Literacy Council of Alaska

Over the summer my daughter volunteered well over a hundred hours at the Literacy Council of Alaska in Fairbanks. LCA runs a summer tutoring program for teens called Cross-Age. The teenagers are assigned elementary students to tutor in reading, writing, and math three days per week. It was a very rewarding experience for Bren, as I'm sure it was for the kids that were tutored.

The Literacy Council is supported in part by their bookstore, Forget-Me-Not Books, where most books are sold for just two dollars. I've grown to love that place!

Summer

I never thought I would take a nearly 6-month break from blogging when I began this back in September. Alaska has bumped over the peak of the summer solstice and is now back to losing light every day, for which I am thankful.

Being a night owl, if I had to choose between the constant light or constant darkness, I'd choose the darkness. Maybe that says more about my personality than I'd care to admit, but there it is. I find myself more disoriented and sleep-deprived in the summer than I did in the winter. I feel at home in the comfort of darkness - more secure inside. Yeah I know, I'm weird.

So I'll stop with all the psycho-babble and get to posting some long-overdue pics for the one or two of you who still happen to stop by on occasion. I took these on June 21st at the Summer Solstice Festival downtown.


The main street - Cushman - running through downtown.


The folks in this pic above are panning for gold.

Pics From The Hill

These are just random pics I took while waiting for the girls to get done with their ASL class at UAF. 26-below zero F this morning. Brrrrrrrrr

More Ice Ice Baby (sorry, couldn't help myself)

While I was up at the University today I walked around taking pics of some of the ice sculptures that adorne the campus. It was nearly 20-below F and my camera quit working after awhile so I missed some nice ice art. Maybe next time; it's not like they're gonna melt or anything :o)

click pics to enlarge
This bear kyaking was my favorite. Even the water was carved out.






A bear with a degree

Ice Sculptures

This past weekend I went with Bren and Abbie to the Regal movie theater in town, and as we were leaving I spotted this wonderful ice sculpture display of the barnyard from the story Charlotte's Web. If we had turned the other way out of the parking lot we would have missed it. I'm so glad we didn't.

I am so looking forward to the World Ice Art Championships in March.

click pics to enlarge

Life Goes On

This is the Fairbanks winter weather everyone told me to brace myself for. A high of 33-below is just hard to imagine, but here it is. Even so, life here goes on. People still go to work, school, shopping. It's just another day in this part of our world.

Dress for the weather, not the vehicle. Even in the car with all this on I was still chilly. My big toes were numb in my boots.
Click to enlarge photos



There's lots of smoke in traffic when it's this cold.


Near North Pole on the way home from Fairbanks. 35-below at 2:30 p.m.





The Mother Ship today


Driving up to Eielson. It's always colder here by a few degrees than it is in Fairbanks.

I'll Take That To-Go

These drive-thru coffee joints are very popular in this area. It would be interesting to find out how many there are in the whole state. I bet they'd give Micky D's a run for their money.

These first two are located in Fairbanks (credit to Bren for the photos). I like the name Kodiak Joe's -- sounds very rustic. The other, with the soft serve on top is called Sunrise Bagel and Espresso.


Lava Java is here on base right off Flightline Ave., convenient for those folks who work on the flightline. It is the first drive-thru coffee place we visited here and didn't have a good experience the first three times we visited. A version of a frappuccino was on the menu but they didn't have the ingredients to make them on our first two visits so Bren ordered a kiwi Italian soda which she loved and looked forward to getting again on our next visit. A week later we had our third visit (Lava Java gives out those buy 9, get one free punch cards that keep you coming back) and we hear, "Sorry, we don't have anymore kiwi syrup and the owner decided to not stock it anymore." As Bren's face fell I said, "Oh, okay. So, can we get a frappuccino yet?" The girl, who needs to lay off the tanning bed, replied no, the owner has also decided to not do frappuccinos, and would we like to try something else? Bren decided on the Blended Iced Mocha (you can see the ad on the front of the shop). It's a frappuccino. We don't go there anymore. Too expensive and too much of a gamble.


I took this last photo on Santa Clause Lane in North Pole today when I went to return movies at BlockBuster. It looks like it may be halfway decent, as it should be since North Pole does a lot of tourist business. Next time I'll stop and have a drink.

And while I'm on the subject of coffee joints, there is a Barnes&Noble Cafe that serves Starbucks coffee, and I know there is a Starbucks inside Fred Meyer.

Bren and I are looking forward to trying the few store front coffee shops we've seen in town. I hope we find some good ones.

Holiday Celebration in Fairbanks

Bren getting some puppy love from a sled pup

Ice Skating Rink set up at Pioneer Park; The sun is low in the sky at 2:30 p.m.



People coming and going from the bazaar; Bren heading to look at the pups; 18-below zero

More Pics

I guess fireworks don't mind what the temp is outside.

Busy bazaar; Where's Waldo Bren?

Kids getting pictures with Santa by the train at the Children's Museum. We ducked in to escape from the cold.