Amazing Flight

I saw this on the internet the other day. A passenger on a Paris bound flight from San Francisco set up his intervalometer to take a shot every few seconds. Check out the Northern Lights about half way through.

SF to Paris in Two Minutes from Beep Show on Vimeo.

Your Iditarod 2010 Winner!

Congratulations to Rev and Maple as the lead dogs of Lance Mackey's winning Iditarod team. These strapping dogs raced the 1100 +/- miles from Anchorage to Nome Alaska in 51 seconds short of 9 days.

The Iditarod is quite a fascinating competition. There's rules, strategies, and lots of personal stories that make the whole thing very interesting.  Some animal activists think the Iditarod is dog abuse, but does this picture suggest dog abuse? 

Our Bettles favorite musher, Sven Haltmann, was running  in the top 10 until he dropped from 13 dogs to 9.  He finished today in 17th place overtaking Sonny Lindner in the last two checkpoints and coming in less than 10 minutes ahead.

Cooper and Otis have been on pins and needles everyday awaiting the results.  Cooper thinks he could be a "lead dog" next year...

Proof of Valerie Driving a Snowmobile

Boots

When we were in Alaska, everyone complained about how time consuming it was to get their boots on and off. I just laughed, because my kid boots do not have laces; they simply slip on and off.

When we were in Anchorage, we stopped at 6th Avenue Outfitters. In the store window was a children's winter clothing display, which included my Sorel boots! I told Jeff that I must be one of the cool kids ;)

These are just some random pictures from Alaska (Bettles, North Pole, NP, Fairbanks).

Aurora & Shooting Stars

Here are some pictures of the Aurora Borealis that we saw on Wednesday morning. All four pictures have shooting stars in them.

The first time I saw a shooting star in Alaska, I thought it was a rare occurrence. But the more time you spend in complete darkness without any light pollution, the more you see. In fact, you can see a couple shooting stars every minute.

Also notice how many stars there are. The night sky is incredible in complete darkness.

Bettles Lodge

We had lots of fun at the Bettles Lodge while in Bettles, Alaska. We took a tour of the National Parks Service building where we learned about the history of the Gates of the Arctic National Park. Of course, there were lots of outdoor activities to take part in like taking a Snow Machine ride (somewhere in the last 20 years snowmobiles became snow machines) or a walk in snowshoes. On the last day of your visit you will find yourself sitting by a bonfire making s'mores.

The town has a population of 25 people. I think we met most of the people, as they came to the Lodge for coffee and conversation.

There is no road into Bettles. All supplies must be flown into town. Typically, two flights a day land in Bettles, one carries the mail. To have cargo shipped on a plane costs 40 cents a pound. As you can imagine, this greatly increases the cost of groceries and other necessities.

Christmas In Ice

When in Fairbanks, we stopped by to see Santa at North Pole, Alaska. This year, BP sponsored an ice carving event called Christmas in Ice. Here are some of my favorite images.

The temperature at night was -36°, so there is no need to worry about the ice melting.

Anchorage

Our Alaska vacation started and ended in Anchorage. When we arrived, fresh snow lay thick on the trees. The blue and silver lights proudly announced that Christmas was near.

Anchorage was the largest city that we visited with 280,000 residents. While in Anchorage we ate at some wonderful restaurants. Humpy's had incredible king crab legs and burgers, the Glacier Brewhouse had great beer and steak and crab, and Club Paris had great prime rib/steak.

We visited the Anchorage Museum. The Alaska Gallery had very interesting displays of Alaska history and the Chugach Gallery allowed breathtaking views of the Chugach Mountains.

We attended mass at Holy Family Cathedral. This small church was packed on Xmas Eve. The priest was both a philosopher and theologian. His sermon will not be forgotten. The Gregorian chants were unique and something I had never heard during Midnight Mass.

Many thanks to John for showing us around while we were in town.

We're Back

Our Alaska vacation has flown by and we are now back in Wilton.

We were extremely lucky that we had no delays in any of our flights. That is a miracle considering that our trip encompassed 8 flights and 2 blizzards occurred. Getting exit row seating for all legs of the trip was also a bonus.

While in Alaska we visited Anchorage, Fairbanks and Bettles. When we arrived in Anchorage, my first thought was it is cold and dark in this town. At 4:30 pm, it was pitch black and the sun did not rise until 10:15 am. The temperature was 0°, which was quite warm compared to the -27° which greeted us in Fairbanks. The anticipated -40° temps in Bettles never materialized; it was a balmy 5°.

The darkness in Anchorage was nothing compared to days in the Arctic Circle. We celebrated the winter solstice in a town where the sun never rose. The sun never broke above the horizon and the only light was an orange band where the sun should be. Day and night blends together, outside activities begin at noon and end by 3:30. Headlamps are an essential.

In spite of freezing temperatures and sparse daylight, Alaska is beautiful. Flying into Bettles was breathtaking, snow covered mountains and frozen rivers snake throughout the landscape. The snow hangs heavy on the trees like vanilla frosting on a cupcake.