Christmas in Ice, North Pole, AK

Hayden #81 at D End

Hayden at Fullback

Fur Rondy

Spent the weekend at the 74th annual Anchorage Fur Rendezvous.  www.furrondy.net  It was a blast.  It lasts for 10 days each year.  Here are some pictures and videos…..

 

Hayden Snowboarding

Checking Rabbit Snares….

Iron Dog 2009

Today the Iron Dog Snow Machine race began on Big Lake in Wasilla.  Check it out at www.irondog.org .  The race is from Big Lake in Wasilla, to Nome, and then ends in Fairbanks.  Total of 1,971 miles.  We were standing about 20 feet across the starting line from Governor Palin.  Her husband Todd was in the race.  You can see him start at around 3:55 in part 2. His teammate is Scott Davis.  They are team #22. 

 

Hayden’s Snowboarding Lessons

Hayden is taking snowboarding lessons.  Unfortunately we can only see him when he gets to the end of the hill at the bottom.

Snow Machining…

We went up to my friend’s cabin on Lake Susitna over the three day weekend.  Took a bunch of snow machines and played on the lake.  It wasn’t near as cold as the post below from last weekend.  Here is some video…

My friend’s cabin….

This past weekend, Hayden and I had the opportunity to go to a friend’s cabin up on Lake Susitna.  We made a fuel run with 55 gallons of gasoline and 55 galons of fuel oil.  The lake is 178 miles northwest of Anchorage, and then a 15 mile snow mobile ride across Lake Louise and then Lake Susitna.  The cabin is on the north side of Lake Susitna.  We got there Saturday morning and spent 2 hours getting the snow machines running.  It was -25.   Cold 2 strokes are hard to start.  When we finally got loaded up and headed out it was -40 on the lakes.  Any exposed skin burned terribly.  Funny thing is, Hayden and I were OK but Steve, my friend ended up with frost bite on his right wrist.  We got to his cabin right at dark.  It was -42 outside, and -30 in the cabin.  First thing we did was take the “bear boards” off the doors and windows.  Basically they are sheets of plywood with nails facing out to discourage bears from breaking in.  At those temperatures you absolutely can not touch metal with bare skin.  I learned the hard way.  It burns as if in direct fire.  After about 6 hours of burning the oil stove and wood stove we went to sleep in +40 degrees.  I had to get up every two hours to feed the wood stove.  Thankfully, by morning it was close to 60 in the cabin.  Although extremely cold, experiences like this are why we came to Alaska in the first place.  The videos below are mostly shot by Hayden and Steve’s son Dustin.  Roughly an hour long combined.  Make sure to watch the second and fifth videos if nothing else. 

 

Denali

Saturday we got in the truck and headed north.  Didn’t really have a plan for the day in mind but just wanted to see more of Alaska before Mom and Dad leave.  We ended up driving up to Talkeetna, the jump off point for mountaineers attempting Denali.  It was a beautiful little town.  Of course most of it was closed down for the winter, but a few little shops were open and we enjoyed them.  And the warmth of their heat.  It was -20 in Talkeetna.  We’ve got some video and pictures to share.  Keep in mind we were over 100 miles away from the mountain.

Bear Safety…..

In the kid’s health classes they learn lots of interesting things up here.  One of which, is bear safety.  This short video is of Isobel explaining the need to wear bells on you when hiking.

Joy and Isobel is some deep snow

Up at Hatcher Pass today Joy and Isobel were playing in the snow.  It was deeeep.

Hayden shooting video…and Hatcher Pass

On the way to Hatcher Pass today, Hayden shot some video in the truck.  I wanted to share it.  The road through the pass was closed but we got some good pictures this side of the gold mine.

And yet even more sledding at Kincaid…….

This is from the day after Christmas.  Hayden is using his new snowboard.

Christmas in Alaska

Mom and Dad and Jess came up for Christmas.  We had (are having) a really good time.  Of course we miss all of our family and friends back home, but Christmas in Alaska has been fun.  Below are some pictures from Christmas day and a few from the days prior to Christmas.  Also a video of the kids playing in the front yard.

Sledding at Kincaid Park….

More sledding.  We took Mom and Dad to Kincaid Park to do some sledding.  Had a great time but it was COLD!

More Moose….

Joy and kids ran into these Moose on a walk around the neighborhood.  Hayden ran home and got the camera.

Isobel Playing

Got some video of Isobel playing in the front yard on a cold December day…

Jess and Megan at Glen Alps

We took the girls up to Glen Alps and the foot of Flat Top mountain today.  The snow was drifted 4 to 5 feet in places.