Winter is Coming!

So, I have decided to branch out a bit more with our blog. Instead of doing just the occasional post every six months or so about random things that we've done in our life I've decided to try harder to keep y'all better updated with the happenings and maybe some bonus posts as well. So here we go!

We are now heading into October and it's getting to be that time of the year. Already the temperature has started to drop, it averages around 50 during the day and 30-40 at night. Before too long the snow will come. We’ve already had some flurries and it has snowed in the mountains and other parts of Alaska. One of my memories on my Facebook this morning was that we had snow two years around this time. With an Alaskan winter comes a lot of preparation so I thought I'd give you guys an idea on some of the things that we have to get done.

Preparing for Winter Checklist:

- Move patio/lawn furniture inside so it doesn't get ruined.

- Clean BBQ grill and get it covered.

- Bring shovels up from the basement.

- Clean out our cars. The last thing I want to do is vacuum it out at -40 so we always give our cars a good clean before winter hits.

- Make sure the winterization on our cars are good to go. This year we have to replace both of our plugs after two years. This also includes making sure that the windshield wiper fluid is rated for negative temps.

- Make sure everyone in the family is set with winter gear; gloves, hats, coats, boots, etc.

Ready or not it’ll be here before we know it!

The GREAT Stay-cation of 2017

For a couple weeks during the beautiful month of August my husband was able to take some vacation time. Now if you don't know August is a gorgeous month here in Alaska. It's cooler and sometimes rainy, the mosquitoes aren't as fierce, and you'll often get some really nice sunny days out of it. So we decided to spend his vacation here in Fairbanks. The plan was to get out and see the area, catch up on some stuff, and get the cars/house ready to go before winter hits.

Our stay-cation started out with a couple hikes. The first was to Creamer's Field, a migratory waterfowl refuge, sitting on 2,200 acres of state owned land. It's a beautiful and easy walk. There are a couple trails to choose from. We walked the 1 mile Borealis Trail loop.

Our second hike was to Angel Rocks. I've been wanting to do this hike since we moved here a couple years ago but at the time I wasn't physically capable of making it. Angel Rocks is a 3.5 mile trail. It starts on even ground but then sharply climbs up about 900 ft. At the top the elevation is 1,750 ft and the view is worth the 2 hours it took us to get to the top.

After the hike to Angel Rocks we took a few days to recuperate, because lets face it that hike was killer on the legs! We got some projects going that we've been wanting to do around the house (more info to come in a different post), replaced the struts on the hubster's car and rotated my tires while we were at it.  

The next adventure we had during our Stay-cation was a trip to a couple of the neighboring towns. The first was Salcha. It's only half an hour from Fairbanks and has this cute little place called the Knotty Shop that has some adorable knick-knacks and souvenirs. The building itself is pretty cool because of all of the knotted, burled wood. There were also some "animals" on the front lawn made out of wood. The one pictured is of a mosquito. 

The second neighboring town we went to was on our way back to Fairbanks. It's a little town with a population of just over 2,000. A cute place where light poles are decorated like candy canes and you can stop by and hang out with 8 reindeer. Have you guessed it yet? If you guessed we went to NORTH POLE, ALASKA!... You were right. It was so much fun and even though there are still a few months till Christmas I am ready to start celebrating Christmas right now, after going there. Of course I'm going to enjoy fall first but still, it was awesome. We stopped at Santa Claus house and looked around. It's pretty much a big Christmas store filled with t-shirts, Christmas trees, decorations, a sweets store, and a toy section. You can even find Santa and Mrs. Claus there throughout the week. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the reindeer because it started to storm so they all went inside (I can't blame them because that rain got crazy). But we fully intend on going back closer to the holidays for more. Though not too close to the holidays because we were told that the line to see Santa can get insane. On average the wait time to see him is 4 hours! 

The last stop on our Stay-cation was to Pioneer Park here in Fairbanks. It's a cute little tourist spot. It has a bunch of shops and museums here in. The museums are mostly about the history of Alaska and the area. One of the museums is inside of a large boat! There is a carousel, mini-golf, and a couple trains as well. One of them was the original No. 1 engine from 1905, and it's still chugging along. My husband would tell you that riding the train was his favorite part. We stayed for a good part of the day and had a lot of fun. We hung on during the light rain but once it started pouring we headed home. 

All in all I would have to say that our Stay-cation was a success. We finally got to explore the area, had time to relax, start my fall semester of college, and get some much needed stuff done. I think we're ready for winter now! 

Oh! The places we have been...

So it has been just over a year since my last post. WOW! At first I wasn't able to post anything because I got a new laptop and I couldn't remember my password or email or really anything that I needed in order to recover this account and continue on. When I did finally manage to get back in there was just so much going on that I didn't have time to sit down and catch y'all up on everything. But now that it's summer I'm on a break from school for the next few months and I'm ready to get to typing. A lot of major things have happened and we hopefully have some fun things coming our way for this summer!

Let me catch you up!

Last summer we visited the Alaska pipeline. There is actually a viewing point just a few miles out of town! Haha. It just interesting and definitely a lot bigger than we thought.

We also took a long walk at Creamer's Field and I can't wait to go again this summer.

Many trips were made to the Farmer's market. I have developed a new love for summertime because that seems to be the only time that we can find some good fruits & veggies.

At the end of the summer there was a big party and we got to see Thompson Square!

I also made a friend who unfortunately moved at the end of the summer. But we spent quite a bit of time playing Pokemon Go!

This last fall I received some life changing information from my doctor. More details to come in another blog post. But let me give you a hint... If you are on my Facebook you saw a preview of it.

The husband went away for work and was gone for a few months this last winter. In that time I learned that when he's gone things will undoubtedly break or go missing (in this case it was my car that didn't want to start), a house can stay surprisingly clean when there is only one person living in it, and that Alaska winters are not fun to deal with alone.

My favorite part of the winter though is seeing the Northern Lights. Because of the serious lack of sunlight that we receive in this part of Alaska in the winter we are able to see it almost every cloudless night in the winter. 

This winter I was also stuck in an wrist brace because of an injury that occurred last summer and I experienced a very cold, dark, and snowy winter. At one point we hit -50 and there was so much snow that I could stand in it waist deep. In all my snowy misery I made a another friend who suffered through the snow with me.

Now that "spring" is here and for the most part all the snow is gone. I am ready to open up all the windows, do some spring cleaning, and enjoy the warm weather! Hopefully this year our house can avoid the major allergies that we got hit with last spring.