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!