Well, I have been home for a couple days now and am wondering, “what I was thinking coming home for three weeks?” I left 60 degree weather to come visit a frozen landscape that has averaged 5 degrees farenheit since I arrived and only receives a few hours of light each day.

I haven’t been out of Alaska for more than a few months and my skin is already as thin as possible! It was funny trying to drive my mom’s Highlander around today. It doesn’t handle that great in the snow anyway, but then add the fact that I’ve been driving a compact car lately and haven’t driven on ice since last winter and it was an adrenaline rush everytime I went to stop at an intersection. I had a personal mantra going, “Please don’t slide! Please don’t slide! Please don’t slide!” It must have been effective because I managed not to crash my mom’s car.

The best part about driving in Anchorage in the winter is the fact that their snow removal system is awful. I can’t believe a city this size that gets this much snow each year hasn’t come up with a more efficient method of doing this. What ends up happening is that you can’t see the lines on the road and it turns into a bit of a game. We call it the Make Your Own Lane game where you just kind of guesstimate where you are supposed to be on the road. It’s quite interesting. Roads that were three lanes turn into two and half. Roads that were four lanes turn into two and half. Roads that were one lane turn into two and half. You get the picture.

Another fun game is counting all the cars in the ditch on the Glenn Highway. I was surprised today that there weren’t more trucks. In the past I have been commuting and it feels like I am always being passed by some huge fallac symbol who thinks that just because he has four-wheel-drive he can speed down the highway on black ice. I always feel a bit satisfied when I pass them two miles later and they are up to their tailgate in snow in the ditch.

I can’t wait until Jim gets up here and gets to experience Alaska in all her winter glory. Today I walked into Becca’s house and exclaimed, “It’s cold outside, it’s one degree!” For some reason she found this hilarious, but it boggles my mind that it is one degree! That poor degree, he is probably lonely on that thermometer all by himself. I think that Three Dog Night said it best, “One is the lonliest number.”