Hello all, all the followers of this unpretentious blog. I am truly sorry for the long gap in posting, but a severe case of writer’s block set in, only recently cured. I think my impending birthday strangled my creativity, and I was unsuccessful in trying to get Julie to fill the silence. (Please, give her hell for not picking up the mantel!) a

It’s been a time of severe change here in Alaska. Depending on who you talk to, there have been a multitude of seasonal changes. Beyond the typical “Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall” swing of time, there are a few different seasons this far north. I will attempt to explain.

First off, the first seasonal change is not winter-spring, but winter into breakup. There is no such clean change in the Arctic, it is more nuanced. We go from cold winter, to semi-cold thaw. And the rivers go from solid ice, to a mix of open water and ice floes breaking up into large packs, creating dams and flooding. In town, the piles of snow begin melting, leading to wet sections of roadway which freeze at night when the temperatures drop below zero.

Another season is “pothole dodging season”. Since the retreat of the ice, the roadway has returned, with a multitude of car-consuming holes. Our current sport is dodging these craters trying to minimize the damage to our vehicles. When we arrived here in August, Canadians tried to tell us there were two seasons in the arctic. Winter, and road construction. Totally true!

Speaking of ice, it is disappearing fast. In the past two weeks, the snowpack in Anchorage has rapidly diminished. We have finally started to reach the 50’s during the day, resulting in a rapid decline in the visible amount of snow around the streets. Things like lane markers have emerged from the ice. This doesn’t mean driving skills have improved, it just means there are fewer excuses for straddling lanes.

The most visible change has been the amount of daylight available. We go from a start of day around 6 am, to a last light of 10:30 pm. And it increases every day. Soon, there will be no night to speak of at all.

This weekend is my birthday weekend. This has been a birthday I am not looking forward to, being my 40th. But I will soldier on. We are planning to head to Talkeetna, and then to Denali National Park, to get the lay of the land and get options for going back in the summer, (so come see us!). Standby for awesome pictures!

Wes-

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