So long, Caribou...

Well, after a last-minute sprint to the finish that made going to Alaska actually look somewhat plausible, Nathan turned down the opportunity at Denali and they accepted. I had even gone as far as to talk to Denali's Science & Learning Center Technology Contact about volunteer opportunities that would have given us the chance to live in park housing. However, there wasn't already a good internet connection I could use to work there and the park would not let us affix a satellite dish to park housing. That was the last big obstacle keeping us from going, so we're not.

I'm actually relieved. It was a pretty exciting opportunity at first glance, but the extreme craziness of the logistics soon made me long to stay in the lower 48. Even if we could have gotten internet in park housing, I would still have had to volunteer an extra 8 hours each week just to live there (on top of a job where a 40-hour work week is unheard of). Plus, there's the problem of getting there, which takes about a week by car. Not to mention making sure someone is taking care of our house and yard. Anyway, you get the idea. Alaska, we'll come visit you sometime, how about that?

After a near-blizzard here Sunday/Monday, the yard this morning looked like this when I woke up:


I also got a chance to cross the Red River in Fargo on Saturday. I wasn't sure if I would see it until all of a sudden there were three-foot-high piles of dirt coming up the on ramp and then I saw a Red River sign right before freaking out. The water was almost up to the I-94 bridge! I estimate there was less than a foot left before it would have reached the road where I was driving. The restrooms in the park up the hill from the lake were half-way submerged. Sorry, I'm still kicking myself, but I wish I'd stopped for a picture!

TR Mosaic

Yesterday, the temperatures here rose to near-tropic levels as the thermometer hit 31 degrees Fahrenheit. Because it felt like springtime, I was inspired to see if my car still worked and take a quick drive through the park. The late afternoon sun mixing with the snow-covered bluffs was gorgeous. I thought it might be nice to share some of the pictures I've taken in the park so far this winter. Here they are:

Big Bird: This guy could get into our bird feeder by climbing up the porch railing and across the screen. The day he knocked the bird feeder off the window and fell with it to the ground was the last day we saw the squirrel.


Keyhole: Nathan and I went hiking the day before Thanksgiving. It was a great idea and an awful idea. Great because the weather was beautiful and we were surely the only ones hiking the park that day. Awful because the trails were very, very muddy from all the snow...and I fell :)


Crystal Light: These feathery ice crystals appeared on our back door for Cowboy Christmas.


Sun dogs: Have you ever seen this happen? It's amazing - formed when the cirrus or cirrostratus clouds are made up of ice crystals according to wikipedia.


Snowy Trail to Heaven


A River Runs Through It


TR's Frozen TundRa


3:45pm: Sentinel Butte at Sunset