Good week- warm weather and stuff received

You know you're on your way to becoming an Alaskan when you think 20 degrees is warm. Thirty feels outright balmy and the folks around here actually don't want it to get that warm since it melts the snow that's on the ground and the roads, just enough to turn it into icy slush. Since the snow stays dry and powdery when it's colder, everyone here would prefer it to just stay in the twenties or so rather than getting one or two nicer days that lead to the roads being crappy for a week. Plus, you end up getting 'wintry mix' instead of the usual extra inch of snow when there's precipitation. A little more snow (like the four inches we got last night) only slows your commute down by about ten minutes- ice, not so much. But it looks like next week is going to be that way. I'd have prefered it just stay super cold.

But before it warms up, Saturday is going to be in the twenties with some light snow, so I'm planning on going out to the mountains for the first time. Buck and I will be sticking to a large, well-populated trail. With the weather warming, there are risks of avalanches in the back country, not that we'd be venturing out there, but it still makes me nervous. If it's not the moose, it's the avalanches; if it's not avalanches is bad weather, etc. It's just a big change- the worst thing I had to worry about hiking out east was busting an ankle.

In other news, next week is the start of Fur Rendezvous (Fur Rondy, for short)! It's basically a huge winter event that lasts from the 22nd to March 2nd. It was originally the time that the fur trappers and buyers would meet up and buy and sell furs. That still happens, but it's become a big party for everyone else. It seems like a way for folks to get out towards the end of a long winter and enjoy themselves. Events include; sprint dog races (sprint being 25 miles), snocross (like motorcross but with snow machines- yes, snow *machines*, not mobiles- I don't know why), sled dog weight pull, snow sculptures (they truck in big cubes of snow from up North), a bonspiel (of *course* there's curling!), ice bowling, outdoor hockey championships, snowshoe softball (they also wear constumes), a parade, rides, a tribal gathering, and a blanket toss.

And that's just the normal stuff. Then, there's the crab and reindeer races. I'm not sure if it's 'winning' if you're going to get eaten no matter what the outcome. Heh! I'm guessing this year's reindeer live, but it could be last year's losers that are a part of the reindeer sausage eating contest. And then there's the fireworks which start at 6:45. One of the benefits of doing this in the winter months- if you tried waiting around for it to get dark enough for fireworks on the 4th, you'd be up well past midnight. LOL!

So, yeah, I'm really excited to get to take part in my first Fur Rondy and then my first Iditarod next month. Then, in April, I get to head back east to Virginia for about five days while I take part in some training for my company. On the way back up from that, I'm going to Hawaii for four days (a weekend and two work days). Since our branch up here isn't big enough, we're a part of the Hawaii branch. The obvious benefit of that is getting to go to Hawaii a couple times a year on the company's dime. Awesome. And I'll be going when it's still cold here. What would be the point of going when the weather is nice here? I'll have to hit my gym's tanning beds for a about a month before going, though. Otherwise I'll end up a very crispy critter.