Happy Holidays to everyone. It is definitely going to be a white Christmas in Eagle River. I had the most wonderful Family Fantasy Funcation with my family for a week. By the way, Funcation is a new word in the Oxford Dictionary. It means the time a person is laid off of work and before they find another job. I guess Bernie Madoff is on his Funcation. Any way, we covered a lot of Alaska and had a blast I think it was 2500 miles on my car in 6 days. I will talk about some of our great adventures in the weeks to come. It was such a great ploy to have my family come to Alaska for the week. They didn't know anyone, so consequently, they had no one to visit so I got them 24/7 for a week. I was in heaven. Tyler and Jenna said they had a wonderful time. Tyler called and asked if he needed his passport to come to Alaska. I giggled and told him Alaska is part of the United States. He said, but I travel over Canada was I sure he wouldn't need a passport. I told him I was sure. He responded, "Well, I will be traveling from Eastern Time zone to Alaska Time zone (about 10 hours) he should need a passport being on a plan that long!!.
I hear Alaska's North Pole controversy made Memphis news. We are proud to say that you can still mail your Holiday cards from the North Pole - at least for one more year. They may not be answering every Santa letter due to personnel shortage but the mail depot will continue for one more year. Get all your cards in one envelope, send it to the Postmaster at North Pole, AK and they will have your cards stamped from North pole, AK.
An exciting event in Eagle River is the "Great Eagle River Food Fight". I thought this was very interested and had to inquire about this event. Another photo opp is what I really thought. Our two grocery stores, Fred Myers and Carrs (aka Safeway) are raising food for our local food bank. What a catchy title! Every time you shop at one of these stores they have extra carts full of food at the check out lines so you can purchase an item for the food fight Food Bank contribution. This Food Fight will continue until Dec 23.
I have witnessed the "real" Santa arriving in his sleigh with all eight reindeer. It was so much fun and the highlight was watching the little children. The Eagle River mayor said the Air Force Base has given Santa clearance for landing and lo' and behold the eight reindeer and Santa's sleigh came riding over the snow hill to our town square where Santa plugged in the tree lights. What a sight to see. The photo of the reindeer above is Rudolph. I went for the big name Reindeer!
A short lesson on Reindeer. Reindeer and Caribou are the same. Caribou are wild whereas Reindeer are tamed. Female Caribou and Reindeer have antlers just like the males. Reindeer are about 4 - 5 feet high and weight up to 500 pounds. They need to be strong to pull the Santa's sleigh with all those toys. Artic people hunt caribou for different reasons based on the age and gender so the Artic people give caribou three names: pagnnig (adult bull), junalak (adult female), and narraq (calf). Caribou eat moss so they use their nose to shovel snow so they can reach the frozen tundra moss. Yummy! They are not shy, they can sleep in the water and they are constantly on the move (to find more moss I am sure). So I asked the Reindeer handler how come they don't freeze in the sub zero temperatures up north on the tundra. He was proud to tell me it is because Caribou have hollow hair roots that provide warmth but most importantly they have two circulatory systems. The circulatory system for their long thin legs is up to 50 degrees colder than the circulation system for their upper body. Now that is interesting! I think all Artic people need a second circulatory system to stay warm.
The Eagle River Tree Lighting festival was full of fun. The fire dancers were interesting. Then we had the Native children doing the blanket toss. The blanket toss is an event in the Native Olympics. I can't wait to witness the Native Olympics in the spring. Of course all the local school choirs sang holiday songs, free hot cocoa and cookies, and Reindeer munch. Just behind the stage was our local sledding hill. I mean a BIG sledding hill. So if you forgot to bring your sled, the local dry cleaners and recycle company provided large plastic bags that the kids used on the sledding hill. I wasn't quite grasping the concept so I walked over to the sledding hill and I learned a lot. The children get into the bag and slide down the hill. Just like a potato sack but it is a plastic sled sack. Alaska is the "King of the Hill" sleds. They have two and three person sleds. One sled had dad in front, then mom and the back had a baby carrier connected to the sled. Wow! Then there was a leopard spotted sled, some sleek aerodynamic styles and all very fast. I loved the Burberry sled. I told you we were the designer sled capital.
The next pictures are from Thanksgiving week when David and I hiked to the Thunderbird Falls. It was snowing such big snow flakes I had David take a picture of these big flakes. How about that danger sign David is standing next to. I bet you haven't seen a beware of falling off the cliff that that! We took a pretty winter wonderland picture of the Thunderbird Fall bridge we thought belongs on some Christmas card. As we hiked down the trail, we came across a Russian family heading up the trail to sled down. Are those not the cutest kids ready to sled?
The Eagle River Tree Lighting festival was full of fun. The fire dancers were interesting. Then we had the Native children doing the blanket toss. The blanket toss is an event in the Native Olympics. I can't wait to witness the Native Olympics in the spring. Of course all the local school choirs sang holiday songs, free hot cocoa and cookies, and Reindeer munch. Just behind the stage was our local sledding hill. I mean a BIG sledding hill. So if you forgot to bring your sled, the local dry cleaners and recycle company provided large plastic bags that the kids used on the sledding hill. I wasn't quite grasping the concept so I walked over to the sledding hill and I learned a lot. The children get into the bag and slide down the hill. Just like a potato sack but it is a plastic sled sack. Alaska is the "King of the Hill" sleds. They have two and three person sleds. One sled had dad in front, then mom and the back had a baby carrier connected to the sled. Wow! Then there was a leopard spotted sled, some sleek aerodynamic styles and all very fast. I loved the Burberry sled. I told you we were the designer sled capital.
The next pictures are from Thanksgiving week when David and I hiked to the Thunderbird Falls. It was snowing such big snow flakes I had David take a picture of these big flakes. How about that danger sign David is standing next to. I bet you haven't seen a beware of falling off the cliff that that! We took a pretty winter wonderland picture of the Thunderbird Fall bridge we thought belongs on some Christmas card. As we hiked down the trail, we came across a Russian family heading up the trail to sled down. Are those not the cutest kids ready to sled?
I am looking forward to arriving home in Memphis in 13 days. Every time David puts the phone to Captain Jack's ear he perks up and looks around for me. I am curious to see if he remembers me. My parents, Jenna and my siblings and family will be in Memphis for our family Christmas. I hope to visit with all my friends while I am in town. Then I return to Alaska with anticipation of David, Poli and Bruce arriving for the Iditarod the first weekend in March.
I wish you and your family a happy holidays. I can't wait to share our dog sledding, snowmobiling and Mt McKinley flight in my next post. Until then.
Sheryl the Nanuq (Alaskan spelling) of the North.
PS. I was suppose to sign off about 20 minutes ago but I got stuck on my computer. I mean literally. I had to call my neighbor, Missy, to come over and help me get out of my computer. Another Warmboldian moment! One of my wrist bracelets went down the opening (which keeps the computer top closed) and got twisted. So I couldn't get my hand off the keyboard. I couldn't get a look to undo it myself because my wrist was only about 1/2 off the computer key board. Gosh what things I won't do to 'chat' with my neighbor. Unfortunately, we couldn't save the bracelet but we did save Sheryl's wrist. I will take the bracelet to the jewelry store tomorrow to get fixed. What should you learn from this "Warmboldian" moment? Don't wear your good bracelet when you type on the computer!!! Until next time.
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