Chena Hot Springs

Last night Laura and I went out to Chena Hot Springs with some friends. It was actually a somewhat difficult decision to go, because unfortunately a drag show was on Saturday night as well. Most of our friends were going to that show and then going out, which would be a very fun night. However, we also really wanted to check out the hot springs and since I'm leaving in a couple of weeks, this might've been my last chance to go! I've never been to a hot springs, but I've been to multiple drag shows... Therefore I decided to go regardless of what Laura did, but in the end she decided to come too!

Anyway, the reason that this was extra fun was of course the weather. It was -5 or -10 out, and even though we've gotten pretty used to that when dressed, it provides a nice contrast when in a bathing suit!

The drive is about an hour and a half out there, but we couldn't see it that well because sunset is around 3 or 4 these days, and we couldn't leave that early. We ended up staying in the water for a couple hours, which was great because any less wouldn't have been enough.

It was fun to stand and then get back into the water. Not sure how good the freezing and burning is on the body, but thats ok. The water is the perfect temperature, in my opinion. It wasn't too hot when we first got into it, and it kept us warm perfectly the entire time.

The funnest part is the freezing that happens when you're not in the water. You have to warm up your ears pretty often, and clear the ice off your eyelashes and eyebrows if you want to be able to see. On purpose, they didn't clear off their hair so that they could have some fun hairdos. I didn't do my hair up that fun, because its too long to stick up crazy, and because I couldn't help but get in the water too often.

It was all amazing (and I can't wait to go back), but possibly my favorite part was that it was really windy (windchill to -25 I think), which meant that the wind cleared the steam away and gave us a clear view of the sky. By coincidence, there was a meteor shower going on so we saw a handful of shooting stars. There is nothing better then floating on your back in extremely buoyant hot water with a clear view of a sky full of stars. Seriously. I can't wait to go back.

Look at how fun their hair is!

They made me pose with them, even though it was the awkward "I'm holding the camera so I'm way closer than you guys are, and therefore my head is twice as big as it should be" pose.

Homesick?

Started about a week ago...

Before I left I was worried I would be pretty homesick. I knew I would miss my two nieces the most, because leaving them isn't the same as leaving adults... I can't text them or call them in the same way.

On the road trip up here I wasn't homesick at all. I was a bit surprised, but very happy with it. I remembered back to my trip to Europe, and how it took me a couple weeks to get homesick. Then the homesickness eased away so that by the time I left, I was excited to go home, and missed things I couldn't have in Europe (like Taco Bell...), but I could have easily stayed longer.

So, I figured I would feel homesick after a couple of weeks, and that it would ease away like last time. However I never really started to feel homesick. Homesick being: strong desire to go home, extreme excitement to go home or a more negative, sad emotion. I had none of that. Instead, I was sad about the thought of leaving Alaska. I started to talk about "if I left". I started casually looking for jobs, thinking about where I would want to live. There were problems to work out... how would I get around, for example. You need a car in Alaska. But in general these were things I was starting to think about.

This lasted a couple months. I was continuously surprised that I was not more homesick. I felt no rush to go home, and though I would've loved to see my nieces, I didn't feel the need to see them at that instant.

While Laura was gone I started to think about all of the games and science experiments that I wanted to do with Evan. I was trying to get Anna to play some of them, and I realized that I wanted to play them with her, instead of have Anna play them for me. I was suddenly hit with the very strong urge to be home and playing them with her now! I also had a dream that I went home, and had been home for a few days, but had forgotten to visit the nieces. I thought I was crazy! Lastly, seeing pictures of Violet, I realized just how much bigger she is than when I left! I wanted to see what she is like now that she is a chubby, giggling baby.

Obviously these three things in conjunction would lead to homesickness. And they have. However, it isn't a negative homesickness. I don't feel like I want to be home at this very instant. I don't feel sad or emotional. But I am just getting so excited about going home!

Really, I think this is good timing, too. I have about 5 weeks left in Alaska, so that gives me time to say goodbye. I don't think I'll be coming back after Christmas. I'm wanting to be in Edmonds too much right now. But since I do love it up here, I don't want to leave here too quickly. So I think this first inkling of homesickness, especially since it is positive and not negative, is great.

I kind of hope that this homesickness grows steadily over the next few weeks -- not the negative emotions -- but this budding excitement -- so that when it is finally time to go home I am unbelievably happy and ready to be gone from Alaska!

Edited to Add: (about a week later) -- Hmm.... I still want to go home, sure... but now I'm worried that I just want to go home for Christmas. I keep switching back and forth between where I want to be. I really love it up here, the cold and snow and landscape and friends and environment. However I also am really excited to live in the same town as so many of my friends.... I am still excited to go home for Christmas, I'm just not sure what I'll do after... though I think I'll probably stay down there... It was so easy to know that I made the right decision leaving Bellingham because I wouldn't have had this time in Alaska without it and I don't regret that at all. I'm looking for some sort of similar "you made the right decision" signal for this decision...

White Mascara

Written a week ago at least...

It's been cold lately! Like cold even by my new definition of cold. Today when we woke up it was -24 degrees. Now it is -13, and I really don't think it'll get above 0 today. In honor of the weather, and the fact that I have unrelated things to say, I'm going to provide a list of randomness that is largely weather related.

-My glass of water left next to the bed (on the floor) was partially frozen this morning. Luckily we have lots of warm blankets on the bed.

(Since then we have added a towel to cover a cool spot near where this was resting, to aid in keeping things warmer. It has worked!)

-When we walked Chloe we were outside in the cold for long enough that we got White Mascara.

-People plug in the heaters on their car everywhere now, so this is the new normal!

-You can't go outside with wet hair unless you want it to freeze and break off! (My hair froze stiff last night, but I didn't get a picture of it...)

-It is soooooo quiet at night and the snow is so dry that the crunching of snow (like cotton balls) sounds like it will wake the neighbors.

-Dogs have to wear shoes outside, and not just because they have crazy owners who like to dress them up. But because they can get frostbite.

-I think this is just a sign of how dry it is, but regardless I am still not used to it. There is so so so much static electricity. Every time I pet Chloe. Every time I adjust the blanket or move on the couch. Owey! One time I moved a blanket when the lights were off, and it was like a fireworks show!

 

That Earthquake...

This post isn't about our experiences up here, but about yours down there! During this two week period, there was a large (7.7) earthquake just north of the Juan De Fuca plate off of the Canadian coast. It has been followed by a long series of consistent, good sized earthquakes (4.0-6.0).

I heard about this a day or so after it happened, and I was surprised that I couldn't find much information about it. All I could find was a small article online, towards the bottom of the page already by the second day. Apparently no one down there felt it, which is disappointing but also not too surprising because it was reasonably far away.

I didn't think too much more of it until Laura got back. She said that when she and her Geophysics professors found out about it, they found it alarming. The earthquake happened north of where it would be expected. It was a subduction earthquake instead of a strike slip, which isn't what is supposed to have happened on that fault. It was very large, and all of the aftershocks indicate that there was a lot of movement in the area. This could cause enough disruption to set off "the big one".

Of course we have no desire to cry wolf. There are tons of instances in which things could be "the big one" and nothing happens. So its not like by writing about this we're thinking it will have to happen. However, they did joke about not wanting to spend too much time in the area...

So instead of crying wolf and worrying that a big one will happen any day, it should instead remind us to be prepared! Keep a supply of food, water, batteries, you name it. I'm no expert on what is needed, but its all online... And if you are reading this, it means I care about you, and it's about 95% certain you live in the Pacific Northwest... so you should get all the supplies together just in case. Because even if this means nothing, it could always happen  at some point in the future.

However, with hurricane Sandy... and it being 2012... a big earthquke happening soon would make sense. ;)

(Eta: There has been more activity in the area.)

Pretty Pictures

I could probably post a billion pictures that I think are pretty, but I'll try and limit myself to just a dozen or so... These are also only the ones from my camera, I'm too lazy to grab the ones from my phone. I'm going to have to stop taking pictures with my phone soon though because currently I have to use my nose to navigate on it (quite successful)... however soon my nose will too have to be covered from the cold (on days like today). Anyway. Here are pictures. Some from before Laura left, some from while she was gone.

Isn't the color on the Geophysical Institute building beautiful? Laura is ok.

That ray of sunlight shot all the way up to the top of this picture. Couldn't capture it!

In fact, none of these pictures do this particular sunset justice.

I'm too lazy to play with the colors in photoshop to make it look how it did to the naked eye.

Plus all of the pictures would probably turn out green.



I liked the look of the paved road chunks.

It has snowed another few inches, so now this road is all snowy again.





We're back!

We're back! Which really means that Laura is back, and therefore I am back in the routine of going to campus. Obviously the second is more important.

It sounds like Laura had a fun and safe trip, and hopefully she'll find time to write a whole post about it.

My two weeks were spent in a somewhat less adventerous manner. I had high hopes for how many books I would read (I was hoping for one a day). This probably stems from my originial image of being in Alaska. Reading in a warm cozy cabin while looking outside at the snow. I read a few books, however then I got distracted. First by Queer as Folk, because it's been a couple months since I watched it. Then by Harry Potter.

I have all of the books on tape, so I don't even get credit for reading. I've only listened to a book on tape once before (I think...) and that was on the road trip with Laura way back when. We started listening to Harry Potter on the way up but stopped about half way through the second book. I am now half way through the fifth book!

Lets see, what other grand accomplishments did I have. I did make it out of the house a couple of times. I went to the Silver Gulch with friends (a local brewery).  I also picked up Chloe and took her owners to the airport. Really, considering that I had to see my neighbors when I walked Chloe, I almost felt like I wasn't hermity enough.

The transition has gone very well for Chloe. She was energetic on the way home, probably a mix of nerves and excitement. However she has acted completely calm and normal since. Today is the second day that she has been alone since she came to live with us. She didn't destroy the house yesterday, so it seems like that won't be a problem *knocks on wood*. I'm probably going to have to stay home tomorrow because Laura has a really long day and we're trying to keep her alone time reasonable for now at least. Luckily I have Harry Potter to listen to, otherwise I would probably be pretty sad about not being able to catch up on my TV shows!

The two weeks actually went pretty quickly. However of course I was excited when Laura got home! It is nice to have the company again. This has been a pretty boring post because to most people, my two weeks probably would have been pretty boring. However I loved it! That probably makes me boring though. Eh.

Aurora Photos

Hi.  We are sitting here on family chat, looking at our adorable baby niece and talking about moose.  It makes me think (what makes me think this is really that Amy asked me whether I had put them up..) that I have photos to put up of the aurora.  So, without further ado:

9/30/2012

10/8/2012

10/8/2012

10/8/2012

10/8/2012

10/8/2012

10/12/2012

10/12/2012

We have got to see many beautiful northern lights. It's ok to be jealous.


I fly out to Bolivia tomorrow.  So far, I don't think that I have realized that I am actually going to south america for two weeks.  So far, everything has been about what I need to finish before leaving.  Of which there is plenty.  I still have a few assignments to finish up, but luckily I am ~4/5ths through each of those. Still, I doubt it will hit me that it's going to happening until it's happening.

Laura