SNOW! SNOW! SNOW! YUCKY SLUSH! SNOW RECORD!

(Warning: This one is LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG post, like the Anchorage winter nights)

If you were looking for snow this past winter, well I have it, all of it, muah-ha-ha.  Last Saturday, Anchorage set a seasonal snowfall record of 134.5 inches or 11.2 feet.  The winter average in Anchorage is 74.5 inches, approximately 60 inches in Fort Collins, CO and for those of you in Florida, well those gorgeous beautiful white flakes that fall from the sky every 20 years or so, that's snow!

The National Weather Service in Anchorage has a great variety of reports that everyone should should take a quick look at.  Here is the daily climate report for today: http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/products.php?fcst=CDAK48PAFC, which shows that after a month of melting (with one last snow storm) we still have an 17 inch snow pack on the ground.  Here are some fun reports: http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/papers/papers.php (don't worry they are only 4 pages with graphics). Finally, I think everyone should take 10 minutes and read this report: http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/papers/2011-2012%20snowfall.pdf.  You will learn that Alaska actually has been stealing snow from the western U.S.  (No clue, why the east coast folks haven't had any snow).

Our snow began falling  on October 30 and continued through last Saturday April 7.  I biked through most of it including the final snow storm thanks to one of the guys from senior high youth who held a birthday party at the church that day and invited me (yes, I am cool enough to get invited to birthday parties of people half my age without being related to them -- Thanks Joe J!)

 This is the only picture that I have of myself on bike during the winter and oddly enough it comes from the day of the last storm.  This is my light winter biking outfit.   When it is really cold I wear long johns, then sweat pants and finally the wind pants (only the last two layers for this day).  My nice thick park service wool socks and hiking boots keep me warm.  However there were a few Dec/Jan days that I experimented with double socking.  On the upper half I wear a long-sleeve wicking shirt and the heavy jacket that my sister gave me as a gift (thanks Dana!)  When its cold, I would add my winter shell coat over that.  I have light gloves in the picture, but I would wear heavy winter gloves usually.  When it got below 10F, I would attach the big lobster-claw gloves to each handle bar.  I wear a balaclava to protect from cold, wind, flying snow, and now flying dust.  I have a bandanna on underneath the helmet as well, both to create heat and also to protect my head from the wind as I knife through the air.  My bike has studded tires, which I don't think are all that obvious, splash guards and a rack that holds up to 50 pounds.  It has been a good setup.  When its really cold, I have gotten a ride from a friend (Thanks Kory and family!) or I take a bus ride to get groceries.  I have biked through wet snow, dry snow, powdered snow, light slush, deep slush, crackling ice and on top of ice and I have loved it! 

 Ice skating is my other winter sport.  Just a few blocks from work, there are a couple of rinks.  Colleagues and I often made this an extended lunch.  When you only have 4.5 hours of daylight (December in Anchorage), you have to get outdoors over lunch and enjoy it. 

 "Stating the Obvious" by the Anchorage Museum.  I suppose this sidewalk was closed before the snowfall, but after the first few feet of snow, I think mother nature took care of the crowd control.

 We got about 30 inches of snow in each month of Nov-Feb, so what happens to all that snow?  Well it gets plowed and re-plowed.  The city has a bunch of these little machines with large rotating brushes that they use to keep the side walks clear.  Full-scale plows push the snow to the side of the road and onto the bike trail.  Then a small machine (similar to this one) clears the bike trails.  On Sunday evenings, the tractors come out and scoop the snow from the edges of the road and load it into trucks, after which it is trucked somewhere north to create large snow mountains.  I have witnessed the first part of the removal while biking home from church, but unlike someone else I know, I didn't follow the trucks to see where they were taking the material (ahem... Dad!)

 The environmental effects reached home as well.  When I arrived, we had 18 hours of sunlight and then someone installed some bright night lights in the alley next to my window.  So I added paper curtains on the outside of my blackout curtains so that I could sleep.  Well the 70F+ temperate differential across 1 inch of space through a glass window that was probably installed in the 1950s didn't work so well, especially given my need for a humidifier. 

 The ice began to build up and on the weekends, I would have to use a heater and wait several hours before I could even open the window.  When the heating in the building first came on, I was getting so much heat on the ground floor that I was very thankful for my artic AC which let some 0F air into the room!  As you can see from the picture, I had to cut off the blind in order to separate it from the ice and condensation.  Afterwards, a cloth curtain on the outside of the blackout shades replaced the paper curtains seen here.

 Birm crawling.  This is what people and animals are forced to do during the winter when not using a four wheel vehicle.  These birms often follow the contours of the sidewalk.  With the exception of individual residents, corners are rarely plowed.  Now, if you happen to have giant legs like this fellow, walking through a birm is really no big deal.

 Why did the moose cross the round?  Because he had finished his greeting duties at church, of course.  As this guy crossed the road, traffic stopped and I slid into the median and whipped out my camera to get a picture.  If you look closely in the background on the right, you will see wire caging protecting the trees from moose's stomach. 

 Hillside.  If you take a look at a map of Anchorage, the city sits in a bowl along the Cook Inlet with the Chugach mountains to the east--I also have mountains to west, north and south! :)  While most of the city is placed along the (relatively) flat plain, the ritzier/new developments are along the hills leading up to the mountain. 

 In December, Kara and Dave came to Anchorage for a wedding and I got to join their group for some snowshoeing along hillside, following some of the trails I hiked earlier in the year.  Although, snowshoes make a piggyback ride a bit more difficult than usual, we pulled it off!

 This is a picture of Kara and I skating on the Westchester Lagoon.  This same shot is my blog background from a photo I took when I first arrived in Anchorage last July.

 Zamboni, parks and rec style!  Several lakes around Anchorage are managed by the parks and rec department in the winter as skating and hockey rinks.  This truck has a tankard of water in the bed and a hose runs along a metal pipe at the end of the device, closest to the vehicle.  The device itself is simply a metal pipe and a burlap canvas attached.  A bit of water and then the canvas creates a shiny new surface for more skating.

 This is the work of the baker over at the Captain Cook Hotel.  The entire village is made from graham crackers and frosting.  They had security cameras and guards present to deter hungry children, teens and adults!

 Kara, Dave, Katie and I made a visit to the Knowles trail along the Cook Inlet.  After returning a rental car, when I first arrived in Anchorage, I used this trail to bike back home.  Downtown Anchorage is visible in the center with the Chugach mountains in the background and the icy Cook Inlet in the foreground.  I am told by those in the know, that the port of Anchorage is open year round, and we did see some marine traffic.

 Snowstorm!  I took this picture from my office at work early in the morning in February when we had a huge snow storm hit first thing in the day.  Although the picture is taken after sunrise, its hard to tell.

 Ever heard the phrase, if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes?  I learned that one from my mother describing Colorado weather on millions of occasions and then heard it in Pennsylvania and Florida as well.  As you can see, it also applies to Alaska.  This was more that a few minutes later, but after the snow let up, we got a nice bright sunny day .... for six hours.

 Sunrise along the Turnagain Arm.  Over MLK Jr weekend, I rented a car and went skiing at Alyeska.  They participated in the January Learn to Ski and Ride month.  (I understand this is a national promotion, so if you want cheap beginner lessons, check it out).  I was greeted by this beautiful sight of the clouds breaking and the sun rising as I drove along the Seward Highway at 9 a.m. in the morning.  Don't miss the ice chunks in in the Turnagain Arm, so named because Capt Cook had to _______.

 Here is another shot along the Turnagain Arm from about a couple hours (and days) later in near the same location.  The Alaska Railroad is visible in the foreground with the Chugach range on the Kenai Peninsula visible in the background.

 The creation of the railroad and highways eventually left steep cliffs of rock along the highway.   The sun hits the top of the cliffs with bright, intense waves creating melt-off for a couple hours and then it freezes for the remainder of the day creating a  gorgeous wall of icicles.  Further down the road, I saw some folks with their ice-climbing gear scaling these cliffs.

 I took this shot about halfway up the mountain while skiing at Alyeska, which had over 800" of snow this winter at the top, which was not a record.  It was a beautiful, sunny, 20F day for skiing.  I got lessons and then went off on my own.  Naturally, I fell a few times, but my head is still in one piece!

 Its not a big ski resort, like those that can be found in Colorado, but it is a place to ski.  This is the chair lift that was either out-of-order or just not in use.  They only had 5 or 6 lifts along with the moving sidewalk thing on the kiddie slopes. I got to the point that I could ski the green slopes pretty comfortably and I even tried a blue slope a couple times.  My last run of the day on the blue slope, ended in a crash, which is why I wore a helmet--no scrambled brains, please.

Alyeska turns on the lights at night and by night, I mean about 5 p.m. and then the skiing continued for another four hours.  Although my camera doesn't take good night pics when its not on a tripod, you get a sense of the mountain.

 Here is another one of my lunchtime activities.  We have a small park downtown that is two blocks from my apartment and three from work.  In the winter city park is turned into an ice rink and ice sculpture garden.  The trees are perfectly encased in ice and everything reflects the brilliant sun with its sharp northern latitude angles.

 This is the same park and ice skating rink on an evening that saw 8 inches of snow fall that day in Anchorage.  The blue lights complement the beauty of the snow at night in an amazing way.

 Yup, it happens.  These folks parked early in the day and 8 inches of snow later found their car stuck in the snow.  They had to borrow shovels in order to dig the car out.  At least when you are on foot, your wheels don't spin in fresh powder.  (Don't worry, I asked if I could take this pic and offered my assistance, but they had it under control).

 Ah, February.  As the calendar hit February, the temperatures finally returned to average which meant a high of 25. (We had the 3rd coldest January on record with an average temp of 2.6F).  After weeks of -10 to +10, 25 was tropical!  On the third weekend, we took the senior high youth group up to Big Lake for a retreat and then made a day trip here to Hatcher Pass for skiing, boarding and goofball fun.  I took the third van ride up and then borrowed a 1/2" thick foam body board.  Thus I slid down the mountain face first with my legs dangling off the back of the foam board.  Steering was accomplished by dragging one of my legs in the snow and braking, well braking didn't exactly exist.   I almost slid into a bunch of bushes and narrowly missed some small trees.  I reached the bottom with a beard full of ice and the experience of a lifetime (somewhere there is a picture, that I will have to acquire).  Afterwards, I ate lunch with a couple of my ninth grade guys and then I made a few van runs up to the top of the mountain as a driver.  Stories about that experience will be told in person and not in a written medium!

Immediately after Snow8last (no,that is not a typo), I skipped the state and fled to the south for a week.  The snow kept coming and by March, we passed 120 inches and then hit 129.4 inches just before I left to head east for Kara and Dave's wedding.  However, for three weeks, there our snow total sat at 129.4 inches in 2nd place just 3.2 inches shy of a record.  The snow began melt and Anchorage got ugly!  If you live around snow, you know that pristine white snow is beautiful, but when it gets mixed with salt, sand, and vehicle grim, it turns nasty.  Here is a pick of that nastiness.  If you look closely, you can pick out the side walk and the icicles dripping off the snowpack. 

Breakup, as the spring-meltdown is called, produces lakes all over.  Here is an example from the midtown Walmart parking lot.  You can just image how much fun this is for people on bike such as myself.

Walking, biking, hiking, driving.  All of these forms of transportation rely on having a solid surface against which to direct force so as to propel something in the opposite direction.  Cars have the advantage of a spread wheel base when dealing with slush and snow that a bicycle does not.  This makes turning a challenge, but it also means that a semi-solid block of slush falling to one side as a person bikes through can cause problems.  Well, if you haven't figured out where this is going, the picture on the left is a human/bike snow-print.  About halfway to church on a Wednesday in late March, the slush under my tires gave way and I fell on my left side into a bank of snow.  Keep laughing, I did!  The silver lining here is the cushion that slush and snow provide to large falling objects.  After laughing and brushing the slush off, I pulled out my cell phone and took a picture.  I have seen the imprint a few time since then as well. 

THE RECORD BREAKING SNOWSTORM

April began with teasers from the National Weather Service about snow accumulations of up to an inch that did not come for a week.  Finally, on Friday we got 0.8 inches of snow and then a good storm dropped another 4+ inches on Saturday April 7th giving us the record!  Here are a few pics from my ride through that storm.

 This is the hill along C street from 15th up to Fireweed and it is a pretty good climb.  Once again, you can see how much the snow blots out the daylight during a storm, even though this was just a light continuous snowfall for several hours.  If you look closely, it would appear that I was biking inebriated given my inability to keep a straight line.  However, this wet heavy snow sticks and slides making it very difficult to keep a bike steady.  On top of that the incline results in snow sliding underneath my tires until I can no longer make progress and must begin walking to move forward.

 The snow sticks to my bike as well.  It particularly globs up near the front and rear brakes because the pads are placed so close to the tires.  This results in the inability to brake quickly and sometimes the only way to stop is by hopping off.  I have learned that 2-2.5 inches of fresh snow if wet and about 3-3.5 inches of snow if dry is the maximum that I can bike through during or after a storm.  Once it has been packed onto the trail, no problem.

 This picture will give you and idea of the miniature mountains piled up along the side of the road here.  Keep in mind that those piles had melted for three weeks before the snow storm in the picture.  These mini snow mountains often exceeded 8-10 feet in height.  While it made for great protection from wind or traffic, navigation of cross streets was difficult.  I had to exercise a great deal of caution to make sure that I was not hit by someone turning right who had no clue that there was a bike trail parallel to the main road.

 Ah, the lane lake along International!  This spot has the worst depression along the trail and frequently had a puddle in the autumn months from rain.  The winter only exacerbated the problem.  Since it was filled with a few inches of fresh snow and the temp was below freezing, I decided that the semi-solid state of the water/snow/ice mix would be passable.

 No problems with passing on this occasion, and my tires created waves and disruptions that help make for an interesting picture.  In this and the next picture, the swerving was purposeful with this posting in mind.  However their is a great story about this section of the trail that occurred only a few days earlier.  Prior to the snow, I was biking home from church when I came upon this lake.  I was proceeding north (same direction as the picture)  Expecting to hit water alone, on the basis of my experience with other parts of the trail, I proceeded forward.  That was a mistake!

 I very quickly learned that what appeared to be water actually included several thick chunks of ice floating in about 3-4 inches of water.  This caused my bike to jolt and jerk allover and I simply could not proceed.  As I set my feet down, I realized that I did not wish to walk through either, so I made my way to the right side of the trail.  I attempted to walk in the snow pushing my bike at the edge of the trail, but I postholed.  Every time I set my foot down, it sank 20 inches into the birm.  I could hardly attempt to walk through the snow for 100 yds falling in 20 inches at every step while pushing a bike.  Remember my physicas lessons about minimizing impact by distributing force across a large area, I hit my knees and crawled across the top of the birm while wheeling my bike along on the edge of the trail.  If you look closely or copy this picture (go-ahead) and enlarge it, I think you will be able to see the indentations along the berm made from my ode to toddlerhood.

 The snow on my helmet is a result of biking during the light storm.  As I said earlier, wet snow sticks to everything.  I use red lights during falling snow for increased visibility and white lights at night.  I see well and want to make sure that I am easily seen by vehicles even as I spend much of my time on the trails.

 Anchorage has this little valley that runs east to west through the city, which has several parks along this creek. Along A street, the trail takes a curving detour away from vehicular traffic.  The road features a gradual continuous incline (think about the earlier picture along C Street), but this trails ends with a steep curve.  Of course, the return trip offers a nice downhill ride complete with the steep warning sign so that bikers won't lose control.  The slush on the ground is quite clear.  I figured that if I could clench my abs and keep my bike upright, gravity would get me through the slush and on down the hill.

 Instead, this turned out to be a great example of being too smart for one's own good.  After snapping pictures of this curve and thinking about writing about the steepness for my blog, I fell victim to callous nature of gravity. Once again the slush gave way and I took a fall onto my left side for another laugh, picture and post.

 Here is a picture of sunset along the Chester Creek.  In foreground is A Street and the vehicular bridge bypassed by the side-trail.  In a few months, this will be a great location for moose and fishing.

The city of Anchorage has done a good job keeping the trails passable until recently.  Since breakup started, they plow only the roads and have stopped sending the small machine down the bike trails.  To clear the gutters, the plows have blocked the trails as seen on the left.   The recent snow also gave us a one day respite from Ugly Anchorage which has returned.  However, the snow is steadily melting and I think most of it will be gone by the end of the month, with the exception of the massive piles.

In conclusion, a picture of the Chugach mountains along the Kenai Peninsula side of the Turnagain Arm.  I took this last Thursday while hiking the Potter trailhead.  Take a look at my earlier mountain pictures on this post and in my hiking post for a comparison.  Even here, we can see that breakup is making progress in the high country.  I will miss the beauty of the snow when it leaves.  These mountains (3000-4000 ft) will not be snow-capped throughout the year.  However when the snow melts, the medium altitude hiking begins!  I am looking forward to summiting several mountains, a few mountain runs and hiking the Crow Creek Trail.

I hope you have enjoyed the beauty of the wintry Great Land.  If you are interested in visiting, please do!  My job in Alaska will now last for the remainder of 2012, so you can visit during the summer, fall or even the start of the winter!

Reflexive State Trip of February

(warning this is a long one: start your roast beef, read, then feast)

Finally, I escaped.  Dark and early at 12:46 a.m. on Monday February 20th, I left the last frontier for the first time since my arrival the previous July for a week long trip to LA and AL.  In the days leading up to the trip, I discovered that the temperature topped 70F just 7 times in Anchorage during 2011.  I experienced four of those instances including the annual high temp of 77F.  At the time of my departure, high temps were running in the upper 20s and thus I was even excited about the humidity and stickiness of the south simply as symptoms of the heat.

 During the first part of the trip, I headed to New Orleans to visit Raffi (four-year Gettysburg roommate for those who don't know) and his fiance Nicole, who grew up on the Mississippi River.  Although Mardi Gras generally refers to a single day, New Orleans has over 20 parades across several days leading up to the Tuesday before Lent.  This was one of the night parades just before Mardi Gras.

The key to getting beads is to be what I am not or to be in range of those folks.  Mardi Gras is a family affair and most of the Krewe's (people in the parade) toss beads, cups, gifts, etc at kids or at good looking women.  So, if you don't happen to be in either of those categories, just stand near someone who is and catch anything that is overthrown.  Raffi, Jason (fellow Penn Stater and a frequent visitor to Gettysburg) and I all managed to get beads thanks to Nicole!  The lights really made the night parade a sight to see.  The parade also featured several members of the Krewe carrying flaming lanterns harkening back to the days before electricity and the great political parades of the 1840s.  If you visit New Orleans for Mardi Gras, I highly recommend taking in a night parade.

Naturally a visit to the Crescent City should also include some Jazz!  After the night parade we headed out to a place called Snug Harbor to listen to some authentic music.  The woman is Charmaine Neville, a well known artist and an expert in impromptu Jazz.  Throughout the evening, she simply called fellow musicians out of the audience to the performance.  It was highly organic, but also very high quality.  Check out Snug Harbor if you go to NOLA.

 Mardi Gras began a little before 6 a.m. as we left Nicole's house and went to the rally point for those on Float #12 in the Krewe of Orleanians.  Raffi joined Nicole's family on the float, while Jason and I watched.  After the bus ride down to NOLA, we found a cafe to obtain beignets (French pastry similar to fry bread covered in powdered sugar) and chocolate milk for breakfast.  Then we made our way down the parade route where we observed any number of people in costumes just out to enjoy the day.  The roller coaster folks had an entire routine that included a wave and rocking side-to-side simulating a roller coaster turn.



  Many of the costumes had a facetious, sarcastic or mocking element. Naturally, mocking speed cameras was amongst the tamest I saw that day.  Plenty of folks dressed up and mocked political candidates and social movements; Occu-Poty was quite hilarious!





The first parade of Mardi Gras was the Krewe of Zulu, the first African-American parade.  These floats are especially vibrant in color and the specialty favors are the decorated coconuts that the krewe hands out.  Every parade tosses out beads, but only one hands out coconuts (throwing is verboten - blame the liability lawyers)!  Of course, everyone who really wants to get the good loot crosses the police barricades to get close to the floats.  Yes, I have a Zulu coconut!

This is one of the stranger sights I observed in NOLA.  At first, I thought it was a coffin.  Yes, it is very odd that someone would have a artistic coffin in the front yard, but hey, its New Orleans.  Later, I saw a few more with plaques and then discovered that it is not a coffin but a trolley car and there are several near the parade route.






 The second parade of the day was the Crewe of Rex, which Raffi informed me was the where the rich folks threw out all kinds of goodies (yes, that was paraphrased).  Several floats in this parade threw out candy or other food in addition to beads and cups.







Earlier, I contended that Mardi Gras is a family affair and here is my proof.  These step ladders and ladders with modified tool boxes, which are seen at day and night parades are for kids.  Not only does it elevated them 6-8 feet into the air, but it also makes a better target for the krewe's and gives them a place to stash their loot.

At last, we reached the third parade of the day the Krewe of Orleanians also called the Jefferson-Elks Parade.  Fitting that Raffi should partake in something of the commons with the name of his beloved Jefferson attached.  No this is not float #12 on which he and Nicole's family rode, but it is a float that portrayed history.  However, the kids are yelling for loot instead of reading the history of Jean Lafayette, the pirate who assisted Andrew Jackson at the battle of New Orleans.  I don't have any pictures of Raffi's float because I was too busy videoing a short escapade on my camera.  He had been saving beads from previous parades to throw at Jason and myself, so we decided to return the favor by saving extra beads and attacking him as well.  Thus with the camera in my right hand and a cup of beads in the left, I attacked.  My beads hit their mark as Raffi's mother lode went flying in all directions.  Then he quickly grabbed a roll of plastic cups, which, when tossed found their way to my right ear.  What a great parade, assault and all!

Ash Wednesday began with a visit to Nicole's workplace as a 4-H extension agent and was soon followed by multiple trips to the Baton Rouge airport after Raffi left and then proceeded to sweet talk his way onto a later flight, two days later on Friday.  After he returned, we did a bit of touring along the countryside.   The picture on the left is captioned "What could have been!"  This is the Catholic Church in St. James Parish where the happy couple considering getting hitched until one of them just had to get married in his beloved New Mexico.  The brick work is beautiful and the sanctuary is breathtaking including a beautiful organ.  Incidentally, the organist stopped practicing and came to say hello.  Turns out that she briefly taught Nicole piano a long time ago and went to school with one of her parents! (Cue "Its a small world after all).






This is the levee just across River Road from the church with a barge on the mighty Mississippi.  I was surprised at the physical character of the levee.  It is essentially a flat plain with followed by an obtuse angled embankment leading away from the river.  The embankment is covered in concrete on both sides with a gravel access road on top.  I suppose I had expected more of a wall like I saw in Vicksburg.


On Thursday, we let Nicole got to work without any interruptions.  Raffi and I took a nice walk along Paulina Beach with all the requisite conversation about philosophy, politics, football and everything else.  It was the first edition of the Forum on the Beach!  The river seemed docile though quite muddy.  We noted several barges moving along the river.



In the afternoon we took a tour of Laura Plantation (http://www.lauraplantation.com/), a Creole plantation with the unique distinction of having been managed by four generations of women.  The last, Laura, wanted nothing to do with the plantation and sold it quickly, but she did live a wonderful written record of the history of the plantation and her family, the basis of the interpretation.  The interpretation was solid and conveyed the difference between a creole plantation and the anglo-american life style that surrounded much of this French/Spanish/French colony.  Our guide defined creole as any person born in the new world of non-British heritage.  This was an odd definition that later led to a riveting discussion with Nicole's dad about his experiential observations on the meaning of creole.  Always get local history from the true experts!



At left, is Evergreen Plantation (http://www.evergreenplantation.org/), once owned by Nicole's family on her mother's side but lost around the Great Depression.  The house has a beautiful symmetrical design more reminiscent of the typical "plantation" in America than Laura.  Apparently, a movie producer decided to plant cotton across the street, a first amongst the sugar cane plantations of River Road.  However, the presence of a film and construction crew made it easier to create our own personal tour!


This is the slave row at Evergreen Plantation, a very rare set of historical artifacts.  Although a few slave rows have been re-created this is either the only or one a very few that is still intact.  According to Raffi, it was occupied by sharecroppers and their descendants as late as the 1980s.  When I did research and site visits at Gamble Plantation in Bradenton, FL, we could not definitively locate the slave residences.  Although nearly 150 slaves worked in forced labor at that site, the physical remnants are gone.  This slave row has 22 cabins intact, one of which had interpretative material and was open to visitors.  It is phenomenally important to see and witness the physical space of the slaves because no plantation visit is complete without the realization that these economic systems operated by cruel forced labor of a large magnitude.


Although George Strait sang about swimming across the Ponchartrain for his girl, the water didn't look too inviting. This was my view on the train from New Orleans to Birmingham as I embarked on the second part of my vacation.  The train ride was 8 hours but very comfortable.  The seats are about 50% larger than a plain with twice as much leg room.  If only, one could take a high speed train from Anchorage down to the lower 48!


My friend good friend Ilana from my days in the Swing Dancing club at University of Florida got married to her beloved Jason that Saturday.  This is what a wedding should be: a bride so full of joy that she just has to dance and a groom so thrilled with his bride's joy!  During my two days there I got to meet the extended Stover clan, who excel at southern hospitality.  The only unfortunate part was that I only briefly got to meet Jason, he was a little busy.





However, I did get in some good dancing!  I got to dance with bride, of course, and one of the bridesmaids, my friend Micah.  Micah was the president of the swing dancing club when I first started dancing there.  She also co-taught with me the first time I taught a lesson and as you can see, she has an excellent dip pose!







No trip to the south is complete without some sort of visit having something to do with the Civil War, so I made a stop at Natural Bridge, AL.  This is the longest natural bridge (http://www.naturalbridgeala.com/park.html), east of the Rockies.  While they do not allow anyone to cross the bridge, you can still walk underneath it, which I did accompanied by a red heeler who managed to escort me without nipping at my ankles.




For those who don't ingest everything American Civil War, Natural Bridge, AL is the location where the high estimable Winston County denounced the secession of Alabama from the United States and promptly seceded from the state of Alabama and declared neutrality in the war.  They then named themselves the Free State of Winston!

The picture of the Indian has to do with the fact that the locals took inspiration in the historical actions of the Creek Confederacy for their opposition to the Confederate States of America.  On the left, you can see my rental car including the missing license plate.  The paper placard which said "Tag Applied For" flew off while I was on the interstate.  Thus I made my visit to the Free State of Winston worried that if I got pulled over, the delay would cause me to miss my flight.





After my visit to the secession site, I headed over to the county seat at Double Springs to get a look at the divided loyalties soldier at the courthouse.  Although this bronze soldier is dressed half Yankee and half Rebel with both flags behind him, the boys of Winston county did not favor each side equally.  About 75% of them wore the blue while only 25% wore gray.  Once again the Confederate cause has gained extra notoriety in history to the sad degradation of the loyal Union boys!









A quick drive back to Birmingham and the airport ended my third day in Alabama.  Then, in order to fly to Anchorage I first flew east to Charlotte, NC and then west to Phoenix, AZ.  My flight was overbooked, so I then waited a day before flying into Seattle and then onto Anchorage.  I hope you have enjoyed my reminisces of the reflexive state trip!

Hiking in the "Great Land"

 Alas, I have returned after a long delay!  At the end of August, my team leader for cultural resources shared a hiking group with me called Alaska Outdoors (http://www.alaska-outdoors.org/_sgg/f10000.htm) that I have been a part of for the past 6 months.  We hike twice a week with a light hike on Mondays and a more challenging hike on Thursdays.  I typically attend the Thursday hikes.  It is fun a group, and our leader Toshi knows everything about every trail around Anchorage and also sets a group friendly pace, which really makes for a great atmosphere.  If you ever join a hiking group, I recommend finding one that will cheerfully set a pace for the slowest hiker.  You might not set any records, but you will have a great atmosphere the opportunity to make friends.  Onto the pictures!

This was by first hike with the group near Campbell Airstrip in Centennial park back at the end of August.  To my right, you can see three other people in the back row.  The last two are my friends Pat and Chris. Pat is a retired letter carrier in Anchorage and Chris is former Pennsylvanian who retired from Godiva. In the third row in the blue polo is Ted, who introduced me to the group.  I cannot recall the dog's name, but check out the hairdo!

 This was my first Thursday hike with the group along the Rainbow Trailhead.  We generally take a picture about halfway into the hike whenever Toshi gives the signal as he is both leader and photographer.  This picture overlooks the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet, so named because poor Captain Cook sailed this inlet only to turn again.

 Bear Valley was my favorite non-winter hike.  This trail has a very steep continuous ascent and I was the second one up to the top.  Since I am in the photo, you'll know that Toshi got their first.  We had low cloud cover that day which made for an excellent cloud hiking experience. 

 Here, we have the group at the top of the Bear Valley Trailhead.  Although, it was very warm during the climb, the wind at the top put everyone into their jackets.  You may notice by know that this is a very dog friendly group and several of our canine friends regularly make these treks as well.  The valleys in the Chugach Mountain ranger that face west looking toward Anchorage (photo is facing east toward Canada) are gorgeous, much like the Powerline Valley that I discovered on my Flattop Hike at the end of July.

Fall!  I actually saw fall with leaves changing colors!  This was a first since I was an undergrad during my semester at Gettysburg College back in 2004.  We hiked North Bivouac at the end of September and about that time I joined a swing dancing performance group and missed several Thursday hikes.  When I returned, things were a bit different ....

 Hiking in the snow in the dark is a true Alaska experience!  We hiked Potter Trailhead on November 10th about two weeks after the first snow hit Anchorage.  I found that hiking in the dark in the snow is easy after a couple of simple adjustments.  First, get a headlamp, which everybody seems to have.  Second, wear water proof pants.  Hiking will keep your body warm even if the temp is below 32F or 0F for that matter!



Our group dwindles a bit in size in winter and due to the outdoor conditions, but still we hike.  This is our climb up Prospect Heights Trailhead near Hillside.  Hillside is one of the ritzier subdivisions in Anchorage, but the catch is that you have a challenging icy commute in the winter when you build homes into the side of a hill.  I have been amazed at the subtle reflections of light off of the snow during the winter.  It gives the feeling that you are not really hiking in the dark, but unfortunately it is far too subtle to see with most cameras.  It highlights the valleys and even the ice on the inlet.

Jodhpur Trailhead! This was my absolute favorite winter hike.  It is the one that you should ask about the next time you see me in person.  We had to re-route on several occasions because we saw 4 Moose and it was the first time that many members of the club witnessed our fearless leader fall due to the slippery nature of the landscape.  We went up and down hills while it was snowing and even dropped to our butts to slide down some particularly icy spots.  We were rewarded with both an awesome workout and  spectacular views of the ice on the Turnagain Arm in addition to our wildlife visitors.

My sister Kara and her fiance Dave joined us for a day-after-Christmas hike during their visit to Anchorage for a wedding.  We took a nice stroll around University Park Lake and Kara made fast friends with both Sheba and Sammy.

Our group has no problem breaking new tread or occasionally cutting new spurs after a recent snow.  The up and down also includes crawling over trees and occasionally climbing over stumps!  This was our hike along the aptly named Basher Trail at the end of January 2012.  I think it was also one of the coldest hikes with temps around 0F and below!

 You will find me in a rather odd position in this picture--the front!  We have a term for the challenges of deep snow called postholing, which is when you take a step forward on what you believe to be packed snow and quickly find out otherwise.  I often "posthole" up to my kneecap or waist, anywhere from 18-30 inches.  In this particular instance, I jumped up, and landed about waist deep!  Toshi decided it was picture time at that moment as well.

I hope you have enjoyed some pictures of hiking and winter and both!  According to the National Weather Service, we have 103 inches of snow this winter, far above the normal 69.5 and or track to challenge the Anchorage record.  I will share some more snow pictures, a recent skiing expedition and a bit on the youth groups that I help lead, in the future!