Happy Anniversary :)

For our anniversary we went down to Alyeska ski resort in Girdwood, about an hour south of where we live. We drove down Saturday morning and checked into our room. Brant has his own














snowboard, but I still rent as I don't know if I really want to invest in a snowboard quite yet. I've only been snowboarding 3 times before, I'm not good, and Brant has been a great teacher trying to build me up so I'd be ready to go down the "big hills" at Alyeska. I have been practicing on the














ski slopes on base, which apparently aren't that big - they were to me! We rode the tram up to the top and had lunch a Glacier Express, 2300 feet above sea level - the view was amazing.

After lunch, it was finally time to test our skills on the slopes. I really did not enjoy snowboarding until this weekend at Alyeska. I really had a great weekend, the weather was gorgeous, and we got to spend two days out on the slopes. The best part was, I learned how to turn :) so I didn't have to spend the weekend on the bunny hill. I think I can get on most chair lifts now without busting my butt. Except for lift #1 at the resort - I only got off that once because I think I got whiplash.

I was able to snowboard on the same slopes as Brant all day. Well, he would either go ahead of me and stop to wait, or he would let me get a head start and then catch up with me :) I'm getting there. No major injuries incurred except for some large bruises, sore muscles, tender tailbones, and whiplash from getting off the lift :)

Saturday night, we went to the Double Musky for dinner. It has been featured in a lot of "Best Of" magazines and was recommended to us by a lot of people. It was wonderful - and we even had Double Musky Pie for dessert - yummy :)



Sunday morning, we slept in and had breakfast at the resort. We hit the slopes for a few more hours before heading home, whipped! We got home and had leftovers for dinner and our wedding cake with champagne for dessert - it was italian cream cake - and it was still wonderful after being in the freezer for a year :)

Fur Rondy 2009

Last weekend, we went downtown Anchorage with Richard, Lori, and Avery to the 2009 Fur Rondy Festival (short for Fur Rendezvous. It is a 74-year old tradition that celebrates life in Alaska. We got there early for the parade...it was freezing. Luckily, we were standing right next to the coffee shop and they were loaded with hot chocolate :) We took advantage of that! We watched the parade for about an hour then watched the Sled Dog Races for awhile. We were up close and personal watching from the starting line, and they had streets blocked off all around town for the race. The actual Iditarod race doesn't start until March 7th, so


these were the sprint races.

After we were done watching the races, we went down to the ice sculpture contest. This was my favorite ice sculpture...Scrat from "Ice Age." All of the sculptures were amazing and so detailed! After browsing around the sculptures, we were all getting pretty cold, and Avery was getting pretty tired, so we walked back to eat lunch at the Glacier Brewhouse - one of our favorite restaurants in Anchorage.



On our way, we had to walk through the fair. Yes, it was probably 15 degrees, snowing, and there were people riding on the ferris wheel and the pirate ship, and the potato sack races. I guess they don't know any better, and we couldn't think of anything more miserable! After filling up and warming up at the Brewhouse, we drove to the airforce base and went snowboarding from about 5-8PM. It was my last chance to practice on the 'small hill' until we headed to the 'big hill' on our anniversary. I took advantage of it :)