Our First Anniversary

Nothing to see here, just strolling through the park

This past Monday, May 21, 2012, Kelly and I celebrate our first wedding anniversary. One year ago we were married on top of the Free Library of Philadelphia during a ceremony that was supposed to take place during the ending of the world. Good thing that turned out to be wrong. Even if it hadn't, it was still one helluva party. We were surrounded by friends, family, books, and our city. We couldn't have asked for a better day. Unfortunately for me, I drank just a bit too much the night before and fought off a hangover all day. After nearly refunding what little breakfast I ate - to be fair, it was over cooked, my sausage patties were burnt on the outside and raw in the middle - I recovered just in time for pictures. Good thing too, pictures too for-ev-ver. 

One fine looking group of people

We got through the initial run of pictures and moved on to the ceremony. According to one of those crack-pot apocalypse the world was supposed to end at about the same time our ceremony started. Sure enough, some dark clouds blew in, the wind kicked up, and the bridesmaids and groomsmen got rained on. And just like that, it was gone, the sun came out, and the world kept turning. I made my vows, which were awesome, Kelly made hers, which were nearly as good, we said "I do" and the party was on. 

College crew #1

The dance floor was pretty busy all night, especially when REM's "It's The End of   World as we Know It" came on. There was the obligatory sing along to "Sweet Caroline," and a pretty sweet mix of music all night. 

College crew #2

 I even did my best not to smash cake in Kelly's face. I really wanted to, but her threats were accompanied by a sufficient level of menace that I decided I was better off being nice. Besides, there's years ahead to push her buttons.

Delicious, delicious cake

Good view of a great city

And We're Back!

Got a behind the scenes view while at Brewin for Bruins at the Alaska Zoo

Whew. Sorry for the long absence. April got pretty crazy there for a while. Breakup (the melting season) came and went without any major incidents. It started with lots of standing water and slushly puddles. After a week snow piles started to compress. After a few more weeks the snow was gone. It seemed like it was sunny approximately 37 days in April. The extended sunshine counts as extra days. 

Got a hair cut and shave to go along with breakup

At the end of April, we moved. The owners or our first rental want to sell their home. They offered to let us out of the lease anytime before it ends July 31st. We decided that rather than waste the summer looking for a new place, packing, moving, and unpacking, we'd compress the experience into about a month. We found a sweet new place on the East side of Anchorage, in a neighborhood called the "scenic foothills" near the base of the Chugach Mountains. We're on the second floor of a house. We picked up an extra bedroom and half bath, along with a bigger yard, large shed (complete with electricity!), and a deck that looks out to the mountains. The move at the end of April went smoothly and Kelly and I have settled in nicely.

Nice big dining room windows that look out at the mountains

Ellsworth has had a big of trouble with the move, but that's a 

story for another post.

...Maybe not that much trouble 

Days in Anchorage are topping out at almost 18hrs of daylight. It's been hard to go to work everyday, when the sun is shining so brilliantly outside. It seems to be much nicer during the week than on the weekends. After this winter, that's just cruel. Fortunately the long evenings make for perfect hiking opportunities. Now that the snow is gone and the ground is drying, we'll be getting back out on the trails. Stay tuned for summer adventures.

This is what Alaskan summer are all about

It's Official!

Courtesy of ADN

We did it! The winter of 2011-2012 if officially the snowiest on record. Forget that it started snowing in the fall and continues to snow in spring, we've accumulated more snow than any other winter on record. In you face "the past!" (fun fact, I often say that at work when finally gaining the upper hand on an archival collection). It's still snowing. We'll likely finish the day with another inch of snow. From what I'm told, it's not unusual to get snow in May.

It was nice seeing our driveway and the occasional swath of grass. Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow. 14hrs of daylight do wonders in melting snow. I remain fairly confident that one day, maybe soon, the snow will be gone.

Running of the Reindeer

Check out around 1:57. Look for the guy with the red jacket and batman mask.


Last weekend was the ceremonial start of the Iditarod, but more importantly it was the 5th annual Running of the Reindeer. Feeling particularly adventurous since moving to Alaska, I decided it would be a great idea to run with a bunch of costumed people while being chased by animals with extremely pointy antlers. What could go wrong? As it turns out, the hardest part of the whole event was actually running 3 blocks in deep snow. The reindeer turned out to be rather tame - they'd rather run around you than over. Not that I'm complaining. They are also extremely fast. By the time I noticed there was a reindeer close for me to pet, it was bolting down the street.

Thrill of the Knight

In order to fit it with the crowd, I decided to make myself a costume. Using several rolls of red and black duct tape I made a Michael Jackson-esque Thriller jacket and a batman mask. Not that they really fit together, but I thought it'd be fun. Turns out, as much as I liked my liked my costume, duct tape is a terrible insulator. It was cold and snowing! I made out better than other though, like the guy who showed up wearing only boots and a pair of daisy-dukes.

The unicorn was dancing with a cow

Wouldn't be an Alaskan even without a husky

Pretty cool spot to watch the start

Earlier in the day, Kelly and went over to the ceremonial start of the Iditarod. Thanks to my company's work with Exxon, I snagged a couple passes to the Exxon hospitality sweet. We had a nice spread of breakfast burritos, cake, cookie, coffee, and or course, smoked salmon. We had a great view of the start line and saw some of our favorite mushers go by. We popped in and out of the suite - it was really hot in there - and we could get front row view from the street. The Iditarod has been on for almost a week now. Mushers are passed the halfway point and should be finishing up in a few days.

The mushers have a good time with the ceremonial start too

Come Haw!

Day 2 started at Arctic Arrow Kennels passed Wasilla, on the way to Willow. Not only do the folks at Arctic Arrow kennels keep sled dogs, but they have a number of Icelandic horses. The horses get a pretty impressive winter coat. Kelly hit it off with the owners and secured herself an invited back over the summer to ride the horses. Before we were allowed to go mushing, we had to do some chores.

Changing out the straw in the dog's house

Our class got broken up into groups and given jobs. One group fed the dogs, another gave them water, the third group had to pick up the poop, while we were responsible for changing the straw in each dog house. I thought we were getting off easy, turns out I was wrong. All but one of dog houses had a removable roof. The one in the picture above, did not. Most of the straw we had to change was wet, frozen, and smelled a bit ripe.  Ah well, not a bad price to pay to ride a dogsled.

Talking shop

After taking care of the dogs we visited the sled shop. Bernie, pictured above, makes sleds for Iditarod racers. He's made winning sleds for mushing starts like Lance Mackey. Bernie has a pretty sweet set up in his shop. He molds and laminates each runner and assembles the sled in the shop. He was working on one for the winner of the Jr. Iditarod. Bernie's wife, Jeanette (our teacher) puts the sled bag and basket together. Sleds aren't cheap. The one for the Jr. Iditarod winner would retail for close to $2,000.

Practicing with the Iron Dog

Finally, after chores, and shop class, it was time to ride. Jeanette and Bernie though it would be a good idea to take a practice ride tethered to a snow machine. It turned out to be a good idea, more than a few people fell off. Had the dogs been attached, they would've run away, dragging an empty sled behind them. To be fair, Bernie wasn't the smoothest driver and jerked half the class right off their sleds.

Aftermath of falling off the dog sled

I lucked out with a smooth ride

I took my turn, and then it was time to ride. Bernie and Jeanette brought out some of their dogs. Jamiee Kinzer, an 2012 Iditarod musher, brought some of Deedee Jonrowe's retired dogs and a few puppies to help round out our team. There were 16 dogs, giving us 4 sleds with 4 dogs each. Getting the dogs on the sleds was an adventure. They were so excited that when we walked them to the sled, they were basically walking on their hind legs. 

Hello!

Got my best side

Mushing with 4 dogs pulls you along at a pretty good pace. They were much smoother than the snow machine, but tended to wander a bit. The trail we followed around the lake was fairly narrow and the snow on either side was really deep. A few times the dogs went into the deep snow and almost pulled the sled off the trail. The dogs recovered quickly and I didn't have to worry about breaking a new trial, or falling off.  Kelly got the last ride of the day. The dogs were a bit winded by then, but still got her around a good pace. By the end of the day, we were pretty beat. It was a long weekend, but filled with awesome experiences. Hopefully we get to mush again one day.

Kelly's turn

Riding off into the sunset

MUSH!

Even though I was waving, I had a death grip with my right hand

The weekend I'd be waiting for since we moved to Alaska finally arrived. Dog mushing turned out to be even more awesome than I thought it could be. We started with a 3hr classroom session last Tuesday. We got our itinerary for the weekend, met a former Jr. Iditarod champion and Iditarod finisher, Melissa Owens (please note, there will be A LOT of name dropping in this post). Melissa brought one of her lead dogs - the dogs in the front, and went over how the dogs are harnessed, what qualities make a good mushing dog, a good lead dog, and what it's like on the trail. Our teacher, a retired musher, gave us some background on the race, and everything else involved in mushing. We left class knowing we had a long weekend coming up, but pretty excited to see how things would go.

Just outside of Wasilla, Ak

Saturday morning started well before dawn. We dropped Ellsworth off with some friends and picked up a couple underclassmen in our class who needed a ride. We arrived at the start of the Jr. Iditarod around 830am on Knik Lake, just passed Wasilla. We were there to help out as needed, observe the teams getting ready, and talk to any of the racers or teams that had time for us. Jr. Iditarod racers are some pretty hardcore kids. The race is open to 14 to 17 years-old. The race is 150 total miles and goes overnight. Racers camp out at the halfway point and then finish the next day. Mushers run teams of 10 dogs and came from as far away as Massachusetts.

Checking the gear before the race

The race started on Knik Lake and finished in Willow

By all accounts the weather was perfect the morning of the race. It was clear, sunny, and 3 degrees. The dogs run best when it's below 0. Personally, I would've operated a bit better had it been above 10, but I'm no teenage musher. We followed race officials from team to team, checking to see that each musher had all the required gear. Every musher seemed to have all the optional equipment for the dogs, but had none of the optional stuff for themselves. Crazy kids.
 

Those icicles formed in about an hour

Kelly, in case you can't tell

By far, the two calmest dogs

Once the pre-race checks were done teams started securing their dogs to the sled. It's truly amazing how excited the dogs were to get out and start running. The vast majority of the dogs were barking, howling, or whining in excitement. At the start line a lot of dogs were straining their harnesses, pulling to start. I found out from a race official that you can tell a well-trained dog by whether or not they pull before the start. The better trained dogs conserve their energy for the race and don't strain against the harness. Only 1 team out of 12 had dogs that weren't pulling before the start, but they weren't the winners.

Ready to go!

It's amazing how excited the dogs get

 After all of the racers set out we left for a quick tour of Iditarod headquarters before heading for Eagle River and the home, kennel, and studio of official Iditarod artists Jon and Jona van Zyle. Jon and a  Jona have kennel of Siberian Huskies, the traditional mushing dog. More and more the Alaska Husky (mixed breed) has hound bred into it for speed. The van Zyle's are old school.

The huskies were gorgeous dogs. They also love people

We were able to play with the dogs for a bit before we got a tour of the van Zyle's studio. We got some small prints signed by Jon to finish off the day. Jon and Jona were fantastic hosts and really epitomize the kind of friendliness we've found almost everywhere we've been in Alaska.

The dogs are trained to wait on their houses to be petted

A slightly larger hamster wheel

The second time I've seen a creepy baby doll randomly placed in Alaska

Stay tuned for our actual mushing adventure.

New Addition

Meet Chuck

Two weeks ago, after nearly 4 years about talking about adopting a dog, we finally adopted a dog. Although we hadn't really planned to adopt at this point in the year, we could resist once we met Chuck. The original plan was to wait for spring and avoid walks in -20 degree weather or during blinding snow. It would've been nice...Unlike Kelly and me, Chuck loves the snow and cold. He's a mix of German Shepard and Alaskan Husky. The Husky in him loves jumping into snow drifts and sticking his head into snow piles.

He loves to smash the ball into the snow and then try to find it

Like most adopted dogs, Chuck has his set of issues. When he came home two weeks ago, he wouldn't let us touch his paws. He's terrified of the vacuum cleaner - he can't even look at it. He's also confused and intimidated by the air vents. We've seen some separation anxiety build over the last week, he gets really worked up when we leave for work. Thankfully he isn't a chewer, doesn't bark much, and has excellent bladder control. He's torn up a bit of the molding near the front door, but that's an easy fix.

Chuck has one blue eye and one brown eye

Chuck is about 1.5 years old and still has a lot of puppy in him. He has the standard giant sized paws for a German Shepard and clomps around on them. When coming downstairs in our house he often goes too fast and ends up running to the front door. When he gets excited and runs around on the hardwood floors he usually ends up sliding all over. He's generally just a goofy dog, he fits in perfectly.

The stress of having a new dog and rearranging our schedules aside, it's been a great first two weeks with Chuck. We're working on training him. He responds well to treats when training, but we need to start moving him away from treats every time. We can touch his paws now, but he's still not comfortable enough with us to let us apply moisturizer to keep his pads from drying out and cracking. Hopefully we can get him used to us coming and going soon. Obedience classes on on the horizon, along with learning how to skijor. Next time we talk about Chuck, we'll be calling him Ellsworth, in honor of one of our favorite Deadwood characters.

Someday