It's official. I am here for at least the year. Today I'm having an engine block warmer installed on the car and I will call about studded tires later this morning. The snow on the mountains is creeping lower and lower, and temperatures are falling; there may be snow this weekend. I'll be ready for it!

Today it's kind've drizzly outside, and maybe 50 degrees? The thing about the weather here, though, is that even when the sun's not out, it still seems like there's more light than when the sun's not out in KY. Strange, eh? I don't know why! But it makes me hopeful for the dark winter months.

I have been a little stressed with this running around trying to get a source of income. Ha! The new-ish game of convincing people that I'm a useful musician, teacher, whatever, makes me appreciate my family (birth and chosen). I realize, though, post PMS-trauma-crying-twizzlers-fest, that I should really be out doing the great things that won't be possible in a few months (like playing outside for more than 2 minutes without getting that Calvin and Hobbs frozen booger phenomenon)! So. I shall do some GRE studying here at the beautiful library (Have you heard? Integers are just "counting numbers."), then go find a hike in the Chugach Forest.

Reason #2: The Music Scene...
Last night I went to Sidestreet Espresso, on 3rd St., to hear Tracy Grammer and Jim Henry play. It was a tiny place! There were only 50 tickets sold (I'd gotten the last one) and it was nicely intimate, or squishy, whichever you'd rather. You know that word "edify"? Well, my soul was edified by the experience.
I recommend you check out Tracy's website (www.tracygrammer.com) and read a little about Dave Carter, the amazing songwriter (now deceased) whose songs they played last night. I loved all of it, and would like to request that the AltarNatives do Ordinary Town and St. James Infirmary, a tune that you'll probably hear in New Orleans but is actually an old Irish thing. Miss Grammer and Mr. Henry sang and played the latter with mandolin and fiddle.

Reason #1: The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is an 11-mile paved trail that hugs the coast of Cook Inlet and the Knik Arm. It runs from downtown Anchorage in the north, to Kincaid Park, at the south end. Open all year, it can be hiked, biked or skied, and there are often wildlife sightings; on Sunday afternoon, I saw a huge bull moose! People also see beluga whales, coyotes and bears...

Today I visited the Anchorage Museum of Art and History (see link in bloglights) for a volunteer orientation. Turned out to be a really lovely brunch, with Alaskan salmon (lox?), chocolate-dipped strawsberries, etc... Durn.

Anyways- I am so excited about volunteer opportunities at the museum: helping to coordinate holiday music, working with local Girl Scouts in the Art Education department, getting to be a docent for school-age groups. Besides being great lessons on how to talk to kids about art, the docent trainings include a 10-week series of classes about Alaskan history taught by museum and university experts. What a great opportunity to really dive into the culture and history while I'm here!

The drive up was amazing and I'm glad to have done it! It would be a strange thing to move this far away and not be aware of how far it truly is (just under 4,000 miles from Louisville to Anchorage!). I didn't stop nearly as often as I will next time I drive that route :).

The first 2,000 miles (Indiana, Illionois, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Manitoba and Alberta!) looked pretty similar. As far as the eye could see: fields of any grain or bean you can imagine, lovely old farmhouses and barns, huge blue skies and the long straight road ahead. I did lots of thinking here, and was perfectly reminded of my favorite poemprayer.

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EPIPHANY, by Pem Kremer

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Lynn Schmidt says
she saw You once as prairie grass,
Nebraska prairie grass.

She climbed out of her car on a hot highway
leaned her butt on the nose of her car,
looked out over one great flowing field,
stretching beyond her sight until the horizon came:
vastness, she says,
responsive to the slightist shift of wind,
full of infinite change,
all One.

She says when she can't pray
She calls up Prairie Grass.

In Western Alberta and British Columbia, things got a bit more hilly. The pines started creeping in, and lots of gorgeous yellow-leafed trees like aspens, that I'd see for the rest of the drive.

Next was British Columbia and the Yukon Territory, where at times, I didn't see anybody but buffalo or coyotes for 100's of miles... I drove through the Muskwa-Kechika, the largest protected wilderness in B.C., which someone told me is second only to the Seregeti in size and animal diversity! I believe it.

Baby buffalo and family.

Stone sheep and Stone Mountain.

In B.C., I stayed at the Northern Rockies Lodge, which I completely recommend. Read about them at www.northern-rockies-lodge.com

First snow, last photo on the camera!