just skate skiing

Taryn, Stac and I had a great ski today with dogs on the henrik loop. We left from stac's cabin, like most of our places skate skiing right out the door.

Game Night tonight at the Huff house, bring it on. balmy 15 above today- this weather is soo great.

Last week Randy and I finally went in the field to gather some data, it was pretty fun and we discovered a multitude of problems with our tubing/cords and battery life when it is 20 below.

Taryn is a new grad student in our department and she is from Rochester MN! We may stay with her parents after the transplant...whenever that is. we are still waiting for a second round of tests to come back from Mayo next week. -dea

We had a great ski into Tolovana Hotsprings. The trail was a trapline and pella tried to steal the food in the traps. Ben and Ed skiing in the begining of the route, a downhill snow plow screamer on cross country non metal edge skis. Ed made some incredible enchilades he carried in for us.
Ben going over the top of tolovana dome, about 8 miles into our 11mile ski. This part was really steep and Ben carried my sled and his pack! That was awesome because we were able to get there in plenty of time to enjoy the hot springs.Patrick and Ben arriving at the cabin, where Ed had the wood fire stove buring and hot coca waiting, nice.



Dan skied in the 60 mile route intsead from Fairbanks and he made it in 1 day! That is a looooong way, he ran into a wolverine in trap that was growling at him in the middle of the night and alone on the trail (i would have crapped my pants). His dog would not come and when he went to investigate, he saw the animal in the trap. Patrick brought a can of dominos and that was the main entertainment after the hotsprings.

ben and i left from the house today on a backcountry ski on the slough. we were trying out our sled system for our trip next week into Tolovana Hot Springs. it is in very rural part of alaska and then an 11 mile hike in to a remote natural hot spring. Not that far of a ski, but hilly, windy and lots of snow. our friends hit a blizzard last weekend and took it forever not to mention frostbite...so we are getting prepared.

we went on a great long skate ski today, the dog musher hall trails are in perfect condition and freshly groomed, only one skijor women the entire loop. it was 5 above, which is crazy warm compared to the rest of the week with temps as cold as 51 below, of course without a wind chill. it only supposed to be 10 below tonight, this warm spell is great. then we all settled at roasters for a good catch up chat, everyone just showed up at the same time.

Nothing says home like 40 below and your car won't start. Here is Martin and Ben jumping our frozen car. It is 11am and they are also enjoying an IPA to help celebrate being back in AK. We had a great visit in the midwest, but it is also good to be home.

maple and i trying to take picture outside soaking in the sunshine before we head back to fairbanks. it is 44 BELOW zero today and we will be home around 1am.

Sharae, Taylor and Caden hanging out at grandma and grandpa's house in Iowa. Our last day in the lower 48 and today we are headed back to Chicago. We are looking forward to getting back to Fairbanks to enjoy the new snow.

This week in Chicago has been crazy. From dialysis, to downtown to Wisconsin to see my Aunt Irene and back downtown for shopping. My brother Tim stopped by today and then we headed to back to Iowa to visit with Ben's family.

Chicago B.L.U.E.S

Cafe Ba-Ba-Reba and Ben's Birthday cake.
City and more city. We headed out after dinner to a blues bar (Chicago B.L.U.E.S.) and listen to some great music, J.W. Williams and the Chi-Town Hustlers. How crazy to party in Chicago with stacia from fairbanks? My parents left before brother brown showed up and showed us all how to get down with his saxaphone, it was the highlight of the night.

happpy b-day to ben!

Ben and I have had very busy week here in chi-town. Here we were are on Michigan Ave. downtown. we then headed to wicker park for a great night out with Jessica at Ear Wax Cafe. The area is totally revamped and loaded with consignments shops and modern boutiques. Dialysis has taken up alot of the day today, but it is Ben's b-day and we are headed out to Cafe Ba-Ba-reba with my parents, Jeff and Jen and Stacia!