Tuesday, November 30th

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Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and ate too much like we did! We went out to SBFs Mindy and Paul's home for the great feast. It was a very snowy day. It snowed about a foot at their home. After dinner we played the Wii sports games with Mindy, Paul, and Mindy's cousin, Hunter. Don't think it was enough of a workout to make up for the abundance of calories we had just consumed- but it was fun. Greg did box enough that he was sore and could barely move his arms the next day! I stuck to tennis and bowling!

As you can tell by the photos, winter is here until at least April. Tonight the lows are expected to get down around 0. It will be a balmy 12 for the high tomorrow.

Monday, November 22nd

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Well, luckily Greg had snapped these pictures of a fluffy snow here this weekend. This morning we woke to a covering of nasty ice! It was difficult to walk to the bus even wearing the traction grippers on my shoes. City buses were not running due to hazardous road conditions. Finally made it to school, safe and sound. The snow is much prettier and enjoyable!! I don't think I'll ever tire of watching it snow. Hopefully, we can get out over the Thanksgiving break and see more beautiful snow as we walk along the trails. My Dad will be having his heart surgery Tuesday and I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers. I'm sure he will be fine!

We would like to give a huge THANKS to Kimberly and Flegont. This gracious couple lived here in our building and gave us so many wonderful things when they moved out! We are so appreciative and really were touched by their thoughtfulness. Thanks and good luck to your family!

Homer Trip, Part 4

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Headed out of Captain Cook State Park running on petrol fumes. We tried in vain to remember the last gas station we passed on the long remote road into the park. Luckily for us, we made it to a station. We filled up the tank and headed for home. Drove back through Kenai and stopped in Soldotna for a quick break and snack. Since we had about 2 hours of daylight left to enjoy, we decided to drive through some of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge roads. The Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. It offered beautiful mountain views, gorgeous lake views, and some great fall vistas. We nearly had the road to ourselves as we passed only about 3 other vehicles. We stopped at many of the lakes and tried to capture some mirror images of the mountains as they were reflected in the lake. Since we were pretty much alone in the middle of nowhere, we didn't wander too far from the safety of the car. We wandered around this area for about 2 hours and then forced ourselves to leave as it was getting dark. Of course, by the time we got back on the Seward Highway, it started raining and this made driving difficult. We finally rolled back into Anchorage about 10 and grabbed some food and went home to the apartment. Greg took the rental car back and walked 17 blocks home at 11 at night- but he was off work the next day so he didn't get any sympathy from me.

Update!! Anchorage got its first official measurable snowfall today (Nov. 2). There had already been trace amounts of snow reported 8 times so far this season. Since 1939, there have only been 11 times when the first snow came in November. The average date for the first snow is October 16.