Our Parents Came to Visit!

My parents spent the last week up here in Alaska visiting us. They arrived on Saturday the 15th. On Sunday the four of us headed down to Denali. We figured we needed to make that trip as early as possible because even a week delay could bring enough snow to hinder our trip. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy so we didn't see much in the way of the mountain. However the leaves were gorgeous and the  parents were able to get an idea for what the area around us looks like. Plus we actually went into the visitors center this time, and it was very interesting to read everything there. I've noticed that I have absolutely changed my museum habits - now I love going through really slowly and reading almost every word. Definitely something I wouldn't have done when I was younger...

Another fun thing about the trip was the wind! It was windy last time that Laura and I went but nothing compared to this. It was loud the whole way down, and the towns nearest to the park were out of power. The only way the visitors center was open was because of a generator! The only problem is that there was no where to eat....

We spent the rest of the week visiting closer to home. We went to Fred Meyers... a lot. The parents were extremely generous and our cottage is now a wonderfully furnished home. Over the course of the week, they bought us a couch, a table and chairs, a microwave, toaster oven, closets full of supplies, a kitchen full of food and more. I'll do more picture posts as we decorate the house!

Besides shopping and playing cribbage, we only ventured off to do a few touristy things. We walked around downtown and went into a few shops. Downtown Fairbanks isn't the most interesting place, which is why we stick to the west side mostly. We also showed the parents around Laura's building and office so that they can picture where she is.

One of the main reasons that our Folks came up right now instead of some other time was to see the Aurora. The days are short enough that it's dark if you stay up late. Plus, September is actually a peak for activity based on some scientific reason. And, oh so luckily for them, we did see our very first aurora while they were here! We actually saw two throughout the course of the week. Since they were both through the trees from where we live, we drove out a bit so we could see it better.

The second time we decided to drive even further to make it a better view, so we drove down Parks Highway towards Denali so that we could pull off with a nice clear nothern view!

The parents weren't as lucky when it came to seeing animals. The only wild animals we saw were a couple of foxes. Laura and I saw another right after our folks left, so they must live in the area!

Our folks left on Monday the 24th. In general our visit was great, it was fun to see them and hang out and our place is now sooo nice thanks to them!! So to end the post, here are a few pictures from their visit!

On our drive to Denali

Also from our drive to Denali

Dad organizing the nuts and bolts for the chairs. Look how happy making a chair makes him!

A preview of our new furniture... (It's covered here....)

At the Museum of the North on UAF's campus. Watching a video about the Aurora.



All dressed up for Aurora viewing!

Walking around Laura's building.

Eating a delicous meal and playing cribbage, per our usual activities.

Randomness (aka what we've been up to)

Written like... a week ago:

On Friday night we went to a show at a local bar (the Blue Loon). It is quite a convenient location with our old cabin, since it is at most a mile down the road. That is really close for Fairbanks. Have we ever talked about how spread out things are? Lots of people live a good 10 - 15 miles out of town, and the actual town part is even spread out itself. So living a mere mile from a bar is crazy close. As a result, everyone drove to our place to park their cars and carpool to the bar. That way there only needed to be one sober person to drive back, and assuming there was no sober person we could easily walk home and leave the car for the morning.

The band was Sweating Honey. They are a bit folky - I liked their music a lot! It was also a pretty good crowd at the bar. We ended up dancing a lot. Here is a link to their music if you're curious.

On Saturday when we got our keys to our new place (yay!) we decided to drive Ester Dome Rd to get back to the cabin. It is a 'shortcut' - it cuts right down south to our old place instead of looping southeast and then southwest. We figured it wouldn't be much of a short cut because the other roads we take are 55 mph, but we were curious to see what it was like. The first time we ventured that way there were a lot of people in running clothes... and a line across the road... and everyone was looking at us kind of funny. We didn't really want to drive right through what looked like a race, especially since it would have been hard to get around the runners who were filling up the road already. So we turned around awkwardly and took our usual route.

We ventured back that way later in the day when the race as gone (I googled it, and of course the first day we try to drive Ester Dome Rd is the day of the Ester Dome race). The drive is nice, but it was a little rougher than we expected. We expected gravel, because that is normal for non-main roads here. However it was actually dirt, and it had pretty large ruts in the ground. Aside from the somewhat sketchy driving conditions, it was a beautiful drive. Fall really is gorgeous here! (The the leaves are still green, look on the ground....I swear it's fall!)

 

 Since I'm sure some of you are curious, we have yet to see an aurora. We have seen glowing skies behind the clouds though. Both bright red and bright green skies. We are still eager to see the actual movement that people associate with the aurora, but I have to say it is still pretty fun to see a bright green sky!

Last night was probably the closest we've come yet. The northern horizon was extremely green. We had to look through the trees since we were already home (and we're in the midlde of a forest) however the skies were pretty clear. We couldn't tell if there were clouds right on the horizon that were illuminated, if the aurora was happening right below the horizon and therefore only glowing where we could see, or if we are just bad at identifying the stereotypical movement of an aurora through the trees. So, we are still watching the skies eagerly every night and I will let y'all know when we see a true aurora! I really hope there is a good aurora when my folks are here, too!!

Ok, the last random thing I have to talk about is temperature... and only because you may be curious. It is still pretty sunny and nice here... though we have had our cloudly days. The highs have been around 50 to 55 I'd guess. It has been getting below freezing at night though, so we've seen frost on the ground and ice on the windows (of the car). Though the cold temperatures are coming earlier than they are at home, they still seem completely reasonable!

Anyhoo, that is all the random stuff I can think of right now. Bye bye!

Some pictures of our home!

I think we'll post more pictures as we get more furniture, decorations and nick nacks... but just so that you can imagine where we are, here are some pictures of our new place!

Ignore the messy parts...

Those pillows cover wires that cross the door. We figure we'll see the pillows better than a wire, and if we still trip it'd be more gentle!

 

Parents are Here!

Hello there! I haven't been on campus much recently, nor will I be for the rest of the week. That is because our folks have come to visit! How am I on the internet right now, do you ask? Well right now I am being a bad child. I am on campus while my folks are shopping. I really don't like to shop, and they love it.... so I thought it best I don't go with them so I don't spoil their fun with my sometimes bad shopping related attitude! An extra benefit is a chance to get some posts up....

I'm going to put up some pictures up of our place because we still haven't done that.. then I'm going to publish an already written blog post that has been sitting here for at least a week....

I'll write about my folks' visit after they're gone because if I'm a good child I won't be on campus much while they're here! So talk to you later, my friends...

Our new home!

As everyone probably is aware, even though we found a nice enough place to live it was never more than a temporary solution. We hoped to find somewhere with water, somewhere that was a tad larger and somewhere that Laura and Diana could bring their cat and eventually get a dog.

We found that place! Well, hopefully. I suppose Laura only signed a year lease, so it may be temporary... but hopefully it is the place that Laura and Diana can call home for two or three years.

So, the story of how we found it...

I believe it was Diana who saw the posting on craigslist. Laura sent them an email on September 5th and they responded almost immediately. We went and saw the place that night.

It is a cottage, not a cabin. We were both a bit disappointed by that fact, but there were many benefits that balanced that out. For example, it has a 1500 gallon water tank. It has a shower and toilet. It is one bedroom, giving us plenty of living space. The bathroom is quite large. There is a toyo stove - the most energy efficient heating system (and what we were looking for). There is a good sized front and side yard. We will be expected to maintain that, but that is not a negative because Laura and Diana like that type of work and they look forward to making it even more beautiful and adding a garden.

Another advantage to the place is our landlords. They are a young couple with a young son. They are both science-y people - ecology and permafrost I believe. The wife went to Evergreen for awhile, so we were pretty confident that they would be ok with Laura and Diana living there even before it even came up.

Since we liked what we saw, we submitted an application the next day. They liked our references, and so we went and signed the lease Saturday morning!!

We were completely moved in by Saturday night (it didn't take that long to move... we just need to nap midday because we had a late night...). We spent Sunday setting up the TV, bookshelves, unpacking, etc. Though we are still lacking some furniture... like a couch... it feels very much like home! It is carpeted which makes the floor warmer, however it is still a bit cooler than our last place. My guess is that is because it is larger so the fridge and TV don't warm it up themselves. However the heater does its job well and we have increased our blanket-age so that we don't have to have the heat too high at night. I personally would much rather wear a few sweaters, socks, etc and have a few blankets than have the heat higher than necessary.

We really like the place. It feels like home. I know Diana is anxious to come live here, and I can absolutely see the two of them living there. It is very 'them'.

In other news -- we even bought a shower curtain last night and took our first showers there! (It had been a good 4 or 5 days so we were in need of showers...). The shower is great! It has an on/off switch to help save water when soaping up. It also gets nice and warm very quickly!! Anyhoo, that was a lot of words. Now you probably want to see it! Laura will post two tour videos when she is out of class.. they're also on google plus so if you're friends with her on there you'll have already seen them.

So just a sneak peak....

Flowers from our new landlady (from a neighbor's garden)

A shower curtain! We can shower!

Us playing frisbee out front

Trip to Denali

Laura and I took advantage of the holiday on Monday by taking a trip down to Denali National Park. We will be going back down there in a couple of weeks when my folks come to visit, but since we won't be able to take a trip like that once the snow comes we decided to head down this weekend as well.

Denali is just over 100 miles south of here, so the trip down took just over 2 hours. We packed a lunch and lots of snacks and took our time travelling down. It was fun to be in the car again!

It was cloudy with a chance of rain, so we didn't expect to see much in the way of mountains. Instead, we took in the colors. It is definitely fall here. All of the leaves are turning yellow, and orange is starting to appear as well. Most of the pictures I took were to show off the colors. That is one advantage of coming down this weekend in addition to next time. It should look completely different because fall is pretty short here. I expect either red leaves or bare trees next time!

Laura and I decided not to spend the $10 per person to enter the park. People are not allowed to drive their vehicles most of the way into the park, instead you have to take buses. Since we didn't have reservations we would just be checking out the first part of the park. That is the same part of the park we will check out with our folks, so we saved that for them. (It doesn't hurt that my Dad will get us in for free...)

Instead, we drove an extra 30 miles south of the entrance to get more views of the area. We were able to see snowy peaks and mountains, but we never really saw Denali. Well, the tall and impressive part of it. Did you know that from ground level base to highest point, Denali is actually taller than Everest? Everest just has more 'underground' height.

I'm not sure there is much else to say, because for the most part our trip was just listening to music, listening to Harry Potter and sight seeing. So I leave you with photos! Enjoy!

These are completely out of order... but that's ok.

A cloud we were chasing and eventually beat.