Stoke Factor Rising

The last couple of nights we've had a few snow flurries. Nothing stuck, but it was nice to see winter approaching. I'm getting pretty pumped for a couple of exciting reasons. First, we decided which snowmachine to buy, a utilitarian Yamaha Bravo LT famed for it's reliability.

I bought some sectional maps at the airport to figure out precisely how far it is to the nearest snowboardable mountains... turns out it's a mere 30 miles to the nearest spot and within 60 miles there are several very promising locations. We can easily reach these places with our trusty new Bravo. Plus just checking out those maps got me pumped about flying... I'm excited to get that fired up again here some time.

And last but not least, we got an excellent package from my sister, featuring the Lapacaca (or Lupucucu... a widely held alternative spelling of LPCC) quilt she made for us. It's keeping us comfy and toasty up here in the great north.

Also, we watched the Bethel Warriors varsity girls basketball team beat the Akiachak Huskies last night for a fine evening of entertainment. Despite the fact that Akiachak's tallest player was probably 18 inches shorter than the average Bethel Warrior, and their high school is a tenth of the size of Bethel's, they put out an impressive effort and managed to keep it close. Hooray for both teams, I say.

Finally, here's a cool view of Bethel from Google Earth. The arrow points to our pad here in B-berg. If you ever want to explore the world in the comfort of your own living room, Google Earth is the computer program for you! Wow, is pretty much all I can say. If you like maps, you'll love Google Earth. For example, I spent some quality time investigating the surf potential of Russia's Lake Baikal and the backcountry powder potential of Iran's mountains.