This is not what I was expecting at home. It's only September!

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36 at the moment, but it was 20 this morning. Winter is coming early it seems and summer never really happened this year.

Man, as much as I like snow, this is just too early.

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Pretty evenly mixed. Lots of rotation workers who fly north to work in various cycles of weeks on and off. You can make good money working 2 weeks on / 2 weeks off where you are working 7 days a week / 12hrs a day for those 2 weeks on. This accounts for a good bit of OT too as anything over 8 hrs a day or 40 hrs a week is OT. This would be a tough gig if you have a family though. I work at an assisted living facility in Anchorage, which is nice for the family life. Our summers are absolutely amazing with almost unlimited daylight and perfect temps, but winters are long and dark.

Also the population is extremely diverse here. Many Filipinos, Samoans, and transplants from other states as well as AK natives. Lots of snowbirds from warm states too. People who spend their summers here and winter in places like AZ. I'm surprised at the amount of people from Hawaii too. Extremely different climate from HI and cost of living isn't much better. I want to visit HI one of these winters. It's not too long of a flight from here much cheaper than flying from the lower 48.

Anyone who has come to visit has had the trip of a lifetime. Everywhere you go is amazing. touristy areas are even enjoyable and not too packed or overcrowded. You can always get off the beaten path and have million dollar views to yourself. Denali park is about as touristy as it gets and it is amazing. Highly recommend a bus ride through the park.

I drive by this every day and always want to stop and get a pic. My wife actually did today. She never saw the bull moose until she got back to the car, and it was right where she just stood for the pic.

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For sure.

Kept trying to get good pics of a sundog today. We get a lot of them.

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You can see the snow line on the mountains. Getting lower...won't be long now.

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Saw this young moose going to the mailbox yesterday. Mother was just a little bit off the road. As soon as I passed a bull came out following her that I could see in the rear view. He has been pushing that cow for a couple weeks now all around the neighborhood.

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The clouds coming down this valley looked really cool. Hard to tell them from the snow.

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Socked in but the mountains are peeking through in the distance. Almost stopped to get a pic. As usual pic does not do it justice, but still nice.

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Not sure. Not snowing yet but we got some yesterday.

It's been on and off but melted today. It was almost 40. Soon it will be here to stay

We got over a foot of snow overnight Thursday. Today was -9. Winter is here in full effect. This overhang is crazy looking.

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When it gets this cold it is almost always beautiful. The moon looked so big over the mountain but its just a speck in the pic. Also that purple fading to pink is there all winter it sees. Either that or darkness, lol.

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4:36 pm

I try to get out early from work so I at least have a nice ride home.

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Well after 2 weeks of double digits below zero, 10 degrees feels like a heat wave.

Missed your post somehow. There is some traffic when the roads get icy. Nothing like big city traffic though.

Beautiful sunrise and sunset today. Can see a light pillar on the sunset.

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Yeah, it was -10 this morning. We had one of the coldest November's ever. Every time it warms up it shows and then right back down below zero.

We are in the darkest part of the year. Sunrise is 10:10 and sunset is 3:38. Even worse when it is -17 like this morning.

Well we are past the solstice so days are getting longer!

Our area was declared a state of disaster. We had sustained winds over 60mph for multiple days and gusts were over 80. Others posted gusts recorded at their house over 100mph. The KFC / A&W lost an entire side wall. I saw 2 semi trucks flipped on their side going into work as well as a pickup pulling a trailer. There was another trailer on its side in the ditch. Someone else posted pics of a shed in the middle of a street. Planes in Palmer were flipped over on their roofs. It was pretty crazy and we lost power all night Saturday into Sunday. Temps were single digits so it got pretty cold. Luckily it came on for about 2 hours to heat up before going out again. Here is a pic of the KFC.

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Some pics from the paper. One is a grocery store that lost part of its roof wich broke pipes and caused a huge tower of ice.

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Sunrise at 9:30. Slowly getting better. We had 40 degree temps the other day, which means snow. Back down to single digits today though.

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I need to go see this with the kids. Ice maze at the fairgrounds.

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19 hours of smoke time and 2 hours of rest. Best brisket I ever had! I have been blowing up my new smoker lately.

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You can see an awful lot by flying into Anchorage and renting a vehicle. Our joke is "Alaska is just a short drive from Anchorage ". Driving to Seward from there is amazing. Also driving north to Matanuska glacier or Talkeetna or even to Denali are all great trips from there. You should plan 2 weeks honestly or even more.

Yeah, they have much milder weather than where I am. Days are just now getting bearable.

If you ever decide to make the trip I can tell you all the places that are worth seeing. Everywhere you go looks like a postcard but some of the less traveled places are the best. Driving over Hatcher pass is one amazing drive as well. July is the best time to sightsee. If you come to fish, every area has "best" times to fish. Each species of salmon runs in different areas at different times. Kings are the most fun and very tasty, but I prefer sockeye. Silvers are fun to catch and also good but a step under the other 2. Most of locals don't keep pinks or chums but kids enjoy catching them.