travelgirl: give a girl an open road...

Terror on the trail: Bear attacks teen bike racer: Bear Attacks | adn.com

By BETH BRAGG and WESLEY LOY

Published: June 30th, 2008 12:11 AM
Last Modified: June 30th, 2008 06:09 PM

A teenage girl riding in an all-night mountain bike race was badly injured early Sunday morning when a bear attacked her on a trail in Far North Bicentennial Park.

Terror on the trail: Bear attacks teen bike racer: Bear Attacks | adn.com.

This is the trail where my husband and I walk the baby. He was just in the same area yesterday morning. Later that night, the girl was attacked by what they believe is a grizzly.

This is life in the city in Anchorage.

Picking Your Office Away from Your Home Office - Entrepreneur Mom - Work It, Mom!

Picking Your Office Away from Your Home Office - Entrepreneur Mom - Work It, Mom!.

I’m just loving my office away from my home office. Today, it is the Middleway Cafe in midtown Anchorage. At other times, I alternate between Cafe del Mundo - also in midtown - and Coffee Cats closer to my home which is in South Anchorage....

Read more of my blog post about my favorite Anchorage cafes for working away from home.

MySpace.com - Menopause The Musical - 54 - Female - ANCHORAGE, Alaska - www.myspace.com/menopausethemusical

Link: MySpace.com - Menopause The Musical - 54 - Female - ANCHORAGE, Alaska - www.myspace.com/menopausethemusical.

If you follow my Babyfruit blog, you know I'm probably going through early menopause or at least peri-menopause. So I really should go to this so I can not only laugh at myself but learn what else to expect!

Menopause the Musical is coming to Anchorage!
http://www.menopausethemusical.com/

This is a great show for a mother-daughter night out. It's the perfect excuse for a night out on the town for the gals. Even men are surprised at how much the learn about the women in their lives and how much they enjoy the show.

Menopause - it's not the silent change anymore. Come laugh with other Alaskan women!

Seven shows between Tuesday and Sunday, March 25-30th at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts - Discovery Theatre

Tuesday, March 25 - Sunday, March 30, 2008
Tuesday thru Thursday at 7:30pm; Friday at 8:00pm; Saturday at 2:00pm & 8:00pm; Sunday at 2:00pm & 7:00pm

Discount for groups of 15 or more. Tickets at www.CenterTix.net or call 263-ARTS (2787)

Bob Barker and ‘PAWS’ offer to take Alaska Zoo’s ‘Maggie’ south to sanctuary — for free : KSKA Public Radio

Link: Bob Barker and ‘PAWS’ offer to take Alaska Zoo’s ‘Maggie’ south to sanctuary — for free : KSKA Public Radio.

I've been trying to follow the story about Maggie the Elephant and what is going to happen to her. For more details, check out Friends of Maggie.

Let It Snow

Well, sunrise is after 9:30am and sunset starts around 3:30pm. I sit by a window all day to get some daylight and occasionally some actual sunlight through the trees.

The thing that saves the day is definitely the snow as I was told by countless people before winter arrived. When everything is coated with frost and snow, everything is bright and beautiful. Here are a few scenes from my living room window.

Daylight Countdown

Or should I call this post Countdown to Darkness.

A peculiar thing local radio does here is tell you how many hours of daylight there will be on each day.

Today:

10 hours and 9 minutes

The number decreases rapidly. Soon, we'll be in the dark with about 5 hours of daylight per day.

I don't know about you, but this freaks me out.

Welcome to Alaska.

Northern Lights in the City

Well, I've seen Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) already and from the city which isn't as common as it is out in the country. On Thursday, September 15, we heard a commotion outside on our cul-de-sac and our neighbors were on their front balconies and porches looking up into the sky.

At first, I couldn't see anything. Then I noticed a greenish glow. Soon, there was a ghostly light show in greens and reds against the clouds. The tiny lights at the bottom of one of the photos is from streetlights and house lights.

I only have a small digital camera - Nikon Coolpix 2200 - but here is what I was able to capture from the night time sky.

Daily Eats: I'm a Foodie!

I have recently posted some articles on Tery Spataro's foodie site Daily Eats - check them out! Who knew I could be a food blogger?

Fancy Dining in Anchorage

Are Your Buns Sticky?

Where the Baked Alaska Roam

Tery's very kind intro about me on her blog

Ah, to be a foodie. Every food lover's dream...

Update on Pizza

When we last went on the Pizza Quest in Anchorage, we found okay pizza.

The latest recommendation was Olympia Pizza. Yes, another Greek joint that also serves Italian. We had a Turkish waitress who recommended we get their X-tra large pizza which was like the 11 dial on the amplifiers for Spinal Tap - truly 1 size larger than most traditional X-tra larges - maybe 20 inches in diameter. Thatsa lotta pizza.

Now I have to confess - and don't make fun of me: I love cheese pizza. Just cheese as a topping, none of that other crap that distracts from the dough, tomato sauce and cheese.

But my hubby loves everything on it including the kitchen sink and fridge. So we had a bunch of stuff on it, and it was just okay. I even did my fun and daring pizza trick - adding anchovies. That makes everyone at the table usually cringe with disgust, but I actually like anchovies a lot. Still, the pizza was just okay.

I'm searching for the La Famiglia style pizza that you can get on any block in Manhattan with real testy Italian men tossing dough into the air and shoving wood paddles into the oven to pull out your pizza. I'm looking for the thinnest of crusts that are still thick enough to support the mozerella. I'm looking to grab a bunch of napkins to press against the cheese to sop up the excess oil. Then, and only then, is the pizza PERFECT.

More Night Sun

A few more photos from June 2005, just illustrating
the night-time sun again. I got an email from a
girlfriend recently commenting that until she
saw my photos of what it means to have
sun at night, she didn't really know what it
meant visually.

This photo was taken holding my camera
behind my head and accidentally upside down.
I was trying to capture a picture of the sun
at 9:30pm without looking at it. Topsy turvy
but still an interesting pic.

I was walking with my handsome hubby who
had our Lab Ebb as well as his buddy Nightro
in tow. This photo was taken moments after
the sun photo. Note the brightness but also
the long shadows. I just find this to be so surreal.

And here is a photo taken a little while later
of the Alaska state flower - the Forget-Me-Not.

You can see why people are out gardening
at 9:30pm! Plenty of daylight to do plenty of
outdoor things.

I have to admit I am dreading the darkness though.
Even with 19-plus hours of daylight now, I'm feeling
anxiety about the dwindling light while I'm still
feeling the frantic buzz of long days.