Alaska's Winter Horizon

Alaska's Winter Horizon

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Walk around the Lake

Well, it has warmed up a bit since our last post. Our temps have been climbing to the mid 40s each day. Some days have made it to 50 degrees! The majority of snow is gone from our yard.
 Greg did manage to fire the grill up last weekend. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will be able to get our raised beds ready for planting.
 Today I took a walk with two friends around Lake Hood. This is a base for many of the seaplanes here in Anchorage.
 It didn't appear to be a lot of activity because the lake is still frozen. In a couple of months this lake will be a hub of activity. Planes will be waiting in line to take off from the water.
 Someone took the floats off their plane. Maybe the plane is getting serviced and ready for summer action.
 The lake has a picturesque setting with the mountains as a background.
 You do have to share the road with aircraft. There is a runway right across the road! You can see quite a bit of snow piled up behind the fence in this photo.
This field of planes looks ready for takeoff! Dirt runways are very common here in Alaska.

Sunday, April 8, 2018

End of winter?

Finally, the first days have come since last fall that our temperatures are not going to fall below freezing overnight! Well, that is what they have in the forecast. We'll see. Either way, the sun and the warm temperature of 50 degrees today felt fantastic!
 This morning a friend and I took our weekly walk. The lakes and streams are still frozen.
 The parkstrip has lots of snow remaining on the ground.
 As we walked along the coastal trail, we could see a boat headed toward the port.
 Here is Mount Susitna, also known as Sleeping Lady. You can see how it got this nickname from this view.
 That boat looks kinda small next to those big mountains!
 Another view across the frozen mud flats of Sleeping Lady.
 Here is the trail we walked upon. I am still wearing my hiking boots while walking. Maybe I will be able to switch over to my tennis shoes for our walks soon.
 Hopefully the forecast will come true and we will be able to dig the grill out for next weekend. The sizzle of burgers and hot dogs will be the official start of spring for Greg!