The Other Side

We returned to Summit Lake on Saturday with our friends Elizabeth and Steve to see if there was a 'sunny side' to the area. You might notice another 'tag along' friend - Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley came to us via my nephew Mason Metcalfe. Mason lives in Santa Barbara and called to ask me if Ray and I would be willing to bring Flat Stanley with us on some of our adventures. We agreed to the challenge. So far Flat Stanley has been to the historic Democratic Caucus

in Anchorage,

a birthday party at Bear Tooth Theater Pub and now a ski journey to Summit Lake.

Snow conditions were variable, lots of breakable crust, wind slab and then some powder. The hike was short the views were fantastic and the trip down was interesting.

Our friend Steve is new to Alaska and since snow conditions weren't the best we made one run then took a detour to Hope Alaska and had an afternoon beer and snack at Bowman's Bear Creek Cafe. The Cafe is very cozy, the beer tasted great and the owner's suggested we check out one of their cabins. Very nice place, we're going back soon so that we can check out their good looking dinner menu. Hope is about an hours drive south of Anchorage and, in the winter, the drive into Hope reveals spectacular views of Turnagain Arm.
Todays temperatures were a balmy 12 degrees!