The Big Thaw (February 20-21, 2010)

The temperatures this past week have been in the 30s and 40s. The last time the high was below freezing was two weeks ago. We attempted to go for a hiking on Sunday, but the trails were so packed down from the winter and with all the melting the trails were pure ice. As an alternate plan we walked along the Kenai beach. We went in mid-afternoon when the tide was very low. The mudflats extended a ways off into the distance revealing many large rocks and ice chunks from the ocean and river. We even found some interesting lichen on a couple of the rocks that are submerged in water during high tide.

Mark and Kelly will be arriving in Kenai in 17 days!

More pictures from Homer...

More pictures from Homer...

1 YEAR! (February 13-14, 2010)

On Sunday we celebrated our 1 year anniversary. To celebrate, we went down to Homer on Saturday. We pulled off at an overlook to take in a beautiful view of the Homer Spit, the mountains, and Mount Augustine (an active volcano). From the distance it is a faint white mound coming out of the ocean. We spent late morning and early afternoon on the Homer Spit watching the Bald Eagles. Bald Eagles are very common to the Spit in the winter, scavenging off of fish. About half of the buildings, lampposts, and logs had eagles perched on them. While walking along the docks on the Spit we spotted a sea otter going for what it seemed like a leisurely swim. It seemed so relaxed and carefree.

After visiting the Spit, we headed up the bluff to the Carl E. Wynn Nature Center. The bluff rises about 1200 feet above the Spit. By the water there was little to no snow. On the bluff there was about four feet. We were able to do some hiking while at the nature center but the deep snow made it a bit of a challenge. At one point we decided to cut off trail and Jon sank into the snow up to his waist. It was gorgeous and fresh, prefect for snowballs! On our way down the bluff we stopped in and ate at Fat Olives Restaurant, a cute little Italian Restaurant with some unique and delicious pizza to end our day in Homer.

On Sunday we did a low key hiking through the National Wildlife Refuge. The weather was very warm this weekend reaching about 40 degrees both days with plenty of sun.

Snow! Snow! Snow! (February 6-7, 2010)

This past week we had parent/teacher conferences at school. We are already halfway through 3rd quarter, hard to believe. Each day the sun stays out a little longer and each day brings us closer to summer!

Well, this weekend brought us some much needed snow. After about 2 ½ months of little to no snow, this weekend brought us about 4 or 5 inches! The consistency right now is not very good for cross country skiing, much too sticky, but on Sunday we were able to enjoy a hike on our snowshoes. We revisited Egumen Lake Trail, where earlier this winter we spotted a number of snowshoe hares. On this journey we spotted two, one of which we got a picture of from a distance. With the fresh snow we have also seen a lot more active moose than normal. We spotted many this weekend near the roads snacking on various shrubs. There were a number of cow moose still with their calves; it’s nice to see that so many young ones have made it.

In 33 days we will see Mark and Kelly!

Maroon, Gold, and a New Way Home (January 30-31, 2010)

We headed up to Anchorage on Saturday to take in a hockey game, the Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves. We have been looking forward to this adventure since September when we first ordered the tickets. The drive up was beautiful; snow covered mountains, the Kenai and Russian rivers still flowing with that aqua tint, and chunks of ice floating in the large body of water known as Turnagain Arm. There were so many chunks of ice, the water was so still, and our surroundings displayed a grayish hue such that it caused the Arm to look like a barren wasteland. It was also very foggy along portions of the drive. Because the fog was so low, we often couldn’t see the bottom of the mountains, only the tops. At one point our clear windshield fogged up nearly all the way in a matter of seconds. It was bit scary, but we immediately rolled the windows down and turned on the defrost. The mountain temperature must have suddenly dropped.

We stayed at a Ramada near downtown Anchorage allowing us to walk around and take in some sites. There is a park in the middle of downtown filled with ice sculptures, a skating rink, and an area for curling. It reminded me a lot of Rice Park in downtown St. Paul, but smaller. We also went to the Alaska Glacier Brewhouse for a late lunch where I experience my first Cajun meal, a Cajun Alaskan Rockfish sandwich. The fish variety up here really is amazing. On our way back to our hotel we stumbled across the street corner where the Iditarod begins every year. Jon and I are excited to be attending that this March.

On Saturday evening we headed out to the hockey game and started to have some issues with our Buick LeSabre. The accelerator was down but not much acceleration was really happening…in any gear. We both knew all too well what it was having experienced the same thing back in May with the Buick, it was the transmission. Amazingly enough we were able to get to the ice arena, where just as we were about to park, it killed on us completely. So, we pushed it into a parking spot and went in to enjoy the game. Unfortunately the Gophers played a descent 1st period and got lazy during the 2nd and 3rd. Anchorage won 2-1. We cabbed it back to the hotel and called for a towing. On Sunday we made the decision to dispose of it.

Life’s a kick. We cabbed it to the airport Sunday afternoon, were immediately able to get on a flight back down to Kenai carrying, I kid you not, our bag of food (consisting of a 48 pack of granola bars, bananas, muffins, and a loaf of bread), motor oil, a shovel, and an ice scraper. Thank goodness we were in Alaska, we probably could have gotten on with a gun if we wanted to. What could we do? We had to clean our car out. So, despite the downers this past weekend, we were able to have a good time and even laugh at the situation.

Mark and Kelly…37 days!