Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

Now that we have passed Vernal Equinox, the daylight is returning quite quickly. We have more than 14 hours of visible light now - and we’re gaining nearly 7 minutes of daylight per day! I absolutely LOVE this time of year, as I feel my energy levels return and my mood improve. The only downside is that even though the aurora is still visible (and rather active lately), we have to stay up later in order to have dark skies. Soon, we’ll have so much daylight that we won’t be able to see them. I’m trying to enjoy them as much as I can now. It helps that it’s not 30 below.

It is a real joy to wake up and see the sun shining through the trees in the yard though. Although it doesn’t come over the horizon until around 7:30am, the sky is starting to brighten up before 6am now.  Bring on spring!

I haven’t photographed the aurora since last week. I have found my comfortable bed to be much more desirable. It’s amazing how my sleep patterns improve as the daylight comes back. You’d think it would be the opposite, but not for me. Fall/Winter insomnia and Spring/Summer rest. That’s the way the cycle always goes for me.

	The sky was clear - remarkably clear - and the twinkling of all the stars seemed to be but throbs of one body, timed by a common pulse. ~Thomas Hardy ~

The next photo is one of my favorites from a recent evening of aurora viewing. I was standing in the driveway, looking straight up and enjoying the dancing lights. I was shooting with a long exposure, and I heard Steve open the front door. I said to him “Be careful you don’t trip the…….motion detector!” I didn’t get a chance to finish my sentence, as he stepped out far enough to cause the bright floodlight to turn on. I thought for sure that the shot was ruined, and imagine my surprise (and happiness) when the “mistake” turned out to be a pretty cool image of the aurora dancing over the lit up birch trees. I really like it!

(more…)

***Warning: ANOTHER Photo Heavy Blog Post***

When I ended my last entry, France and I were back in Fairbanks, after spending an awesome long weekend in Palmer/Anchorage enjoying the Iditarod festivities. (If you missed that entry, you can find it here)

I am so glad we came home when we did because later that night the snow began falling, and it didn’t let up for some time. I wouldn’t have wanted to drive 300 miles in that mess.

DAY 6: UAF MUSEUM OF THE NORTH

We had an easy morning, and after breakfast, we all went to the museum. I visited last summer, but Steve hasn’t been there in several years. It was a good day for indoor entertainment, as the snow was still falling heavily and the roads were starting to develop some slick spots.

It was quiet at the museum. We spent a little more than an hour there. France found a very nice Native mask in the museum store to take home and add to her collection of artist-made items from her travels around the country and the world.

The snow continued to fall. We came home to what seemed like blizzard conditions. A little while after we got home, we went out with Raven to play in the snow. France decided she wanted to make a snow angel. She discovered that it’s easy to fall back into the snow, and very difficult - if not impossible - to get up again. It exhausted her. It’s a sobering lesson to learn, and she said she can understand how people can just lay down in the middle of winter, go to sleep, and never wake up.

Here’s a short video clip of France’s adventure in snow angel making:

(more…)

**WARNING: PHOTO HEAVY**

I have been working on photos pretty much non-stop since France flew home yesterday morning. I can’t believe how many photos I took - more than a THOUSAND! Because I have so many photos, I have to break down the events and activities of her visit into two or more entries. I am not yet through with editing/resizing, so part two might not be for a day or so! Please bear with me!

AURORA WELCOMES FRANCE

When people visit Alaska in winter, one of the most popular things on their wish list is to see the northern lights. I encourage folks to visit in March, as it is not only a good time to see the lights, but is also a month with quite a bit going on activity-wise.

The temperature can vary in March. Over the years, I’ve experienced March temperatures in the 40s (the ice art melted before the festival was over) and temperatures in the -30s (our septic system froze up). While France was here, we saw highs near 30F for the Iditarod Re-Start in Willow, as well as lows at -20F while out photographing the aurora here in North Pole. When packing for a trip to AK in March, it’s layers, layers, layers!

France flew on Leap Day. She arrived after midnight on March 1st. Two hours before we were due to pick her up, the aurora appeared in the sky. I was so excited, and hoped that they would still be dancing overhead when her plane landed. How cool would it be if she saw them from the plane too?! (She didn’t have a window seat, but said that she heard passengers talking about them)

I took these three photos just before we had to go to the airport:

On the way back to our house, we could see the aurora dancing overhead from the truck. As we turned into our neighborhood, Steve turned off his headlights so we could see them more clearly. They were fading by that time, but France was still very excited that they were dancing above - welcoming her to Alaska. We considered going out later to photograph them, but it was very cold, and everyone was tired.

DAY ONE: Creamers Field, Ice Park, Festival of Native Arts

We had a lazy morning, as we had all gone to bed very late. We woke to bright sunshine and gorgeous blue skies, but it was cold at 0F. I took France out for a drive around town, pointing out some of the things I’ve photographed, and local places I’ve blogged about. It was really neat that she recognized them from images I’ve posted here in my blog or online at my Facebook page.

At Creamers Field, there were skijorers using the trails. We took a short walk to the footbridge and then around the farmhouse and barn. By the time we got back to my car, both of us had frozen faces.

Next, we drove over to the Ice Park to buy our season passes. The season pass comes with a commemorative pin and I thought France would like that. We planned to go several times while she was in town, so the season pass was the best deal for us.

The Ice Park moved this year, and I was curious about the new location, and how it would compare to the old park. The new park property is much more open. I’m not sure I like that, personally. At the old park, the multi-block sculptures were built along several treed rows and you walked up and down each row viewing them. The trees helped to block the sun from melting the art too quickly. This year, the multi-block sculptures are backed up against trees on the perimeter of the property. Between each sculpture there are ugly trailers (used to block the sun?). Certainly not the natural beauty of trees. However, since it is the first year, and a new property, they are probably still in the *figuring things out* stage. Hopefully next year they will have a better setup.

The day we went by to pick up our season passes, the multi-block sculptures weren’t even started on yet, and the single block pieces were still under construction. These sculptures are in a pretty treed area at one end of the park. It was like walking through a magic forest, and I really liked that a lot. We stopped to watch the artists work and admired their talent and creativity. I explained to France that the sculptures would be lit up at night with colored lights, and how pretty it is to see them lit that way. We looked forward to coming back with Steve the following weekend.

We had dinner with Steve before he had to go off to work (night shift), and then France and I drove up to UAF for the Festival of Native Arts. We watched several groups dance, listened to the Young Native Fiddlers play, and then wandered the tables admiring native arts and crafts. France bought a small drum head with a painting of an owl on it that she really liked.

When we left the university, I could see a small band of green on the horizon. We were going to go in search of the aurora, but it was a little windy in addition to being cold, and a glass of wine in a warm house sounded much more appealing to both of us. Besides, we had a long drive to Palmer ahead of us on Friday.

I took this photo of France at the children’s part of the Ice Park on Thursday:

Here are more photos I took over the course of our day:

(more…)