Living in Alaska: Cabin Fever!

What does freezing rain, no school, and icy roads mean? Cabin fever! With nothing better to do (except work for Mike and writing a paper for me), Mike and I decided there were some things from the grocery store that we absolutely could not live without. You know things like onions. How could we possibly go without onions for several days? I knew you would understand!

So, with onions at the forefront of our minds, we put on our best winter boots, grabbed our hiking poles and headed for the 5 mile trek to North Pole to visit the local market, Safeway. While walking down Blue Sparkle, Mike took his first spill. I'm not sure why I didn't think of grabbing my camera to catch this tumble for the blog. Instead, I instinctively started laughing and then made sure he was okay. I must not be a true photographer. A real-life, artistic photographer would have immediately grabbed the camera. Oh, well, on with the story.

Mike and I carefully wobbled down Blue Sparkle to Woll Road, hoping that Woll would be in better shape. Well, it wasn't. It was just as bad. It was a total, complete, 100% ice rink. We decided that it was too difficult to walk on the ice without breaking a bone. So, we decided to hop in a ditch and walk in the slushy snow. While this was a bit cumbersome, we managed not to fall!

From our house to Bradway is a whopping one-half mile. This took us almost 45 minutes. Without being deterred by our slow stride, we turned the corner and headed toward Badger Road. Once on the bike path that runs parallel to the road, it was smooth sailing (a little slow, but smooth sailing).

As we were walking, I noticed the number of cars crawling along the road. The more I walked, the more I noticed the cars. Hmmmm......if these cars can be on the road, why couldn't we? I looked at my husband and asked, "Honey, how would you like to go back home and drive into North Pole?" He looked at me and said, "Let's do it!" Not wanting to give up too soon, we decided to hike down to Repp Road and turn onto Marigold to finish the loop back to our house.

Once we got home, we changed into dry clothes while arguing about who was actually going to drive. My argument was that I spent almost 3 hours yesterday dealing with icy roads. Therefore, I had way more experience than Mike. Mike's argument was that he was a better driver than me. Rolling my eyes, I picked up my keys and got in the driver's seat. Mike, smiled sweetly, and made some snide comment about me wanting to be in control. I have absolutely NO IDEA what he was talking about.

The drive to Safeway was uneventful. Upon arrival at Safeway, we suddenly realized that everyone in North Pole, Moose Creek, Salcha and any small community in between just happen to be at Safeway. Finding a parking spot in the Back 40, we sloshed through the slush into the store. We quickly found the exact onion we were looking for (we actually bought three because I was worried about running out) and found the checkout lines were about 20 people deep, each!

Waiting our turn, we made small talk with the people around us and suddenly it was our turn to check out. Taking our precious onions to the car, we decided to make it a date night. Mike turned to me with that romantic look and said, "Sweet Pea, how about I treat you to dinner at Subway?" How could I possibly turn him down? Without batting an eye, I drove us over to Subway for a Meal Deal! Then, to top it off, we took a trip over to the post office to check the mail box.

While being at home can create a bit of cabin fever, I think Mike and I found some fun and adventure to help alleviate the boredom. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Woll Road is a solid sheet of ice!