Halloween!

For Halloween this year, I was Britney Spears. I kind of felt bad because I wouldn't want anyone dressing up like me for Halloween if I was down on my luck, but come on, it's funny! Here's me posing as her mug shot. Yes, that's supposed to look like I had a shaved head.



A lot of my friends had great costumes this year. If you'd like to see more, click here.

Mom's Visit: Days 5, 6, 7, and then there was Day 8

Our time in Anchorage was filled with shopping, shopping, and more shopping along with a couple of movies and taking my car into the shop to get some warranty work done on it. It seems that antifreeze was leaking onto my timing belt, which made the timing belt rather iffy to drive around on, so we took it easy on the car and tried to stay more sedentary while we were in Anchorage. Nevertheless, we managed to make our way ALL around the city.

Mom's flight left on Tuesday, but my car wasn't done until Wednesday, when I drove back to Fairbanks. There was beautiful weather my entire drive back. I took so many pictures of Denali that my camera battery died two thirds of the way on my trip! Here are a few of my favorites:

Mom's Visit: Days 3 and 4

On day 3 we woke up in the cabin to a crisp clear morning. After cleaning up and repacking everything into the car, we were on our way back to Fairbanks, dutifully watching for moose along the way. It didn't take long before Mom yelled, "Moose!" Sure enough, a momma and baby were grazing in the forest along the road. After several visits to Alaska, Mom was finally able to cross 'seeing a moose' off of her list. Somehow on her previous trips she had been more of a moose repellant than attractant. Of course, I have no pictures of the moose, but if I get some later I'll add them to this entry.

On the way back to town, we stopped again to feed the sled dogs. Somehow the time was passing rather quickly, but we rounded out the day by carving Jack-O-Lanterns! Fun fun fun!



Day 4 was Saturday. Mom's flight was leaving from Anchorage on Tuesday moning, and after looking at the weather forecast, which predited a snow storm, it seemed that Saturday would be the best day to head to Anchorage, so we packed up and drove six hours south.

Mom's Visit: Day 2

Day 2 actually brought sunny skies and plenty of activity. After getting up early to get the snow tires put on the car, we packed up everything we would need for an overnight trip in a cabin without electricity and without running water. In the Chena River State Recreation Area, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources has some cabins available for rent, and that was where we were to spent Thursday night, at the North Fork Cabin. The internet said that it slept eight people, so there was sure to be enough room.

On the way to the cabin, we had to stop and feed Carrie and Duff's sled dogs, but I didn't get any pictures of that. Mom has plenty in her camera though because she was taking pictures while I did all of the work! I think there were 13 dogs in all, although I'm unsure of that number.

Anyway, on to the cabin, where we arrived in the late afternoon.


It was plenty big, and there was tons of fire wood to keep us warm. Mom unpacked the car while I split a log or two and started a small fire in the wood stove to begin the warming up process. It wasn't a big production yet though because we were on our way to tour the ice hotel at Chena Hot Springs, which was only about ten miles away. We had to be sure and make it in time for the last tour of the day. The ice hotel is kept at 19 degrees Fahrenheit, which wreaks havoc on camera batteries, but I did manage to get one picture before my battery putzed out.



No, that toilet doesn't really work, it is simply a piece of art, but it's comical all the same. After being out in the cold, it was nice to return to the cabin and try to warm up by the wood stove although I kept the door to the stove open a little too long, which made it a little smoky inside.



We rounded out the evening with a couple of games of Yahtzee next to the lantern.

Mom's Visit: Day 1

My mother was brave enough to visit Alaska when the sun isn't out 24 hours a day, which meant that she would have an opportunity to see the Northern Lights as well as some snow. There wasn't too much white stuff around for her arrival, so it didn't provide any challenges, but rather the snow added a little character to her visit.

After getting in late, I woke Mom up saying that the skies were clear out and that we should head down to Denali to see the tallest mountain in North America. It's only about a 90 mile drive, so we put together a lunch and headed south.

Unfortunately, the further south we went, the cloudier the skies became, and the snow started to fall. By then, we were too far into our trip to turn around, so we continued. None the less, it was pretty, so we stopped to take many pictures in the snow. One of the Alaska railroad tressle...


...one of the Nenana River Canyon, which was freezing before our very eyes...


and many more before stopping in the Park to buy postcards of the mountain we weren't able to see because it was enshrouded in clouds. The Park Ranger who helped us suggested headed just a few more miles south to see if the weather was any different on the other side of the range. Smart lady!



Continuing south to Cantwell afforded us the opportunity to view sunny skies and see the top of Denali (even if it was obscured just slightly by a few wisps of clouds) as well as the rest of the Alaska Range while we stopped on the roadside to eat our lunch. We experienced many kinds of weather on that first day and ended it by having Mette over for dinner to tell her about our day's adventure.

PS No, that last picture is not Denali but is a picture of the Alaska Range and the view from our lunch spot.