These past two weeks have seen some of the strangest weather in Alaskan history. The last blog entry we posted, we were experiencing overnight lows of -30°. Two days ago, the daytime high was +50°, which set a record. In fact, several record high temperatures have been broken over the past few days, and months' worth of snow and ice have nearly completely melted away in a matter of 72 hours. Wednesday and Thursday of last week, local school districts (including the kids') closed, as well as Anchorage's two universities, the public bus sytem, area ski resorts and even Meals on Wheels - all because of the rapid thaw, which turned icy roads, highways and parking lots into wet skating rinks. Ice may be slippery, but wet ice is simply impossible to drive on, and southcentral Alaska woke up on Wednesday morning to sudden chaos. Even the city's ice art project, The Freeze, was ironically turned upside down by Mother Nature. It's as if breakup has begun, yet we know we're in for another few months of winter. Very confusing, though a welcome surprise.
We decided to take advantage of the long weekend and booked a last-minute hotel room in Anchorage. That's a big deal for us, and something we enjoyed to the fullest extent. We were lucky enough to catch the Alaska Museum of Natural History's "free day" on our way into the city. After setting up in our room, Brandon headed out for sushi for the whole family. The pool and hot tub, cable TV, the next day's big breakfast, and still more pool and hot tub time made for a very special overnight trip - for us, at least.
We'll blog again soon when the temperature is sure to be in the 90s. Till then, enjoy the photos!
♥, The Tuckers
