I’m Back by Popular Demand ;)

Well, I know its been forever and a day since I last posted.  So its time to get back into the swing of things.  Erin and I are both on our Christmas breaks right now.  We had a very nice time down in Cook, Minnesota.  It was nice hanging out with family.  Erin being the ambitious person she is initiated the creation of a skating rink in the lake.  She and her dad got to work with the snow blower clearing off the snow on the lake.  Unfortunetly the snow blower broke part way through.  So it was shovels from there.  I was able to help out with the end of the process.

After we had the ice cleared there were a few bumpy patches.  So Jim and I cut a hole in the ice with a chain saw.  It brought back memories of crabbing on the Bering strait.  With the hole cut we got out a couple garden hoses and a pump used in the summer to empty the rain out of the boats.  We flooded the rink with a about an inch of water.  The next morning we had a nice skating surface.

[QUICKTIME http://www.bbryson.com/movies/skating.mov 320 255]

At times there were many of us out there skating.  I had to go in spurts.  My new skates that Erin helped me pick out were rough on the arches in my feet.  I could skate for a while, then have to take them off and let the feet rest.  Erin was out there the whole time. She is fun to skat with.

Erin got us an awesome christmas present this year.  I was really surprised. She bought really nice tickets to a Minnesota Wild Hockey Game.  For those of you who don’t know.  The Wild is Minnesota’s professional hockey team. Here is a picture of us at the game.

This is where we were sitting.  Nice seats.

The game was awesome.  Minnesota ended up winning 5-2.  We stayed at a hotel right accross the streat, so we didn’t have to worry about traffic.  Really had a great time.  Looking forward to attending more of those next year when we are living considerably closer.

I flew home to Valdez on the 27th of December.  It has been snowing really hard since I’ve been home.  A week before my arrival they had 29 inches in 24 hours.  That wasn’t were it stopped they enededd up with about three feet in that storm.  We have added to that another couple feet by now.  Its fun to watch the big flakes falldown.

Yesterday Abby, her husband Steve, and I went out snowshoeing up Hogs Back a mountain behind Robe river.  Our approach to the base was quite the ordeal.  We missed the groomed trail that takes you right to the beginning of the ridge.

Making our own trail we criss-crossed a stream at times in the water trying to step on the big rocks to keep our feet out of the water.  When we were in the snow there was about a foot of fresh snow that we had to break trail through.  When we finally made it to the base of the ridge is when the real work began.  Snowshoeing uphill and having to break trail at times is tuff work. Since I am really out of shape, it made the whole process that much more enjoyable.  ;)  No it was a lot of fun.

The views were beautiful and the weather was warm with out any wind.  The whole trip ended up taking about 6 hours.  I am really feeling it today.

Thats kinda how break has been going.  I will be back to work on the 8th.  I’ll fill you in on my exciting adventures a little  more often now.  Hope everyone has a safe and fun new years.