Alaskan New Year
On the 31st I woke up late (the sun was up!) and drove to Dorn’s house in Bird Creek. I saw the new (since I was last there in 2000) chicken coop and got to pet a chicken. The house, with the living room addition Karl helped build in when we last visited, is comfortable and snug, but it would be too confining for me to live there for more than a week. We had a delicious lunch of homemade corn bread and roadkill moose chili. Then Dorn, Puck, and I set off for Portage.
The drive to Portage was interesting. The sea ice we passed had heaved up into bizarre heaps from high tides and frozen cascades covered the cliffs along the road. There were ice climbers scaling the greenish ice. We saw snow-covered mountains, glaciers, avalanche run-offs, and the frozen Portage Lake. It was frigid and the visitors’ center was closed, so we drove to Girdwood, where Karl, Lydia, and I stayed at a B&B back in 2000. We had coffee and hot chocolate at a coffee shop.
Then we drove back to Bird Creek and stopped at Dorn’s friend Peter’s ceramics studio. Peter's work, in several different kinds of glaze, is amazing. I bought a large mug that’s mostly purple with a little blue and white. Then I dropped Dorn off at his place and returned to Anchorage. I talked to Karl and got the update on the feline and human doings back home. Mom and I shared a frozen pizza for dinner, this time not setting off all the smoke detectors in the house.
After naps, we talked for a while then repaired to Mom’s room, where the TV lives, and watched a taped delay of the New York City ball drop at midnight Anchorage time. A little more visiting and then it was too late for us!
Today I woke with a headache and spent a little while online while the drugs kicked in. Mom and I chatted a bit and then Dorn and family arrived with a New Year’s dinner. We ate, talked, and watched football. Now all is quiet. Tomorrow Mom and I will go out on another adventure.
The drive to Portage was interesting. The sea ice we passed had heaved up into bizarre heaps from high tides and frozen cascades covered the cliffs along the road. There were ice climbers scaling the greenish ice. We saw snow-covered mountains, glaciers, avalanche run-offs, and the frozen Portage Lake. It was frigid and the visitors’ center was closed, so we drove to Girdwood, where Karl, Lydia, and I stayed at a B&B back in 2000. We had coffee and hot chocolate at a coffee shop.
Then we drove back to Bird Creek and stopped at Dorn’s friend Peter’s ceramics studio. Peter's work, in several different kinds of glaze, is amazing. I bought a large mug that’s mostly purple with a little blue and white. Then I dropped Dorn off at his place and returned to Anchorage. I talked to Karl and got the update on the feline and human doings back home. Mom and I shared a frozen pizza for dinner, this time not setting off all the smoke detectors in the house.
After naps, we talked for a while then repaired to Mom’s room, where the TV lives, and watched a taped delay of the New York City ball drop at midnight Anchorage time. A little more visiting and then it was too late for us!
Today I woke with a headache and spent a little while online while the drugs kicked in. Mom and I chatted a bit and then Dorn and family arrived with a New Year’s dinner. We ate, talked, and watched football. Now all is quiet. Tomorrow Mom and I will go out on another adventure.