Saturday, December 13, 2008

Juneau, Alaska

To add to the pictures of bicycle riding in the frozen Northland ...

9 a.m. The view at breakfast. Yawn.

10 a.m. The trip to the post office is becoming a daily chore for me. I don't mind at all. :-)

11 a.m. Riding into the Mendenhall Valley on the Dredge Lake trails, mouth agape.

12 p.m., heading back toward the highway on some nondescript road. Mouth still agape.

1 p.m.: Life's good between Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

2 p.m.: An interpretive photo of the Hard North Wind. It brought in a blast of frigid air from Canada, gusting right in my face. The temperature was probably about 25 degrees. The windchill couldn't have been warmer than 5.

3 p.m.: Alpenglow on the distant mountains.

4 p.m.: The last bit of daylight and a really bright planet over Auke Rec. I'm not sure which planet it was - a bright one.

5 p.m.: The self-portrait I took after my sad attempts to take a photo of the moon. I don't have a proper camera for night shots, so you'll just have to take my word that it was the most amazing full moon I have ever seen. The Hard North Wind was tearing clouds of snow off the mountains. As the moon rose, it illuminated the ridgelines with this soft, intense glow, almost as bright as daylight. I couldn't take my eyes off the moon, which was rough because I was back in the traffic of Juneau proper and it was rush hour.

6 p.m.: Having dinner with Geoff, our friend Christina and a couple of our parasitic cats.

7 p.m.: Trying to figure out what's going on in my friends' children's play. At this point, my head was nearly as fuzzy as this picture.

8 p.m.: For seven-hour rides in the freezer, there's no better recovery food than a huge spread of Christmas cookies.

6 comments:

Jeffrey C. said...

venus and jupiter have been bright all month, not sure which one you caught :) Nice pics Jill, I envy your location!

Unknown said...

I love the 2pm shot, it looks cold, but beautiful and inviting.

What kind of tires do you use for winter riding?

Eero said...

As always, good story and great photos.
E.

sean marcel said...

Love all the outdoor pictures, feels cold but very nice to look at. Kudos for cycling in the snow, it's hard work.

Paul said...

Beautiful area nicely captured in pics! I especially like your 2:00PM pic, it should be printed out, enlarged, framed, and hanging on my wall :)

Jill Homer said...

Thanks everyone. It was a uniquely nice day. :-)

Karen, on that bike I have a pair of studded tires. They're 29" Nokian Gazza Extremes, made for mountain bikes.

Sean, if you're interested in the larger version of 2 p.m., e-mail me at jillhomer66@hotmail.com.