snow coverage for the roots, etc., but a fun afternoon!  By the next day it was warm and icy, and we took a long hike with our katoolas (spikes).

We haven't seen nearly as many moose this year, as they usually come more into town when the snow is higher in the upper elevations.  This one though was snapped while crossing a main road downtown near our house!

But New Year's Eve we had another wonderful celebration at Carl and Diane's -- great food, great champagne, a Mayan theme including a chocolate pecan torte to die for, and . . . . FIREWORKS!  For those of you who don't know, much more usual to have fireworks on New Year's Eve in Alaska, since on 4th of July, it doesn't get dark til maybe 2 am on the 5th!

It's predicted to be in the upper 40s tomorrow, January 13th.  Last January the average temperature was 2 degrees!  We're also down 40 inches of snow from what fell last year, although last year was an unusually snowy year!  It's been rough on the skiing, but if you check around at different parts of the trail system, you can find good places still to ski.  Brian is training for a 40K Tour-a-thon scheduled for the first part of March, and Scott, his son, will be here visiting to do it with him.  The Tour is the day after the start of the Iditarod here in Anchorage.  Even today it was raining slightly, but the skiing was pretty darn good!

I went back to work at the university after 2 1/2 weeks off, getting ready for the spring semester, and Brian starts Monday morning, along with 16,000 other students, in a photography class!  He can take classes for free because of my working there, and he's interested in learning to take good pictures since we're living in such a beautiful place!

Brian skied this morning with Lance, our landlord, and then again this afternoon with me. This morning he saw a moose with a big rack walking right down the street again, but he didn't have the camera with him!  Last night, we walked to what we consider "the neighborhood bar" for a glass of wine and our usual appetizers (crab cakes and ceasar salad - and added a Brazilian soup with coconut milk and swordfish!) then walked up to the Town Square to see the ice sculptures recently completed.  An Alaska Native carver was sitting in the square, which basically is an ice skating rink in the winter, with a few of  his carvings, so we stopped to talk to him and bought a little soapstone bear.  Not a bad weekend, overall - and there's still tomorrow - rain, upper 40s and all!