A Day in the Snow

Karl's dad invited us out snow machining this past Saturday, and we jumped at the opportunity to spend some time having fun in the snow.  I apologize for the crappy photos - I took my old digital camera, but the memory card decided it didn't work.  These are courtesy of my cell phone...

First it was off to the gas station to fill them up for a day of playing.  I figure Alaska is one of the only places in the country where you can ride your snow machine down the road and right up to the pump.  

Only five minutes after we left the gas station, we ran into some friends also out enjoying the day.

We kept going and ended up getting on the Iditarod trail.  It was absolutely beautiful, and we wound our way through narrow trails through the woods.

Scarily enough, I was apparently responsible for riding my own snow machine the whole day - Karl told me I wasn't allowed to come if I was going to ride with him!  I guess I needed to learn sometime, and I only managed to get myself moderately stuck twice.  It's tough getting used to hanging your entire body off of the side to make sure you turn when you want to!

One of our many breaks - Karl's uncle met up with us and was having some considerable problems with his snow machine.  Gave me a chance to rest my hands (they kept cramping up from holding the gas on), but it gets a lot colder when you're sitting around doing nothing!

An easy way to tell we were on the Iditarod; three dog teams passed us at various points throughout the day!  It's amazing how well behaved those dogs are, but I don't think they've ever been give a bath.  They left quite the smelly dog aroma in their wake.

We finished off the night by stopping at the inlet to look across at Anchorage (the bright spot in the picture).  Again, sorry for the awful photo - using a camera phone after the sun has set does not make for a quality image.

All in all, it was a beautiful day for a snow machine ride.  It snowed lightly, and stayed right around 25 degrees.  I'm looking forward to our next trip out, despite the fact that I am so sore I feel as though I was run over by several trains!