Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

Over the last couple of nights, we’ve had some fabulous aurora activity. It’s always exciting to see the colorful bands sweeping across the sky, but I usually just photograph the sky from my driveway or my road, unless the aurora is really active or colorful. When the night time temps were below zero, I stayed close to home - mostly because I worry about being out by myself somewhere and breaking down. But now that things are warming up, I’m ready to venture out again.

On Sunday night, we had clear starry skies, and the aurora cam was showing activity low on the horizon. I’m sure I’ve mentioned here that when the lights are too low, I can’t see them from my house because of all the trees in my neighborhood. I usually have visibility from my house, if the lights on the aurora cam are close to the tail of the Big Dipper.  Anything lower than that, and generally the only thing I might see is a green glow through the trees in our side yard.

We had low clouds drifting over, and they reflect the yellow-orange light coming off the surrounding homes and streetlamps. Sometimes the night can glow with an orange light, which is kind of neat. I put my camera on my tripod and decided I’d go out and photograph the clouds and orange light. I got all set up, and my neighbor’s motion detector light turned on.

Their light is so annoying! When our living room curtains are open, it shines right into our house. it is blindingly bright and seems to have a mind of its own. The wind rustling the trees can trigger it. I can’t tell you how many times it has completely ruined my chances to get photographs of the aurora over my house. I admit that I sometimes fantasize about honing my slingshot skills with that light.

When the light came on I figured I’d make lemonade from lemons. I moved my tripod until my camera was situated so as to have the light blocked by one of the trees in our front yard. The photo turned out pretty neat, despite having lights bright enough to guide an airplane in:

A little while later (their light went out, thank goodness), the clouds moved out and I saw the first bits of green and even some magenta color in the starry skies. Here are a few photos from Sunday night:

AURORA ROUND TWO

Last night, I really wasn’t expecting any aurora displays, although others in some of my online aurora groups said they knew we were going to have a good light show. The skies over my house were fairly cloudy, and I wasn’t holding out any hope that the clouds would move out. I also wasn’t planning to go anywhere, as I was hard at work on photo editing.

I kept an eye on the aurora cam though, and anytime the lights reached the tail of the Big Dipper, I’d step outside and check the cloud cover.  A little before 10pm, I saw gaps in the clouds over my back yard, and green curtains of light fluttered by. Of course I dropped everything and got my camera set up on the back deck.

Here are a few of the first images I captured. You can see the orange of passing clouds glowing with ambient light:

I like this photo because it shows our kitchen window. (I made the red stained glass piece hanging in the window. I love the red light in my kitchen when the sun shines through it. I’m not a stained glass artist. It was my first and last project, but I’d love to take more classes)

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With more than 8 hours of daylight, and warmer temperatures, this is the time of year when we all want to brush off the cobwebs of winter and hit the road for scenic drives and longer roadtrips. Cabin Fever is an accurate term when used to describe this time of year. It can sometimes be hard to find the motivation to get out and take advantage of the warmer weather and the longer days. It’s easy to stay in the lazier frame of mind that seems to overcome us during the winter. But at the same time, we imagine hitting the highway and driving points south, or north, or east, or west. Not too far; some of the roads are still fairly slick in places. But far enough to explore new territory - or rather different territory than we’ve been accustomed to seeing for five months or more.

On Friday, the sun was shining brightly and I just couldn’t sit inside working on photos and my online gallery while the sun was streaming through the windows, enticing me to get outside. Steve was working day shift and wouldn’t be home until nearly 6pm, so I decided to take Raven to Chena Lakes for a short walk and some photos.

My friend Bernadine texted me and when I told her I was on my way out to the Lakes, she decided she’d meet me out there after she got off work. The original plan was to just walk around taking photos, but when we drove over to the boat launch area (Riverside Park), we decided to walk the 4.5k (about 3 miles) portion of the cross-country ski trail.

Much of the trail was in good condition, with solid snow pack, but there were long stretches of trail with softer snow. This made for some strenuous walking - much like walking on beach sand. Raven was a real champ, pulling me along when I was running out of steam, but the walk did kick my behind quite a bit. Of course when we finished the walk I felt like I had accomplished so much. Little did I know I wouldn’t be able to move this morning. Every single joint in my legs and my hips is aching! That’s a good indication of just how much exercise (besides dance class) I get in the winter months. All in all, I’m glad we did it!

I took this photo from atop the dike, next to the dam. The sun was slowly moving down towards the horizon, and with the low hanging clouds, the sky was a pretty shade of orange and yellow. The tree stumps up there are to keep vehicles from riding on the ridge of the dike and destroying it. You can see how it stretches all the way to the horizon. This channel (visible to the left) funnels water from the Chena river - when it’s at flood stage - to the Tanana River. The area to the right is where the Chena Lakes Recreation Area is.

Raven has become so good at minding my commands when we’re in an area without other dogs or people. I can take her off leash and let her explore on her own and she comes right back when called. Here’s a photo of her checking out some of the big snow piles caused by the plow.

I like this split rail fence near the “campground host” site. The shed is also for their use, as I believe they maintain the flowers and grass near the information signs for the dam and flood plain. You can’t drive into this area in winter.  I took this from up on the dike:

Animal tracks go off into the woods:

These photos were taken while walking with Bernadine on the trail:

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CHENA HOT SPRINGS

Yesterday, still craving an escape from the usual surroundings, my friend Bernadine and I drove up to Chena Hot Springs. We left before noon, and leisurely drove the 60 miles to the end of Chena Hot Springs Road. The road was very slippery in places, and I was thankful that we didn’t encounter too many other cars on the two-lane road. People who are accustomed to driving that road tend to go too fast for conditions (in my opinion) because they are familiar with it. Those of us who don’t drive it very often can find it quite disconcerting to be tailgated, or passed on blind corners by vehicles going a high rate of speed. Fortunately, I was able to maintain a safe - albeit slow - 45 mph for most of the trip.

We stopped at the usual pull-outs, but found that the opportunities to stop and take photos weren’t as numerous as usual, because the snow plows had edged the road with snow berms. We didn’t see any wildlife on the way up to the springs, but did see two moose on the way back (no photos though).

When we got to Chena Hot Springs, we decided to have lunch at the restaurant (menu here - pdf file). I opted for the turkey club wrap on a spinach tortilla, while Bernadine chose the ham and swiss wrap - also on a spinach tortilla. We both agreed that the lettuce was very fresh (grown on site in their geothermal greenhouse), and the meal was quite tasty, but we consider the sandwich pricey at $12.75. It came with a choice of french fries, a small salad, or cottage cheese. Unless you pack your own food, the on-site restaurant is your only choice for meals.

We wandered the grounds for a little while before driving back to Fairbanks. On the way home, the sky began turning a lovely shade of orange-yellow as the sun made its way to the horizon.

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I had a portrait session scheduled for today, but the gal’s children were sick so she had to reschedule. Steve happened to be off today (his only day off this weekend) so I wasn’t too disappointed.

Steve and I spent the day watching movies and chilling out. Later this evening, he made his yummy hamburgers on the BBQ for dinner. I love grilling even when it’s cold. He brought the propane tank into the garage (heated) to get an accurate reading of the propane levels, but cooked outside under the porch as usual. It was a beautiful sunny day today and we reached 25F here in North Pole. Tomorrow should be more of the same, and the upcoming week is showing temps in the 15-25F above zero range. Bring on spring - I’m ready for it! (I hope I didn’t jinx the weather)

Until next time…

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Over the past few days, we have had the most gorgeous skies. Sunrises, sunsets, moonrises, and also some aurora displays.

A couple of days ago, I had an afternoon appointment on post (Fort Wainwright). On the way home, I decided to drive some of the back roads, in search of photo ops. The sun was on its way down, and a thin stripe of orange light was close to the horizon. I had a feeling it would be a pretty sunset, so I was in no hurry to get home.

I drove the dirt road (of course it’s snow-covered now) that parallels the Chena River and leads to Birch Hill ski area, and some of the army training areas. I hoped to see a moose, but wasn’t lucky in that regard. I did stop and photograph a pretty slough area, ringed with orange-tipped trees.

On the way back to the golf course, I noticed the beautiful full moon rising. It was a gorgeous yellow-orange with reflected sunlight. I found a place to stop and take a photo:

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