Outdoor Fun: Whittier, Outdoor Movies & Snowshoeing

A few days after visiting Girdwood, I was invited to drive down to Whittier to check out the reports of even MORE snow than Anchorage or Girdwood - and we were NOT disappointed...

 This is the school in Whittier

 This is the entrance to the school...thankfully there is also an underground tunnel that leads from the residence building to the school so the students do not have to go outside...

 Go Eagles!

 Some of the students who come to Anchorage for the Voyage to Excellence program I am working with attend school here.

 the flagpole

 see the wall of snow behind the stop sign?  It's HUGE

 the snow covers up most of the windows

 This is Carol, one of my bosses...again, see the wall of snow behind her?

 This is Tony, one of my co-workers, climbing up the 'mountain' of snow behind the school

 he made it to the top...

 and continued to walk on top of the snow - he was walking on top of trees

 one of my other co-workers, Jenna, climbing to the summit

 backside of the school

 and trying to come back down, without rolling down the pile of snow

 here comes Tony

 unique way of coming down...

As soon as we stepped out of the car and began walking through the lot, I slipped and fell on the ice...falling seems to be a natural extension of trying to walk for me....so I did NOT try to climb up any snow walls. :)

 Here guys were clearing snow off the roof of a building

 and again, this is the building where the majority of the 182 residents of Whittier live - the school is located behind this building

 I don't think this van is going anywhere for awhile...

 neither is the truck...yes, that is a truck buried next to it

 docked boats

 another buried vehicle

This was quite a different view of Whittier from my summer visit!

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Celebrating birthdays are always fun ~ especially when they are for other people!  This was my contribution to the birthday boy...

thanks to one of my Pinterest idea boards

How does one celebrate a 40th birthday in Anchorage on a Friday evening in March?  By watching an old black and white film...outside...on the side of the house...a nice arrangement of patio seating or snow benches were provided...

It was a 1922 documentary, called "Nanook of the North", projected from old film reels (you know the kind you had in junior high and high school science classes - the ones that make the click, click, click sound as they rotate around the projector)?

Nanook's family coming out of a kayak...he had a wife, a child, an infant, and a puppy all stored in that thing...it looked like a small clown car at the circus...as they all crawled out from the front of the kayak
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And finally, in honor of St. Patty's Day (not really), I went snowshoeing for the first time...

 looking north towards Anchorage - Mt. McKinley in the background - it was a PERFECT day - except for the part where we immediately starting snowshoeing up a VERY vertical trail...

Kicked. My. Butt!

 Tailgate party afterward in honor of St. Patty's day

 portable kitchen, portable speakers with Irish tunes, and Irish beer

 it was fun snowshoeing...

 but the tailgating was even MORE fun...

 

Updates, Updates, Updates

IDITAROD UPDATE:
So the Iditarod is over ~ the winner was 25 year old Dallas Seavey - the youngest musher to win the Iditarod.  He follows in his father's footsteps as his father won the race in 2004.  The second place winner was a female musher, Aliy Zirkle, coming in an hour after Seavey.  It was fun following along reading updates on the progress and delays some of the teams encountered...stories of mushers falling asleep while riding, falling off their sled, having to catch up with their dog team.  Remember Lance Mackey?

He was delayed at one stop for approximately 45 minutes while his male lead dog and his female lead dog (who was in heat) decided it was a good time to hook up.  There was no breaking up those two. (I'm guessing that was NOT part of his last minute discussion in the above photo).

ANCHORAGE SNOWFALL UPDATE:
As of last week, we are 3.3 inches away from breaking the snowfall record in Anchorage...that would be over 132 inches...my math multiplication tables may be a little rusty, but I believe that is ELEVEN FEET of snow... there have been reports of several roof collapses over the past several weeks, including this church roof:

I thought Anchorage had a lot of snow, until I went back down to Girdwood...talk about some major snowfall...

 perhaps a new marketing tool for a shed company?

kind of a funky / cool snow pattern on this roof

 some Colorado influence in Girdwood  :)

 this looks like a gingerbread house with a big glob of frosting plopped on the roof - just needs some candy accessories and it's all set

I attended a Mardi Gras themed fundraiser one night with some of my school co-workers...

It was a fundraiser for the Roundhouse Museum in Alyeska.   

It was held at one of the board members homes in Girdwood, situated with a great view of the slopes at Alyeska Ski resort

 candle holders are made out of ice

 wall of windows looking out at the slopes

 lights on for night skiing

 a wood-fire pizza oven was brought in for the evening

The beer drinking unicorn lady won the costume contest...well deserved after wearing that around for the evening! :)

I think that's enough updating for one post...but I have more to share soon!