A funny thing actually happened on the way to the opera

Joshua and I got a great deal on Opera tickets and invitations to the Anchorage Opera's season opener after party, so we got dressed up and went. Walking to the restaurant downtown for dinner before the show a yellow car honked at us while we were in the crosswalk. I jumped and glared at the driver, before realizing they weren't being rude but trying to get my attention. It was my coworker Nadya with her friend at the wheel, also on their way to dinner before heading to the show. So we decided to join forces and share wine and laughs at Ginger. She was even kind enough to share her pictures from the evening with us since my camera would not fit in my tiny dress-up purse. Can you spot us in the atrium of the opera house above?

 

Photos courtesy of Nadya Gilmore.

Fun new heights

Davin and I discovered a new piece of playground equipment had been installed at our favorite playground on a recent bike ride. It's a giant jungle gym made of steel and rope. I climbed to the top with another mom on the playground at the cajoling of our kids. It wasn't so bad.

This isn't redundant ...

This sign hangs over the soup aisle at my friendly neighborhood Carr's store (Alaska's Safeway). I guess they just wanted to be thorough.

Open eyes

It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget how geographically amazing, beautiful and strange this place I live is. But over the last two weeks, I've had several reminders that I'm in Alaska:

1. EARTHQUAKES: Last week we were rattled with two earthquakes. First was a 4.9 magnitude on Tuesday just 15 miles from Anchorage. Everyone at work jumped as the sound of a semi-truck slammed into the side of our building, but really it was the sound of the earth moving. It shook for several seconds, but no damage was reported anywhere. The second was a 5.4 about a 3-hour-drive north. It woke us up Saturday morning at 4 a.m. I had to get up and to see how fast the local news reported it online.

2. WIND: We had a windstorm Friday with gusts up to 70 mph in places that knocked down trees and knocked out power through much of Southcentral Alaska. Some more remote locations had no power for days after the storm. We actually rarely have much wind at all here, but it contributed to a strange week.

3. SNOW: Termination dust capped the mountains Sunday. The official sign that summer is over. The sight makes skiers cheer and lovers-of-summer like myself pout. We also had flurries in Anchorage Sunday. Nothing stuck, but it reminded us that it will soon. The photo above was taken Sunday traveling south on the Glenn Highway. (Note to my mother: Don't worry, I was in the passenger seat.)

4. FOG: I'm kicking myself for not photographing the eerie for that shrouded the 3 feet over the baseball fields the other day. It looked like the opening scene of a scary movie.

5. DARKNESS: The Fall Equinox passed the other day, and with it, my ability to drive to work without headlights.

Hopefully I won't wait for the next round of earthquakes to open my eyes and remember the beauty and wonder of my surroundings.

Home on the Range

Davin gets two hours of guitar each week at school. Last weekend he got to check out a school guitar for the weekend to practice and show us what he's learned. His teacher is raving to other teachers and parents about how quickly he's picking it up. He even gave me a refresher course on chords.

Cotton candy, giant cabbage and the gravitron

The Alaska State Fair is know for it's giant cabbage competition with a record of 127 from our intense growing season. But Thursday night, we went to the event in Palmer for the rides and the food. Above is a view of the grounds from the Ferris wheel. We ran into Davin's friend from school and her dad and hung out with them at the rides.

Here, missy got told she was just barely too short to make the cut for the Apollo, a ride none of us adults were brave enough to try.

 

So instead I braved the Gravitron with the kids and my stomach -- and equilibruim -- was angry with that decision. So was Davin's. But his friend was so non-phased she was riding upside down.

However, it was nothing a little over-price cotton candy couldn't cure.

Planes, trains and ... bicycles?

We hit the bike lane and didn't start up either car for most of the weekend. Saturday we cruised downtown to the Fourth Avenue Marketplace for a late afternoon lunch of festival food. Sunday we braved the hills to midtown for lunch at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican place, Burrito King, and a matinee of "Dinner for Schmucks." Afterward, we passed the apartment and decided to keep riding for some time. Downtown we watched the airshow pass overhead. We continued through the Alaska Railroad Depot to Ship Creek.

Ship Creek as seen from the deck of The Bridge restaurant ...closed until further notice.

The old fish processing plant looked like it had seen better days.