Things have been really busy lately, so it's been quite a while since I've posted. I am back in MN for Christmas. It is so good being with family and friends, but it has been really hard for me to adjust to all this bright sunlight. My inner vampire is missing the darkness!
I came home on the 21st, so I did not get to experience winter solstice and the shortest day of the year in Alaska. It was worth it though to get home before the bad storm started in Washington.
Nothing really exciting has happened lately, a lot of cramming in work before the kids leave for break. I played in three different orchestras for three Christmas concerts three weekends in a row, so that took up most of my time. When I told dad on the phone that I had played in Amahl and the Night Visitors, he asked if it was a nice mall. :)
I was down in Seward the other week working on a case, the drive down was incredibly beautiful. The trees are all frosted in thick snow. The Seward Highway has a lot of avalanche zones, because it's through the mountains. At Thanksgiving an avalanche blocked the highway and it took dynamite and many hours before they could clear the road. There are avalanche zone signs, and you aren't allowed to stop at all in the zone areas- just need to get through.
The drive in the morning was through darkness, when I reached the school at 10, the sun was just starting to rise in the east, and the moon was still out:
It's fun to see Seward with snow, the mountains are beautiful
The Seward train:
The drive back was in the light, and it was a beautiful drive. The trees were all frosty and covered with snow
Nearing home: Mt. Redoubt in the sunset
I also had some beautiful drives to Nikolaevsk in the past few weeks, the trees are all beautiful and frosty:
This is the basin- it's a really steep hill down and back up, and sometimes you can't get to the school if the basin road is in bad shape; it's really steep:
There have been tons of moose up in the hills. I had to come to a complete stop to let this baby and mom cross the road, so I snapped a few quick pics:
