Hello Snow!

So I’m sitting on my sofa Sunday afternoon and all of a sudden its starts snowing like crazy. I called in an order to Applebee’s Carside To Go so I won’t have to get out of the car (and probably fall on my butt, ha!) and get food quick before the snow began to stick.

Within an hour it stopped snowing and the sun came out. So I took a nice little Sunday evening drive along Turnagain Arm.

Monday night,my coworker, Val and I decided we wanted to try Cattle Company and expected great steak. We both ordered our steaks medium well and they both came back bloody, with it running into the potatoes and brocolli on the plate. My ribeye was actually burnt and bloody which means they cooked it too fast. We expected more from a nicer steakhouse and the prices were too much for incorrectly prepared steaks. By the time we left the restaurant that night, it was snowing again.
Tuesday morning I woke up to a snow dusted town, really pretty, but by lunch it had stopped and was melting, but still so cold. 33 degrees in early October is cold weather to me. I’m not complaining too much because by early afternoon, the sun was out and the road was dry. I heard some people say that it was snowing much earlier this year, but when I asked people who were born and raised here, they just laughed at me. They laughed even harder when I said I was cold. I saw one woman in the office with a dress, no hose and sandals. Okay, they can laugh but I don’t understand. It is 30 degrees, snowing and you have on sandals? For those that would ask me the obvious question, the answer is yes and “no comment.” =)
Oh and I saw a bull moose last week. It was just moseying along behind the office building. I got this picture, but it hard to see (circled in yellow below). I was not willing to run closer to get a pic, because it was bigger than me and I thought it best to respect its space.

Another point, Alaska's cost of living is higher than I expected. Retail, gas and groceries are expensive. Local residents call it the AGF, the Alaska Gouge Factor. For example, gas in Alaska is from Alaskan pipelines, is refined in Alaska and transported throughout Alaska. I have yet to meet an Alaskan resident that understands why gas is still in excess of $4.00/gallon in most places. Also I was in the grocery store, noticed even higher prices for groceries. A pack of 16 slices of Kraft American Cheese was $6.00. I sent this picture to a friend in Greensboro and he sent me back a picture of cheese that was 2 for $4.00. Man, I miss North Carolina! I know I’m on work travel and not really paying for this, but I was trying to wrap my head around the fact that there was a 300% difference in the price of cheese! LOL!