Our neighbor's son snow shovels our driveway for us every now and then. That's nice of him, but his 18-year old domestic dispute at 2am that caused doors to be slammed and yelling outside two nights ago, while his mother is out of town, is not. While the cats away the mice will... be rude and inconsiderate. Anyway, we like snow shoveling our driveway. Especially when the snow is still fluffy, not icy. It's fun, exercise, and an apparent necessity to wintering in Alaska. So bring it on, I say! (The snow shoveling, not the door slamming).
On Saturday we went cross-country skiing. The Juneau Nordic Ski Club grooms a few trails around Juneau and maintains them for the sport during the winter. We took advantage of this and headed out to the Mendenhall Campground which is closed during the winter, allowing for a long loop of groomed, flat road for classic or skate skiing. We were a little put off by the number of cars we saw parked along the road, but only saw a handful of people on the loop. It was cold and cloudy, but not raining or snowing, so the snow was perfect.
We baked sugar cookies that night, because Steph needed the FULL CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE this year. We used her Grandma's secret recipe, and they turned out amazing!
Disaster zone!
And then on Sunday, before having a yummy dinner at our friends Red and Joleen's house, we took Forrest to the Glacier for a romp in the snow. The romp turned out to be a couple of hours worth of oogling the scenery, because when we walked down the path towards the visitors center, we saw 15 or so people walking around on the snow-covered lake. Yes! The day I had been waiting for had arrived. I was a little apprehensive about walking out on to the ice, and I would not have done it if I hadn't seen a couple of 200+ lb people walking out on the ice as well. There were skiiers, dogs, families taking their holiday card portraits, joggers and the like out on the lake. We stayed on a path where other people had previously walked, and headed towards the nearest icebergs stopped cold in their tracks.
This is the sky at around 2:30pm
The glacier looked incredible. A few people were walking up to it's face, but we are going to save that for another time.
After looking at these shots again, they vaguely resemble a familiar scene.. one of a warm summer evening walking in the foothills of the Sandia mountains, mammoth granite boulders towering above me and silhouetted behind a blazing sunset. On Sunday, though, the warm air of Albuquerque was replaced by a freezing chill, granite boulders replaced by smooth, cold ice. The blazing sunset is all that remains the same.
Call me crazy for loving such a desolate, frozen landscape, but I think of this place as fondly as I do the sweet smelling air and warmth of the desert.
I am feeling a pang of homesickness as I type, and I am so happy to be making a trip back in a few short days!
Ice and sky
Breathless.
Merry Christmas!!!
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