ski train

yesterday was the "Ski Train." it was supposed to go to a place called grandview, but it got changed at the last minute to a place called curry. the first place is awesome; lots of good skiing and views. the second place has a great view of denali on the way there, but is aweful for skiing and views once you get there. it was also supposed to be really cold (windchill of -40) so we didn't even bother with the skis and just brought double the beer and wine that we had planned on bringing. it turned out to be a lot of fun. there was a polka band and everything. pretty cool. -nick

a pretty good day

yesterday was a pretty amazing day. we had decided to do something and get out of anchorage. so the three of us; joe, mad and i, met early yesterday and, after some discussion, headed down south down the kenai peninsula. we were very quickly met with an amazing sunrise coming up over the mountains and the water. joe got a little annoyed at my constant requests to pull the car over so that i might take another picture. i think it was worth it. besides, i kinda' like annoying joe. ;)
we had planned on going skiing, but made an adjustment to the plan and headed all the way to seward. it's only about 2 hours from anchorage and was one of the few remaining towns in alaska that we had yet to visit. with only a half dozen roads in the whole state we are quickly running out of options for new places to go. on the way we got to see lots of amazing scenery, including the sun rising through a beautiful blanket of fog and some new mountains for us.
seward was very nice as well. it is a small little town that lies right on the pacific ocean; in the summer time it is teeming with tourists from all the cruise ships, but in the winter it was dead. very nice indeed. we got to see a couple of eagles up close and personal and play with some local dogs.
after finishing lunch (sandwiches mad had packed looking out onto the sea) we jumped back on the road and headed back to where we originally wanted to go skiing. since we had started so early we still had loads of time before the sun set. so we went skiing. there was a valley that joe had seen first over a year ago and had always wondered what was back there. so we strapped on the skis and headed up the valley. it was worth it. the snow resembled more closely an icerink than snow, due to the recent heat wave (it's been in the 50's the past week) but was still an amazing trip.
when we got home we went out to eat. there is a new italian restaurant in the area and we went to check it out. nice and cheap, but good food.

not a bad day. oh yeah, and we had a pretty amazing sunset too. -nick