Pumpkin Carving

On Sunday Brook, Joe, Madeleine, and I went to the pumpkin patch (Fred Meyer's grocery section) and picked out our halloween pumpkins. We spent countless labor intensive hours carving out the intricate details of each pumpkin, and here's what we came up with; Joe and his Alaska outline and state flag, Madeleine with her Panther, Brook with her bat and second polka-dotted pumpkin, and I with my scary skull.

studded tires rock my world

so... we dropped a ton of money the other day on something that i was sceptical about... studded tires. holy crap. so much fun. they take the fear of death out of driving in snow. i can understand why they are illegal in MI, but i think they are essential to AK. we've already had our first snow of the year in town and it is here to stay. so that means six months of frozen roads and six months of slippery roads. what an amazing feeling to come up to a stop light or stop sign and be able to stop on a dime with ice on the road. how cool.

On Saturday Madeleine, Joe, Brook and I went to the used ski equipment sale at West High and scored some great deals. Madeleine and I both got a full downhill setup for under $400 total. That includes skis, bindings, boots, and poles for 2 people. And it's good stuff, too! It's amazing how many people pay full price for ski gear, use it for a year, then sell it for 80-90% off. In the evening we got out the waxing equipment and put a layer of fresh wax down on everyones skis. On Sunday we headed up to Hatcher Pass to try everything out. It was Madeleines first time on downhill skis and she did better than a lot of people who have been skiing for years. After a practice run on a small hill near the parking lot, we hiked up the road to Summit Lake and skiied back down to the car. It was a beautiful day and there were hundreds of other people out and about enjoying the snow.

a drive through the mountains on a fall day

yesterday Thomas, Madeleine and I went for a drive through the mountains to check out all the fall colors. it was beautiful. we drove up to Hatcher Pass and then down the back side all the way to Willow and then back to the highway. on the way home we stopped at Eklutna real quick to check that out. It was equally beautiful with bold peak hanging out all covered in snow and yellow leaves. it was a great day.

Yesterday Joe called me and told me that we were going to go to dinner... in Talkeetna. And to get there we were going to be flying up with Joe Darminio (his friend the bush pilot). It was amazing! We were flying only FEET off the water, through narrow gorges and barely above the tree tops. Madeleine had the best view from the front of the plane and took some video from the front. See the video clip below. -Nick

birthday boys

So Tuesday was my birthday and Wednesday was Joe's. To celebrate on Tuesday we went out to one of my favorite restaurants in Anchorage called Fu Du; it's a chinese restaurant and it rocks. everything is home cooked and amazing. Wednesday Joe and I went golfing for a little bit - just to the driving range and then came back and the girls cooked and set up a nice little party for us. they even had hats, buttons and a PINATA! it was awesome. I chose to go the more traditional route to beat the hell out of it; i chose the golf club and the ski pole. Joe... he went the more alaskan way - he beat the shit out of it with ice axes. It was awesome. There is also a picture of me posing like a drunk white boy trying to look like a homie. hope ya like ;)

shanghai

here are some pics of shanghai. crazy luck that we should get back one day before they should start evacuating due to a huge typhoon that is about to slam into the city.

i'm already thinking about when i can go back to china. it is really an incredible place. next time, though, i 'd like to stick to the countryside.