Isn't Football Season Just the BEST

I do miss my family...I really do...and I am truly looking forward to flying home on Friday. But I can not tell a lie, I have LOVED being able to watch so much football this weekend. I know if I were home there would be 1,000 things I would need to give some attention to, and would feel too guilty to simply plop myself in front of the television. But here, those distractions don't exist. I did pack one suitcase in preparation for going home; I did do a load of laundry; but mostly I knitted and watched FOOTBALL.

With the time difference, I could start watching college games almost from the moment I woke up. All my favorite college teams won yesterday - Georgia and Florida came from behind and Ohio State (with Urban Meyer) looked great. I got to watch the end of the Nascar race and it wasn't even 9pm here. Kasey Kahne made it into the Chase and I knew Rusty had to be excited that #24 beat out Katie's Kyle Busch for the last spot. Today, Atlanta won, the Jets and Tebow won, and now I get to watch Peyton Manning and the Bronco's with dinner. Next Sunday I'll be flying back to Anchorage so there won't be any football for me.

Termination Dust



View of Termination Dust from my office window



Today I saw Termination Dust for the first time. Termination Dust is the first snow on the mountain tops. It signals the termination of summer...which I think terminated a LONG time ago here...but it also signals that you need to wrap up any activities that you had planned before winter arrives. This used to be the signal to farmers to get ready for winter and in the 40's during the building boom, it meant the termination of summer construction jobs. Now it just means the first snow storm is around the corner.

I also experienced my first power outage in Alaska - - thank GOD the temperature is only in the 40's, otherwise my hotel room would have gotten really cold. The winds last night were between 80 and 100 mph. Because Anchorage has a level of permafrost, tree roots don't go very deep. With all the rain we've been having, everything is a bit soggy so when the winds came, trees went down all over town and the city experienced a power outage. These types of winds are normal for Anchorage...they just usually happen in winter when everything is frozen so that trees don't come down.



Kelly's Visit

After being gone for three weeks, I can't tell you how excited I was to see Kelly. She arrived Thursday afternoon after a LONG flight. It was the first time she had ever traveled alone and Stone and I were both proud of her; changing planes in Minneapolis, getting through security, finding her way all by herself. We went to the Moose's Tooth for dinner Thursday night - - the best pizza in the world, according to some, and I have to say, it was REALLY good.

I tried to explain to Kelly how small Anchorage is. Atlanta has over 5 million people and Anchorage has about 250,000, but this didn't seem to mean much to her. What hit home is when she saw the telephone number on the pizza box from the Moose's Tooth..."you mean this town is so small you can dial the telephone number without the area code????"

Friday we went to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. Kelly didn't think reindeer were real. I told her FLYING reindeer weren't real, but reindeer do exist. She didn't believe me...until she saw a reindeer at the fair, along with cows, pigs and goats. We ate funnel cake and shopped (of course we shopped...this is Kelly we're talking about). On the way home, we actually saw a moose - running across the tundra chasing after a girl moose.

The one thing Kelly really wanted to do while she was here she didn't get to do - paraglide off a cliff at Alyeska. The weather just didn't cooperate - either it was too rainy, or too fogged in, or too windy. So on Saturday we drove to Seward, a quaint little seaside village about two and half hours away from Anchorage. The drive to Seward was beautiful, and the rainy weather seemed to clear as we got to town, complete with fabulous rainbows.

Sunday still proved to be crappy weather, and we could have taken a Glacier Cruise, or gone Flight-seeing over Mt. McKinley...but instead we took that money and went to a spa...and all I could think was how much Liz Pyatte would have approved of the decision. Kelly had her first facial and we left GLOWING.

Monday we just hung out. She had homework to do and we watched stupid movies on TV and went swimming at the hotel and stayed in our pajamas. I loved being with her and putting her on the plane this morning was very sad for me...although I don't think she realized that.

She left thinking that GOD had done a fabulous job with Alaska; the mountains were unbelievable. And she didn't understand why anyone would ever live here! It is very remote (at home I can get to Florida or Alabama or the beach) and unless you are in to the great outdoors (hunting, fishing, skiing, biking, hiking, paragliding, flight-seeing, whale-watching), there's nothing to do here.

Earthquake Park

Saturday was a beautiful day here in Anchorage. I drove to Earthquake Park where there is a 12 mile path that winds along the coast - Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. I needed a little exercise and was happy to be out in the fresh air after being so sick all week. Earthquake Park commemorates the 1964 earthquake in Anchorage where 130 acres slid down towards the water, destroying 75 houses and killing 3. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the US, completely destroying the town of Valdez and causing a tsunami covering Seward and many other cities. Alaska has frequent earthquakes, so I'm told, but most are inconsequential.

From there, I visited two crack houses (otherwise known as yarn shops), and then went to see downtown Anchorage. Downtown Anchorage is a lot like downtown Gatilinburg - it's filled with souvenir shops, trading posts, bars, fur shops, native Alaskan art galleries...everything screams TOURIST! I'm sure Kelly and I can kill a few hours here next weekend.

I woke up Sunday morning, and checked my phone to find a photo from my girls!  My first thought was - how much fun they must be having with Mom gone!!! Aren't they absolutely gorgeous? 

Week Two in the Books

Week two has been very different than week one, some better some worse. I'll start with my sightseeing adventures last Saturday. My colleague, Patty Orazietti and her husband Tony, graciously offered to drive me down Turnagain Arm to the town of Girdwood for a sightseeing tour. Turnagain Arm is a finger that Captain Cook went down and realized he couldn't get out to sea and had to turnaround. We drove south of Anchorage and made several stops to view the scenery. The mountains on either side of the water create a wind tunnel and it was much windier than in Anchorage.

We stopped at Bird Creek to watch the fisherman fishing for Salmon as they swim upstream to spawn; and stopped at McHugh Creek to visit the picnic area and the waterfalls. Tony was sure he carried his bear spray with him!

Girdwood is a small town who's real claim to fame is the Alyeska Sky Lodge and Resort. We took the tram up the side of the mountain and the view was great from the top. There was a big sign telling people not to touch any live unexploded ammunition they might find from avalanche mitigation. WHAT? Yep, there are surprises around every corner.

On the way home, we stopped at a wine warehouse...I wanted to buy a few bottles of wine and Patty and Tony picked up a bottle of gin. When I got to the checkout, I was asked for my ID and realized I didn't have it, so I asked Patty to buy the wine for me. What a BIG mistake. The store wouldn't sell the wine to them, and because they were with me, the store wouldn't sell them the bottle of gin either. The liquor laws in Alaska are very strict. There is an alcohol problem with the Native Alaskans and if you get too many DUIs, you have a red line stamped on your driver's license showing that you can not buy alcohol. The stores are held accountable - if they sell to someone underage or with this red stamp, there are fines and penalties...so they just don't take any chances. I walked away thinking, "this would never happen in the south!"

The week was good in that I am really starting to feel like a member of the team and they are starting to realize that I bring both BP knowledge and training expertise to the role. I've made good headway on documenting processes, developing material to be used in stakeholder awareness sessions and updating the Training Approach. The down side of the week is that I started the week with a crappy cold and I haven't gotten much better. I went to the doctor's on Tuesday and he gave me a prescription for an antibiotic that he didn't want me to fill until tomorrow if I wasn't any better. I'm filling it tonight!