Farewell to November

Last Thursday we spent a snowy Thanksgiving with our friends, Mindy and Paul, at their home on the hillside. As you can tell by these pictures, they have also received quite a bit of snow. On Thanksgiving, it was supposed to be sunny and cold. Yet it snowed lightly all day and all night. In fact, we have had right at 3 feet of snow since October 30th! We have come very close to breaking a record snowfall for the month of November. It is snowing lightly now but I don't think we will be able to make it to the record amount. Mindy outdid herself with the scrumptious buffet of holiday delights. Everyone had their fill and then some! After the feast we bowled on the Wii system with Paul, Hunter, and Kendra. Hunter came prepared in his official 1957 bowling shirt. Even though he clearly won the bowling championship that night, it was later ruled by the judges that he had used an unofficial Wii controller. Therefore, forfeiting his championship and dreams to the next highest scorer. We figured that instead of naming a new champion we would have a new tournament at a later date. On Friday Greg somehow found the will to get up and go to work. Saturday we made our way downtown and did a little shopping in support of the small businesses. When we got home from our chilly walk, Greg made chicken and dumplings and we ate, stayed in, and stayed warm for the rest of the weekend. Thanks again Mindy and Paul.

November 13, 2011

On Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago, we drove out to Peter's Creek and met up with our friend, Julie, and her two Siberian huskies. Julie drove us up into the mountains to the Peter's Creek trailhead for an afternoon hike. There was already quite a bit of snow here and as of that day, October 29th, we had no snow in Anchorage. We all got our gear on, including bear spray , and headed up the trail. The trail seemed to follow an old road bed. There were a couple of stream crossings and a steady incline for the first leg of the trail. It was a somewhat overcast afternoon and the mountains with their coverings of snow were a gentle reminder of the winter soon to come for us. This afternoon we just enjoyed the solitude and peace of the quiet forest. Julie's huskies seemed right at home in the cold and snow. We quite enjoyed the hike and hope to go again. Upon waking the next morning, the winter landscape from the previous afternoon seemed to have followed us home. Our city bore the first measurable snow of the season on October 30th. Since then, our downtown apartment has seen about 20 more inches fall. With the forecast of some below zero temps for the coming week, it is safe to say our winter has unofficially begun.

End of Seward Trip

After a late night of finishing my project, we decided to sleep in yet again this morning. After checking out of the hotel, we went for a farewell walk along the beach before heading out of town. The wind was brisk but it was a beautiful and clear day. We decided to stop by Exit Glacier and try to spot some wildlife. We didn't see any mammals but managed to get fairly close to a bald eagle. We made several stops along the ride home to enjoy the rushing waters and beautiful snow-covered mountains. After those stops we just drove and enjoyed the beautiful views along the Seward Highway. When we reached the Hope junction, we pulled over into a roadside park to have a delightful lunch of fresh seafood. The picnic table, which had seen its better days long ago, was nestled in the woods. In fact, the table only had part of a bench and Greg was forced to stand and eat his lunch. Thankfully the smell of our halibut, shrimp, and rockfish didn't attract any bears. Finally made our way back into Anchorage at about 5:30, thus ending a nice long weekend.

These pictures are a few weeks old and since then we have received our first snowfall on October 30th. This past weekend it snowed 10.1 inches of snow! As I write this at 9 pm on November 8th, it's a balmy 9 degrees outside. I guess winter is finally here!