Monday, January 30, 2012

More Hurricane Winds

I had the chance to break in the new snowblower again, and again and again earlier this month...Anchorage has already reached it's average snow 'quota' and we've still got a couple more months to go...I'm officially past the point of thinking the snow is pretty...now when it snows, I just think, 'oh, crap...more work'.  It IS getting easier and faster for me using the blower, however, I don't care HOW experienced you are with snow removal...when there are 95+ mph winds blowing all day and all night AND it's snowing...the result is insanely high snow drifts...and a snowblower, or even a plow truck isn't gonna cut it...this is what happened while my mom was visiting...stuck...again...but instead of a fallen tree blocking the driveway, we were snowed in with drifts across the driveway.
this is where the driveway should be...instead...there is a wall of snow
the marks in the snow were my feeble attempts with the snowblower
not even a plow truck is getting through this
There was more tree damage...this time to one of the deciduous trees in the back deck...thankfully there was no damage to the roof...
This was the first day since being in Alaska that I thought, 'What the HELL am I doing here?!?"  I had to call a company with a bobcat to come and dig us out...and missed working one of my PT job shifts as we weren't out in time for me to cover it, but I was never so happy to be free as when John, from John's Excavating, came knocking on the door.  :)
and proof that I actually DO know how to use the snowblower...we got MORE snow the day after John cleared us out...
 the piles of snow left by the backhoe
 there I am...
 John Deere is my new best friend :)

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Seven Glaciers

Alyeska Ski Resort has a nice restaurant located up on the mountain, accessible only by tram.  For the ski crowd, they have an 'express' restaurant area for those who do not want to ski down to the base to eat...for those looking for a nicer place to dine with a great view, Seven Glaciers is the perfect place...I took my mom there for a belated birthday celebration...we opted to go for lunch, in hopes of actually HAVING a view, as you are not able to see anything at night.  Unfortunately, it was a snowy day, so all we had a view of was white, white and more white.
Seven Glaciers restaurant
We shared appetizers - a crab cake with lime aioli and jicama salad
and a scallop bisque soup - a lobster bisque, with scallop, chive oil and caviar
my first time tasting caviar...it was okay - just tasted salty - not sure I would ever pay the oodles of money that some do for it...

for our main courses, we opted for the beef filet and pork schnitzel - they were both good...
This was our view...
and this was our ride...
the Christmas decorations were still up in the hotel, including this large gingerbread house / church...
and outside the hotel...all in all, a nice (but cold) day.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Breaking News?!?

I have been a total slacker when it comes to watching much of any local news coverage - just the occasional headline browsing...for SOME reason, I decided to click on the 9news website tonite...and just what was the headline that greeted me?!?
TRADER JOES FILES PAPERWORK TO COME TO COLORADO...

How was there not one single post about this on Facebook today?!?  I think I'm suddenly feeling a little homesick... :)

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Christmas & New Years

I didn't spend much time on the computer (with the exception of the times I had to work) while my friends were here but we had some good fun and I had some new 'firsts' while they were here...

first Christmas celebrating with little Avery (for me) since bringing her back from China...
Max giving kisses to Travis for his special plane
Austin
Anna & Rebecca
Avery with her new baby
Duncan's first Christmas in Alaska
Travis chopping onions...

There is a ski resort about an hour away from Anchorage and we all decided to go skiing...but rather than taking multiple cars, we all got to ride together in the "Magic Bus"...

first time riding the "Magic Bus"...
 courtesy of this guy... (thank you Travis)
to go do this....
 for the first time in Alaska...(me in blue, Rebecca & Travis)
This is the Alyeska Resort...it was a beautiful day to ski, the sun actually came out, and we had some great views of the mountain range and water below (you can see the water behind us in the upper left part of the photo).  I hadn't been skiing in several years but it comes back to you quickly and the snow was great.  And before today, I thought "The North Face" was just an apparel company...



Alyeska actually has a 'North Face' that I almost foolishly went down... :)
I didn't want to ride back to Anchorage in an ambulance, so I quickly backtracked and stuck w/ the blue runs...

We took turns visiting each others homes for different meals...one night was at the Smith's for fresh king crab legs direct from Dutch Harbor...
ready to go in the pot...
first time learning how to cut into those crab legs...I broke the handle on the scissors I was using
I don't know of anything that wouldn't taste good dipped in melted garlic butter...and these were no exception!

New Years Eve was hosted by Rebecca & Travis...
lots of good food...
first time getting to try Borscht, a traditional Russian soup made from beets...it actually was very tasty, unfortunately I didn't get a picture of it.
the kids had a good time with their light sabers
there were paper lanterns everyone wrote their wishes for 2012 on and then we released them into the sky...
Aidan is ready to launch one of the lanterns...
And finally, some fireworks to shoot off at midnight - fireworks aren't really any fun here for the 4th of July because it doesn't get dark enough to see them, so they are more of a big deal for New Years...
We only had one close call where the fireworks shot off horizontally instead of vertically and almost hit the neighbor's house. 

My friends have returned to Russia, so the house has quieted down...however, I have one visitor remaining...my mom is now here for a few days, my first 'official' visitor...so far, she has been treated to lots of snow. :)

My 'unofficial' gift from Travis was a new snowblower...he took care of all snow removal while they were here, so I had a reprieve for a couple of weeks...but they left early Friday morning...and I've already 'gotten' to use it twice...it works great though...I've cut down my snowblowing time to about 1/2 my original time of 3 hrs...