I routinely post about my love affair with Alaska.

Saturday night was NOT a day to fall in love with the 49th state … at least not from the place Gina and I call home. Rain, wind, melting snow, falling trees, power outages ….

Basically, it wasn’t fun. But weather is weather. In Alaska, we have earthquakes and an occasional Chinook with 100+ mph winds. Other places have tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, wind-fueled wildfires.

I’ll stick with Alaska ... even though we found a new leak or two in the house on Saturday night.

--Steve

And by "that" season, I mean that great season.

Oh, sure, it's dark in the morning on the way to work. It's dark when we head home. The roads are slippery.

Doesn't matter.

This picture pretty much says it all ... a beautiful winter day in Anchorage, Alaska.

Kincaid Park: A skier enjoys the fresh snow at Kincaid Park as the sun sets on Tuesday.

It's time to get out and enjoy!

-- Steve

Ice Sign: A sure sign that winter is on its way ... a sign posted along an Anchorage bike path.

I took a walk this afternoon and saw a woman driving her convertible with the top down.

I know Alaskans like to hold on to every last bit of “pre-winter” as possible, but it was about 32-33 degrees at the time.

In my mind, winter has already set in. The ground is freezing up nicely, which is exactly what I want before the snow starts to fly. Get a good solid base down for cross-country skiing.

Chugach Mountains with Snow: The Chugach Mountains overlooking Anchorage have a fresh white blanket on top. The seasons are changing quickly.Summer has come and gone.

Quite honestly, autumn is quickly fading away here in the Great Land too.

The last few days have been fickle. Clear one day, snow on the mountains the next. Then a day that makes Anchorage look like Southeast (rainy and foggy), followed by a day with plenty of fresh white snow surrounding Anchorage.

It's officially summer, so it's time to report on what's going on in my neighborhood:

Gina just called me to tell me about her dog-walking experience this afternoon.

Step 1: She and Ginzee head out the back of the property and run into a mama moose and calf. They turn around.

Step 2: She heads down the road the other direction and runs into a mama moose and two calves. They turn around.

Step 3: She heads the opposite direction, gets about quarter-mile and runs into a black bear napping alongside the bike trail. They turn around.

I ride my bike year-round, but there is something special about being joined by so many fellow cyclists during Bike to Work Week.

On this morning’s commute I encountered 32 other cyclists and just one moose.

I can’t imagine what the trails look like in a bike-riding mecca like Portland or Denver, but I’ll bet the commuters didn’t get stopped by a moose this morning.

Afternoon update: 11 miles, 53 cyclists, 0 moose.

-- Steve

Sad irony today.

Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage are promoting April as Freeze Your Keys month, encouraging people to trade in car rides for bike rides. Then a motorist kills a cyclist at an intersection I have ridden through many, many times.

I love my bicycle. I love riding in Alaska. And I’ve had my fair share of near-misses.

It’s been an awesome winter so far in Alaska.

Of course, winter “officially” arrived just this week; and what a start – lunar eclipse, full moon on solstice, fresh snow earlier in the week. However, we’ve enjoyed weeks of winter weather and activities before Dec. 21.

Gina, Ginzee and I have been making regular trips to the multi-use trials for ski days. Gina took Ginzee on her longest ski yet on Tuesday, and the puppy spent most of the night knocked out in front of the fire. (Side note: Gina was the first skier on freshly-groomed trails. I’m pretty jealous.)

Mammoth: Visitors to "Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age" can see fossils and life-size replicas of these ancient beasts. (Photo courtesy of the Anchorage Museum)With the cold temperatures we’ve been experiencing in Anchorage this week, it seems like a great time to get tickets for the Anchorage Museum's next big exhibit – “Mammoths and Mastodons.”

Today’s bike commute:

11 miles.

-1 at home.

-10 passing Campbell Creek Science Center.

1 at work.

It’s currently 10 degrees in Midtown as the sun prepares to set. It’s been a cold day.

-- Steve

Ginzee: Ginzee on Day 2 of her adventure in Alaska back in August.The dynamics of our family changed a lot this year. And that led to the strangest year we’ve spent in Alaska.

As I posted earlier on the blog, our beloved dog Beezil died in June. She was our hiking, camping, skiing and just-about-everything-else companion for the 10-plus years we have been in the Great Land. Nothing felt right without her this summer.

The Anchorage Museum is the place to be this weekend.

Oh, sure, people will be lined up at Wal-Mart, Best Buy and numerous other stores throughout the big shopping weekend, but the museum offers a little more serenity and good shopping too.

Stop by the museum to see the Andy Warhol exhibit and enjoy the annual Crafts Weekend and the ReadAlaska Book Fair. There is so much going on there are multiple press releases pasted below giving the details.

Andy Warhol's first exhibit is coming to Alaska on Nov. 5. Tickets can be purchased starting today for the Anchorage Museum exhibit. The exhibit runs through Jan. 30.

Don't dally if you want to secure a view of the pop art master.

Below is a press release about the event.

--Steve

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On Nov. 5, the Anchorage Museum will debut “Andy Warhol: Manufactured,” the state’s first Andy Warhol exhibition. Tickets go on sale today at www.anchoragemuseum.org and the Anchorage Museum front desk.

Westchester Lagoon: Westchester Lagoon in Anchorage, Alaska, on a recent fall day. The weather has turned a bit but we might still get a few more "autumn" days to enjoy.

Soup to Nutz: True Life in Alaska

I received this comic in my in-box this morning. It's oh so true in Alaska.

Enjoy.

-Steve

Little O'Malley: Beezil -- whom Gina and I refer to as the "best dog ever" -- enjoys the view from Little O'Malley Peak in the Chugach Mountains.Alaska is an outdoor wonderland.

“Bleh, bleh, bleh!”

I’m not sure if that’s exactly what a baby moose says, but that’s kind of what it sounds like. At least that’s what it sounds like at 5 a.m. when it’s outside your bedroom window.

Solstice: Flattop at 10:04 p.m. Monday with still-bright sunlight reflecting off its rocks.

Summer solstice came and went on Monday.

It would be hard to imagine a better first day of summer in Alaska than yesterday. The sun was shining, the temperatures were warm, the smell of lilacs was in the air.

It was truly an awesome day.

Trail ride: Gina picks her way down a single-track trail in Anchorage.Bears and bikes are not always a good mix, as Sean Berkey found out today on his early-morning bike commute through Far North Bicentennial Park.

I was a bit shocked when I saw this story.

Bike to Work: A cyclist passes under Lake Otis Parkway while riding along the Chester Creek Trail on Thursday.Scenes from an awesome Thursday of Bike to Work Week.

The forecast says it should be nice Friday and all weekend. That would be great.

Enjoy.

-- Steve

Bike to Work: Bright early morning sunshine was a perfect complement to Thursday's Bike to Work Week ride.