Halloweeeeeeen!

High today: 8
Low today: -9

Halloween is really the only day of the year that you can walk around looking like a complete fool and get away with it. :-) My friends were really good sports about dressing up, I was quite impressed. Below is Dan with his complete homemade Cyclops outfit with Sky the wonderdog.
I found my lobster friends Kimmie and Patrik. I know I know, I used the same costumes for two years in a row. That's what happens when you don't have the time to make something new. :-P Sorry to disappoint. It was still a hit. :-)

The Sky Is Alive With Color

High today: 6
Low today: -12
Well I'll say the sky is alive. Having a 6am shift helps you to experience the full day from well before sunrise to well after. The mountains and sunrise were beautiful today.After two calls about the aurora being out I geared up to wander the woods and try to find a spot to take some pictures. There are so many trees at my new place that it was hard to get an open view but the aurora was absolutely spectacular. It was spread across the sky and apparently there were colors too.. but I didn't see the colors.The green curtain was just churning around and the silence at my new place was sooo nice.

Another perfect day...

Hellooooo Winter!

High today: 15
Low today: -12

Just some pics from recent times of the frozenness.
And hey! Look who came back to play - it's Master Bourne, one of my favorite Fairbanksian friends! It's been great having her back but she has to leave us again for Massachusetts.. if we can't get a hold of her plane ticket first. :-)

Moving Day

High today: 14
Low today: -12

I LOVE moving.. naaaaaht. But with a hearty and entertaining crew it wasn't so bad. Lots of hands for what could have been a really crummy move in the chilly morning. Below Kristen and Debbie carry the mattress out.
Stef and Colin came to help too with another truck which was REALLY helpful.We had a bit of an issue trying to get the box spring upstairs so we had to resort to desperate measures and took the bottom layer off. Believe it or not, this helped and provided the slight space we needed to launch the box spring upstairs. I sure hope it doesn't have to come down ANY time soon.. there could be problems!
Videos of getting the box spring upstairs for your entertainment. PG-13 for mild language..

"Hey! You Want a Ride Home??"

High today: 18
Low today: 13

I don't know why my brain sees snow and wants to go biking. While I'm slipping all over the place going half as fast as a normal day, there are times when I wonder why to put oneself through such a silly thing. But by the time I get to my destination, I think "Wow. That was fun!". On my way home tonight after 5 inches of fresh snow, my tires that are not-exactly-made-for-snow could slog no longer on the new snow on top of the several inches of packed snow we already had on the ground and I was forced to walk my bike another mile and a half. I tried several more times to start up again and it worked for 10 feet or so until another rut ruined my momentum. About three blocks from my street, a woman from way up in her driveway yells at me, "Hey! Do you want a ride home??" It was awesome. I politely declined since I was so close to my street, but it reminded me of why the people of Fairbanks have a pretty good reputation. Except for that idiot who was angry that I was riding on the side of the road and gave a nasty honk.. what a jagoff. Win some, lose some. :-) For now, we win lots of new snow (more on the way tomorrow) and I look forward to the ski season really kicking off.. maybe even some downhill skiing soon??? Maybe I will go test ride that Pugsley at Beaver Sports, too...

PA license sighting

High today: 18

Low today: -3

Busy with things but my first PA license plate sighting that I can remember since I got here. Thing is, it's Kristen's boyfriend's car (Nelson - he's looking back from the drivers seat). He's from "the other" side of the state but I guess we can be friends. :)

Runners to Skiers?

High today: 20
Low today: -3

It will be awhile til I consider myself a "skier" by any means because I am really not that good at it but I'm hoping to change that this winter! 7 months of winter should be enough time to get semi-decent don't you think? I like skiing, it is fun. Right now I am more entertained by downhill skiing but generally my interests involve gravity.. I like the downhills mountain biking, I like jumping over obstacles.. same thing goes for skiing. But I do like the workout too and the accomplishment of going for hours on end of something whether it be biking, running, or skiing. The exciting fast stuff and the slow and steady endurance stuff just involves a different mind set.. and it's definitely possible to do both.

Matthew, Karen and I went skiing today for the first time together. They are from Michigan so have a few years of it under their belt.

The trails do not have tracks laid down yet but they are groomed. Some corners were tricky without tracks but the temperature was great for skiing.

Below is the Beaver Slide trail which I hadn't even noticed before. There are a few "winter trails" behind UAF that are too boggy to bike on in the summer.

Below Rocky the Rockhopper gears up for the morning commute. Two things I am going to have problems with when it gets too cold.. the cold is bad for the front suspension fork and my brakes will freeze up since they use a hydraulic system. So far so good but it has not been too cold yet! This morning was our first morning below zero and the daylight is noticably changing. Here the winter begins!

First ski

High today: 23

Low today: 16

We got 4 to 10 inches of snow around town yesterday. Pretty flipping amazing. It just wouldn't stop! In town it was mainly 5 to 6 inches but the higher elevations saw more. Talk about winter wonderland.. yess!

Tonight I went for my first ski of the winter. (besides down the driveway, haha) It was a beautiful night and I didn't see anyone else on the trails.

Celine had us over for dinner tonight.. and check this out - it is a LITE BRIGHT TABLE! What a good idea! If I get bored this winter I am going to make one..

Pilot Jim and his first passenger

High today: 46
Low today: 26 Jim called me up while I was at work to see if I wanted to go flying this afternoon. What do you think the answer to that was? :-) Jim just got his private pilot's license a few weeks ago and I got to be his first passenger without an instructor! Yeah! Below he is doing all the pre-flight checks on the Cessna.
I attempted to get us both in this picture, but as you can see, my photography skills failed.

So concentrated on keeping us at a constant altitude!!

Fairbanks and the Interior lost all of its snow this weekend :( with south Chinook winds warming us into the 40s. Below is some of the little snow that is left. More snow is expected tonight into tomorrow. I'm pretty stoked about that.
So brown, Alaska! It was great to get up there anyway even though it wasn't top scenery. I almost forgot of the open spaces just 30 miles out of town! Jim and I were searching for moose but couldn't find any.. I bet they were there but blended in with the ground!

We flew towards the AK range, where the mountains have resumed their snow covered personalities through next June.You can see a bit of the higher peaks behind the first range.

All of the frozen lakes had cracks in them which looked like 100 people were ice fishing on them! No ice fishermen here.. just natural ice kinetics.

Ladies and gentlemen, I found the PIEROGIES!

High today: 27
Low today: 22Well well well, after 9 straight months of thinking pierogies did not exist in Fairbanks, they reincarnated from the freezer aisle! I'm sure they have been there the entire time, but I have looked for pierogies at Fred Meyers at least 5 or 6 times craving for the tasty potato and cheesiness and to no avail could not find them. Until yesterday. My mom has been sending me coupons for them and recently I just brushed off the fact that Fairbanks doesn't have them. WRONG! There were two little rows of Mrs. T's pierogies on the top shelf by the french fries hidden in their own little place. I guess I was used to Foodland in the Burgh having 10 different kinds. So guess what I am having for dinnah?? Jackpot!

Snow Ridin'

High today: 32
Low today: 14
Mileage: 10-ish

Oh the first snow ride! It is good to get back into kicking up the white fluffy stuff and occasionally sliding into a 90 degree skid. We have just enough snow to make it fun to snow ride and it was a comfortably warm day.
Celine and Steffen ready to rock and roll. Celine just bought her bike two days ago so we had to break it in. ;)
We were able to ride on the UAF trails since they have not yet been groomed for the skiers. We went down my favorite trail back there - the bicycle bumps which was a hoot in the snow. There is just enough snow that the roots are covered up so there were a few surprises under there. It's a shame we can't ride there all winter long. Below, Smith Lake is beginning to freeze up.
Steffen shot us off onto some trail in Goldstream Valley which was in poor conditions because of too little snow and we were basically riding on half frozen tussocks.. it was bumpy and a LOT of work to say the least. ;)
Getting back on flatter ground was a breeze after that one trail.
Tis the season for game nights and to bring friends together. This summer everyone was pretty scattered about so it is nice to have everyone together again and several newbie Alaskans!

Change of Season

High today: 32
Low today: 24

Suddenly it feels like March again but I am living in a new location this time around. The commute this morning was a bit challenging. It takes a lot more work to ride in the snow and takes a lot more TIME! That is going to be the big trick to commuting this winter. That, and the whole 40 below thing, haha.. oy!
Tonight I decided to make an impromptu trip with some friends up to the hot springs. Rumor had it that they got 6 inches of snow the night before so the drive was that much more appealing. We were almost the only people there.. it was great!! And the aurora was sorta out.. sorta. Barely. But there. Not like the surprise time in March. Now that I know how to take aurora pictures I hope to see it in all its glory again.. soon.