Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The wind is whipping in Alaska today. And it has been for a couple of days. Some places have wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour or more. Combine the winds speeds with the fact that we’re in Alaska… you get some mighty cold wind chill factors! I think our area is getting -30 degrees with the wind chill.

The walk from the parking garage to my building, less than ½ a block, is a major workout. For some reason, once you get within about 100 feet of our building, the wind speed picks up by about 20 mph. We look like those people you see on Weather Channel specials where they’re basically walking sideways with a tight grasp on anything they may have with them: hood, purse, lunch sack…

The good news is, the wind is supposed to die down by tomorrow. That should improve the situation for the ceremonial start of the 35th Iditarod here in Anchorage. The official start of the 1100 mile race is on Sunday up in Willow. That’s about 50 miles north of our house. We may drive up there for the festivities.

Tess has decided not to participate in this year’s Iditarod. It conflicted with several basketball activities and that is where her priorities lie. So much for stories to tell the grandkids. But I came to the conclusion that I can’t force her to do things to eliminate regrets. She needs to know what regrets are, even if they’re a long time in coming. Maybe next year we can be more involved in this historic race. But this year, we’ll at least be spectators. And that’s a good story for the grandkids on its own.