Summer Set For Infamy

On the front page of last Thursday's Anchorage Daily News was an article spelling out just how bleak and cold this summer has been, especially for this California girl. Anchorage is on pace to hit 65 degrees for the fewests days on record! The article, which would be enough to send a lesser person into a very dark depression, even went as far to lay out the staggering statistics in black and white. Let's measure the misery:

Days in a year at 75 degrees or above
Average: 4
Last year: 21
2008: 0

Days in a year at 70 degrees or above
Average: 15
Last year: 21
2008: 2

Days in a year at 65 or above
Average: 44
Last year: 46
2008: 7

Days in a year at 60 degrees or above
(this statistic is my personal favorite)
Average: 88
Last year: 97
2008: 35

Although Eric has been fortunate enough to leave this wonderful place we call "home" for brief jaunts here and there, the boys had I have not been so lucky. We have been in Anchorage every single day of 2008, so far, and have only experienced 35 days of temps. over 60 degrees, and far fewer days of sun. Am I whining? Perhaps. I prefer to think of it as just reporting the facts.

Logan and Eric will be leaving town for a few days at the beginning of September and I'm starting to think that I might just suck it up and pay for Kaiden and I to fly somewhere. It's not cheap to get out of here, not even to just hop over to Seattle, but at this point, I think my sanity is worth more than I'd pay for an airline ticket.

Back in February I was put on a Vitamin D supplement because my levels were extremely "low". I don't know how high the numerical scale for vitamin levels goes, but I know I was only at a 12. Now, six months later and after taking a one-a-week supplement of 50,000 iu of Vitamin D, I am still in the "low" category and have only moved up to a 24. Ideally, I would have been weaned off the supplement and put on a far lower dose of over-the-counter supplements, but so much for that grand idea. I'm going to maintain the initial dosage for 3 more months and then we'll check again.

I'm sure I heard the doctor prescribe a little rest and relaxation in a sunny locale (I just conveniently misplaced that prescription). My husband can't argue with that......can he?

Exit Glacier

I have to tell you that as I was laying in bed this morning, contemplating this blog post, I had a brief moment of panic. You see, Eric flew out to Dutch Harbor this morning and in hopes of catching a glimpse of all things "Deadliest Catch", he took the camera with him. I thought my pictures for this post were with him, but lucky for me (and you), my brilliant husband downloaded them from his memory card onto the computer last night. By the way, Andrea, I'll have Eric do a Dutch Harbor post for you when he gets back. Keep your fingers crossed, maybe he'll even catch a glimpse of Sig and Edgar in the local bar! For now, I can go about my blogging as I had originally intended.

One of the days my family was here, we took a day-trip to Seward. On our way there, we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and much further down the road, we made a stop at Exit Glacier. We had no idea what this glacier was going to have in store for us, but we did know that we would be able to hike out to it and actually touch it. Touching it was the big draw for the kids and I, and actually, probably for the rest of the family as well. When we finally made it out to the glacier, it did not disappoint!

At the visitor's center we asked about the "trail" out to the glacier. We were mainly concerened as to how long it was and how difficult the terrain would be. We were assured we could all make it out to the glacier fairly quickly and were warned about a few "little rivers" to cross. The "little rivers" didn't concern us too much because we were told that people had set stepping stones in the water along the way to make the crossings manageable. At this point, there was no mention of wet feet or water deep enough that one false move/slip and it could merit a change of shoes and socks (shoes and socks that we did not have to spare). Armed with the limited knowledge that we had, we set out to touch the glacier.

We started out on the trail and shortly, we approached the "little rivers". Off in the distance we could see Exit Glaicier, but we soon realized that we would have to cross several, a little-deeper-than-anticipated rivers, using not-nearly-enough-stepping-stones-to-ensure-your-feet-would-remain-dry. After crossing the first bit of water and reassessing the situation, Eric and I decided our immediate family wasn't going to be going out to the glacier because we didn't want the kids moaning and groaning about wet feet for the rest of the day. We all decided to turn around and venture a little further along a different trail to see what we could see. At the end of that trail, we ran into some people who had just ventured out from that point to cross over to the glacier. They said it wouldn't be too difficult, so we decided to give it another valiant effort (plus now we had to listen to the kids moan and groan because they weren't able to walk out to touch the glacier). This time, we all decided we were gonna' touch that darn glacier even if our feet and potentially our bodies ended up soaked.

After much fancy footwork, we all finally made it to the glacier (relatively dry) and it was really a neat thing to be able to say we did. This particular glacier has receded so much over time that it doesn't appear to be calving (big pieces braking off) anymore, but little pieces of ice do still come loose from it and they make a little tinkling noise as they bounce down the face of the glacier. Standing there, touching the glacier, was one of those only in Alaska moments. It was one of those times when I was actually in awe of the fact that I live in Alaska. Fortunately, I do have those moments every now and again.

Portage Glacier

Today, the kids and I went with my parents to Portage Glacier. It's about a 50 minute drive from the house, but when you get there, it feels like a whole different world. It's amazing how much the weather can change in what is really, a fairly short distance. When we left Anchorage the temperature was mild and it was mildly overcast. When we arrived in Portage it was rainy, extremely windy, and downright cold (as you can probably tell by looking at our picture).

In order to view the actual glacier you have to pay to take a ferry ride out to it. For all of us, this was our first glacier experience and the trip was well worth it. There was a guide from the National Forest Service onboard who was very enjoyable and shared a lot of knowledge about glaciers in general, as well as the Portage Glacier specifically. It was money well spent, plus, my parents enjoy contributing to the local economy when they're on vacation.

My mom thought we may have picked a cruddy day to view the glacier, but we were told by the ranger that cruddy days are pretty much the norm in Portage. We discovered that glaciers actually have a way of creating their own weather. The cool thing about viewing the glacier when it's overcast is that the ice looks amazingly blue. We learned that the blue color is due to the refraction of light. When it is sunny outside, the ice doesn't have the same blue hue.

I guess we picked a pretty great day for a little Alaska adventure after all.

The Alaska Experience

My parents arrived for their first visit to Alaska at around midnight on Sunday morning. Considering that Saturday was the summer solstice, I decided to post a few pictures of what it looked like at around 11:45 p.m. Saturday night, on our way to pick my parents up from the airport. Pretty crazy, huh?

Later in the week, maybe I'll have my mom do a "ghost post" on the blog so you can get her perspective of Alaska. So far, we've just kind of stayed local. We spent Sunday cruising around South Anchorage (where we live). Logan had to be at the batting cages for practice, so we dropped him off and headed for the local Fred Meyer store. As you can imagine, it was quite exciting.

After my mom's much needed nap, I drove her around a little to check out some of the nearby views. From our house, if we drive in one direction, there is a fabulous view of Turnagain Arm all the way to downtown and beyond. If we drive another direction, down the coast, there is an amazing view of the coastline and mountains (most with at least a little snow still on them).

Yesterday, my parents, the kids and I ventured into downtown. The Department of Public Lands has a really neat "office" on 4th Street and they have several free presentations that are very informative. We decided to go on a guided walking tour about Captain Cook, that they put on. The walk was easy, well done, and quite informative. It is definitely something worth checking out if you're ever in town.

Today my mom and dad are picking up their rental car. Although I haven't minded chauffering them around, it will be nice for all of us for them to have their own car. It would be great if life stopped because family is in town, but that's just no reality. Even though Nonnie and Papa are here, the boys still have ball games to play, practices to attend, and dental check-ups to go to. Another car will give everyone a little more freedom. I am, however, looking forward to doing some more sightseeing right along with my parents.

We have plenty of places to go to and things to see, so I'll be sure to keep you all posted as the week goes along. Maybe we'll even see a bear!!!!!

Happy Summer Solstice

After doing a little research, I'm still not sure if the summer solstice was yesterday or today, but I do know that in Anchorage, they are celebrating today! Prior to moving to Anchorage, I had heard of the summer solstice, but didn't pay too much attention to what it was or what it meant to us. Let me tell you, it's not a huge deal even here, but it is a "to do" around town. Several shops in town have been advertising their summer solstice sales and will be open until midnight. Many of the bars are having bands and special events. The zoo will even be open 'til midnight with festivities for the whole family.

There is a "real" definition for summer solstice, but the big deal about it in Alaska is that it is the longest day of the year. In essence, it's all down hill from here! After today, we will gradually start losing daylight and our days will continually get shorter until the winter solstice in December, when we will have the shortest day of the year.

As you can imagine, from many of my blog posts over the past six months, Mother Nature is not cooperating on what is supposed to be one of the longest, sunniest, and most anticipated days of the year. In fact, I woke up this morning to the sound of rain outside. Considering that the weather is fairly cruddy today and that my parents are flying in late tonight, I'm not sure what, if anything, the boys and I will do to celebrate the longest day of the year. One thing is for sure, we won't be boiling to death like many of our friends and family in Southern California are. I certainly don't miss the triple digits!

Lazy Days of Summer

It has been a few days since I last posted, so I thought I had better get on the stick today. I'm happy for me, but sorry for all of you (because I haven't had much to report lately), that it has been a verry mellow start to summer. I promise I'll come up with something good to blog about tomorrow.

For today though, I'll tell you that because it never really gets dark here anymore, the whole familly has been staying up until around midnight. The good news is, we have blackout shades in all of the rooms in our house. The shades make for an interseting phenomenon, because without them we wouldn't be able to sleep, but with them, even the kids have been sleeping in every morning until 10:00 or 11:00! Poor Eric, he's the only one with obligations right now, so he still has to get up to be out the door by around 7:45. I feel for him, but not too much, after all....somobody has to bring in a paycheck, right?

As I sit in my robe, typing this blog at 11:00 a.m. I am reminded what a luxury it is to be stay-at-home mom.

Gardeners and Convertibles

It was quite strange to me that all winter long I would see garage doors open and close throughout the neighborhood, but rarely saw signs of real human life. It is even more bizarre to look back on winter now that spring has arrived. I am now hard pressed to go outside, even at midnight, at not see someone! It's almost like the people here are robots and they know exactly when they are suppossed to come out of their houses for spring and summer.

The funniest thing to me is how the minute people emerge from their houses, they have gardening and convertibles on their minds. I grew up in Southern California, not far from Huntington Beach, and I have never saw as many fancy convertible sports cars (particularly Porsches and T-Birds) as I have seen on the road here in just the last month. Apparantly many people in Alaska have enough disposable income to drive SUVs all winter long while their paying to store and probably pay monthly on their convertibles.

There is a beautiful little nursery in town that I frequented often during the winter. It's close to home and it was kind of an escape for me sometimes. The nursery has a quaint little gift shop inside and outside, in a covered and heated area, they have a really neat William and Sonomaesque cooking shop. The gift and kitchen shop keep the nursery in business during the winter months. As you can imagaine, parking spots are a dime a dozen in the winter. Now that Spring has arrived, my "quaint" nursery in now a mad house and parking is at a premium. I am amazed at the amount of money being spent there on any given day. People are walking out with 6-7 hanging baskets of flowers, to the tune of $25-$80 each! They are purchasing flats and flats of flowers and bags and bags of fertilizer and mulch. It's insane!

As I walk through our subdivision, I continue to be amazed by how green everyones grass is and the fact that many of our neighbors literally have flats of flowers sitting on thier driveways, just waiting to be planted. I often go for a walk later in the evening (it still looks like about 5:30 and 10:30) and I see people out planting flowers, pruning, fertilizing, or mowing their lawns. Eric and I laugh at how often some of our neighbors mow their lawns. In California, mowing your lawn becomes a necessary evil and many people put it off as long as possible. Here in Alaska, people can't wait to mow their lawns!

So, for the past month I have continued to wonder what the obsession is with gardens and convertibles in Alaska. I don't enjoy convertibles much, so that continues to be lost on me, but I kind of "get" the gardening aspect. Although I continue to think many of my neighbors are ridiculously obsessed with their lawns and gardens, I guess they can be because they only have to put the time, effort, energy, and money into them for a very short few months.

Long live Spring and Summer!!!!!!!!