Turns out it's cold in Alaska

As I was leaving the Metro D.C. area to move to Anchorage, everyone kept asking, 'isn't it really cold up there?' In my head I was thinking, 'yeah, if you're a total wuss' and what I said out loud was that the average lows in the winter in Anchorage were only about ten degrees colder than in Boston and Chicago. Factor in the fact that there's hardly ever even a breeze in Anchorage compared to the Windy City (yes, I know it was called that because of the politicians, not the wind), and the temps are probably about the same.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure God heard me mocking those people and this weather is my punishment. When the temps started dipping below the positive numbers, I thought I'd better just keep my mouth shut, lest I be more easily identified as being someone from the lower 48. But after more than a week of the highs not making it to the double digits, I started understanding from the complaints around me that this wasn't normal. I haven't mentioned to anyone that they're caught in the middle of my divine comeuppance, though.

The upside is that I'm getting a crash course in acclimation. When the weather turns this weekend and makes it up into the 20s next week, it's going to feel like a heat wave.

Once all my worldly possessions actually make it off the boat, I'll have my camera cable and can download a bunch of pictures I've taken. Still haven't caught any of the moose I've seen on 'film', but I've only seen them from the car and when that's when you are seeing them, you're more worried about them going kamakazzi and destroying your vehicle than anything else. Suckers are HUGE. Oh, and mean, as it turns out. My boss is still paying for his dog's vet bills after one kicked his dog this summer. Their hooves are 25lbs each on average and the only reason his dog lived was because it was only a glancing blow to the dog's side. So, yeah, there probably won't be any moose pictures anytime soon. I like my dog alive and unharmed.

Until I get some pics uploader here are a few links to pictures recently taken of Anchorage by people with way better cameras than me.

The awe inspiring Anchorage skyline. I can almost see my apartment in this picture.


Pretty much the view from my place each afternoon as the sun sets and the mountains across the mostly frozen Cook Inlet go from red to purple.


Frozen fog- a new concept to me, and it's weird the way it creeps in from the mountains and back out some days, but it makes everything pretty with being too dangerous.