Early Birthday Trip

We left Friday around midmorning en route to Seward.

The drive was beautiful as always. It seems even more so this time of year when spring is starting but the mountains are still covered in snow. We drove to our cottage that we had rented for the weekend.

 It was a nice 2 bedroom with full kitchen and bath and most importantly... near the beach.

What was even better is that thanks to our Northern Lights coupon book, with its buy 1 night get 1 night free coupon, we stayed the whole weekend for $91.

We got settled in and drove into town and ate at the Apollo. We really enjoyed it and of course, ordered the same thing we always do. The service here is always outstanding. We went back to the cottage and after a fiercely fought battle of Yahtzee, called it an early evening.

April showers... of snow!

We haven't done much lately.

 Even though we got 1.3 inches of fresh snow today, the weather seems to finally have turned the corner. There is still plenty of snow still on the ground from the winter. It is starting to slowly melt.



Last weekend we did get out and walk around downtown for awhile. We certainly enjoyed the sunshine. Right now the sun rises at 6:15 am and sets around 9:45 pm., that's a little over 15 hours of sun a day!










These are the sculptures the museum added last year.










These present a different view of some of our local animals.









Maybe the statues represent these wild animals that live within the city limits of a big urban area.

We are planning a trip to Seward this weekend. Hopefully, we will have some interesting pictures by the end of the weekend. The gray whales are migrating through that area so maybe we'll get lucky and see them.

Spring? Not yet.

 It seems that winter won't let go of us here in Alaska. After a nice sunny week with highs in the low 40s, snow returned again this weekend. It keeps coming back just like Jason on those Friday the 13th movies. We decided to get out for awhile Saturday afternoon and make the best of it.












 We probably ended up with close to 10 inches before the snow stopped Saturday night.

But the story doesn't end there! A new winter weather advisory kicks in tomorrow morning.

This advisory has predictions of possibly 12 to 18 inches of new snow before Tuesday morning.

 For now we are leaving our box of summer clothes under the bed!

Another blast of winter

Greg has been out birding again as you can tell from these pictures. This redpoll finch is a beautiful little bird.

These small songbirds are foragers and quick to take advantage of bird feeders here. There is a flock of over a hundred that are constantly at a feeder right around the corner. It's no telling how many pounds of seeds they have consumed in the last few months! This picture is an adult male.

 They usually have a red tinge on the breast area. Redpolls are hardy little birds who live year-round in the Arctic tundra and boreal forests.
Another staple of the winter landscape here in Anchorage is the common raven.

They are in the family corvidae. These huge birds are amongst the very smartest of any birds. Ravens are completely black- feathers, eyes, beaks, and legs. They are not as social as crows, but when a good feeding opportunity presents itself, many will gather to take advantage. They can measure as long as 32 inches with a wingspan approaching 5 feet!

 Ravens are quite the survivalists, they will eat most anything and can live in even the most far north regions of Alaska in the harsh winters. Check out the crazy way he turns his head as he calls out.

Here are a few pictures of my school's yard in its new coat of snow.

We had a blizzard warning last Friday night but it was cancelled that night. However, Sunday and Monday we did manage to pick up over a foot of new snow.



 Tuesday night the temps dipped below 0 again. We are still waiting for spring in Alaska.

End of Fur Rondy

Here are the last pictures we took during the Fur Rondy Celebration this year. The festival ended with the beginning of the Iditarod on March 3rd. That race has officially ended with Mitch Seavey winning this year. At 56 years old, he is the oldest person to win the race so far. His son, Dallas, was the youngest to win it last year. That Sunday, we walked down the big hill from the carnival to see the snow sculptures.

As usual, there were some strong contenders.











 Here is one of the winners, The Ole Bull and Chain.













Unfortunately, we didn't get there before he lost one of his horns! Still, it was a magnificent piece of art. Another interesting one was this Tiki creation.

 It is always interesting to marvel at the craftsmanship that goes into making these. I would have a hard time picking my favorite.

 Here is Greg beside the sculpture created in his likeness. Wow, almost a mirror image!

 I know the first day of spring is just hours away, but not for me. Tonight our low is 0 to 5 degrees.  I don't think it got above freezing today. Still plenty of snow on the ground! Far from the 70s I got to experience last week when I journeyed down to Tennessee for spring break. But at least we are getting 12 hours of sunlight a day. We are gaining more sunlight every day. Makes me hopeful that spring is just around the corner for us.

Iditarod 2013 begins

Woke up Saturday to a very foggy morning. We went out to watch the ceremonial start of  Iditarod XLI. Despite the fog, there was a good size crowd all along the downtown route.











On the plus side, this was by far the warmest of the four years that we have watched the start in Anchorage. It was in the mid 20s this morning.











We did arrive a bit late and missed a few of the crowd favorites, Martin Buser and Lance Mackey. Greg got his spot on the sideline in time to get a few pictures of 2011 winner, John Baker.

 He holds the record for the quickest time in completing the run to Nome.









Here is a pic of Jeff King, 4 time Iditarod winner.

His last win was in 2006.










 Dallas Seavey won last year's Iditarod race.

At 25 years old, he was the youngest person to win the race.

 The race usually lasts between 9 and 12 days. Should be a good one!

Fur Rondy begins!

Remember to click on the pictures to make them larger.

Fur Rendezvous began Friday here in Anchorage. There is always so much to see and do during this celebration. Saturday morning we got up to watch the Frostbite Footrace.

 Most people come dressed in costumes to run this race.

I was quite pleased to see some of the Teletubbies come out of retirement to race.

 Even Santa Claus and a gingerbread man made the run.








That night the fireworks show began about 6:45.

 As you can tell from the photos, it had begun to snow pretty steadily by that time.

The show lasted about 20 minutes and featured some really beautiful displays.

Sunday afternoon we watched the sled dog races for a bit.

 Today was the last day of the three day event. These teams were flying down the street!

These are sprint races, so the quicker- the better.

They are surprisingly quiet as they run and quite interesting to watch.