Something Wicked this Way Comes...

is a Ray Bradbury story written in 1962,  It was made into a movie in 1983.  The movie is set in October, and has the feeling of carnivals, fall and Halloween.

This is October, and the season is fall, but that is as far as the comparison goes.

I'm referring to something different - but equally scary.  This is the scene from a couple of weeks ago:

just a little snow on the peaks

That was just about 2 weeks ago.  Then over the weekend we had rain in town, but the wicked stuff started to creep down the mountains -

Heading out on the Glen Highway

The Visitor Center at Mat-Su

Severe case of termination dust

Today

Yes, I'm sure you have figured the wicked stuff I am talking about is snow.  Our temperatures are in the 30's and 40's at night, and there was ice on my windshield this morning.  We have had a heavy enough frost to kill most of the flowers in my flower boxes.  There are still leaves on the trees, but as you can see, they are thinning rapidly.  Parts of the state have had temperatures below freezing on a regular basis and the ads on the radio are all about putting on the snow tires.

It seems like overnight we went from hours of unending daylight to darkness.  Now, when I drive to work at about 7:30 AM, I cannot deny it is dark out. I spent a few days telling myself it was cloudy, which it was, but the sun really wasn't crested over the mountains yet.  And by 8 PM the sun has set.  There is no denying the approach of winter what with the snow on the mountains and our days growing shorter and shorter.

But what everyone is really talking about right now is the release of the PFD.  What is the PFD? Well, you know the rumor about how the state pays everyone thousands of dollars to live there?  That rumor is only partially true.  The PFD stands for Permanent Fund Dividend.  The state does pay all residents, who file the appropriate paperwork, a return on state financial investments.  This year it works out to $1,174.00.  Steve is eligible, and I hope I sent in all the right paperwork.  They were pretty demanding; certified birth certificate, copy of taxes.... but I guess if as a state you are paying out that much money, you want to make sure no one is cheating you.  Next year Jake and I will be able to apply.  Maybe Joe too.

It is hard to believe that I have been here almost a full year.  The time has really flown by.  I'm on the search for a new house to rent.  Housing prices in Anchorage are pretty astronomical.  We thought WI was so much higher in comparison to Ohio.  But wow, here a small three bedroom house with hardly any lot can cost $275,000.  The same house in WI could probably be bought for 1/2 the price.  And with rentals, it's not much different.  If we were willing to do the hour commute and drive out to "the Valley", prices would be cheaper.  But you probably make it up in gas (a gallon goes for $3.85 right now), and time.  And truthfully, I have no desire to do that commute - summer or winter.  And I'm limited with rentals because I don't want to move Jake into another high school so we have to stay in this area, and the place has to accept dogs.  It would sure be easier to rent without the kid and without the dogs, but I'm not ready to give up on either at this moment.

That's about all for now.  I think we will have snow on the ground before halloween arrives.  Guess the kids will need to wear snowsuits with their costumes.

Take care and send me warm thoughts!

Until next time!

We spent the last night sleeping

in what amounted to nothing more than an abandoned campground. This is the one spot where I really worried about bears. And it was cold that night. And wet. Every time my knit hat would slip off of my head I would wake up to put it back on. It is also the night that I slept with my car keys in my hand and the jeep parked directly in front of the tent just in case we needed to make a quick escape. Thankfully, we didn't have any unwanted visitors during the night, we just woke up with frozen fingers and toes.




As I mentioned, that abandoned campground was run by a French Canadian couple. I don't know if the food was really as good as it smelled, but we were hungry and cold. The wood stove was crackling, and the kitchen had wonderful bakery smells emanating from it. There were fresh cinnamon buns along with several types of cookies in the glass display case. And fresh baked loaves of bread.....




It is also the only restaurant I have ever been to where there was only one restroom. The restroom had two stalls, one for ladies and one for men. I'm not sure why they even bothered to label the stalls.




Anyway, as Jake and I were eating our fresh crepes (full of ham, eggs and peppers) and fresh hot coffee, an older couple came in for breakfast. We started chatting and they said, "Oh yes, we saw a big grizzly just about 5 miles up the road". Words cannot express the relief I felt that we had made it through the night without incident and we were packed up and ready to go.




And so we went. It was about 400 miles to home and only about 50 miles to the border. It was much easier to get into the US then it was to get into Canada. Jake was very disappointed that we did not get any stamps on our passports. As soon as we crossed back into the states the quality of the road changed for the better. There was fresh pavement, and visibly lines on the road. And no more frost heave. At least not for the first 50 miles. Once again, the road was primarily straight, and easy drive in the rain.









I know there are mountains somewhere behind those clouds












And so we drove.




It was really an uneventful and slightly boring drive. But every so often, the sun would come out and I could glimpse some mountains in the distance. About 100 miles away from home the sun came out and those mountains came into full view.


























This is the Matanuska Glacier. My understanding is you can drive pretty close to this one, and I think there are trails you can walk on out to it. For me, it was a delightful find. How cool is it to have this beautiful piece of nature so close to home?




Jake and I only enjoyed the view for a short time. At this point we were both antsy to get back home. Back into the car it was and much to my surprise, the easy drive turned back into a twisting turning maze of a mountain-hugging road. This was not what I expected or needed after all the driving I had done. Retrospectively, it was a short drive, but you know how you get when you are coming home after traveling? You just can't think of anything but getting home, and that's the zone that I was in mentally.




About 45 minutes after we passed the glacier, we stopped for gas one last time and finally turned onto a road where I could look around and say "hey - I know where I am". Another 45 minutes and we were pulling into our driveway. Unfortunately, I forgot to change our clock to Alaska time once we crossed the border. This was a problem because Steve was going to have pizza ready for dinner for us. He kept asking, "what time will you be home", and I said 7:30. Which was right if I was still in the Yukon, but I wasn't. That explains why I stepped into the house at 6:30 and surprised the heck out of Steve who had been waiting to make dinner.




It was a wonderful trip. I'd do it again. And if I do, I'll share the experience with you.




What do you think? Would you want to come with?

Technology is a wonderful thing

when it works. Somehow, when I went to post my blog yesterday, the second half of it disappeared. I guess that means you have to read it in installments, rather like an old-time serial story.




Here is where we left off - We were leaving Edmonton and heading into the Canadian Rockies.We saw these guys when we got lost in Edmonton. Be sure to read the sign on the back.





We could see they were looking at us, so we waved, and the gun turret bobbed up and down in a wave back


Before we got to the Rockies we still had a lot of miles to go. The weather remained wet and rainy and at about this point I realized I no longer had dash lights or tail lights on the trailer or jeep. But I still had brake lights and turn signals, and since we were heading into the part of the world where day lasts for 18 hours or so, I wasn't really worried about it.




When we pulled over for the night and asked the man behind the counter for a tent site he said, "you know it's going to rain, right?" We did, so he offered us a teepee to sleep in instead to try and keep drier. It sounded like a great idea and he gave it to us at a discounted price. What could possibly be wrong with that?














I'll tell you what's wrong. Teepees leak. Yeah, I knew it had a hole in the top but what I didn't expect was for the water to drip down the supports and leak on me. It leaked on me the first place I put my bed, and the second, and the third. Finally, I got to a spot that appeared to be dry and then it stopped raining. In hindsight, Jake said, "We should have put the tent up in the teepee." It would have fit too!




Finally, we were headed into the great Canadian Rockies!




But first, we had to pass through Beaverlodge, Alberta. Home of the World's Largest Beaver.

















The Highway is full of twists and turns, with few guard rails. Our progress was slow because going uphill I couldn't go more than about 45 mph and going downhill I could feel the trailer pushing me. I was very grateful that I had just had my brakes checked. We did finally get to see some wildlife, something that we really hadn't seen much of up to this point. I do wish I had stopped more when there were photo-op spots, but sometimes I just couldn't get to them, and always in the back of my mind was the thought that I still had soooo many miles left to drive. Here are some pics of the Canadian Rockies. The lakes and rivers were the most fabulous blue-green color. I couldn't get the color to show right in the photos. The copper in the mountains leaches into the water and just creates a beautiful science experiment.









































Jake swears someone owns the horses, and maybe he is right. But I'm not sure who is heading up into the Rockies to round them up.




Once we got through the Rockies, a beautiful if white-knuckle type of drive, the landscape flattened out. We headed to Watson Lake, home of the Signpost Forest. The forest was started in around 1942 by a lonely guy who was working on the Alaska Highway. I didn't realize it, but people are encouraged to bring and post their signs. I'll be prepared the next time around.




According to the Milepost, there was a campground right downtown within walking distance of the Signpost Forest. Like most towns we passed through, everything was in walking distance. All of these little towns were pretty hard-scrabble. Rough looking. Rough roads, businesses closed. And right next door a brand new business would be being built. Watson Lake was bigger then most of the other towns. We could walk to the grocery store, the Signpost Forest, and the 5 other businesses in town. But it was the most disappointing of all the places we camped as it was really nothing more than a gravel, dust-filled parking lot. The Irish guy behind the counter warned me that there were no picnic tables in the campsite. But he lured me in with free hot-showers. Every other place the showers cost a "looney" for 7-12 minutes of hot water. What's a looney? A $1.00 coin with a loon on the back. Our campsite was in a back corner, but it was warm and dry giving us a much-needed opportunity to dry out the tent. At least for a few hours, because it rained again that night.









see the Jeeps lined up, ready for action?






I thought this was the most adorable camper





The ugliest campground, perhaps in all of Canada






Signpost Forest















Anguilla for my friend Terry







a Maine plate for my fellow Maniacs






A nod to the NY contingency






Packerbackers are everywhere!






The WI is scratched in under the Burlington part of the sign. Given the population, I think this sign is a few years old.



 Our drive the next day took us through more spectacular scenery. And to the only campsite that really made me nervous.






I took this photo at a rest stop. There was a young couple who looked like they must have spent the night parked there. They had one pick-up pulling a second pick-up and a huge cat sat on the console in between the seats of the second truck. The young man was brushing his teeth with a bottle of water while the girl pulled out her yoga mat and went through her routine at the side of the highway. In front of this beautiful scenery, next to the outhouses and with all the truckers driving by and watching.






















































There is historical significance to this boat in Whitehorse. And I have no idea what it is.







Dirty Road Warrior!

We got to about 150 miles away from the US border and it started to rain. Again. I considered driving straight through, but it was almost 6 PM and I was concerned because I still had no dash or tail lights. Instead we decided to camp for the night. The only place we saw turned out to be a lodge that at first we couldn't tell if they were open or closed. The sign said RV park and campground, but I don't know when the last time was that anyone camped there. The sites were overgrown and the place was just desolate. The owners told us no showers, and no bathrooms after 9:30 PM because that was when they locked up. Since we didn't know what was up the road, we opted to stay. We didn't cook that night, and I wouldn't let Jake wander, something that I know irritated him, but this looked like the place a bear might just come and bite us.





















This is an RV park?


 This turned out to be the coldest night. We later leaned there was snow falling to the north of us. When we went to pack up the tent, the water from the rain during the night felt like an ice water bath to our fingers. I could smell a wood fire burning as we packed up for the last time, and I was delighted to discover that the fire was in the lodge. We sat down next to it, warmed up, and ordered breakfast crepes from the French Canadian baker. Breakfast was delicious. The lodge is in a great spot, so I wish this young couple the best of luck as they try and make a go of it.





Their view from their deck. If it ever warms up enough to sit there.

Finally, we were on the way for our last day. The rain stuck with us most of the drive back home.




Our last day will have to wait for tomorrow. It's late here, and time for bed. At least most of the tale has been told. I can finish the rest tomorrow. Good night for now.