North to Alaska

After a year of playing around in various parts of the world we have settled in Homer, AK. We arrived here on Dec. 2nd after driving the Alcan/Cassiar highway. As it turns out it is hard to drive that highway without experiencing some adventure. Here is how it broke down.
Day 1: Mostly uneventful. Highlight = unreal scenery on the Sea to Summit Hwy.
Day 2: Roads covered in snow and ice all day. Highlight = glare ice corner that put the car in the ditch
Day 3: 18" snow storm, chains, and slow going. The next morning Lou had to shovel us out of the hotel room. Then we had to uncover the car and shovel a path to the gas pump. Day 4: Temperatures bottoming out at -30 F. The car started in the morning, wahoo! It was a battle to keep the windows clear of ice, even with the heater on high. We found an abandoned set of golf clubs on the road. Seemed a perfect time to hit a few. Notice the long shadows, this was about three in the afternoon near the town of Tok, AK. The sun isn't getting very high here this time of year.
Day 5: Arrive in Homer! Our new home.

For the time being we are living the Jasmine's parents. True to form Lou enjoys the short commute to work each morning. We will be getting our own place eventually and everyone has an open invitation to come and visit. It would be great to see you. The first week home was a good kind of busy. Lou is making wine and learning all aspects of the business. Jasmine got certified as a xc-ski coach and is practicing with the Women's Nordic team as well as prepping for classes.
It is shaping up to be another wonderful winter.
It is unlikely that we'll get around to posting about our trip on the Grand Canyon, but check out Josh's Blog (Dec. 2 post) for great photos and narrative on that trip.

Wild Turkey Dinner

Lou went out turkey hunting between our summer of hiking and rafting the Grand Canyon. This year he decided not to use his bow since he didn't have any time to practice with it. Day two hunting in Southern Oregon with Jake he got one, a nice sized hen. Woohoo, wild turkey for Thanksgiving! When the boys returned to Jake's house we gathered round to weigh it, 6 pounds. It is impressive how much of their size is just their feathers.Putting the bird into the oven. Joan also got a Foster Farm turkey breast to be sure we had enough meat for the feast. The two birds were very different in their relative proportions and taste. Looking at the raised bird it was difficult to image how it was able to move with its over-sized breast muscles.
Lou's wild bird was oh so yummy! All in attendance decided they preferred the wild turkey over the Foster Farm turkey. After the day of feasting we packed up the car, again, for our last adventure in a year of adventuring.
For those of you that noticed Lou's very full beard he has been growing since June, about three weeks into our hike. It is so long I can grab two full hands of beard. It is his longest beard to date.