I was gearing up for my second winter in Alaska with anticipation because apparently last winter was one of the warmer ones on record with little snowfall. I thought surely that meant we would have a much better winter this year. Despite the weather was getting colder in November and December, there wasn't a single day below zero in Anchorage for the entire year of 2014, pretty wild! Inspired by the cooler weather and a work fundraiser chili cook-off, I decided to make my own chili for the very first time. I consulted my dad for his signature recipe and tweaked it a little bit and added beans (sinful being from Texas I know). Anyway, I thought it turned out incredible and I didn't even have to freeze the leftovers cause I wanted to eat it everyday!
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| Yummy chili |
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| I quickly ate these leftovers |
The snow seemed to be on hold awhile longer, therefore hiking season was extended into the winter. A group of us got together one weekend to do the 4 mile round trip Arctic Valley hike up Rendezvous Peak since there was hardly any snow yet and just a few icy patches. On the way up, we passed an old Nike Missile site that was ready to protect the United States against nuclear attack during the Cold War. Once we got to the top, there were great 360 degree views of Anchorage and Eagle River. My phone died before I could take many pictures thought because it was pretty chilly. After our hike, we hit up Fletcher's at the Captain Cook hotel from some after hike beverages to warm up.
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| Hiking up |
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| KK and I at the top |
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| Eagle River |
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| The crew at the top of Rendezvous Peak |
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| Nike Missile Site in the background |
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| Post hike coffee and baileys |
I experienced my first major election in Alaska in November. I felt like my vote really mattered here since there are only 700,000 people in the state and roughly 10-20% on average vote. The political ads were outrageous on every TV channel, on the radio, and there were signs and rallies everywhere! I've never lived in a swing state and had to deal with these kinds of advertisements so I couldn't wait for the election to be over. I even got a letter in the mail that listed 5 of my neighbors and their voting history for the past 3 elections (not who they voted for just whether or not they voted). I guess it was supposed to encourage me to go vote and get my neighbors to vote because my name was on some of their letters. It claimed another letter would be sent in a few months to show the same neighbors and whether or not they voted in this 2014 election. I felt a little violated and shocked that this was legal. Of course I voted, so hopefully I won't have a mob of angry neighbors coming to my door to criticize me.
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| My voting sticker |
With only a 6000 vote differential, our incumbent Democratic Senator was replaced with a Republican that is much more pro-oil (yay!), which I believe is better for the State of Alaska's economy and for the United States. Unfortunately, our new governor is seemingly the opposite, so it will be interesting to see how the political environment changes the oil and gas industry and potential opportunities in Alaska going forward.
One other historical thing on the ballet was the legalization of recreational marijuana. By no surprise that measure was passed with flying colors and as of February 2015, Alaska is the 3rd state to adopt this law after Colorado and Washington.
Thanksgiving weekend started off this year with the turkey trot, one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions since it allows me to feel slightly less guilty about chowing down. I did it with Emily this year (and last) and we both had great success this year! Emily completed her first 5k without stopping and I got a PR and broke 31 minutes! I know most of you reading this will not be uber impressed by my time, but it was super exciting for me to finally get below a 10min/mile pace since I'm a terrible runner. One added bonus of the run this year was that the start / finish line were staged indoors at the convention center so people weren't freezing while not running!
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| Emily and I with a turkey |
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| We found Bethany and Lindsey who are always very festive! |
After the trot, I headed over to my bosses house for Thanksgiving dinner and pumpkin martinis! I made my usual pumpkin cheesecake which was such a hit last year that my bosses kids were so excited when I told them I was making it again this year. I've made it 5-6 years in a row now and although its time intensive and takes about 4 hours, it is so worth it! I also opened up a little Thanksgiving gift in the mail from my mom - an awesome Texas cutting board, cute tote bag, and necklace! I'm very thankful for such a caring family even when I'm too far away to spend the holidays with them.
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| Thanksgiving gifts from mom |
The next day I joined several of my friends for a trip up to Chena Hot Springs, north of Fairbanks. This ended up being about an 8 hour drive so we were thrilled when we finally arrived. The resort is fueled by the geothermal energy of the springs which is pretty neat! I took a tour of their geothermal power plant to understand how the whole system works. The hot springs themselves were smaller than I anticipated and so so warm! I had to keep propping myself up on the rocks to cool off. It is kind of creepy at night because there is so much steam you can't really see anyone, just hear them talking. But the steam froze on the surrounding trees and made the area really beautiful and winter-esque in the daylight.
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| Frozen tree |
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| Steaming hot springs during the day |
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| Hot springs in the daylight |
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| More frozen trees from the rising steam |
There is also an ice hotel / museum on the property which I was excited to see! The entire thing is made of ice and is kept at a cool 25 degrees inside. It houses lots of sculptures by the 16 time world champion ice carver Steve Brice (I will admit I didn't know who that was until the tour). I'd say the main attraction is the ice bar, which included an appletini served in an ice martini glass! There are also 6 "rooms" with various themes and ice beds. Apparently you can rent a room and also receive a complimentary room in the main Chena resort where you can store your things and take a shower... and sleep in when you get too cold in the ice hotel haha.
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| Ice Hotel / Museum |
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| Knights jousting |
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| Tegan playing the ice xylophone |
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| Aurora Ice Bar |
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| Enjoying our appletinis at the ice bar |
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| Ice martini glass! |
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| Cheers |
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| Ice leopard and chess board |
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| Inside of the ice hotel, the chandeliers are even made from ice! |
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| Playing in an igloo |
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| Polar bear themed room |
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| Bart and Tegan considered staying in the ice bed for the night |
The geothermal energy also powers the greenhouses up in Chena that hydroponically grow veggies year round. They had lots of huge greens and tomatoes growing without any soil! The way the tomatoes were strung around was so interesting. I of course tried a salad in their restaurant hoping it would taste so delicious and home grown, however it tasted like any other salad haha. But the concept was still pretty neat.
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| Hydroponics in action |
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| Tomatos |
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| More tomatoes |
The drive home from Chena was probably one of the scariest experiences of my life. What should have been a 6 hour drive ended up at least 10, if not longer. The car we were in only had all season tires and the roads were in really bad condition with lots of ice. I volunteered to drive first before I took a Dremamine to prevent my carsickness and within 45 minutes nearly drove us off the road. Even though I was only driving about 20 mph, I still approached one turn with a little too much speed and when I turned the wheel nothing happened as we slid across the median and came within inches of the edge of the road. I then majorly overcompensated and nearly drove us off the other edge of the road in a zig zag. By the time we stopped and were still on the road, my heart was racing and I had to get out of the car and take some deep breaths. I couldn't drive any more after that because I was so freaked out. It was then I realized how thankful I was for my studded tires. I didn't really notice their affect until I felt how slippery it was without them. Anyway, we survived the long stressful trek home thank goodness!
After seeing so much snow up north of Anchorage, I was ready for the snow in town. I decided I was going to buy a pair of cross country skis for my winter workouts! Emily and I went to REI to try on the various boots and get sized for our new classic cross country skis. We ended up with the exact same skis and were so excited we had the salesman who helped us out take a picture of our new gear!
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| Yay new skis! |
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| So excited for my new skis |
It finally snowed a little bit in early December so a group of us decided to go cross country skiing and winter camping up at Eklutna Lake. We had our company Christmas party the night before so our numbers ended up being a little smaller than originally planned after that crazy night :) But Emily, Matt, Jodie, Alex, and I decided to brave the cold and try out winter camping. Attaching the skis to the packs and then walking with them proved to be more difficult than expected. However, the 2 mile trek to find a camping spot was so beautiful despite my skis hitting the trees often along the pathway. It was awesome to finally see some snow since we were about an hour north of Anchorage! Although it was an overcast day, the lake was such a vibrant blue that was magnified since everything around it was so monochromatic.
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Our brady bunch photo booth pic from
the company Christmas party |
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| Beginning our winter camping voyage |
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| So fun to finally see snow! |
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| Amazing Eklutna Lake views |
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| Reflections |
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| So stunning |
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| Emily and the beautiful mountains |
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| Looking for a camping spot |
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| The crew getting hungry |
We finally found a spot on the beach that was relatively flat to set up our tents, which we found out after the fact was an illegal camping spot, oops! We rented 4-season tents at REI that are more robust than the typical 3-season tents for this winter camping experience. Jodie the mastermind set up a fire while the rest of us gathered firewood. I took a family photo for Matt and Emily with the spectacular view in the background, which they ended up using as their Christmas card! After a couple more scenic shots, we ate dinner and enjoyed s'mores and wine around the fire. I was so calm around Emily's dogs, especially Sasha since she was my training dog. After awhile the girls decided to go for a night ski since we struggled to get our skis all the way there. This was my first time on the skis so I was a little nervous and fell a few times. But it was so pretty at night because the snow sparkled in the light of our headlamps. It ended up raining during the night and a lot of the snow actually melted by morning, which means the temperature was definitely above freezing - we estimated 40. So this ended up being a trial run of winter camping since it wasn't really that cold.
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| Emily and I being super helpful setting up camp |
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| Winter tents |
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| What an amazing camp site view |
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| Matt and Emily's Christmas card with their pups |
After seeing snow that weekend, I was in the Christmas spirit and decorated my house! I actually put up my tree the day before Thanksgiving since I was going to be out of town the rest of the weekend, but I didn't decorate it till after Thanksgiving :) I got my tree and poinsettias from Bell's Nursery again this year. I love that they have greenhouses and greenhouses full of every type of poinsettia you can imagine. I got a couple of reds and whites for my house and then a hybrid red / white one for my desk at work. I also held my annual Christmas cookie exchange / decorating party and I think this year Jodie's cookies won for most creative - they are little hedgehogs!
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| My perfect Fraser Fir |
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| Poinsettias for days |
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| Red one in my entry way |
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| Poinsettia on my desk at work |
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| Cookie exchange spread |
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| Yummy decorated cookies! |
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| Jodie's delicious hedgehogs |
Another thing I decided to do this winter was order a produce box once a week filled with fresh organic produce from the Pacific NW and even some things down from Mexico. I heard an advertisement for Full Circle on the radio and liked that they had different sized boxes depending on your household size. They also let you swap things out of your box every week if there are things you don't want. I was very happy with their produce and loved that I was able to get avocados and grapefruit up in Alaska during winter when it is really tough in the grocery stores. In the summertime, Alaska has decent produce but in the winter the stores seem to have slim pickings.
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| My first Full Circle produce box |
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| Used my butter lettuce and pears to make a salad |
Another year of Christmas time traveling, and this year my flights went very smoothly with no delays like last year. It was so nice to be home and relax a little bit in the warmer weather and spend some time with family and friends. I got to see both of my grandmothers since my Busia was staying with my parents at the time and my other grandma was passing through Dallas. She came with mom, dad, Andrew, and I to the 12 Days of Christmas exhibit at the Dallas Arboretum. They had 12 gazebo structures set up for each day of Christmas and a pathway amongst the pine trees to walk to each exhibit listening to Christmas carolers. I loved it! I also finally got to meet little cousin Maggie for the first time which was wonderful after only seeing her in photos for her first 7 months :) And I was able to catch up with some of my high school friends at the Gingerman.
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| Mom, Ryan, and I walking around White Rock Lake |
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| We found swans |
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| Mom, Ryan, and the swan |
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On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
a partridge in a pear tree |
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| Grandma, mom, and me with 3 french hens |
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| Andrew and I at seven swans a swimming (my favorite one) |
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| 12 drummers drumming |
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| Andrew and I in the christmas trees |
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| Carolers along the pathway |
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| High school friends |
It was a bit odd not to have Andrew with us on Christmas morning for the first time! I guess things change as we get older. My favorite gifts were my iPad and some beautiful bracelets from my mom & dad and a huge puzzle from my brothers! I also got an interesting fringe purse from my mom that is actually growing on me haha. I've rocked it a few times in Alaska and tell everyone my mom is a trendsetter and told me fringe is in :) My brothers and I gave our parents a home cooked surf and turf feast this year. I brought some king crab legs from Alaska, RC got some amazing steaks, and Andrew and Ryan helped with the delicious sides. It was quite a beautiful spread and turned out pretty tasty! I headed back home after my week of holiday fun for a low key New Years celebration with my Alaskan friends.
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| Prepping our surf and turf |
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| Yummy king crab legs |
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| Andrew playing with the legs |
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| Our Christmas feast |
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| Fun fact - crab claws have teeth |
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| Flourless chocolate cake and Kahlua whip cream for dessert |
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| Love my new Bourbon and Bowtie bracelets! |
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| My amoeba fringe purse |
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| Happy New Year 2015! |
In the new year, my group at work starting going to the ice skating rink right by the office for weekly skating lunch breaks. I finally got to use the skates that I bought last year! I was definitely a little shaky at first but got better as the winter went on. The guys used their hockey sticks and would pass the puck around while skating, but it took me a couple weeks to be comfortable enough to partake in that. Also, I definitely wore my ski helmet when skating because I was nervous of falling on my head. I've invested too much in these brains to lose them in an recreational ice skating accident haha.
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| Travis and Phil shooting the puck |
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| Lunch time skating |
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| Phil trying to make me fall :) |
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| A pretty and fun lunchtime activity! |
