Skiing again -- how much longer can this go on?!

I know, more skiing, more blue skies, more mountains, no moose this weekend though - maybe that bigger and brighter moon kept them in the woods!  We had fresh snow on Wednesday night for the first time in a long time, so finally had some fresh stuff to ski on.  We went close to home on Saturday, starting by our house and classical skiing up beyond Earthquake Park (so named because a part of the land fell into the water during the 1964 earthquake) and on to the airport parking lot.  The trails were pretty close to perfect, and it was another beautiful, sunny day, temps in the 30s - see pictures - the trail follows Cook Inlet, after we pass Westchester Lagoon, and you have vistas or views of the Chugach Mountains to the east, the Talkeetna Mountains to the North, Sleeping Lady, the volcano, and in the distance on a clear day like this one, Denali, about 250 miles away.  Saturday night we went to the Banff Film Festival at the university and watched several great films.  Sunday we got up late and went for a back-country ski up in the mountains that wasn't up to our usual standards!  It was still a beautiful day and a beautiful area, but the trail with our no-wax skis just wasn't working, and we were side-slipping all of the way.  It's hard to have a bad day in the mountains though -- we weren't exactly suffering!

Ice Biking

Conditions right today for what could be our once in a lifetime frozen river biking trip!  Met the Meetup group at the Matanuska River outside of Palmer -- it was billed as a "bike and skate" trip -- we'd never heard of that before -- some people ice skated, and others just biked down the frozen river, a lot of it smooth as glass.  High winds at times this winter contribute to the snow being blown off the ice and it staying smooth.  You can only do it with special tires with studs, and one person had some that looked "home constructed" with self-tapping screws - he had the best traction!  We had unobstructed views of the mountains, and you're in a place that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to go.  They said it was unusual for the ice to be this good, so they're taking advantage of it this year!  The water isn't very deep in the river, but almost every nice here is 0 or below 0 degrees.  We went over snow in some places, cracks in the ice, etc.  Judy, who is not a mountain biker fell twice, and even Brian fell once -- that ice is slippery!  Another beautiful sunny day in Alaska -- this actually is the easiest winter we've ever gone through - who would have thought we would say that in Alaska!  Tonight we took a walk downtown from our house and had out choice of restaurants for a glass of wine and calamari -- wish you were here! 

We have to pinch ourselves!

Skiing is great this week - trails were groomed for the Tour of Anchorage and are in great shape, and the sun has been shining here for about 10 days straight - temps in 20s up to 30 and the skiing is unbelieveable -- our first ski after work in full daylight, and with daylight savings time going into force this weekend, it will be light here til at least 8:00 - gaining almost 1/2 hour a week now I think. 

Look at the moose pictures we took this morning as we left for Brian to take me to work -- we saw one out our dining room window just down from us, really close, so we took the camera - then as we raised the garage door to back out, there was one right in back of us!  The guy across the alley in back of us was sitting there with his car running, because he didn't dare move!  We were able to turn around in our driveway and then get past him but got another couple of pictures of this one.  Only in Alaska (or Maine too?!) 

Brian discovered growlers filled by Moose's Tooth with their own selection of brews after our landlord gave him one for doing him a favor.  So now we've kicked the beer can or bottle habit and are living green by filling up at the local brewery -- highly recommended!  Wish there was a wine jug system we could find!  They don't recycle glass here . . . I won't tell you how many wine bottles we throw away and feel guilty about. 

Tour of Anchorage Ski Race for Brian

The big news this weekend, in addition to the Iditarod start on Saturday, was Brian's first ski race here in Anchorage on Sunday!  They had a 25k, 40k or 50k, and he decided to try the 25k this first year.  He didn't have any idea where to place himself, and he over-estimated how much time it would take him, so he started further back in a corral than he should have -- they had chips for the race in ankle bracelets.  I'll try to upload two short videos that I took by mistake trying to take pictures and see if that works here.  One is a warm up and the other is the start of his group -- they had 12 corrals, and he was in the 6th one I think - 2 minute intervals.  It's a beautiful route, taking in parts of the trails that we ski on most of the time, right through town and out to Kincaid Park, a world class ski area with a stadium finish.  He was pretty happy with the race, and it was a really sunny pretty day. 

We watched teams for a while starting the Iditarod on Saturday but the start from Anchorage through town is a ceremonial start, and they start again on Sunday from Willow, about 35 miles from here.  Still pretty interesting!  That will be on the news here for the next couple of weeks.  Brian and I are coming up to a year anniversary - it's been almost a year since we came up here for the interview at UAA - my interview was on 3/16.  We're going to go to dinner at Sak's Cafe on the 16th to celebrate, as that's where they took us last year for dinner that night after a full day of meetings and presentations with different groups at the university.   It doesn't seem possible that a whole year has gone by.  We miss everyone in NY though! 

World Championship Sled Dog Races

We were downtown for the beginning of the sled dog races today, beginning with the parade at 10:30 -- (after 8 am yoga!) -- it was about 15 degrees but felt much colder due to the wind.  We've upped our equipment for standing around in the cold since we've been here, and Judy bought a white mink storm troopers hat today at one of the booths downtown (see picture)-- the celebration is called Fur Rondy, celebrating a tradition of fur traders coming in to town to sell their furs at the end of winter.  The week culminates in the Iditarod next Saturday, starting right downtown and the Tour of Anchorage cross-country ski race on Sunday (which Brian will be doing).  Pictures here of the dog sled races -- we stopped for hot drinks in a bakery downtown and talked to a young woman here in Anchorage for the weekend with her husband, who was one of the dog sled racers and two of her three young sons.  They fly here, fly the dogs too, as it's the only way to get here from their village of 300 people in southwest Alaska -- she only comes to Anchorage once a year.  We'll go to the fireworks right downtown in a little while - they start at 6:45 pm, when it gets dark.  The dog sled races go right down the main street of town and then onto the multi-use trails that run throughout the city, and back - about 20 miles. Some of the pictures are like "Heartbreak Hill" in the Heart Run in Utica -- it's a pretty steep hill, and you can tell by the pictures of the dogs trying to get up it on their trip back!  The final of three days of races is tomorrow and the times are totaled for the winners.  Dogs get dropped each day if they're not performing well so that they're running their fastest dogs, but they start with a team of 20 dogs in this championship series.  More skiing tomorrow - we didn't get much of that done this week, so we'll ski on part of the trails where we can see the dogs coming through on a cross - trail. 

Dogsledding and Back-country skiing

A full weekend!  We assisted at a dog sled race again this weekend -- we're getting "highly trained" now -- we're almost up to holding the dogs ourselves while they get "painted" - a spot on "right front paw" or "left back leg" or another combination!  And, it was COLD!  About 4 below the whole time.  Judy ordered boot s with felt liners but they didn't come yet -- today it was supposed to be just as cold for skiing but it was warmer than predicted - about 10 degrees when we finished.  There is one picture here that Brian took of Judy with two other Meet-Up people we were skiing with.  A perfect day, one of the few where there has been this much powder, so it was great for going up into the mountains a little and skiing down under control.  It was fun!  Brian was going to go back out and skate ski tonight, but we talked to Jessica and then Colin and April over Skype, and it might have been that second glass of wine he had while we were talking that has him now sitting on the couch watching basketball -- so maybe dinner and a movie in the DVD player for tonight!

An Afternoon Ski

Out for a quick ski before the Super Bowl this afternoon, and look who joined us on the trail -- a mother and her calf having a lazy afternoon -- if you call finding something to eat in the winter lazy, I guess!  On the way out I took a couple of pictures of them foraging along the trail, but they moved into the woods and they didn't turn out that well.  On the way back, they had found a spot to lay down and watch the world go by!