Sorry again for the delay in updating. Last night we had a bit of rain, which resulted in the roads looking like ice rinks. As you may remember, Anchorage does not believe in salting its roads for a variety of reasons (including that they then become moose popsicles). But this also means that after a rainstorm, the roads literally look like ice rinks. Needless to say, we drove approx. 15 mph, and Tammy's studded tires came in great use. Who knew that ice skates would make for a necessary means of transportation to get to work?!
Life here has been a bit exciting. Last week, Steve traveled to Homer to watch the installation ceremony for a new Youth Court. A point of explanation:
Youth Court: Alaska has this amazing system for dealing with troubled youth. Basically, for teens who are caught doing minor offenses (small shoplifting, drinking underage, etc.) they have the option of being "sentenced" by the youth court. The court is composed entirely of teenagers; the judges, defense lawyers, and prosecutors all are approx. the defendant's age. No adults are allowed in the room except for the parents of the defendant, and one lawyer-person who oversees the proceedings to make sure everything is fair. The judges then sentence the defendant to different forms of punishment: community service, essay writing, making videos or projects about what they did wrong, etc. It's a really cool system.
Anyway, Steve and his co-clerk friends got to explore Homer a bit too. Here we are on the spit:
Then on Saturday, we went to buy cross country skis in Anchorage. We ended up spending a good deal of money at REI (bye-bye pay check!), but we are super-excited to start skiing. We decided to take the skis out for a spin at Eagle River on Sunday (you may remember Eagle River as where we first saw snow while hiking). There was a TON of falling on our parts (our rears are pretty sore), but it was a ton of fun. We're really excited to make this a regular activity. We also bought super-fun nordic ski clothes, so we'll put pictures of that up as soon as we have them.
UPDATE: we just found out that Anchorage Public Schools cancelled school tomorrow due to icy road conditions. This sounds like good news; BUT, it turns out Tammy has to work tomorrow crazy hours because when school is out, her program is in full force. We're keeping warm!
Until next time, have a happy thanksgiving!
"moose popsicles"?! Sounds like you're saying the recipe for moose popsicles is salt, a road, and ground up mooses. Hmmm..haha. Youth Court and skiing sound like fun.
ReplyDelete@Jim - yum, new recipe?
ReplyDeleteStay safe, Steve and Tammy! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and keep us updated on more of your fun, especially pics of skiing :) Drew and i inherited his parents' skis, but we haven't put them to use yet. You'll have to give us lessons sometime!