Tuesday Update

The Art of Not Falling...

...is a good way to describe cross-country skiing. Knowing that Anchorage is world-known for its incredible ski trail system, we had our first of four ski lessons last night at Russian Jack Springs park (Kincaid park is on the water and has not had enough snow stick yet). To make it more challenging, the weather was around 5F.

You might wonder what one wears when facing the possibility of standing outside in that type of weather. My first suggestion: layering is a good thing! Frank wore two pairs of socks, long underwear, XC windstopper/wool tights, undershirt, long undershirt, wool zip top, down jacket, hat, gloves. Being one that likes to be warm, I wore my new warmest long underwear/zip top (fleecy and quick-wick), "Russia" liners and wool socks, XC windstopper snow tights, wool sweather, down jacket (the "Russia" jacket), hat and pearl izumi winter gloves.

We had a great time, even though we did not get to use poles. They put these little tracks in the snow so that you don't have to worry about keeping your skis straight, so there was no problem with crazy ski legs. When you lean on your toe, you stop the ski, when your foot is more balanced, you glide. We first learned how to walk, then did these "isometric exercises", which are really more like pushing your ski like you would a skateboard. So far, it's pretty easy to do, and is a great workout!

I'm hoping next time it's a bit warmer so that I don't have to wear all this stuff! However, the outlook for Wed doesn't look very good...

Hoare Frost

That's the name for the phenomenon we have been seeing on the trees, and describes better the icy stuff below in the Zoo article. Here's a picture of it on some trees. I'll try to get a picture of it one of these days :).

Coming Up...

Fairbanks! Frank and I will be going to Chena Hot Springs for MLK (it's called Alaska Diversity day here) this weekend! We're thinking about bringing our cross country skis...