Fur Rondy - SNOW Sculptures

Went to see these after work tonight.  They are made out of SNOW not ice.  Incredible!

Downtown Anchorage - The Cook Inlet

 My work partner Mary with her seal skin hat on.

 River of Ice - Cook Inlet

 The mountains from downtown at the Cook Inlet

The Fur Rondy Carnival

The Fur Rondy Festival in Downtown Anchorage

This is a two week long outdoor event celebrating Alaska's heritage.  This is the 76th year.  It is a winter festival.  Back in the day there was no television, internet, etc so the people of Anchorage put together a winter festival.  It began with a fur auction (pelts) and ends next Sunday with the start of the Ididarod.  They have events such as snowshoe softball, dog sled races, running of the reindeer, dog pulls, snow sculpting, snowball fights, parade, fireworks, blanket toss (we hope to go to during the week), and of course the Alaska Hold'em Tournament of Champions.  You had to win a seat into this at several qualifying events, and I DID IT!  Enjoy the pictures.

 Threasa with "Reilly"

This little guy who weighs 39 pounds pulled 830 pounds!!!!

 This is Reilly making his pull!



Downtown Anchorage

This is the view of downtown Anchorage from the top floor of the Sheraton Hotel.  Just beautiful!  Know why we're here now.  (Went to training on a SUNDAY!)

Awesome picture of Mountains

Thought this was an awesome picture of the mountains outside my house; it was snowing!!

Sunrise from the Office

This is a picture of the sunrise from my office.  No matter how many times I see it each one is more beautiful than the next.

Northern Lights Chase

Last night we went looking for the Northern Lights.  Forecasters have said that if the clouds stay away this weekend (from Thurs. to Sun.) we will have a great chance of seeing them.  So, we plus my work partner and her husband went on the chase.  Too many clouds rolled in so we were only able to see a small glow.  What we did see was a full moon though.  We went up "some mountain", one that we see from our house whose name is unknown. I actually rode halfway up on the floor of the truck because I was so scared.  The road was covered with snow and ice but we were in a 4-wheel drive and Wally was driving!  This picture looks more like a sunset or sunrise but it was taken at 9 pm and it is the moon.  Enjoy!

Back again

Sorry I have not posted for a while.  Things have been a little slow and some of the villages I am still not allowed to take pictures in.  One cool thing did happen the other night though.  I happened to be in Juneau and Threasa was coming home from the store.  As she approached our house this is what greeted her.

COOL....Right?????