My 27th birthday

So, I got to celebrate my 27th birthday with some friends up here. A friend of mine decided to host a party for me, so we had some food, some games, and some good company there. We even had a cake, which I decided to cut up in a unique manner.

It says "Hap Frank" if you can't read the icing.

In a completely unrelated event, it's been snowing on a fairly regular basis here. For those of you who are in Vegas and don't see snow, here's what my car looks like in the morning after a snowy night.

Me scraping off the snow.

Talent Show

So, a couple of weeks ago there was a talent show in my church ward. Myself and a few others (the Bishop of the ward and 2 other guys I go to church with) formed a band and did this performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwjt277kdQw

The song? Hotel California by the Eagles. Hope you enjoy it.

Holiday season kicks off...

...unless you work in retail, in which case, it's been going on. Fortunately I do not work in retail.

If anybody has been following the Anchorage forecast (which is very likely to be dad), then you'll have noticed that the temperature here is a bit on the chilly side (we've had a couple of nights when it went into the negatives). We've had some snow (about two feet for the month of November), but snow doesn't keep the kids from going to school. Ironically, it's when it warms up that they shut down schools. Why? When the temperature rises suddenly from 20 degrees to 40 degrees (as it did Thanksgiving week), all the snow on the ground melts in the daytime, and it'll rain. At night, when the temperature drops to below freezing again, all that melted snow and rain freezes and becomes ice. Then the roads become really nasty, and everybody either has to drive 15 miles an hour or end up in a ditch.

So, I've decided that snow doesn't bother me at all. I'm careful enough when I drive that it's not a problem, and I don't really mind scraping it off of my windshield. I'd rather it snow actually, because when it doesn't my windshield ices up. And unlike snow, which I can scrape off, the ice I cannot. So, I have to run my car for about 10-15 minutes with the heat blasted to melt it. Then my car becomes like an oven - which, if you know me, I don't like. Ironic, I know.

Thanksgiving was awesome. I went to dinner at a friend's family's house. All the traditional foods, and as always in large quantity. Thanksgiving really is the perfect time to fatten up to deal with the upcoming holiday season. And it's a commemoration of everything that is awesome about this country. We have a day where we do nothing but eat, sleep, and watch football.

On a side note, I'll be back in Las Vegas for Christmas (Dec 21 to Jan 12). Until next post.

First Snow!

Last night we got our first real snow starting to fall. This is what I saw at 8:15 this morning.

Last night, there was enough snow starting to fall that I could feel my car's handling being very slack. Naturally, I found a safe spot to start powersliding - Mario Kart style. And of course - the first snowball fight!

Out with the old, in with the new

OLD:

NEW:

As long as I'm posting about this, I might as well show my new place as well. Here it is from the outside - a quadplex.

Here it is from the inside.

Comes with a washer and dryer (a big plus).

The kitchen:

And from outside the bar/counter.

As you can see, I'm living the big life, with two television sets and a fireplace.

And two couches.

And here is my room. As you can see, I'm big on decorations:

The view out back from my bedroom window.

And the view from my balcony from my living room.

New home

So, the lease on my previous place was up, so it was time to move. I found a place that was absolutely perfect - I just had to take it! Here are the pictures.

It's an igloo!

And not an itty-bitty one, as you can see.

The place is a bit of a fixer upper, but what place isn't? It just needs a bit of paint on the inside.

Some new windows on the outside.

New doors and some landscaping, but otherwise it's a lovely place.

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Just kidding. This place is an igloo, located on mile 188.5 on the George Parks Highway. It was designed by a man in the 1970's, names Leon Smith. He thought it be fitting that Alaska should have it's own igloo. So, he designed and built one. First off - igloos are not made of ice. They are made of sticks. Second - they're not homes, they're temporary shelters for Eskimos on hunting expeditions. This igloo? Made of plywood sheets. 888 to be exact. 4 stories tall. It's supposed to be a little resort. 40+ rooms, a dining room, atrium, etc. Only there was one major design flaw that nobody figured out when they started building it. I'll let you look at the pictures one more time (click on them to get enlargements) to figure out what it is.

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That's right. No fire exits! It's a rather major design flaw. Thus, after construction went underway, funding was cancelled, and it never went through. At the beginning of the summer, I did see a for sale sign on it. Any buyers?

I took a roadtrip back on Sept 28 to go see some of the crazy sights we see along the way when touring over the summers, but never get to stop off at. So, I took some pictures. First stop? The town of Willow.

The little town of Willow, Alaska. Why Willow?

...Traffic, due to construction. Ok, so not so fun yet.

But, my first planned stop was the little community (very little I might add...it's not even really a town) called Trapper Creek. In Trapper Creek, there is the famous store.

Wal-Mikes! This is the real deal.

This place has everything.

Whether you would want it or not, it's there.

I didn't get pictures of the inside, but I found all kinds of household goods (toasters, coffee pots, pans, lamps, books, WD-40, tools, etc), many of which are used - and really are dirt cheap. The place is like a combination of Wal-Mart, Savers, Ace Hardward, and a post office all in one.

Next off was a fairly common stop for our tours, but still worth going to. This is the Denali View South Overlook. It's a rest stop that looks upon the Alaska Range from the East. Quite nice, really.

So, this mountain that IS in the picture is Mt. Hunter. Can you see it? It's the mountain that's slightly off-center to the right, and covered in snow. If you can't, these next two pictures will help define it.

Now, while Mt. Hunter doesn't seem so large in the picture, you can see from the diagrams that it is about 3-4x further away from where I am than the black mountains in front of it. Put that into perspective. You'll also notice there's a mountain that's missing, according to the first diagram. Mt. Foraker is supposed to be in the picture. Where is it? Hiding in the clouds, as it usually does. A mountain as large as Foraker tends to draw clouds to it, thus making it not so visible.

And of course, the reason to visit the South Overlook. Denali. Mt. McKinley. Whatever you want to call it. Notice, it too is obscured (but only partly) by clouds. Look above, to the left of the big spruce tree. There's another 10,000+ foot mountain to the right, called Moose's Tooth. It's mostly obscured - to the right of the big spruce tree, directly above the little opening of the river that you can see. It's the lightest grey rock in the picture. Good luck finding it.

Next up was Byer's Lake. It's a campground site, as well as a place for fly fishermen, to catch trout and grayling. Never been there before, but it was quite and peaceful.

Next is the bridge that goes over Hurricane Gulch.

The view of the valley is quite spectacular, though less so when all the leaves are dead. This view is to the east of the bridge.

This to the west.

Next up...the famed Mile 180 Lake. Ok, not so famous, but I point it out as when in a land of 3 million lakes (Alaska) there are some lakes that just don't really have names.

The lake was frozen over. It's September. Well, mostly frozen over. I discovered that parts of the lake are just slushy when I tried to walk around the lake.

The results of my attempt to walk around it. It was very cold and unexpected. Wasn't sure how deep the water would be, but fortunately where I stepped, it was less than ankle deep.

Next stop? Honolulu!!!

...creek that is.

Just a peaceful little creek that runs under the highway bridge.

People say I don't smile enough. I think that is because most people don't see me in Alaska.

There? See how happy I am here?

The trip culminated at the visit to the igloo. I made my way back south to Anchorage at that point. I stopped off in the town of Talkeetna to have dinner with my friends Holly and Dale. Holly is a bartender at the Talkeetna Lodge, and Dale is a pilot for K2 aviation. He flies people around the mountains and drops off climbers who want to climb Denali. Great day in all.

EARTHQUAKE!!!

So, yesterday at 1:24 pm, I was in my room doing my workout. While doing pushups, I heard my door rattling, which isn't unusual when somebody walks by. But then I felt the ground shake, saw my laptop shake, and it just kept going. This was quite obviously an earthquake. It wasn't the first one I felt, but it was the first one one that was immediately obvious that it was an earthquake. Being so close in proximity, (only 13 miles away) it went on for a good 10-12 seconds. It was pretty awesome - though I don't think I need to feel one that's any bigger.

The yellow square is where it hit, in the Cook Inlet 13 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Into the Wild

So, at the beginning of the month, I went into Denali National Park on the Tundra Wilderness Tour. I knew it was the right time to go, as fall colors were in full bloom (yes, Fall in Alaska hits at the beginning of September and is very short lived, just a few weeks). The colors did not disappoint. The greens of the spruce trees contrasted very nicely against the yellow birch/aspen trees and the reds of the fireweed. Absolutely gorgeous.

The top of the ridge at Polychrome Pass is the park road, where we drive along. Not a place for those with a fear of heights.

The weather was just absolutely gorgeous, and it came in the middle of a bunch of rainy days (before and after going into the park), so I couldn't have gone in on a better day. In fact, the weather was so clear, we got to see Denali (Mt. McKinley). For those of you who don't know, Denali is the original name given to the mountain we know as Mt. McKinley. One of the problems with the mountain, is that it is so big that it creates it's own weather system, making it often quite cloudy around the mountain, so much so that you can't see it! It's actually the biggest mountain in the world - not the tallest, but the biggest. Mt. Everest, while 29,000 ft above sea level, has it's base start at 17,000 ft in elevation, up on the Tibetan Plateau. Denali's base starts at 1800 ft, with a height of 20,320 ft above sea level (6000 ft more mountain than Everest). So, seeing it in the summer time, especially in it's entirety is quite a treat. Here it is.

Denali, in all it's glory. I'm at Stony Pass, about 38 miles or so from the mountain.

Me and the mountain. I'm staring right into the sun, thus the squinting.

I was also rewarded with sightings of some wildlife - some grizzly bears, a wolf, lots of Dall sheep, and a particularly disturbed caribou who went nuts running down the park road.

Possibly the single most awesome shot I've ever taken!*

This caribou was running like something spooked him.

He came right down the road.

Ultimately, the trip had one huge drawback. 8 hours on a freaking school bus! I went in with my driver, who is about my size and build. Two guys with broad shoulders in a cramped, full school bus? Not fun!

I kid you not about the school bus.

My advice for you? Take one of the green shuttle busses, that go out to Eielson or wherever. THOSE busses are also school busses, but they let you get off and go hiking or whatever, and you just catch the next one in or out, your choice. Would be the more prudent way to go.

*Ok, I didn't actually take this live. It is a picture of a picture. Wouldn't it be awesome though?