Misadventures of a Midlife Married Couple

December 20, 2023

Break officially started for students last Friday. Last Wednesday I left the region for the first time in 6 mos! Back in September I promised one of our wrestlers if she made it to state I would accompany her… at the time I didn’t realize she was any good… thus I found myself going to attend the Alaska State Wrestling Championships. Three days before holiday break.. it was an interesting trip.

As I was flying out of the village I was focused on the changes to the landscape. I have flown to the big village since it has been colder, last time I flew out we had started having colder temperatures and parts of the river and sea were frozen over. This time the changes were more glaring. This time everything was snow covered. The landscape, which has always been rugged, even when covered in the lush greens of summer, looked harsh and unwelcoming for the first time. The trees, which are short and stubby at best, provide dark relief and texture for the river, it’s tributaries, and all of the little lakes are which frozen completely over and covered in light blowy snow. Inhospitable is putting it mildly.

The flight into Anchorage was incredible. Not for the flight itself, which is about an hour and a half, but for the views. On the trip up I was taken by the beauty that is Alaska. The rugged mountains and the multitude of rivers and lakes that dot the landscape are awe inspiring, but this… this was incredible in an entirely different way. 

The view from the plane, once a mix of green grasses, vibrant blue green trees, grey and white snow capped mountains had changed. The landscape was now hostile. Everything was snow covered, the rivers, which once danced in the reflected sun as they snaked through through the trees and into the mountains, just blended into the floor. The occasional animal path across the now frozen bodies of water was the only thing that broke the monotony of white. The mountains, which looked unwelcoming in summer now resembled something more like chaotic meringue peaks than anything else I could imagine.  

We finally got Marty’s snowmachine up and running!! That means his is officially mobile! Of course this weekend is the coldest we have had, so getting out and doing much running around has not been on our radar. We both did get out and run our errands despite the 22 BELOW temperature. 

It is honestly amazing how much difference having the right clothing makes. I wore smart wool long handles under a pair of sweatpants and my snow pants, my Baffin Arctic boots, a fleece head and neck gator, a hat I crocheted, my goggles, and mittens, and while I looked like a grey taupe version of the stay puffed marshmallow man, I was literally sweating when I got home after a trip across the frozen lake at 20 mph. Marty said he stayed plenty warm on his trip to the dump too! So yes, 22 below and we were both fine and dandy.

I’m going to end today with this. When we got in from errands this afternoon it was about 4:00 and time for “sunset”. This is the magnificent view we ended our afternoon with. May you and yours have a holiday as amazing as this view!