Weekend Getaway

This past weekend, Lee and I had the pleasure of staying at Chena Hot Springs Resort. A friend's parents won a free stay, but it was about to expire and they weren't able to use it in time. So they offered it to us and we gladly accepted!





It was a truly relaxing weekend of bathing in the hot springs and bathing in the hot springs again.



The interior of Alaska, as cold as it gets, is blessed with many hot springs. At Chena, there is a large pool they have called Rock Lake. (It's behind these frosted trees - see the steam?) You change into your bathing suit in the locker room and then leave your towel inside (it would freeze if you brought it outside). Then, you venture out into the cold in your bathing suit and flip flops. On Saturday, it was 30 below outside. The pain of being basically naked and in -30 degree weather doesn't last too long. You walk 40 feet to the lake's ramp. Steam is rising all around and your feet go into 140 degree water. A little ouch at first but once your whole body is in - man is it heavenly! Of course, your head is still in negative temperatures, so the rising steam freezes to your hair and eyelashes and eyebrows. Lee's hair froze solid into little spikes that you couldn't bend! It was very funny. In the Rock Lake, they have colored lights that give the pool the feeling of being in the Aurora. Unfortunately, the real aurora didn't show. But it still felt wonderful!



The next day our car wouldn't start - it got down to 45 below in the night and the resort apparently doesn't have enough plugs. So while the staff was trying to plug everyone in with extension cords, Lee and I went for a walk. There are quite a few hiking and skiing trails around the resort so Lee and I set out to explore. It was still -40 out. But running helped keep my toes warm! Here I am running down the mountain!



Lee and I are hardcore Fairbanksans! We run and hike when it's -40!


We had a great, relaxing weekend. Looking forward to the next one!

The Visitor

After vacation, I started working a second job - I teach in the after school program two days a week. It's fun and a little exhausting, but we are on such a tight budget, that it's worth it. The kids are wiggly and don't like being first-time listeners. (My Maple Wood peeps would be so proud to know that we are practicing first-time listening and every time they are first-time-listeners, they earn a tally. One-hundred tallies equals computer games for the whole 45 minutes!)

So all that leads me to my story. Yesterday the students were fully engaged in being first-time listeners when the program coordinator came in to tell me that there was a Moose on the playground. A very large Moose. On the playground. At the school. In downtown Fairbanks. Not the outskirts of town. Dead-center downtown. This meant that the buses would be picking up kiddos at the front of the building instead of the back.

Now imagine, New Englanders, if a moose was on the playground. Imagine the reaction of the kids, and the teachers, and the administrators. I did, and I was reminded of the time there was a chicken on the playground at one of my old schools and no one could leave the building and animal control was called...

Now let me tell you how my 1st and 2nd graders reacted. And please remember that they were fully engaged in good listening and heard everything the program coordinator said to me.

They kept working. They didn't say anything. No excitement, no running to the window to see if they could see. No fear. Nothing. They just kept working. Well, except for one little guy who is a little quirky - he just kept reminding me to take the bus kids to the front of the building because of the moose. And that was it. Dismissal went smoothly. The kids weren't wound up. A teacher stood at the back door so forgetful kiddos wouldn't accidentally run out. That was it. After an hour, the moose was on her way. And that, folks, is what happens when a Moose wanders into downtown in Fairbanks, Alaska. People say, "Eh." and move around it.

Happy New Year!

3...2...1... Happy New Year! I'm sure this post will find many of you recovering from a night of partying! Here in Alaska, Lee and I celebrated in our usual low-key way. We went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant we heard you could see the fireworks from. We ended up not being able to see the fireworks from our table, but the atmosphere was lovely - they turned off the lights and we ate by candle light. We then stopped by the liquor store on our way home to get a bottle of champaigne and some chambourd to add.



Then we toasted in the New Year here in our little cabin.



Lovely, really.

Outside you could hear fireworks coming from all over the city. They seem to party it up here in Fairbanks, with four different sets of official fireworks throughout the night. No Partying for us. We were tucked in the woods together.

Traditionally, Lee and I always spend New Year's Eve together just the two of us because it is the anniversary of our first date. That first New Year's Eve together, we went out to Pawtuckaway State Park in the middle of a major snow storm, walked to the climbing area down icy trails, carrying a bottle of wine and a pomegranate, falling the whole way. In the dark of the forest, we knew it was midnight when we heard the distant explosions of fireworks celebrations. We kissed to ring in the new year, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Last night reminded me a lot of our first New Year's Eve together. It snowed, though not as much, and we were tucked in the woods. And it was our first time ringing in the new year as a married couple. Good omens abounded. Right after midnight, Lee came rushing in because there was aurora. We haven't seen the aurora in months. The clouds parted and the sky lit up green on the horizon, ushering in the new year with it's own fireworks display. A sign it will be a good year - I'm sure of it!


Cheers, everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful New Year's celebration.

Umpteen Kinds of Snow

This week the Alaskan Interior was hit hard with a very out of character rain/ice storm. Lee and I were both worried that the rain and ice had left us with slush that would be too difficult to ski or snow shoe in, and winter would be ruined. But alas, the snow returned on Thursday and since then, we have received about 5 inches of the fluffiest snow Lee and I have ever seen.

I'm sure you've heard that the Eskimos have umpteen different words for snow. This is, in fact, an urban legend. But I have been surprised by the different types of snow we have seen here in Fairbanks. When I walk outside at night to use the restroom, the outside light hits the snow in the yard and it looks as if the ground has been scattered with diamonds. It's absolutely spectacular and always stops me in my tracks. Sometimes the snow falls as massive flakes. Other times it is fine and light. Once I walked outside and felt as if I was in a snow-globe, with glitter floating down around me. Magical.

Well yesterday it snowed in yet another way. Massive, individual snowflakes that shined like mica. You could look at the fallen snow and see individual snowflakes resting on top. Amazing! Winter is cold and dark, but there is so much beauty in it. See for yourselves! Lee got some great shots of these snowflakes!

Conundrum

It is supposed to drop into the negative digits tonight, and possibly -35 tomorrow. So here's my question - Do people with outhouses in Alaska wipe with their mittens on?

Who's Afraid of the Dark?

I have a secret, a deep dark secret. Do you know? Can you guess? Well, I've decided to let the cat out of the bag. My secret is, I am afraid of the dark. Irrationally afraid of the dark and all the things lurking in the dark, waiting to pounce on me when no one can see it.

This fear makes winter in Alaska challenging, as it just keeps getting darker, and will be completely dark in a little more than a month. My silly fear complicates things even more when you consider that every time I have to go to the bathroom I must leave our cozy home and walk around the house, cross the back yard, and use our chilly outhouse. Yes, the path is lit with a bright light that is triggered by motion. But it does not light the woods around us, and certainly there are strange creatures lurking in the dark, waiting for the perfect moment to get me.

When we first arrived, and I had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I was extremely frightened. Some nights I would just hold it instead of going out in the dark. But then, the sun rose at 5 am, so I could go out then and be fine. Once, I'm ashamed to say, I peed right next to the front deck I was so scared.

But I've gotten better. This is in part, I am sure, to the fact that it is more often dark than it is light. I must get over it out of necessity. So I have a routine. I step out onto the deck, where the first light turns on. I look around to check for moose. Then I go down the stairs and around the house, at which point I stop, and wave my arms and kick high in the air to trigger the next motion light. (You'd think that move would scare away all the creatures, but it never works... they are always there...)I walk the length of the house, past the big pine where the flying squirrel lives, and stop at the edge of the yard. The light illuminates the yard itself, so I look both ways for moose before crossing. Then I walk to the far side of the yard. This part I have down. Go me.

It's the return from the outhouse that does me in. The woods are behind me as I walk back to the house, just what the moose and other creatures of the dark are waiting for. I walk as long as I can, usually until I reach the tree, at which point I remember the flying squirrel that lives there. I break into a run (which is hard in snow boots) and scoot past the tree, lessening the squirrel's chance of landing on my head when he pounces, which he surely is waiting to do. I round the stairs, run up and into the house -safe!

The creatures of the darkness haven't gotten me yet. Who's afraid of the dark? Not me!

A Walk in the Woods

I went on a blog hiatus for a bit. No excuse really, just too much knitting and not enough time. So this is a bit of a "catch-up" post.

Last weekend Lee and I went for a walk on one of the UNH trails. It was a beautiful trail that wound through the forest. We didn't run into a single person on the trail, saw lots of tracks (at the time I said they were wolf, but Lee said they were most likely dog, as we were walking on the "Pooch Trail." Now I'm not so sure....) and enjoyed the quiet of the forest in the winter. Here are some pics!