To those of you who read my previous blog post about the onset of winter (you can see it here), it may seem as if the only components of an Alaskan winter are coldness, darkness, and overcastness. Though these all do seem to occur quite often, there are bright spots. Here are a couple of great winter activities that we were able to experience this weekend.
I was pumped on Saturday to read in the paper that the city-managed ice-skating rinks and ponds were ready and open for public use. Ice thickness is over 13 inches, allowing the city to clear and hot mop numerous ponds and rinks.
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| all the skates and cross-country skiing boots in our "Adventure Closet" |
Growing up in Kansas, we are lucky if even have a few days of decent ice every winter. As such, it is a big deal when good ice does occur. The call goes out and everyone drops what he or she was doing to come play hockey! Here in Anchorage, it is going to be a privilege to have numerous maintained venues for skating all winter long!
When we tried to go skating on Saturday, however, we returned a little disappointed. Though much of the lower 48 is currently experiencing frigid winter weather, here in Anchorage, the temperature was in the mid 30s. Though the ice was certainly thick enough, its top layer was too soft to do any quality skating. We resigned ourselves to the fact that we had to wait to come back at a later, colder time.
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| Marlene skating on a pond near our house. There is also a skating oval adjacent to this pond for those that appreciate speed-skating. |
Luckily, today (Sunday) – with temperatures just slightly below freezing – a couple of us headed out again and found skate-able ice! It was great fun to get back on ice and it whet my appetite for the many hours of skating and hockey I am sure will be enjoyed this winter!
Another exciting winter activity presented itself on Saturday at 10:50 pm in the form of a phone call from my host dad. He informed me that from his property thirty minutes or so out of Anchorage, he could see the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Though our house was socked in with a thick, pea-soup fog, my host dad stood several hundred feet higher, with clear views of the night sky. Our whole unit piled in the van and headed off in search of northern lights – the first for many of us including me.
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| the Aurora Forecast from the Alaska Geophysical Institute. If this is what a "4" on the scale looks like, I want to see a "9"! |
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| northern lights |
Emerging from the fog half an hour later, we were greeted with a subtle yet incredible display of northern lights. I was informed that this display was pretty weak in Alaskan terms, but for someone who has never seen such phenomena, it was awesome! We arrived back home at 2:00 in the morning a little tired but definitely excited. As we enter into prime aurora viewing season, I look forward to seeing more displays of this captivating and awe-inspiring occurrence.
