skaters

i rode over to the skate park today and shot some of the young guys doing their thing. it took them a bit to warm up to the 'old guy', but they ended up really putting on a show. it was a good day- got to almost 60 degrees!







ben

out on the town for a fantastic night at Cafe Alex.


Ben just can't enough of the martini lobster mashed potatoes with capers...yum.

Pella likes our crazy adventures, but her favorite part is cuddling up in the sleeping bags in the back seat.

finally springtime in fairbanks! the ski trails are melted enough for dogs and running, so last night we headed from campus for a run.

a few more pics.....

this is the view at finger mountain, the farther north you go, the lower tree line, until the arctic ocean.


ben had a blast shooting a ton of pictures, the veiws of the brooks range were awesome, no trails or trailheads, you just pull over and hike/ski.


very crappy picture of the map, we are half way up the red line in area 136.

Coldfoot Camp, Alaska

dea, pella, and i made a gorilla vacation of sorts up past the arctic circle this weekend. the arctic circle is about 185 miles north of Fairbanks up the Dalton Highway on the way to Prudhoe Bay. The road is used predominately for semi transport of goods and equipment to the oil fields.



dea and pella checking out the Yukon River, break up is not till late June..from there we headed for a great hike at finger mountain, used by bush pilots to find their way to fairbanks.

dea playing around on the rock tors


(ben was very talented setting the self timer getting up there!)

from the arctic circle we headed to the only spot to get gas as we traveled north- over 200 miles from Fairbanks, coldfoot camp. we spent the night in Coldfoot Camp, known for being the farthest north truck stop in North America. we rolled in to the compound under an 11:00pm sun, and had the biggest plate of french fries we'd ever seen. we scoped out some great tele skiing entering the brooks range, for when we have more time. it was great to get out of town and see a part of the state that we had yet to experience. it's hard to put into words how desolate it is up North. There are no structures, no falling barns or mobile homes, no gas stations, no mailboxes or phone lines- just land. the pipeline zig zags north along the road, and the semis make you feel like a mouse among cats.


the haul road on the way back to fairbanks


the pipeline runs right next to the road
(zig zags are so the pipe can expand and contract)


we also caught Stacia and her goverment issue pick up going to the oil fileds, and stopped to chat for a bit.(we joked about the horror stories we heard about the potholes and how we had no trouble, when we pulled into the condo we had a flat tire!)
all in all a good trip.

last night...stacia and martin's going away dinner at Cafe Alex, very hip restaurant in down town Fairbanks.

arctic circle and beyond..

Hi all, we are headed up the Haul road to the Arctic circle and beyond for some skiing this weekend. ....414 mile remote dirt road that goes thru the brooks rangge to the prudhoe bay oil fields/arctic ocean. Stacia is also headed all the way to prudhoe bay for her research in the oil fields, we hope to rendevous around the arctic circle, how cool is that? We are excited to see the Yukon River, 4th largest in North America, arctic circle, finger rock and we will see how far we get. Here are some great links with information on this road, gates of the arctic, brooks range and much more! http://fairbanks-alaska.com/dalton-highway.htm
We'll be back with photos from our adventure....

ben before his ride yesterday...though there are some riders in fairbanks and strong ones at that, spandex is not in. these purple uniforms stuck out in Boulder, can you imagine in fairbanks? at least he has hairy legs now :-) i thought it was a bit cold for shorts, but not for Ben.
we have both been riding a bit..my ride this morning had awesome views of the Alaska range as I took the long way into school.

Ben is Anchorage for the night..girls night to the pump house for a drink....

most of the road is clear, but here I am hike-a-bike style across a big ice patch...

Finally, I rode my road bike to work today(mtn. biking is great most of the year, but with the snow/ice roads it seems like forever since I have been on road ride). I was around 12F. When is it actually going to warm up? I don't know it is my first spring in Fairbank, AK. Sometimes you just can't wait any longer. Though I had my glove on the tire the whole ride in (still sporting my light, thin, road race tires), it was a great ride. Then I looked and it is 84 in boulder right now!! Randy and Bill from our lab are in Boulder enjoying the great weather....

After a great Easter brunch party at Julies cabin, we just kept cooking and eating.


first course for Easter dinner...some Polish food.


Caz drinking beer


then of course cuddling with Pella, ahhhhhhh!
good alaska conversation about upcoming oil field trips, canoe trips, running races and field surveying...

Ben and I headed out on a chilly 10F run this morning and before gettting our Easter supplies we ate at Paco's Tacos. It is finally open again, it was closed this winter, maybe because it is a shack.

ummmm....good nachos


Ben getting his egg color on, more importantly his new haircut! we are excited for our big Easter dinner party tomorrow, lots of good Polish food.

Julie's new puppy!!


Pella and the puppy (no name yet!) in a stare down contest. Pella was pretty good, she was not sure what to think of this little pup!

this is our driveway. good thing I have my xtratuff's for the break up! Good for fishing and made in the USA, what more can you ask for?

more snow

huge snow flakes this morning and afternoon. though it is warmer the roads are covered. maybe another few days before a road ride....

arctic cam at the GI building today

white bear

this morning it was snowing so Ben and I decided to skate ski at Birch Hill instead of road ride. It turned out to be a beautiful day and white bear is in great shape.

Ben looking good


white bear looking good

sunny saturday

the weather is just awesome today and Ben and I spent the afternoon running around the ester dome trails. Ben was shooting a ton today, some running shots for stock too.


you can see Moose Mountain behind me and the brooks range far off in the distance. great views in all directions today. Denali was not poking thru the haze though, but the Alaska range was visible. we are off to hang out at the old Gullivers bookstore.
Dea

the commute

the ride was great this morning. the 20's felt like 60's and I was way overdressed.


leaving the new hood



the final climb to campus. it is a small hill compared to CO, but man with winter I've had, it was hard enough!

the roads look clear enough and stac and I plan on doing our first road ride of the year.

ester dome run and annual committee meeting

Ben and I had a great run up Ester Dome tonight. The trails are all still snow covered, excellent for biking or running. I had my first annual committee meeting for grad school and presented my PhD thesis research proposal. good meeting and input. I am studying the reaction probability of dinitrogen pentoxide and it's effect on NOx removal (via heterogenous hydrolysis) in the nocturnal atmosphere using the CRDS. Pretty dorky, huh? my camera batteries have been dead for awhile, I need to recharge.


awesome dessert at wolf run dinner and coffee house

Fairbanks is getting so hip we now have a Pho Fairbanks! Just like Seattle, well not really.

Get your guess in before Break Up!

Every year a huge tripod is erected on the Tanana River, near the town of Nenana and everyone guesses the exact month, day and minute the tripod will fall thru the ice. This is the official break up. This is a huge event and last year someone won $$285,000!! The deadline is April 5th. Check out the Nenana Ice Classic site!



This is the tripod being erected this year.

Julie and Martin are skiing to Nenana today on the river, they should be safe. Nenana is 65 miles from Fairbanks and you can ski the Tanana river to get there.