Girdwood.

I mentioned before the weekend that 1. we were getting a new stove and 2. we had zero plans this weekend. Boy was I wrong!

1. Long story short, but our landlord is a...unique... woman who has very little tact. She never hires a company to do any work, but rather uses a friend who may or may not be able to do the work, but in the event that he can, it will save her money. VERY ANNOYING, but I guess we get what we pay for (cheap rent = cheap-ish landlord). She asked Andy to go pick up the new stove, which was fine, but we are pretty sure that they deliver for little to no cost. It wasn't long after we picked up the stove that we bounced outta there as we didn't want to be there and end up doing the whole stove thing on our own. After our landlord and her chum were at our house for 5 hours, we got the phone call from her that, "He didn't have the tools he needed and he forgot his ladder in Talkeetna (ONLY 2 HOURS AWAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY, UGGH!!) and that he would have to come back later this week." Thank goodness the stove can still be used, but still. We dearly love the place in which we live, but I can't take this forever!

2. I thought we had zero plans, but as I said before, I was so wrong. Andy had a whole day planned out for us, partly a continuation of my birthday and partly to get out of stove duty. In the morning we went to Skinny Raven where I had my running analyzed. I ran on a treadmill for about 30 seconds while being recorded. They were able to play back my run in slow motion and help me to see that I over pronate as I push off with my toes. That probably doesn't even make sense, but I have known for awhile that I need a good pair of running shoes to help my feet and shins not hurt while I run. We spent some time trying on shoes that have a firmer arch/bridge and will hopefully go back to buy a pair later this week! (Those of you who have shopped with me know that I never buy anything while I'm at the store the first time. I have to go home, think about it, research it, and then maybe if the item is there when I go back, I'll buy it.)

After that we headed to Girdwood. I would compare Girdwood to Park City, except a lot smaller. It's our ski town. We stopped for a plate of nachos at Chair 5 and then went to the resort to watch the 2009 U.S. Alpine Championship races. We were fortunate to get a front row parking spot and walked right up to the race!

The ice was absolutely incredible as we drove down the Arm. I couldn't believe the size of some of the chunks! They were definitely bigger than me!

We might have to buy one of these someday. It looked mighty fun to drive!
At the race. I think the race we watched was just women's downhill. I'm not sure how long the course was either, but they were doing it in about 1 min 8-12 seconds. (I'm obviously well informed...)

On our way home we decided to kick it in to 4WD to get some up close ice pictures.

We climbed down off the road to get even closer. Andy guesses that the ice is at least 20 feet high. It is so cool looking!

This picture and the last one were taken from the truck, looking out over the Turnagain Arm (ultimately Pacific Ocean) to the other side which is several hours drive away.

These aren't uncommon along the highway.

We definitely love all of the seasons here. I can't believe that we will start working tourism here in a couple of months! I really hope that all of the ice has melted by then or else the visitors will be in for a chilly treat!