Snow, Birthdays, and Thanksgiving

The snow has been falling fairly steadily here. Lot's of play time out in the snow for every one.
Here is a picture of skiing along the frozen Eagle River

Playing outside with the dogs. Notice the icicles dripping down the side of the yurt.

Snowy Yurt.

No two snowflakes are the same.

Leo and and his second birthday.

Thanksgiving Settlers of Catan.

I've been boarding down the driveway lately. Pretty Fun!

3 Blinding Sun Bursts

I just wanted to show this short video. It's a time lapse of the sun moving across the sky in the Eagle River Valley. On November 18th, we got 3 glimpses of the sun, one 10 minute showing and 2 twenty minute ones, about 50 minutes of direct sunlight. By Thanksgiving there won't be any sunlight and we won't see it again until some time at the end of January. Anyway, here is the video from 10:00 to 1:00, photos taken every two minutes.

Bear Tracks, Light, and Cabins

With fresh snow in the area, it is a lot easier to see what critters have been around and where they are going. Here are some grizzly bear tracks on a frozen tributary of the Eagle River.

The low light conditions have really been contributing to some dramatic landscapes. This picture was taken around 11:00 AM.

Nicki had a 5 day weekend and we took full advantage of it by skiing/skijouring out to a one room public use cabin on Eklutna lake, just north of us. We had a fast ski in on a well packed trail. Then, about 8 inches of snow fell over night. Here are Nicki and Leo enjoying the sunrise from the warmth of the cabin.

Here is a picture of the sunrise from down by the lake where Ben was enjoying the sunrise in the freezing cold. Click on it for a larger view.

The way out was not nearly as fast with all of the new snow. I didn't see my skis for most of the trip out. Here is a picture of the dogs who are pulling Nicki, who is pulling Leo with my sled attached to the chariot.

My sled kept flipping and really slowing us down so Nicki agreed to add it to her load. What an amazing woman. On the way home we stopped for hot cocoa and pizza. A truly amazing combination.

Halloween and Ice

A demon enjoying a raging fire? No, it is just Leo in his Halloween costume. Can you guess what he is? Same thing as last year except funnier because he is walking and talking. This picture was taken at the Alaska Zoo, where we went trick or treating. He had to wear full snow gear beneath his costume so he even waddled a bit like Yoda.

Leo was also very into this whole Jack o' Lantern idea and even named each pumpkin after a member of his family. Try to guess who is who.

We have had clear skies and very cold temperatures for the past few weeks, and while skiing has gone down hill (ha ha), the ice has been amazing. Here is a picture of some hoar frost (feathery ice crystals) that have been forming outside of the yurt.

It has also been cold enough for Eagle River to freeze over. Once the ice gets thicker and we get some more snow you can actually ski and snowmobile on the river all the way up to Eagle Glacier at the head of the valley. The hoar frost on the river was a couple of inches tall which is big. Here is a panorama of the frozen river. Click on it for a larger picture.

Last but not least, the reason for all this cold. No sun. We have about 3.5 hours of it now. I did a time lapse of the sun moving across the sky. Unfortunately, I didn't think about doing it until after the sun rose and right before we are starting to cloud over again. So here is a time lapse of about a half hour after sunrise, 11:00, and until sunset, 2:00. If I can I'll post a better one later.

Get out and vote!