Summer 2010 SmileBox

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Fun with Ice

Again this post will be more about pictures, so I'll let them do most of the talking, but I will add a bit of commentary and current events. We've been laying low here in Fairbanks eagerly awaiting the spring thaw, but there's a lot of winter fun yet to be had.

We've been looking into permanent housing options a bit more, and need I mention the difficulties involved in that process. Perhaps I'll add some blogs as we get a bit more serious, but for now we haven't liked the purchase options or price points we've seen for the most part, and I'm more than a little surprised at what they will actually show. We're still hoping for a cute log cabin with lots of indoor and outdoor space, close enough to town to be convenient and far enough away to be quiet. It's good to dream.

As Springtime falls on the rest of the states, and kids break from school for spring break, so do the people of Alaska, but without the spring weather. This time of year does bring more dramatic swings in temperature however, and although its yet to break freezing temperatures (a few odd days mid winter being the exception), I read the average high by the end of March is 34 degrees. All I can say is that the next two weeks must change rather quickly.

Now on to the fun stuff! The annual World Ice Art Championships have now completed all of the competition events and judging is in. We took the weekend to tour the park and get some photos.

The park is pretty big, so those with smaller children brought their traditional Alaskan strollers.

I wanted to shoot some during day and night mostly to play with the camera. It was good to see the park during the day, but the best still shots by far were the nighttime shots.

Just a few of the daytime shots I liked.

 

This was one of my favorites and apparently a judge favorite also as it received the multi-block first place for the realistic category.

Not the Abstract category winner, but one of my favorites.

And just for the record, I didn't keep close eye on the winners and forgive me in advance for not properly recognizing the artists individually. All the art was incredible and there was a lot of it. I will, however, point over to the official web site at www.icealaska.com.

There was a kids park with a maze, and lots of fun things to climb on for the little ones. However, the big slide was the most popular with ours, and it seemed to be the hit of the park for many. Or at least honorable mention after the warming hut. Temps during the day weren't bad but started to chill quickly once the sun set. The indoor areas offered hot beverages as is typical here, but it was a bit crowded for my taste.

On to the night shots. We left and grabbed some dinner, and came when the sun had set. We also had the idea to extend our evening beyond the Ice Park. More on that later.

Again, some of my favorites in no particular order.

Compare this next one to the day photo above.

One of my favorites and a place holder, so it gets a second post also.

I liked the lighting on this one.

Again I felt the lighting was great on this one. I enjoyed that many of the pieces took on a completely different personality at night, and lighting was a big part of it. Some of the best pieces by day ended up with disappointing lighting, and some of the pieces you wouldn't give high marks on during the day really popped at night under the right lighting.

 

I just liked these next two and had pretty good pictures of them.

And of course the big slide was again the big hit.

Farewell World Ice Art Champions. We'll be looking forward to next year! I really had a great time and in retrospect I wish I had done season tickets and spent some time watching the artists during the first couple of weeks. I hope my schedule allows me more time next year for this.

And thank you Fairbanks for hosting such a great event.

My fun wasn't over yet, as I eluded to above. I've been wanting to see the Northern Lights since I arrived here, and although I had seen some very mild streaks in the sky, I've gone a whole winter here in Fairbanks without seeing a solid display. It was clear by now that trying to view the lights in town is futile, and the few times we had attempted to get out of town at night we ran into cloudy skies or poor viewing conditions. Now to my credit, this was apparently a very bad year for it, says the local authorities.

I had heard of a good place to view them which we had not yet tried, and the skies proved to be clear, so we proceeded to drive to Murphy Dome. To my delight we were able to see a reasonably good display, and I've found a great place with reasonably easy access to setup a camera. The bad news was it was bitter cold by now and I was dressed for temps no lower than maybe minus 10 for any sustained period of time. At around minus 20 I was under dressed to be standing around in the dark trying to get my camera to behave for the my first attempt at a fairly challenging subject.

I was able to get a shot or two in, but my remote wasn't working (I wasn't working my remote, I should say), and so my first attempts didn't come out with pictures I was satisfied with due to blur from my shaky hand trying to keep an open shutter in the cold. However, I learned a lot, and due to the historic experience, I'll post my first, somewhat blurry, pictures of the lights anyway.

The Aurora Borealis

 

K. Chadwick

Dog Days

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox greeting

Chena Ice Museum

Ok, it's been so cold we haven't got out much. From what they say it's been a pretty solid cold snap here even for Fairbanks standards. We've had temps hovering around -35 to -40 for about 15 days, and we're finally seeing the end of those temps. It's a balmy -8 and we're looking forward to some solid positive numbers over the next week.

But this installment isn't about the cold. Oh wait, yes it is. It's about nothing but cold - the Ice Museum, to be exact. The ice art here is amazing, and I'm sure there will be to come, but we had a chance to get up to Chena Hot Springs resort and we visited the ice museum there. I think I'll leave the pictures to fill in the story.

Oh, that's not cold. that's the greenhouse for the restaurant there.

Also, I had to fit in the goats. Meet Bert and Ernie.

Ok, there's the museum. And a cold little boy. We'll see just how cold later.

Oh man, this is going downhill fast.

Really, read on, it does get better.

That's just some art. But I really want to know how it's made.

We did, however, get the honor of seeing the artist at work. He wasn't making anything quite as interesting as the ball above, but we did get to watch him making some martini glasses.

But first, some more ice sculpture.

But Christmas is over.

And some more.

Evidently one used to be able to play chess, but recently they were forced to weld down the individual pieces due to people not behaving.

It was also explained to us that the first year they built the museum at Chena it was all made of ice - then it melted. Now, the building itself is a large temperature controlled refrigerator, and has been the same for several years. Ice eventually sublimates over time, so nothing here is truly permanent. Pieces must be remade. As a result there are inventive ways of recreating pieces. The artist was using an ice lathe in the picture above. He also creates many of his own tools. I'm not an expert on the topic, but I'm fascinated and I feel fortunate to be able to experience the ice sculpture capital of the world.

Oh yes, I did mention the martini glasses. Evidently they tried Coke at first, but found it freezes instantly as it hits the ice glasses. Something with a higher alcohol content was in order.

This was my favorite shot. The lighting turned out good and you can see a fair bit of the museum interior.

Back outside, it was still cold.

Cold, I tell you. Cold!

K. Chadwick

It wouldn't be Christmas without Santa

So first off, this post is in part for Sophia, and any of the kids out there that would otherwise enjoy seeing Santa's House.

I know it's been a while since we've been here in Fairbanks without any activity on the blog, so I'll add a quick paragraph with any highlights. We've been settling in. Money is tight so we haven't done a lot. Blockbuster is popular. Yes, it's cold. We like Fred Meyer too. The dogs are doing ok, but the collie needs more exercise and that has been a challenge. Dog booties don't stay on our dogs. There is no roller hockey in Alaska. Temporary housing is manageable for now. We have stuff off the moving truck and into storage. It's not much more accessible. A few winter clothes options are mandatory. We're slowly finding out what works and what doesn't. -30 isn't a myth. Yes, it's cold... but it's really not cold yet.

So we're trying to get prepared for Christmas. I imagine it would be easier if we were settled in permanent housing, but I really don't know that that would be the case. We drove to the North Pole today... What is Christmas without Santa Claus. We got a few good pictures to share.

It was nice weather going out, but with the snow last night my truck was covered this morning and I found layers of ice buildup on the windshields and lights which was tough to remove. Typically it's so dry and cold, even when it snows it doesn't form ice on the windshields, and you can brush the snow off with a glove. I actually believe the ice was only because we drove last night during the snowstorm and the heat from the car allowed the snow to melt and refreeze into sheets of ice. Note to self, try to avoid this scenario.

When looking for Santa's House... look for the big Santa.

Welcome to Santa's House, North Pole, Alaska.

We really enjoyed the ice sculpture, and are really looking forward to ice sculpture festivities we've heard about local to Fairbanks.

The Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), also known as the caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer, widespread and numerous across the northern Holarctic. Enough said.

I've been told they taste better than moose. Since this is in part for the kids, however, I have to point out that these Reindeer are obviously special Reindeer - Santa's Reindeer. I have no idea which ones I took pictures of since they didn't wear nametags. I can state without a doubt that I never did identify Rudolph.

And yes, Santa's House, North Pole, Alaska. This is going to be as close as you can get to the real thing.

Suffice it to say that any North Pole and Santa trinket your mind could fathom lies within the walls of this fantasy land for kids. They also have a coffee bar, closed today, which disappointed us terribly.

And... Pay Dirt. When you show up before Christmas, you get to see the old Saint himself. And yes, since this is home, Mrs Claus can be found as well.

We were looking for backstage passes and an after party, but...

Drat, spoiled again!

K. Chadwick