SNOW!

What a fun weekend!  Our football team, South Carolina Gamecocks, WON! We went shopping ... that's always FUN! And Sunday we woke up to a snow covered ground with the white stuff floating down. Beautiful!

We had a lot of fun playing in the snow and just watching it come down. It's been snowing all morning too. I love it!  Even though it's cold and snowing, Tom is still riding his bicycle to work. What a trooper! Of course, it's really not unusual here to see a lot of people commuting by walking, bicycling and even skiing to work. This is such a cool place to live. Unlike any other place we've lived before... and you know how often we move around to check out new places. :)

Enjoy the following video and pictures.  Thanks for stopping by!

A short video from Tom's work this morning:


Our weekend fun:

Have a fun Monday. Happy Halloween! BOO!

:) Janis

Whittier, AK & Kincaid Park

This past weekend, we went to Portage Glacier for lunch on Saturday, the a quick trip to Whittier, AK, and on Sunday to a part of Kincaid Park.

Lunch was enjoyed at PORTAGE GLACIER CAFE. Bonnie had a cheeseburger & fries; Tom had Reindeer Chili, and I had a blueberry muffin (and some of Bonnie's fries & burger). As we were eating, we decided to go ahead and pay the toll to drive through the tunnel to Whittier since we've never been there before.

The above picture is the Portage Glacier off in the distance.

The above picture is kind of gloomy, but I was trying to get a picture of the pieces of the Portage Glacier that are floating in the lake. These chunks of ice are white with a shining Aqua color on the inside. It's really fascinating to see this color aqua almost glowing from the inside of the glacier.

The tunnel goes through a mountain (I think it's 3 miles long), and is just 1 lane wide. Traffic travels one way to and from Whittier on a set schedule with breaks inbetween to clear out the exhaust. This same 1 lane is also shared by the train, so we were riding along the railroad tracks in the tunnel.  Something from childhood about not walking on the train tracks kept echoing in my mind as we were driving on them.  LOL  The tunnel has about 7 areas along the way with Emergency Exits and Safe Houses in case of an emergency. The brochure states to leave your car with the keys in it and go to the nearest Safe House if the lights turn red in the tunnel. There are also rules about how fast you can go and the spacing between vehicles in the tunnel.

  

Googled picture of inside of tunnel.

  This looks like a house, but it's actually the entrance to the tunnel. See how the vehicle traffic lane and train tracks are all the same lane?

Once in Whittier, we drove around to the campsites and Eagle Nesting Areas with the waterfalls. Tom got out a few times and walked around. Bonnie & I just rolled our windows down and listened to the waterfalls.

On Sunday we drove around looking at houses for sale and rent just for fun. Man! Houses here are EXPENSIVE! Then we rode to a part of Kincaid Park and walked along the water and down the trail lining the airport for a while. Didn't see any moose... which is probably a good thing. Didn't see any bears either on our walk... which is most definitely a good thing. 

I'm still waiting on the snow to blanket us. What is taking so long? The average first snowfall is mid October. It's almost the end of October. I'm ready for the snow already!

Until our next post.... Smiles :) Janis

MOOSE on the LOOSE

Bonnie & I walked outside today to go to the truck and came face to face with this big boy....

You can click on the picture to see a bigger version.

Bonnie had 1 more step to go down before I looked up and saw him.  Huh... he saw us though. He was facing us and looking right at us.  I said, "Bonnie! Turn around! Turn around!"  I got her back inside the door while I stood there with the door open waiting on him to leave.  That took forever.  He kept eating the bushes for a while.  Walked a few feet. Stopped. Turned his head around to look at me again. He did this several times. I kept talking to him. Saying, "Yes, I'm still here. You need to leave now." As if he knows English. LOL

Scared the poopie out of me!

Other than that, we had a fun day! We went to the library and got some horse movies. She loves horses. She also got about 5 picture books. One is Mother Goose The Cow Jumped Over The Moon.

We also went to Tom's work to pick him up for lunch. We had THAI food at THAI TOWN (Authentic Thai Cuisine Bangkok Style). It was yummy!

http://www.thaitownak.com/index.html

And we stopped at REI to get a new bike bag for Tom to put his laptop and other goodies in during his bicycle ride to work. He left for work on his bicycle this morning while it was still dark outside. Yikes!

Snow update!  The snow on the mountains is much heavier now and the snow line is lower. That is good news!  I'm still watching the weather forecast every day. And every day it's changed. I can't wait for the snow showers to begin!

Smiles! :) Janis

Hatcher Pass

Our Sunday adventure....

Tom says, "Are you ready? Let's go!" And Bonnie & I jump in the truck. We play this game that I have to guess where we are going or just be surprised when we get there. All I knew was that he brought me his Xoom for the car ride saying I may want to play with it on the trip. Hmm... must be a destination that's more than just around the block or across town.  Then he told me it was somewhere we haven't been before, but somewhere he's been wanting to go.  And he said it was an hour away.  Our surprise destination was Hatcher Pass.

As we began to climb the mountain and gain elevation, we got closer and closer to the snow line on the tops of the mountains. The rain was pretty steady all the way from home during our ride there.

About 5 minutes after passing this part of the river, the rain turned to heavy snow showers. It was beautiful!

I don't know why I get so excited and giggly about snow. It just makes me happy. We love the snow!

We all got out and just jumped around and threw a couple of snowballs too. I loved it. 

On the way back down the mountain, Bonnie rolled her window down so the snow would land on her arm. She giggled the whole time, which made Tom & I giggle too.

I love our weekend adventures! I love that Tom takes Bonnie & I off to places we've never been.  We were gone all day doing all sorts of fun stuff.  We got some groceries at Sam's (which is always fun!). Bonnie & I got some new boots rated to -40 degrees F and waterproof with heavy tread so we can walk and not slip or get wet feet in the snow.  We had lupper (lunch / supper) at Gallos Mexican Restaurant. Yummy-ness!

I love my new boots! Do you like me BLUE shoestrings? Bonnie & I got the exact same pair in the same color. We took out the brown shoestrings and lace up the blue ones. Pretty!

Until our next adventure... or until the snow comes....

Smiles! :) Janis

Kencaid Park & Potter Marsh

Last weekend we had so much fun walking at Kencaid Park & Potter Marsh.  These first 2 pictures are very large. If you click on them, they will open in a new window. Why? Because you need to find TOM in these pictures. Can you find him?

It was very peaceful, and beautiful here. The air was a bit cool, but the sun was so warm on our faces, it was very pleasant.  And the next few pictures show Tom climbing back up to where Bonnie & I are sitting on the top of the hill / mountain.

All a kid needs is the outside and a stick.  They will entertain themselves. :)

The climb back up was VERY steep.  Tom decided to take a little break in Bonnie's lap.

On the other side of this nice look-out point, is a very cool dirt bike track.  We stayed for a while in the stands watching the boys jump and ride.

Then off to the Swan Walk.

Bonnie & Tom were watching the fishes in the water.

Until next weekend!  Enjoy your week with friends & family. Smiles! :) Janis

Saturday Adventures

Yesterday we visited a few different places... First we went to the mall and had lunch. Always a fun thing to do. :) Then we went to the Oxygen & Octane Winter Sports Expo. Honestly, I wasn't as impressed as I was the last time I went. Tom said it should have been called the Snow Mobile Show because that's what we saw most there... one after the other... row after row.... After that we went to the Anchorage Museum. There is a special limited exhibit there of Mammoths and Mastodons. That was way cool!

Tom went off a little in the afternoon window shopping for Mountain Bikes and drove by Cook's Inlet... here are some beautiful pictures of Cook's Inlet he took....

And check this out.... a little later in the afternoon... what a gorgeous view we have from our apartment!

I was looking forward to the possibility of rain turning to snow during the night and back to rain the next day.... but yesterday was so clear. The skies were more clear than they have been in a while. So no snow, no rain. :(  I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.  It's October now, and that's when the first snowfall usually begins here. Yeah!

Today we are going to Kincaid Park and watch the guys enjoy the Motorcross Park on their dirtbikes. Have a fun Sunday!