WINTER GAMES. I can not tell a lie. It has been a dreary, rainy, sicky few weeks here in the great north. Nothing particularly grand or Alaskan has been happening (what is a blogger to do?). Until yesterday, when Indigo and I attended the Kenai Peninsula Winter Games - an "oh my gosh it's the heart of winter in Alaska so we better find some things to keep us busy and look forward to" tradition complete with ice sculptures, competitions, and fireworks! After getting our free corn dog, bag of chips and soda (Indigo: "Mama? Where is the healthy stuff? Is this really my lunch? Wow..."), we blew through the indoor events and quickly realized: it was snow pants time. Icecream Newton provided an excellent changing room and we were off... Ice sliding, kick sledding and ice sculpture riding were among the favorites:
Check out the top of one of the slides in the background...
Mush, ice dog, mush!
Indigo trying a kick sled or "spark."
MOUNTAIN GAMES. J skipped the official Winter Games in favor of some mountain games of his own at Turnagain Pass. On top of the world...
Gotta earn it to own it.
Turn, turn, turn.
FOOTBALL GAMES. Ra-ra-shish-boom-ba! As some of you anxiously await the Terrific Cup, I thought I might shed a little perspective on the sport by drawing your attention northward...
I was chatting with a high school student recently about the abundant wildlife around campus: bald eagles roosting in the trees above the school, moose in the parking lot, and bear scat on the field come spring. I jokingly said that the football players must be a little quicker on their feet than the average athlete if they had to avoid bears from time to time. The gal's eyes lit up and she said, "Haven't you heard about the team up in Barrow?" She went on to explain how the athletes in our area have to fly to most of their games, sometimes all the way up to Barrow, the "Farthest North American City." Unfortunately, sometimes their games get canceled because polar bears are on the field or in the area! In the case of a surprise approach, it sounds like there is a crew of rubber pellet gun-slinging folks on hand - Go Defense!
So whether you're routing for San Fran, Baltimore or a wardrobe malfunction for Beyonce, give a cheer for the winter sporty spirit that abounds near and far!
SNOW DAYS. So growing up in New Hampshire I have wonderful memories of waking up on a snowy winter morning and gathering around the TV to watch the list of towns scroll by, hoping upon hoping that we would see "Amherst" in glowing letters on the screen. We often had to sit for awhile, just catching Bedford, Concord and Dublin, cheering for Lancaster, Manchester, and New Boston, really biting our nails at Whitefield and Wilton, and triumphantly getting out the hot cocoa and oodles of noodles packets (for after the mandatory sledding adventure) as our town made the list... A SNOW DAY! Of course sometimes it was just a delayed opening but even then we could wear our pajamas a little bit longer, eat a leisurely breakfast, and look forward to that mixed-up sort of energy that school would have with a different schedule, slushy hallways and snow-fort building at recess. Now, as a grownup, I can appreciate the other, darker side to snow days: the need for childcare, transportation quandaries, making it to appointments on time, the massive amount of shoveling needed to clear the drive. But I confess, still to this day, the childhood glee of "Yee Ha, a snow day!!!" is my gut reaction for sure.
NO SNOW DAYS. Thus it was a bit of a blow to learn that up here in the great snowy state of Alaska, we have almost no snow days. It could dump several feet of snow overnight, and the plows, beater trucks and studded tires would be up and rolling by morning. Alaskans are just too hearty for their own good! However, late Sunday night, J's phone began to ring. The warm front and epic rain over the weekend had turned every road and parking lot into a massive, slush-lined puddle, and the temperatures were dropping again, so... AN ICE DAY! "Slick" doesn't even begin to describe it.
From the cover of the Anchorage Daily News (http://www.adn.com)
THOUGHTS. So back when Team Leslie first learned that J had scored his teaching job in Kenai, we had two thoughts:
Thought #1: Yee ha! We're heading to Alaska!
Thought #2: Yee ha! During the long, dark, cold winter in Alaska we'll take a vacation to Hawaii!
As the move progressed and we checked in with our checkbook, Team Leslie discovered that Thought #2 was going to need a revision. Something along the lines of:
Thought #2, Take 2: Maybe we can tape up some pictures of Hawaii on the wall of the bathroom, blend some fancy bevs with little paper umbrellas, and put on our "imagination caps" while we're in the tub.
So no, we did not leave our new homeland over the holidays. Instead, we embraced the here and the now and got our Alaska Adventure groove on with renewed vigor. And thank goodness we did! Honestly, J and I have both declared several times over the past two weeks that we can't remember a more magical holiday season. Among the highlights...
SOLSTICE. Again, these sun-moon-and-stars kind of holidays hold a big weight for our family, especially this year when the shortest day and longest night were quite dramatic - sunrise on December 21st was at 10:12AM and sunset was at 3:53PM. In honor of this humbling day where the sun slid across the sky just barely above the horizon and the temperature topped out at negative five, we focused on fire. Candle making, fire pits, and flame-lit ice skating sessions helped us glow.
Beeswax candle making a la Gran and Grandfather.
Staying warm while we skate.
Team Leslie enjoying the shortest day of the year in Alaska.
Also of note, a handy tip if you ever find yourself wanting to sip a peppermint Schnapps hot cocoa from a stainless steel coffee mug in superbly cold temperatures - just like the tongue to the flagpole, your lips stick. Same goes for emergency whistles on backcountry backpacks... in this odd case, plastic is a good thing. We're learning.
CHRISTMAS. A weather treat like no other... nearly a foot of fresh fluffy white snow in the morning and bright sunshine in the afternoon. And of course a shiny new sled from Santa helped the cause.
Pure childhood joy.
Sledding at our beach.
Christmas snow angel.
Indigo protects Mom from getting snow in her face.
Happy Alaskans.
Crab!
SKI-FEST.
Okay. So your family may or may not celebrate the act of skiing, but as you may have gleaned, we certainly do. J, a Christmas elf, kept himself busy in our garage attaching bindings and waxing new skis for Kim (yes!) and we loaded up Icecream Newton with just about every piece of gear we own (that's a lot). Unfortunately the avalanche danger on the Kenai is among the worst it has ever been in recorded history - not good for those of us who like to travel off-piste. Fortunately, there are always safe places to tour about and find turns. First up, swooping in our backyard on Christmas Day. Next, a backcountry yurt trip to explore Manitoba Mountain and play, play, play. Finally, a venture out to Girdwood to give Alyeska Resort a try. Trips report: Who needs Hawaii?!?!
J finds some terrain in his own neighborhood.
Christmas Elf.
Headin' out to try the fatties!
Yurt sweet yurt.
Festive snow cave built by J and Indigo.
The outside scene.
The inside scene.
Staying safe at Turnagain Pass.
Local color.
Videos of Miss Indigo's Alyeska experiences below (subscribers go to blogsite yada yada):
THE NEW YEAR. So as we begin 2013, Team Leslie resolves to continue to...
explore
learn
play
create
love
nourish
and enjoy
where we are now, even if the nearest palm tree is a few thousand miles away!
