North to Barrow!

I took a short trip to Barrow last week for work. We didn't have much time to poke around and find polar bears, but I did snap a few pics and experience some of the local life. But before I get there - check this out...it's the Yukon River! We flew over it after a quick layover in Fairbanks. This was about the point in the flight where I kept thinking, "This is the farthest north I've been....now this is....now this is...." (There were lots of kids and my ipod died - I got a little bored, and was pretty excited to be on my way to Barrow.) It was about 5 degrees with winds out of the NW. What's NW of Barrow? Nothing but ice!! Those were some cold winds! Here's my "oceanfront" view from my hotel room. That would be 10 miles of ice before you get to open water. Whaling teams were preparing for the spring bowhead hunt and were shuttling supplies to build camps out towards the lead (where the ice opens to water and whales can be harvested). It was trippy to see snowmachines out there on the ocean. It's like frozen jet skiing. By the way, that picture was taken around 10:30PM. Notice where the sun is? On May 10th it will rise above Barrow's horizon and won't set for about three months!

I noticed an oddity worth noting during my short stint. The city's heat is free. So every building is cranked up to about 80 degrees. My hotel room was on the second floor, and as I made my way up the stairs I noticed that the hallway window was wide open. It was -5 degrees that night and the window was open!! Wow. And while we were working, the office windows were opened so that we wouldn't all fall into a heat-induced coma. Yikes. So, should you ever go to Barrow, be sure to bring two layers - short sleeves for inside, and down parkas for outside!

I'll leave you with a parting shot of Barrow as we flew away. This is not the city itself - that picture didn't turn out. But this gives you a good idea of what it's like up there - flat, cold and covered in ice/snow. I don't mean to give Barrow a bad rap. My trip was so short that I only scratched the surface of this place. Should I ever make it up there again, I'd like to experience more of the culture. I'd like to try muktuk (whale, sometimes dipped in seal oil!), see polar bears, see a whale harvest/celebration, and visit with the locals.

Welcome to My Underground Lair

What a fun weekend! I have logged another first. Bryce, Wrigley and I headed down to Turnagain Pass with plans to find mellow terrain (some serious snowfall - 40 inches in a 36 hour period - meant avalanche danger in steep terrain) and a place to build a snow cave. We decided to head up Center Ridge, just beyond the typical backcountry ski spots for Anchorage-ites. Bryce hauled the sled with most of the goodies most of the way (I hauled it a bit too, thank you very much), and then we found our soon-to-be-home-for-the-night. Look right there between the tree and Bryce. Bryce dug in for the initial work as I dug out a kitchen in the trees. Then we worked together to carve out our underground lair and toss the snow into a berm that Wrigley later used as a patrol post. Here is a video of home sweet home.


The skiing was fun, but a lot different than anticipated. The snow kept on comin', and it made for some ridiculously slow downhill because of all the powder. It also made for some ridiculously beautiful scenery shots. You ought to head down to the area and make use of our kick-ass camp. Just look for this entrance, sans Mr. Wiggles.

Mush!

I took my Second Annual Fairbanks trip this past weekend with Jenn and Karen and Wrigley. After a long drive up to the "frozen" land (it was +40 degrees there), we unpacked in our new diggs for the weekend (thank you to Karen's friends!) and got some shut-eye. We awoke to sunshine for a day of mushing. Tom has 9 dogs at his place: Siku, Lady Lou, Haiku, Rusty, Enlo, Jerry, Smokey, and damn it, I can't remember them all. Wrigley got to join the ranks of the sled dogs that day and made no. 10 on the line. Here's a pic of him...he was so confused! He stood there looking around, and if he has thoughts, he was thinking, "What the...? What's this? Why are we all tied to this line? How come I can't turn around and jump on all these dogs? Does this mean I can't wrestle?" And before he could get his last little doggie thought out, Tom gave the team the cue to go "Hike!!" And whoosh, off they went! We were lucky enough to convince Tom to let us actually "drive" the sleds...sorta. We drove a tandem sled and man is that fun! Each of us took a ride, launched ourselves off the sled as it rocketed over berms, and ended up with bruises like you wouldn't believe. Here's a video of Jenn's take off (double click the play button on the bottom left)...
We rounded out our trip with a visit to the World Ice Carving Championships. Sure, sure, the sculptures are cool, but the real reason to visit is the ice slides. Jenn's laugh describes the fun even more than words. Here is a video of our ride down the first run of the evening.

Tele addict

I just can't help myself. I spend almost any free time on weekends trying to rip some tele turns. Today at Alpenglow in the powder, as more powder arrived:

I think I do have some Mexican in me!!

If you don't understand the heading, ask my dad. He made this comment after I painted every room in my Chicago condo a bold color. 'Nuff said. Some things just don't change. Here is a quick photo summary of my kitchen renovation...it's still a work in progress, but you'll get the idea. We'll start with the old kitchen. Notice the lovely 1980 cabinets, counters, flooring, the floor to ceiling mirror as you enter the kitchen (so Miami), the way the cabinets block out the view between the dining room and kitchen, and that spectacular microwave...

I tried to open this place up - knocked out the wall between the dining room and kitchen to make the kitchen a few inches bigger (until we hit the big window), blew out the wall above the cabinets, and those cabinets will be replaced with glass doors on both sides for easy access and 100% visibility! And how about this new floor? It's cork! No, not from wine bottles, although that's not a bad idea. It's a newish greenie thing and I totally dig it. I'll have to post more photos once this project is finally complete, i.e. I have cabinet doors and my built-in wine rack. :) Think the colors brighten the place up?? Ole!!