MORE SNOW!

On Saturday morning, our first big snow of the season started falling in large white flakes. It started at about 11:00 in the morning. By 2:00, we had at least 8 inches of fluffy snow on the ground. Bethel is a whole new place when the snow starts falling! We had been invited to watch the first game of the World Series with the judges at a restaurant out by the airport. We had the grand idea of putting on all of our gear, new goggles and all, and trying to ride our bikes to the airport. So we bundled up, got our bikes out, and headed out in the snow. Getting from our house to the road was a challenge, but once we made it to the road, we could pedal pretty well. But then we had another bright idea…with all of this new snow, we should be cross country skiing! So we headed back, changed boots, unpacked the skis and were just about ready to head out when we realized that Dawson didn’t have any ski poles! We had left them at his summer apartment in Anchorage thinking that we would surely be back to get them before the first snow his Bethel. So with the plan foiled, we once again set out on our bikes. Dawson changed his boots again, but I was too lazy and decided to bike in cross-country ski boots. We did OK on the roads that were plowed, but then tried to cut across the boardwalk. This hadn’t been plowed or tracked down, so we were trail blazing through all the snow, making pedaling quite difficult. We picked up our bikes and carried them along the boardwalk. When we were walking up a little hill from the boardwalk to the main road, I realized why it isn’t a good idea to try to push your bike up a slope with slippery cross country ski boots on! When we hit the main road, given the heavy falling snow and the difficult visual conditions, plus our very high degree of heat from all of our bundling, we decided maybe we should head back. Plan foiled again, but at least we got some exercise! We swallowed our pride and drove the Suby out to the airport. The Suby continues its reputation for superior handling on snowy roads.

So it was a fun day, we ended up watching a little baseball at the restaurant and then were invited over to one of the judge’s house for the rest of the game. We went for a late night cross country ski down by the river, one pole a piece. It wasn’t too easy for balance, but we managed and it was a beautiful night by the river.