Yeah, But, Regardless, In Spite Of All Of This

I realize that having a friend or family member move from the midwest to Alaska is - what's the word? - it seems adventurous, out there, and other synonyms. Even when I say it out loud, "I live in Alaska," it still sounds a bit surreal. I live in Alaska? But I do - and I'm enjoying it entirely.

This week was, I won't lie, rough. So we don't need to go into that. Here are the good things that were in spite of the bad.

Monday evening Carrie and I resolved to go skiing. We both needed it. It was grand. As it got darker it was harder for me to balance in the snow - I couldn't see anything in front of me, and I think I rely very heavily on my sight. Also, I'm just not very good or quick yet. But regardless, it was a good time. Carrie was talking during this photo, but it's the only one I got of that evening. Down in the corner you can see part of one of her dogs. It was good to have a good friend that evening, and to be out.



I have also been working a bit on my afghan, which will be very big I think. So here's a teaser. :)



Anyway, I went skiing again on Saturday - and it was fantastic! I ended up going further than we'd gone on Monday, mostly because we had the daylight to spare. It was awesome. It was great powdery, and I ended up breaking new trail because I've not gone out there enough to really know where I'm going, so I just kind of was going... even though there is a trail marked. But anyway, so I went along the power lines that go east outside of the village into the hills. It was great skiing out. But then I had to turn around and come back... And it had gotten a little windier than I remembered...

So I got a little cold-wind-nipped. I got this sweet v-shaped red mark on my neck, and my right cheek got it. It was so windy, my hair was frozen to my necky. It was unbelievable. :) So I skied back in the wind. There were parts where it wasn't so bad, actually, and when the wind wasn't right in my face I found the trail that Carrie had made with her dogs, and that spot (which is the actual trail, not the Karis-made trail) was really fun. But then I was back in the wind again. Oh well.



I went out again today to ski because I just needed to. Also, it was sunny and beautiful and not really windy, so I definitely needed to take advantage. It wasn't as nice of a ski because the powder had blown and everything was chunky and icy and hard. But it's good to practice in that sort of snow, so we're good. I got a couple of videos. :) Here is one:



I've also gotten into duct taping my feet so as to protect my feet from blisters. I know, I already have blisters, but with the gauze and duct tape, they are not really getting worse now. So that has been a fair solution.



Anyway, I'm going to end with this amazing view of the landscape out east of the village. This is where I skied to today. If you click on it and look at it bigger, you can see the mountains in the background. It was really sunny today, so it makes it hard for everything to show up in the picture.



Peace.