Weekly Schedule

The week I've been waiting for is finally here!! This is the last week of school before spring break and on Thursday I start my trek up to Alaska to visit Cody.  I'm really only planning out Sunday-Wednesday this week.  I'll be on planes and in airports most of Thursday and Friday.  Seriously though, I'm not complaining.  Especially after Cody sent me a couple of beautiful pictures of Juneau this week.  The mountains, the ocean, the overwhelming amount of green! I miss that place so much...

Ok, back to the schedule.  For the most part I'm just using up random stuff that I have in the house because I will be MIA from the island for a whole week. Don't want to come home to a fridge of moldy food. Here's my plan for the week! 

Weekly Eats

Sunday: Spaghetti, Salad

Monday: Veggie Pizza

Tuesday: Cheesy Baked Macaroni, Green Beans

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: N/A

Friday: N/A

Weekly Workouts

Sunday: Climbing Mt. Pisgah (x2) + 1 mile walk

Monday:  Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred

Tuesday: Hoop Fitness

Wednesday: Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred

Thursday: N/A

Friday: N/A

Your turn...Are you doing any traveling this week? If so, where are you going? 

Currently listening to...Clair de Lune- Debussy 

Quality Time

Cody is going to be leaving for Alaska sooner than I am.  We've been trying to make the most of our time together before he leaves.  This means that all of our free time is being spent trying to squeeze in a little quality time.  We've been cooking meals (breakfast, lunch, AND dinner), hiking, snowshoeing, snuggling on the couch.  All of our time is spent together these days.

It's been bittersweet.  I love spending so much time together.  I don't love that it means we will be spending the next several months apart.  I know that it is a means to an end.  Cody going to Juneau early means that we have the financial stability to move back to Alaska.  It means we will have a house secured.  It means that we will be settled.  It means things will be easier in the long run.

Until he leaves we will continue to pack in as much fun as possible together.  Enjoy the pictures while they last.  I have a feeling that Netflix binges will rule my life once he leaves…and nobody needs to see a picture of that.  Hah.

Your turn…Have you ever spent any significant time away from your spouse?

Currently listening to…Midnight City- M83

Springtime Hiking in Alaska

The weather is changing! The changes are tiny…and maybe imagined on my part.  But, the sun seems to be carrying a little bit more heat and the wind isn't quite so bitter.  Yes, the temps are still in the 30's but they are steadily inching towards that beautiful springtime range.

We took advantage of this tiny change and took our first "big" hike of the warm season.  We did an (almost) six hour adventure out at the end of Thane Road in Juneau. The road ends in Juneau in many all places.  Thane is no exception.  It is basically just another place in our beautiful town where civilization ends and the true wilderness begins.  Such a contrast to downtown Juneau that lies only a few miles away!

Anyways, we took off on a trail head and made the 3(ish) mile hike down to an isolated beach area. We went with five people and three dogs…quite the crew! And, we all packed in firewood (it's been very rainy so we were concerned about wet wood). When we reached the beach we unpacked our wonderfully dry wood and set a fire on the beach.  The dogs played, seals teased us (and the pups) by swimming lazily by the shore, and the sun made my cheeks just a little bit pink.  Ahhhh…

We packed up our stuff and played around/ hiked up some giant boulders and then took off exploring some more.  We finally headed back in the direction of home after a little over five hours.  It was such a great way to kick off the warm weather seasons.

Back at home the three of us (Cody, me, and the doggy) promptly passed out and only woke up to eat a tiny dinner before drifting back off into a semi-delirious but oh-so-happy sleep.

Questions:
Any sign of warm weather in your part of the world?
What is your favorite warm weather activity?

Mendenhall Glacier Ice Caves

Sometimes you get to experience something so spectacular that you know it will happen only once in your lifetime.  I experienced something like this while on a hike this week.  I took off hiking across a lake in Juneau and ended up inside of Mendenhall Glacier.

Standing on Mendenhall Lake.  Look closely and you'll notice that we are wearing ice cleats! 

Mendenhall Lake, which the glacier sits on, is completely frozen right now.  This makes getting to the caverns underneath Mendenhall Glacier not only possible, but downright easy! The Glacier is accessible to hike to/in all year by hiking West Glacier Trail.  However, this trail isn't for the faint of heart, especially if you are not the most skilled hiker. The trail includes some steep climbs, slippery rocks, and it requires that you go off-trail to get to the ice caves.  It can also be quite dangerous to go inside the caves under the glacier due to the constantly melting ice.  Enter at your own risk!

View from West Glacier Trail,  August 2013. 

With Mendenhall Lake frozen though, the glacier is accessible by hiking a mile across the lake, up the base of some rather large hills/cliffs, and sliding on your bum (literally) down a slippery slope to the opening of the ice caves. It was a wonderful hike and the views the entire way were spectacular.  Nothing can compare to the feeling of standing INSIDE of a glacier though.

Cliffs near the glacier.

Touching a glacier for the first time!

Inside Mendenhall Glacier, frozen ice columns. 

Inside the largest cavern in Mendenhall Glacier. 

Look up! Massive hole inside of the ice caves that looked skyward. 

The glacier was completely amazing.  Everything emitted a soft, blue glow.  The ice was the smoothest thing that I have ever touched.  It appeared bumpy, but the bumps were actually many inches underneath the actual top layer of ice.  The top layer of ice was so clear that it was almost invisible.  It was cold inside of the caves, but warm enough that I was comfortable without my gloves and hat on.  This was, without a doubt, a once in a lifetime experience because of the melting ice.  I am so thankful that I got to experience this incredible, natural wonder.

Questions:
What is the top item on your bucket list?
What is something that you've done that is "once in a lifetime?" 

North Douglas Beaches

Miraculously…..

It's been sunny this week! I feel like I've been writing that a lot this year.  Juneau typically gets more than 300 cloudy/rainy/snowy days per year (aka NO SUN).  This year it feels like we've had a ton of beautiful, warm, and glorious sun.  I'm never going to complain about that kind of a miracle.  

This week we took the dog out for a hike and a little sunbathing by the ocean.  It was actually warm enough (upper 30's) to hike without full winter gear.  The sun helped us out too.  We ended up lounging on some rocks for what felt like all day.  I got some great pictures.  Cody just about fell asleep on a rock.  Specks, the dog, chased enough birds to last him all week.  So warm.  So sunny. So relaxing. 

Perfection :) 

Questions:

Where is your favorite beach?

Tell me about your perfect winter day? 

Things To Do In Juneau: Skaters Cabin

Skaters Cabin is a beautiful recreational area on Mendenhall Lake, located in the northern part of Juneau.  It is a beautiful picnic area with beach access, a picnic shelter, fire pits, hiking/skiing trails, and easy accessibility to the Ice Cave Trail (takes you underneath Mendenhall Glacier).  Cody and I have spent time here on a few occasions, and with the warm weather this weekend we just couldn't resist taking our grill out here for a fun cookout with friends.

The weather was PERFECT.  It was sunny and in the low 40's for the whole afternoon.  We spent about three hours outside there and had a blast.  Specks came too and had a fun time tearing around with the other dogs that hiked by with their owners.  We had the beach to ourselves for the most part.  Hikers and skiers occasionally wandered by (trails pass right behind the shelter).  But, most of them had dogs with them so Specks was in doggy play-date heaven.

Skaters Cabin is a fun place to visit for any of these activities.  It also offers some stunning views of Mendenhall Glacier.  You can view the glacier from the much closer Nugget Falls trail, but the NF trail is always packed with people (during the summer entire tour buses drop off there).  Skaters Cabin may not offer as up close and personal views, but there are seldom other people there and the views can be enjoyed while cooking, hiking, or swimming during the summer.  It's a pretty perfect spot :)

Questions:
Do you take your doggy hiking/skiing with you?
Where is your favorite outdoor cooking location?

A Day In The Life: Alaskan Teacher

6:00am: Usually I am hitting snooze about this time.  Zzz….  But, then I somehow make it out of bed to walk the dog, primp, and eat breakfast.

Shameless bathroom selfie before work. 

7:20am: Leave the house (in the dark) for work and make the ten minute drive to the elementary school.   Typically this involves getting stuck behind a school bus. Cody and I carpool fairly often because we work at the same school.

8:00am-3:00pm: School! I have students in my classroom at this time.  The rest of the elementary school gets out at 2:30pm but because my classroom has two sessions (AM and PM) each class has to be the same length. The AM class is at school from 8:00am-11:30am and the PM class attends from 11:30am-3:00pm.  This makes for a pretty crazy schedule and some long days for me but I really like my job so I don't complain…much ;)

I try to do a cooking activity with my students each week (this teaches math, reading, writing, and practical life skills).  This particular day we made homemade hot cocoa! It was perfect to sip on after our "winter adventure."

Headed out on our "winter adventure" at 9:30am and it's still not completely light outside! 

3:30pm: Leave school (in the dark). Depending on the day I head home and take Specks for an extra long walk or hit the gym.  I try to split my time pretty evenly between these two things.  Specks takes walks every day but I try to do longer strolls/hikes a few times a week.  That is getting a LOT more difficult on weekdays though due to the lack of sunlight.  We have to wear reflective vests when we want to walk at night so that cars can see us.

Snowstorm as I leave the school! 

4:45pm: I usually am either picking up the house or doing some at-home classroom prep at this time.  For classroom prep I usually spread out at our teeny kitchen table.  Also, cleaning our house is a pretty speedy activity because the house is so tiny.  I suppose this is one perk of being a renter? Haha.

5:00pm: Start cooking dinner.  I cook almost all of our meals but usually once a week Cody will cook or we will go out to eat at one of the few local restaurants (Juneau is seriously lacking restaurants).  On this particular night we were having Tomato Soup with Feta & Spinach Grilled Cheese! 

6:00pm: Eat dinner with my future hubby :)

7:00pm: Usually around this time Cody and I will play cards, watch a movie, do a project, etc.  This is a pretty quiet time of the night at our house.  On this particular day Cody was feeling really under the weather (side note: it turned out to be pneumonia-he's on the mend though).  So, he made a little bed up on the couch so that he could be sick in peace (I am a CRAZY sleeper and so is Specks).  Specks had other ideas about Cody's peaceful bed though…

7:30pm: Get ready for bed.  I am usually showering, making tomorrows coffee, packing my lunch, laying out clothes, possibly watching an episode of something on Netflix, and doing any last minute prep for the following day.  My job requires quite a bit of outside prep work (I don't actually get a "planning period" due to the crazy schedule) so I am working on stuff at home pretty frequently.

8:30pm-10:00pm: Get into bed.  Yes, I am an early to bed kind of lady.  I am someone who needs relaxation/quiet time each day so I make it a point to get in bed super early each day so that I can do a little reading. I try to read for at least an hour every night, it makes me feel so relaxed and puts my mind at ease.

Mostly, my days look like the days of any other teacher.  The biggest difference is probably environmental.  The constant darkness that accompanies my days in the winter is something much different.  Or, going to school in two feet of snow and playing on the playground even when the wind chill is -10° (in Alaska you have to go outside unless temps are lower than -20°).  Another huge difference is the content that I teach.  We focus on tribal values and Tlingit culture. This is something that would probably be frowned on in classrooms in the Lower 48, but here it is embraced and encouraged.  Elders come to our classrooms to act as storytellers, families teacher native dancing, we regularly learn songs in the traditional Tlingit language.  It is a fascinating experience!  Overall, my days are much like they would have been in Illinois.  But, there are these few glaring differences that make the experience so meaningful and wonderful.

Questions:
Do you have any similarities/differences to my day? 
What is your favorite part of your day? 
What makes your day unique? 

Alaskan Snow Day!

Juneau was blanketed with 13inches of snow on Thursday.  I looked out my front door and immediately thought, "uh-oh."  The snow was DEEP and very wet.  Me, being a midwesterner, figured this would mean the closure of JSD (Juneau School District) but I was sadly mistaken.  Schools in Alaska don't close unless they absolutely have to.  Their answer to the snow…chain-up your tires, slap some spikes on your boots, and enjoy the weather!

Snow falling on the driveway. 

Sadly, the following day it warmed up to a toasty 40° and most of the snow melted (yuck).  This also meant that I didn't manage to get a single picture of our deep, wet snowfall.  The temperatures cooled back off over the weekend though and we found ourselves with a couple fresh inches of powder.  I did manage to take a few pictures of our lesser snowfall, which is much less impressive but still pretty.

Slippery roads outside of the school. 

Frozen waters in "the valley." 

On another snowy note, Juneau's own Eaglecrest Ski Area is competing for a top spot in Powder Magazine's Ski Town Throwdown.  If you're interested in learning more about Eaglecrest you can read this post or this post, both written by me.  You can also check out their website.  I've been voting for them to help support my local ski town/business.  If you have a second, stop over and do the same! You can vote by following this link and liking Powder Magazine on Facebook.  

Questions:

Do you ski or snowboard?

What's your favorite winter activity?

Snow Is Coming...

That's right folks, snow is officially headed our way! Autumn was unusually long and warm for SE Alaska.  I didn't even break out my winter coat until last week.  But, now we are in for it.  Temperatures are supposed to get down into the single digits this week and snow is predicted almost every day.

Thankfully, Cody and I got the snow tires put back on the cars this weekend (woo-hoo for studs).  Here in Juneau we run studded tires during the winter.  Legally, you can run them from September-April (typical times of the year when it is snowing).  We were lucky to keep them off of the cars until November this year! Lots of other "winter prep" is happening at our house this weekend.  We have to winterize the windows and doors, find our snow shovel (I am hoping its buried in the shed), and do any last minute outdoor cleaning.  Busy, busy!

I'll leave you all with this pretty picture I snapped on Friday night.  Cody and I were outside walking the dog when the moon popped up over the mountains.  Beautiful :) I hope everyone is keeping warm!

Questions:
Has it snowed yet where you live?
What do you do to prepare for winter? 

Northern Lights & Tasty Meals

This weekend in Juneau was a MUCH needed holiday weekend.  Parent-teacher conferences demanded most of my attention last week, and I still have a couple to wrap-up tomorrow.  But, I felt so excited after wrapping up (most) conferences on Friday afternoon that I treated myself to a few tasty treats.

Yup, that's a strawberry velvet cupcake….heavenly.  And, I paired it with a little peppermint tea.  Both were bought at a couple of my favorite local hotspots.  It was an amazing way to kickstart my weekend.

The most exciting part of our weekend took place on Friday and Saturday nights….the Northern Lights were visible!!  Sadly, I don't have picture proof but we did get to see them faintly.  They were incredibly bright on Friday night and you can check them out here, on local artist Elise Tomlinson's Facebook page.  Keep in mind that the harbor that she pictures is only about three miles from my front door.  Whoa.

I snapped this picture at sunset one evening this weekend.  Not nearly as exciting but I still like it :) In an effort to see the Northern Lights a second time Cody and I ventured out to the glacier at 10:00pm on Saturday night.  We didn't see them but we did enjoy a romantic (and chilly) evening under the stars.  We could see the entire Milky Way. Amazing.

Anyways, back to something I have picture proof of…food.  Cody and I seriously indulged on meals on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday we had chik'n parmesan sandwiches with homemade fries.  We also enjoyed a few tasty brews with our food.  The bottle caps gave us some weird, and possibly enlightened (?) messages.

Sunday we indulged on creamy tomato tortellini soup. Then, we topped it off with some chocolate cheesecake brownies. It was a delicious weekend but we will both be hitting the gym tomorrow, that's for sure!

Questions: 
What did you do this weekend?
Have you ever seen the Northern Lights? 

Sunrise, Sunrise

Our mornings and evenings have been surprisingly clear these last couple of weeks.  That's not to say that it hasn't still dumped rain on us every single day (because it has).  But, we've been gifted with some pretty beautiful skies.  I've noticed the clear skies mostly around sunrise and sunset, which is now happening at 7:30am and 3:50pm.  It's only a matter of time before we're down to a whopping six hours of daylight.  Woo-hoo.

Rising and setting times for the Sun       Length of day Solar noon Date Sunrise Sunset This day Difference Time Altitude Distance (million mi) Nov 9, 2013 7:33 AM 3:49 PM 8h 16m 25s − 4m 30s 11:42 AM 14.7° 92.066 Nov 10, 2013 7:35 AM 3:47 PM 8h 11m 56s − 4m 28s 11:42 AM 14.4° 92.044 Nov 11, 2013 7:38 AM 3:45 PM 8h 07m 31s − 4m 25s 11:42 AM 14.1° 92.021 Nov 12, 2013 7:40 AM 3:43 PM 8h 03m 07s − 4m 23s 11:42 AM 13.9° 92.000 Nov 13, 2013 7:42 AM 3:41 PM 7h 58m 47s − 4m 20s 11:42 AM 13.6° 91.978 Nov 14, 2013 7:45 AM 3:39 PM 7h 54m 30s − 4m 17s 11:42 AM 13.3° 91.957 Nov 15, 2013 7:47 AM 3:37 PM 7h 50m 16s − 4m 13s 11:42 AM 13.1° 91.936

You can check out more sunrise and sunset times on this website. 

I have been lucky enough to snap pictures of a couple of these incredible sunrises over the last weeks.  I think you'll all enjoy them…they are seriously spectacular.  And, to make it MORE awesome, none of the pictures have been edited and they all retain their original colors and beauty.  Enjoy :) 

And, then there is my personal favorite….

Cody was outside walking the dog when he spotted this beautiful sunrise.  He hurried back inside, dragged me out of bed, and insisted that I make an appearance in the front yard.  It was totally worth it. 

Questions:

Do you ever watch sunrise?

Which do you prefer, sunrise or sunset?