March 29, 2009

Well, here we are on Sunday afternoon not doing much. We have had the TV on the USA channel all day watching movies and we have only left the room twice today. I guess you could say we are taking full advantage of this opportunity to relax. We went down for breakfast this morning about 8:30 and went for an early afternoon walk for about 45 minutes. We have been out and about the last few days taking care of things and learning our way around town. We don't have any new and exciting pictures to add today but I am sure we will later this week. I just wanted to check in with everybody and let you all know that we are doing well.

The exciting thing that has been happening this week is the eruption of Volcano Mt. Redoubt. It has erupted several times since last Sunday March 22. One of the worst eruptions was yesterday and it sent an ash cloud soaring over Anchorage and the surrounding areas. We had a significant ash fall, which amounted to something similar to a dusting of snow we get back home. When we went out for our walk we went over to the truck and Kevin blew on the windshield and the ash slid down and gathered on the windshield wipers. All the beautiful white snow on the ground took on a gray shade when the ash fell. The officials were encouraging people to stay indoors and not run their cars for several hours last night, they also advised people to make sure their doors and windows were sealed. They even shut down the whole airport. Although, they have cancelled several flights over the last several days yesterday was the worst so far.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) has some interesting info and pictures if you are interested in learning more: www.avo.alaska.edu From the home page, hover over the Current Volcanic Activity tab, when the menu pops down, click on Redoubt. If you click on the images of current activity at Redoubt, you will be able to see several pictures of the recent activity. There are several pages of pictures to see. The really are cool, a little scary, but cool.

Keep an eye on the blog later this week. We hope to be able to post a new update after we arrive at the lodge on Wednesday. We are supposed to have wireless Internet up there, but I am unsure of the status of it when we get there since we will be among the first to arrive at the property. Have a good week!