Winter is on the Way

It’s official. The nights are getting longer, the lakes are freezing over, and the car doors are getting increasingly more difficult to pry open in the morning.  We still have about 7 hours of daylight (9-4), but the sun stays so low in the sky that it never really feels like daytime. There is dawn and then there is dusk. Nothing in between.

And then of course there is the cold. 

Kasilof River starting to freeze at the edges

So far, it just feels like some of the coldest days we have experienced in Colorado; nothing too crazy. But the locals all smirk at the fact that we are already in our down jackets, as if we were complete cold rookies. So, I assume it gets worse. If you don’t see a blog post within the next couple months, you’ll know we have become Mascarenas popsicles. (kidding, dad!!)Whatever may come, here is what we have learned to be grateful for as winter approaches:

1. Our battery blanket. Since hardly anyone has a garage up here, plugging in your car is essential to protecting it from an icy death. And it works well.

2. Cold gear designed for Alaska. People laugh at the jackets we brought from Oregon and New Mexico, and rightfully so. Here it’s all about down, fur (sorry, PETA), and insulating fleece. The stores even sell battery-powered heat socks.

The journey to the trash is long, harsh, and uphill (both ways)

3. Sunrises. They happen so late in the morning that we get to watch the sunrise every single day, even on the weekends when we sleep in. And as a bonus, the sun rises over the mountains AND sets over the mountains.

Sunrise over Homer's boat harbor

Sunset over K-beach near our house

4.  Clear, crisp nights. Makes for some of the best star gazing we’ve ever seen. Word on the street is the aurora borealis usually happens when the temperatures drop like this. We haven’t seen them yet, but we joined a calling list and are keeping our fingers crossed.

5.The beauty of the freeze. We’ve never seen it before, but this is what fresh snow looks like when it hits the ground and freezes:

Hoping to get more snow soon so we can dust off our snowboards and get outside to play!