Icewind's Ramblings

Here is a fun video showing you what happens to boiling water at 20 below zero when thrown into the air.   Pretty wild! I invite you to come up to Alaska during the winter time where you can find things to do with a little creativity.   Peeing at forty below is something else if you can find it . . . freezes before it hits the ground. We’re having our winter time blues and wishing for the calm winds of the Caribbean or Mexico about now. Ice

As we approach the holiday season and prepare for the small gathering tomorrow of family and maybe a few friends it is nice to think back on summers end.  It started snowing this afternoon giving us a fresh blanket of the white stuff.  Anchorage is known as the “City of Lights ” during the winter months so I, like many people put up lights for the winter which remain on until the last musher of the Iditarod arrives in Nome completing the race in mid March. With a little extra time on my hands I can think back on summers past where I close my eyes as the memories come back like a wild river, colorful like Northern Lights in the clear cold night, which I saw for the first time this season a few nights ago.  THE reason I came to Alaska , THE thing I wanted to see since I was a little boy in Atlanta .  There they were, dancing above the hillside, misty green, slick and wavy.  Nothing could screw this day anymore as I watched in amazement at the night sky. ...

This post got buried in my ‘working folder’ from when Scott and I took our families to Mexico on vacation. It’s strange to dig in there after awhile and see what craziness lies beneath the laughter. I’ll throw it out there now to go along with our lengthening days since I had originally wanted to brighten a long dark night several months ago. During one of the many fabulous dinners while at the Moon Palace there was one night where the families went to eat a Cajun meal in one of the 13 restaurants on the compound. After dinner when the families had split up and gone on to other things to do Scott and I headed to the beach bar for a couple of drinks and some laughter before heading to our rooms. We had both eaten big bowls of jambalaya for dinner along with several other spicy entrees and after a couple of hours it was working its way through both of us. The jambalaya was full of some spicy sausage goodness, but about an hour or so later, my intestines were p...

I’m somewhat tired already of the jokes asked of me these last few days since returning from Mexico about the swine flu. Many jokes, many questions about how I feel and then to see the news stories about what is going on in the world around us reminded me of one of my favorite movie mini series, The Stand by Stephen King. It has had me thinking the last couple of days that I could not be the only one thinking about the similarities in context between the two. This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but with a whimper. T.S. Eliot (from the 1925 poem The Hollow Men) I’ve been thinking a lot about The Stand lately. It’s one of those stories that, although fantastic, seemed entirely possible. The Stand was so epic in book form and the movie was a cult success with many reruns on cable channels every few months. In fact, this blog would be a great place to compare dreams. I’m in Anc...

I thought of this one while in Cancun with my toes in the sand after not enough sun block. Reading while sunbathing, makes you well red. Ice

In my travels to Mexico recently you have the opportunity to see how the airlines are doing during this economy and how hard they are working to keep things positive for the passengers. Our group was broken up between several airlines and flights with the Alaska group flying on Alaska Airlines with a layover in Seattle each way. Some of the flights I have made into Seattle have been entertaining as there is usually a pretty decent wind blowing across the runway giving a chance for the pilot to either show off his great skill in bringing several tons of pressurized metal tube full of people down smoothly or allowing the elements to win that landing with a bounce, hard drop, or a controlled crash. One of our flights with Alaska Airlines was both entertaining and slightly different. It was our return leg from Cancun to Seattle where we had a male/female flight crew along with a mixed steward staff taking care of us after a fun week in the sun and warmth of Mexico ....

or Feet Wet Again As we gather ourselves on this final day of the trip it seems most everyone in our group has awaken early for the last quick shopping across the street picking up the Cancun Harley t-shirt, Hooter’s wings, or that last piece of jewelry. The rest of us enjoyed breakfast or that last time on the beach or in dip in the pool. My schedule found me having an enjoyable breakfast with our hosts John & Jan one last time with a dip in the pool for that last bit of sun. I wandered around the property and found several people I had met this week and said my goodbyes. A few to mention of note were Ryan & Danielle from Ireland, Kathryn, Blake, Sherri, & Harris (my new found friends from Toronto, Canada), Susan and her son Lance who my roommate Wayne had befriended and joined us for dinner. Everyone gathered in the lobby at noon for checkout and the arrival of our bus to take everyone back to the airport. The mood seemed a mixture of gladne...

* I’m back in Anchorage now but this continues my Cancun series. I landed around 2:30 am this morning and sleep a couple of hours before going to work so this post is the last thing I do before crashing for much needed sleep. Me and my friends sit on the porches here in Cancun and let the time pass just as people will. Telling tales or stories about themselves to help each other understand what ever is on their minds. Some are old friends while others we have just met from places unknown but willing to share a time or two. Because a story’s just a story and morals come and go but from where I sit . . . I sure have enjoyed the show. The time spent interacting on the veranda are important times on these type trips to just relax, slow down and laugh releasing that pent up energy everyone has carried around the last several months. We have spent the nights here sitting around telling jokes and stories with people from other countries. Laughter is a universa...

After many days leading up to our departure date filled with excess activities it was finally time to make that trip to the airport. It was another dead of night departure leaving at 2:30am so I was off to the airport around midnight so I did not have to keep everyone up at my house. This trip was bigger than years past with about 30 people going to Cancun as a customer appreciation for Pacific Plumbing Supply. It is a group of plumbing and mechanical contractors, wives or girlfriends, and a couple of children who were also brought along. It has become somewhat a tradition as this is the fifth trip over the last six years. It has been a cruise in years past but this year it was decided on something a little different so a land based get away was planned this time around at the all inclusive Riu Cancun Resort. The Alaska contingent part of the group started gathering at the Airport Chili’s for the couple of hours wait before we boarded the airplane to head into the n...