Breaking the Seal

You know how annoying it is when you are trying to open a shrink wrapped book and you just can't seem to find a good place for the initial puncture?  That's how I had felt trying to find good friends in a sub-Arctic climate.  But, just like all of those law school textbooks that I ignorantly lowered the resale value on, I have found that now the tiny tear is easily giving way.

I spent the long weekend with Claudia, Jose, and their family at Big Lake.  Their aunt has a beautiful cabin  where we all napped, ate, drank, and snow-machined.  Being the only single and un-related girl in the group somehow landed me in a huge bedroom with a fireplace and private bathroom.  It was great to be in the middle of nowhere with lovely people and a million bottles of wine.

The entire lake is frozen of course, and provides the foundation for Iron Dog, the world's longest snow machine race. 

It was definitely an interesting experience.  I kept an eye out for Todd Palin but couldn't find him. (Side note: No one here seems to find the Palins nearly as hilarious as I do.  It's very disappointing.)

I'm glad to have finally gotten the opportunity to get out of Anchorage, and look forward to doing it a lot more.  I have been reminding myself a lot today about how I love my job and sacrificed a lot specifically to do this... but the idea of going back to work tomorrow makes me feel like this: