zero tolerance

This new job is keeping me from my blog. I am grateful to be busy and enjoy the work, but I feel that the blog will suffer. Oh well, maybe it was time for a change. If I only get to post an entry every two weeks, so be it - the newness of living in Alaska is wearing off. In February, I will have lived here for three years. Three years. Amazing!

So have I developed a tolerance for the winters? Not really. The extreme cold can put you in a foul mood, that's for sure. Putting on layers to walk the dog for two minutes is totally annoying. Plugging in the car isn't that bad, but getting the two ends of the electrical cords to unplug after 8 hours in the cold is a pain in the butt. Pumping gas when it's negative 20? Yeah, you get the idea.

However, I found a fabulous luxury on my way to work last week. I needed gas (I'm using more now that I commute into Fairbanks) and inadvertently pulled into the full service lane at the gas station. I had no idea a full service gas station existed in interior Alaska. It was SO NICE to stay in the car while the attendant pumped the gas. They are my new favorite business in Fairbanks.

I am partial to North Pole - chintzy theme and all - but I am learning to appreciate Fairbanks more. There is a lot more to the town than I realized. When I get a chance, I hope to take more pictures of the downtown area and share them on the blog. Until then, here are some more pics from my negative 25 degree walk at the flood plain this afternoon. I know - surprise! - pictures from the flood plain : )

winter rambling

We didn't get any sunshine this week-end, or at least I don't think so. It's hard to tell from inside my house. Yes, that's where I spent most of the week-end. I'm a little concerned that the hibernation is starting so early this year. Last year, it started over Christmas break - you know, not getting out of the PJs and watching a lot of Law and Order. But it's not even Thanksgiving yet, and I am already settling in for the winter. However, this morning's temperature (-11) motivated me to take a walk to the slough. It was reverse psychology, or something like that. I know that the key to surviving a winter in AK is to get outside as much as possible, so when I saw the temp I got dressed and walked down to the slough just to get it over with, kind of like taking medicine. I could have waited until it warmed up ten degrees, but I didn't. I hadn't put on a balaclava, so I hid my face in the collar of my coat to keep it out of the cold. Walking along with my head down, I remembered a story Skip, the man who built the cabin we lived in when we first moved here, had told me. A long time ago, when he was walking along a trail with his head down, he walked into a moose. That's right, just plowed right into its rear end, and the startled moose ran off down the trail. Makes me laugh every time I think of it. I didn't see any moose on my short walk to the slough, but I did see a pretty sunrise. A brisk walk is always a good way to start the day.

hiking at the flood plain

Sarah and I walked both days this week-end at the flood plain. I am taking advantage of daylight while I can. The day is officially much shorter now - daylight savings is NOT my friend. Now when I drive home from work at 5pm it will be dark. Oh well - so goes life in Alaska.

no snow

Oh, I'm sorry. Is this supposed to be a blog about Alaska? Well, apparently Alaska has gone on vacation too.

It's almost November and there still isn't snow on the ground. There are pockets of snow here and there, but for the most part it is bare. And the weather is MUCH warmer than it was this time last year. The lowest temps have been in the teens at night - last October those were the highs, on a good day. As far as I know we haven't dipped into single digit temps yet. I'm not complaining. Maybe this is the year, I keep telling myself. : )

Germany

Frank and I saw a small snippet of Germany during our week there. We visited a resort town (Fussen), a tourist town (Rothenburg ob der Tauber), and a college town (Heidelberg). Germany has an incredible history, a beautiful aesthetic, and intelligent and friendly people. We had a great trip!

la belle vie

I snuck in a quick overnight to France on our trip because I wanted to give Frank a hint of what fun we would have on an all-France vacation. This plan may have backfired on me, however.

From Ramstein, we plugged the address of the Strasbourg Cathedral into the GPS, and the kind lady in the car took us right to its doorsteps. Seriously, we couldn't have found closer parking. It was Saturday, and the Place de la Cathedrale was buzzing. We were instantly enamored. After an incredible lunch (ok - the REAL reason I wanted to go), we decided to stay there for the night and found a hotel right in front of the cathedral.

Strasbourg is beautiful and very hip; the European Union's Parliament meets there and the University of Strasbourg is the country's largest. But the cathedral, the canals, the romance, the wine - it all might have been a bit overwhelming for me, because, that evening, after standing in an awkward position to get just the right picture, I fainted. In retrospect, I found it very romantic; I passed out in the streets of Strasbourg (a pedestrian street - this last picture shows you the exact spot), and Frank caught me - not once, but twice. That's right, I got up too quickly the first time, so down I went a second time. Frank, in all his heroism, did not find this romantic in the least. You see, all day I had told him how difficult the French can be if you don't at least attempt to speak their language. So here he was, in the middle of the street, frantically fanning me, hoping that I would come to so that he wouldn't have to talk to the scary French people. It is so funny to me now, but I know it wasn't funny for Frank. After that, I'm not sure he'll want to go back to France with me, but I hope he will. Oh well, c'est la vie!

Tsahlen, bitte.

In the style of my friend, the famous food critic, Tripp Means, this post-trip post introduces you to the streets of Germany via culinary overview. You may notice a recurring theme... MEAT!

We ate a lot of schnitzel and bratwurst, and finally I threw in the towel and started ordering whatever seemed to resemble pasta on the menu. Now I understand why Germans drink so much beer!

ready or not

I woke up Saturday morning to a world of white. It's a little early for this, don't you think?

The Santa Claus House

It's snowing out, and it's not just piddly snow like we had a few nights ago. Winter is here. My friend, Rob, missed the snow by one week. He and his charming brothers came through North Pole last week-end on their 10 day Alaskan adventure. They showed up after backpacking in Denali, but North Pole wasn't only a stopping-over point for them. Rob was born here and being the historian that he is a thorough investigation of his roots was in store - at a store. That's right, Rob was born at the Santa Claus House. Not in the store, but directly in front of it, in an ambulance that was transporting his mom from Fort Greely (about 2 hours away) to the Fairbanks hospital. The story goes like this:

The ambulance driver says, "We just passed the Santa Claus House," and the paramedic responds, "We just had a baby!"

And that's how Rob arrived in this world.

We went there to see if a newspaper story covering his birth was still up on the walls, but if that article existed it has long since been replaced by hundreds of letters from children to Santa Claus that now cover the walls.

I love the Santa Claus House, even if it is touristy. I always enjoy taking visiting friends and family there and sometimes stop in on my own just to soak in the Christmasy atmosphere. A few weeks before my first Christmas in North Pole, I stopped in and Santa greeted me with a smile and friendly conversation. His wife, Mrs. Claus, was there, and then a gospel choir stopped by and started singing Christmas songs. It was just as I had imagined a visit to Santa's house would be.

NP Homecoming

I was busy with North Pole High School's Homecoming this week-end. I'm the sophomore class sponsor, so I helped coach them through the air band skit at Friday's assembly, rode on the "float" during Friday evening's parade through town, decorated for the dance on Saturday morning, cheered on the team at the game, and chaperoned the dance later that night. 
North Pole won the game against Juneau (that's right, they flew the team and some cheerleaders up for the game - about a 2 hour flight), so the dance was high energy. I was exhausted by the end of the day. I am SO OLD!!!! But I had fun with the sophomores - they're a great group of kids.

Go Patriots!