Christmas Dinner

We had a Christmas Dinner at our house and invited Bob and Jessie, Jeff and Heather, and Guido and Ulrike (and their new baby Jonas) to bring a dish. The theme was supposed to be 'midwest' but is was kind of a variety of interesting and tasty dishes. We made swedish meatballs with lingonberry reduction sauce, haselbach potatoes, and sweet and sour cabbage, all specialties of my mom's Norwegian/Minnesotan heritage. Heather (from Iowa) brought a broccoli casserole (may be known as a hotdish to some), but luckily she decided to use regular cheddar instead of the more traditional Velveeta cheese. She also brought a tropical fruit salad, reminiscent of her recent trip to Hawaii. Jessie brought runza's, a Nebraskan phenomena comprised of meat and cabbage in a pocket. Bob made a flourless chocolate cake with a cranberry sauce drizzled over it. Guido and Ulrike, who are from Germany, brought a blueberry pie.

Here are some photos, and mom youcha, you would be proud because Emily wore her Dale of Norway sweater.

Emily cooking

Bob eating pie

Jeff and Heather eating pie

Bob, Jessie, and Heather chatting

Ulrike, Guido, and Jonas

Everyone should be proud because Bob showed up as a Luchador:

Weekend Ski to Angel Creek Cabins

Saturday we skied into two different cabins off Chena Hot Springs Road. The temperature luckily warmed up from -40 F to around 0 F by Friday, when the clouds rolled in.

Luke carried a sled with our sleeping bags, lantern, cookstove, and food, while Emily carried a small backpack with clothing. The cabins have a woodstove and bunkbeds and an outhouse.

The trail conditions were really poor for skiing due to the lack of snow and the trail was ripped up in parts by summer ATV use. But it was a good workout.

The first cabin we stayed at was 3.7 miles from the road so it was a short ski. When we arrived we quickly got a fire going in the woodstove to get warm, then hung out reading and eating the rest of the night.

The next morning we woke up late and ate a breakfast and gathered some wood so the next people using the cabin would have some wood ready to start a fire. We took off on the short 3 mile ski to the next cabin.

Jeff and Heather met us the 2nd night at the cabin at trail mile 6.7, but they biked in with their winter bikes about 16 miles! They are hardcore. The photo below is of Heather when they first arrived, we had the cabin all heated up and hot drinks ready for them.

Then Monday we skied out and drove 5 miles to Chena Hot Springs for a very hot and muscle relaxing soak. We ate dinner there and then headed back to Fairbanks to get ready for Christmas Dinner at our house the next day.

Chena Hot Springs in the Winter, very foggy!

San Francisco

We had a terrific time in San Francisco. We started out the trip renting a car and driving to our motel in Petaluma, 1 hour north of San Francisco. On Saturday we drove to Point Reyes National Seashore and spent the day hiking along the beach and coastal trails. It was a beautiful sunny and windy day. The next day, Luke watched the Packers while Emily hit a nearby outlet mall, and then in the afternoon we headed to Muir Woods Park to check out the redwood trees and do a short hike. It is amazing how close to the city these natural areas are located.

San Francisco was a blast, staying at a sweet little hotel called the Inn at Union Square (highly recommended). Emily went to the AGU conference each day, while Luke spent time exploring SF, renting a bicycle and biking across the Golden Gate bridge to Sausalito and Tiburon, and then taking the ferry back to Fisherman's Wharf. We both hit the tour at Alcatrez and also had dim sum in Chinatown (Luke's first dim sum experience), and our first time eating chicken feet, which weren't as bad as we expected, but definitely won't order them again.....

It was great to be in the city and to be in the sunlight!

On Wednesday night, we hit the Charlie Hunter show at Yoshi's Jazz bar on Fillmore. On Thursday Emily had her poster presentation at the conference and that afternoon Luke took off. Thursday night, Emily and some colleagues from work went to see the amazing and wonderful Cirque du Soleil, where a new show just opened in San Francisco, called Kooza.

Now we are back in Fairbanks where the temperature at our house is -2 F. Not too bad. Next weekend we will ski into the Angel Creek cabins along Chena Hot Springs Road and enjoy a 4-day weekend.

Sunrise...Sunset

Here are a couple of photos I took of a sunrise at 9:40am on my way into work. This is in front of the Dog Musher's Hall, facing southeast toward the Alaska Range. It was a fantastic sunrise. I dropped Luke off there so he could try out his winter biking set up without having to kill himself biking down icy Summit Drive (13% grades). Then I proceeded to work - getting in around 10am (Luke had the day off). When it is dark out all the time, we tend to sleep in later and go to work later......

The weather has been fantastic lately, despite the lack of snow. I am pretty sure it has not dropped below 0 degrees F at our house yet this winter. The temperature at my house is 31 F right now, and down in town, it was around 0 F!!!! The temperature inversion is great up here in the hills where we live!

Dark but not too cold..........yet!

We've been watching a ton of college basketball lately, with two basketball tournaments in Alaska, the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks and the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage. We went to both of them. Spent Thanksgiving in Anchorage with Jeff and Heather doing some shopping, eating of good food, and watching college ball. We had a great thanksgiving dinner at Simon and Seafort's Saloon and Grill, one of the few restaurants open on Thanksgiving, which is located in downtown Anchorage overlooking Cook Inlet. We were impressed, it was not like Fairbanks' restaurants! Their turkey dinner plate included: Slow-roasted, free-range turkey, apple-sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet glazed vegetables, fresh cranberry relish, and housemade turkey jus.

We've been out skiing a few times so far, we just have enough snow to ski, however, last week the chinook winds came in and temperatures warmed up to the 30's and 40's causing some melting of snow and making conditions not so great, especially when we were in Anchorage, where they shut down the ski resorts and most trails.

There is still snow in Fairbanks, but it's a bit icy. Hopefully we'll get more snow soon. Luke almost has everything he needs to start doing some winter biking, a friend gave him some winter studded bike tires, he purchased some new bike pants, a tail-light, and a fancy new headlight, so he is almost set to go. As you can see from the photo it is dark and snowy in our front yard. The photo was taken at night, not during the day, but I'll try to get some day shots for the next blog.

We've been spending some time indoors on the couch with movies and the fireplace going to stay warm! Luke also went to see the band Iron Maidens (all-female band who does covers of iron maiden songs!) with Bob, Jessie, Johnny, and John Johnson, let's just say it was an interesting experience... (photo courtesy Bob & Jessie). Oh the wonderful bands we get up here in Fairbanks.

Wow - we are definitely looking forward to San Francisco in a few weeks.

Winter is here.

Well it is definitely winter. We'll have to post some pictures. Over the past 4 weeks we have gotten about 10 inches of snow or so, enough to be able to ski. It hasn't been too cold yet, but now with daylight savings time over, it gets dark very early, by 5pm or earlier. Here is a photo from the "Arctic Cam" positioned downtown Fairbanks.

Luke is busy traveling this month for work. Today he is heading to St. Mary's in Western Alaska, near the mouth of the Yukon River to conduct a review of their water treatment plant. Next week he heads to Anchorage for work and the following week we are headed to Anchorage for Thanksgiving vacation and to see the Great Alaska Shootout DI basketball tournament with Jeff and Heather.

Emily is busy making up the lost time at work from when she had the appendectomy and she is very busy preparing for a presentation at the AGU conference in December. We will be heading to San Francisco, CA in December because Emily is attending the AGU conference, and so Luke is going to tag along. It should be a great escape from Fairbanks in December, we are going to arrive the afternoon of Friday Dec. 7 and rent a car and head a few hours north for some camping that weekend. Then we have a hotel in Union Square for the conference.

We are also busy planning our trip to Hawaii this January. It will be our first trip to Hawaii and we chose the Big Island for its varied geography. Luke's parents will be meeting us there.