thank you for reminding me of why i moved to California... :)

whoa....how did you do that ???? I was just finishing the book The Magnificent Mountain Women . It is a wonderful look at the women who were the early mountain climbers and skiers in CO. starting in the 1800's. They talked about a snow door too on a stone house that they used...now I know what they were talking about LOL.

Do you get out and ski/snowshoe ???? pics ???

And here I was upset that we are having 20's tomorrow night...that would be above zero :) Great pic !! c

Good way to keep warm?
Gorgeous!

That was us this time last year in NYS!!!

WOW! Love it! I am in little R.I. and I am totally bummed we haven't had any snow yet. I LOVE SNOW!! Yes please post more photo's!!

I am sooooooooooooooo jealous.
I have a ski trip planned to northern NH in 10 days
and no snow.
: (

Yesterday DH and I went for a hike and the temps were
45 degrees. It felt like September not January.
I am doing a snow dance today in the hopes that we
get a bunch of snow to have fun in.
Wishing I could ski through your snow door.
~boxerpups

CT here and we had 2 - 2+ feet dumped on us in Oct. Only flurries since, enough to cover the ground but melting in a day or 2. Unusual winter this year.

What a cool picture! I can't say I'm jealous. We had a tough winter here in MA last year. This year, no snow to speak of (except for the crazy October storm). Yesterday there were tons of people out walking around - felt like a spring day... great to take a long walk on the beach with the dogs (it was packed with people and dogs, not snow!).

That is amazing, Melinda!! I had wondered what you had been doing lately. ;-)

Trudy

My dh was just saying that his December newsletter from a kayak adventure place in Haines AK said that they had 120" of snow in early December! I think he was glad they didn't have 120" of snow in September when we were there!

Stay warm and safe!

Hi everyone...I meant to say 'our' snow door as in 'Alaska's'. This is in town - 14 miles from us. We live in the 'boonies' :) Town gets more snow.

Alaska can be a very challenging place but, come summer... all memories are whisked away by the cool, gentle breezes. No sweating...lots of light! It's like a different world - the same Thompson Pass loses its grip of death on travelers and we soon forget all those white-knuckle journeys!

Not sure what year this was:

I took this pic from the plane from Valdez to Anchorage. The plot of "Alive" runs through my mind the entire time =:-0

I took this pic of Thompson Pass which is about 15 miles from us.

The 'hockey sticks' on Thompson Pass spaced every few feet on either side. Those are reflector lights on top. I've driven through the Pass by myself during whiteout conditions, blizzard and I could barely see one light at a time. You can't stop or you'll get bogged down.

I took this picture a couple weeks ago. This is in Glennallen, about 117 miles from us. My hubby calls these "H.A.A.R.P." clouds LOL Link below.

Here's the south view from our property:

The same view in summer: (the digging had begun for our foundation).

Here is a link that might be useful: H.A.A.R.P.

Brrrrrrr

Great photography! Beautiful place! I love the snow and winter. Nothing better than coming home to a fire in the wood stove with my family safely tucked in. So far in CO we have only had about a foot of snow.
Diane

Thanks, everyone. :)

powermuffin (like your screen name - curious how you picked it) :) The older I get - the harder it is for me to deal with it. Our wooded subdivision is like a Christmas card, but seriously...enough! :) At least a foot covers most everything...what's your annual average where you are?

We are so jealous - no snow in Southern Michigan. Lake Michigan and Lake Superior just started making snow, so will have to head to the infamous "up north"

Wow, that's where our snow went! I skiied over xmas break on all man made stuff in Tahoe :(

Last year we were at 200% of normal. Now were like zero.

When I was 8 years old, my parents sent me and my brother out to shovel the front walk after a bad snowstorm in Northern Illinois. (Back in those days kids shoveled.) Well, we were kind of short, so we just shoveled a tunnel from the front door to the driveway. My parents had to demolish the roof because we were too short. LOL!

this looks like the thread to post this email I got about the heavy snow up north...

- I just got off the phone with a friend living in North Dakota near the Canadian border. She said that since early this morning the snow has been nearly waist high and is still falling. The temperature is dropping way below zero and the north wind is increasing to near gale force.

Her husband has done nothing but look through the kitchen window and just stare.

She says that if it gets much worse, she may have to let him in! -

LOL desertsteph! Did you ever find out the hubby's fate? ;)

c1g - I know what you mean about the kids shoveling!

One winter, it didn't snow until FEBRUARY! We had light dustings but nothing to speak of. Can you imagine all the snowmachines (Alaskans mean snowmobiles when we say that) people got for Christmas that they couldn't ride? My son was in agony - he grew up on one. He'd ride over rivers (yes, I said rivers!) LOL AND glaciers.

We had lots of problems all over town during that winter. Snow acts as insulation so many septics froze, any underground pipes froze...it was a mess.

Was that the snowstorm of the 70s? Multiple years of major snowfall. I recall driving through a one lane tunnel of snow on a major highway downstate (south of I-80 :-).

Beautiful pictures! I love snow, but not that much. Fortunately for us in central IL, the weather has been unseasonably mild and our builder is finishing the exterior.

Someone in town just posted this picture on Facebook.

That's a stop sign :)

Breathtaking! I adore your views from your home; I think as I went about my day, it would distract me so that I'd just have to just sit down and look at it in each change of light!

I was in Anchorage, Whittier and Homer about 7 or 8 yrs ago for a friend's (summer) wedding. We had a great time. From where we are it's quicker to fly to Europe, so frankly I never would have chosen Alaska over Europe but for my friend ... Until i'd seen it. I will be back!

I miss the snowy winter we had last year! I loved all the days the kids had off from school. Neither DH nor I have to go anywhere, so we can just enjoy the snow, too. I love watching it fall and the house we were in last year had these lovely frozen icy pussy willow trees, too.

I hope that you are gearing up for this next storm coming through. Here in ANC, we are supposed to get 6-12 inches this weekend. We are thinking about everyone in CDV/VDZ!

mcav0y - I used to live in Anchorage from 1972-77. It seemed colder but much less snow. Did you see the Google Earth satellite pic in the (Snowpocalypse( thread? (Linked below).

Here is a link that might be useful: Snowpocalypse

Meanwhile, I don't think we've had a below zero day here in Twin Cities since last winter. And we've had some days as high as 50s.

melaska - I wish I had your view! Winter or summer, that's fantastic. Breathtaking really. I love the dramatic differences in seasons and I love snow. I would live farther north (currently in southern Alberta) but for a DH that wishes we lived somewhere near room temperature all year round ;)

I even envy your record snowfall (easy for me to say right?!). Stay safe! And keep the spectacular photos coming!

that email was just a 'joke' thing that gets sent around... it really seemed to fit this thread tho -lol!

I looooooooooove Alaska! at least the views/nature there. Never been there but some friends moved up there. the Xwife of my former roommate did, then he died and the kids went up to live with her also. She sent me (email) pics of their surroundings/views so that I could see the kids new home 'turf'. It was very different for them - from desert to Alaska but they loved it.

Alaska is on my top 3 places i wish I could visit in real... along with Israel and an island (used to be Hawaii but with what I see on the Home Hunter Intl shows - many would do). aaahhh - the beauty of nature in our world!

I live in one of them - the desert. I was raised in the midwest with change of seasons and lots of snow in the winter. Had enough of that, now I just like seeing it in pictures - never in real anymore. The desert was/is a whole different world than i ever knew. The mountains, the desert 'floor' (dirt/sand), the cacti etc - it's all awesome. I do wish I could travel a bit tho and see those other places. Instead I watch videos of them (some on tv, others on dvd).

desertsteph - that was a really funny email LOL

Is your friend still in Alaska? What part do they live in?

I would love to visit one of those beautiful tropical islands featured in House Hunters Int'l shows, too. Such a departure from where I live now. I've also always dreamed of living on the east coast like Maine (where Jessica Fletcher's show was supposed to be set - Cabot Cove).

We lived in CA from 2001 - 2004. Nine of those months was spent in Susanville, CA - actually Leitchfield (we called it Leech Field) :) I don't know how desert-y it is compared to where you live but I did not like it.

I think it was also the circumstances. Just a few miles from a maximum security prison...hubby worked nights so every noise outside my window was an escaped convict ready to come get me ;)

I had to do a 'spider hunt' every night before going to bed. They loved to congregate at the corners of the wall & ceiling...I guess they were having AA meetings (Arachnoid Anonymous) ;) Black Widows in my wood pile inside. That was fun. Had to heat entirely by wood. No dryer - thank goodness for a washer! My living room became my 'dryer'.

I was so happy when we moved back to Sacramento. But, even happier when we came back to Alaska. I had been here since 1972 so I consider it 'home' but I have second thoughts on days like today. Come summer...and all this will be a distant memory...Alaska's siren call to woo us into staying put - then, BAM! Winter pushes Summer away & bullies us for 5 months!

I didn't take the photo below but it shows the mountains in town...this was an outrageously beautiful day! It's days like this that make us forget what winter can do. :)

Aaaaaccckk. It's gorgeous to look at and just astounding but.... please keep it. We are having a wonderful balmy snow-free (so far) winter and I'd love to keep it that way. I hate snow.