The Most Evil Plant on the Planet

There it is. The most evil plant on the planet. You may see it and think to yourself, "Bethany that is a beautiful flower! Why is it evil? Is it poisonous or something?" The answer is No, it is not poisonous. So you are probably completely lost at this point, unless you happen to live in Alaska. And if you live in Alaska, you know this beautiful flower harbors in the end of summer and the start of Winter. (Ok, fall may be in their somewhere probably).

Meet the Fireweed. By the time it has finished blooming (they start at the bottom and work their way up), summer is over and there isn't a green thing left in Alaska (except the evergreens but they don't count.) Of course, its still July, so why would I be worried about things like Winter? Did I mention the other day that Freddie's was selling parka's? Well now there is something else something worse. The Fireweed is halfway done blooming. That's right. A week ago I didn't see any fireweed. Everything was still green and the mosquitoes were thick and icky. Today, the leaves have started to change color and the fireweed is halfway done blooming!!!! Did you hear that?! Fall is almost here!!!! AND ITS JULY!!!! JULY!!! We haven't even made it to August yet. Its only been officially summer for NOT EVEN a month yet, and already we are headed into fall. Some things you just can't ever get used to you know? I have come to love Alaska over the last two years that I have lived here, but this seriously sucks Alaska... this seriously sucks.

Soldotna vs Fairbanks *Summer Edition*

You would think that being in Alaska, things wouldn't vary too much. You know, lots of mountains, evergreens, glaciers, lakes. Ice and snow and freezing in the winter. Barely above that in the summer. But here is something people don't realize..



Alaska is really big! Look how little Texas is in comparison! Alaska: Bigger than Texas! N-E-Ways... With that much land, there actually ARE differences from city to city, area to area, borough to borough (yup, Alaska doesn't have counties. They have boroughs, which to be honest is weird.) For example in Southeastern Alaska, it hardly snows but it rains a carp-ton! In fact, its the only rainforest in the US. Only it doesn't look like this...



it looks like this...



So don't say I never taught you anything.

Fairbanks is a nine hour drive north of Soldotna (where I spent my first year in Alaska). So needless to say its a little bit different. The mountains are far in the distance, not near by. It looks more like Tennesse, with its rolling hills and its large amounts of deciduous trees. Where as Soldotna has lots of evergreens and looks more like Colorado. And there are plenty of differences in weather, even in the summer.

Soldotna stays mostly in the 50s and 60s and, if you are lucky, the 70s in the summer. It rains a lot! Being a lot closer to that rainforest I told you about(...The More You Know!) You spend a lot of time praying for warmth and sunshine. You worry you will not store up enough Vitamin D to last you the winter. (Whats that you say? You can't store up Vitamin D? You have to get a new dose everyday? LIES!)

Fairbanks, on the other hand, spends most of the summer in the 70s and 80s and if you are lucky, the 60s. That's right... I said you are lucky if it goes down to the 60s. Its sunny a lot, which at first seems nice, until you realize that the mosquitoes are lying in wait for you. Oh and since nobody in Alaska has air conditioning in their homes, you tend to pretty much bake. In fact, when I looked out the window this morning and realized there were clouds in the sky, I was happy! Because it meant it would be cooler in my apartment!!!

What I want to know it this: WHEN DID I GET SO COMFORTABLE WITH BEING COLD ALL THE TIME THAT I DIE IN 80 DEGREE WEATHER?! Mostly I really like Fairbanks, but right now I think it would be nice to be back in Soldotna. I wouldn't mind it if my flesh could touch itself without becoming glued together in a sticky sweat sandwich... gross!

Apparently I skipped the whole winter

I'm a bad bad bad blogger... I should fix that. It was dark and wintery. Now its not. In fact, its ridiculously HOT! And we can't open our window in our living room because it doesn't have a screen. So our choice in life is this: Sweat to death, or be eaten alive. We have chosen sweat to death, and live in front of the fan.

In bad news, Freddie's had parkas up for sale today. Because apparently winter isn't coming fast enough, so we have to have parkas on sale in JULY!!! I personally think that's taking Christmas in July way to far...

Stupid weather

Now it's back up to 60 degrees... after I unpacked all of my winter clothes, packed up all of my summer clothes, and mentally prepared myself for snow to be falling rather quickly. On the flip side of things, I don't have to wear layers. But all the leaves fell off the trees and now everything is really ugly, so it needs to snow so it will be pretty again. That's all I have to say about that.

Snow

It snowed... in september... today after church. I thought the little snow flakes were dust or maybe even pollen (at least until I remembered it was hovering around freezing) and then I realized that it was snow! It was kind of exciting I admit. Secretly, I like snow until christmas anyway (or whenever I am snowboarding). I am a little leery about snow in september though. Thankfully I don't think it's anywhere near sticking... at least not for another week or so. I don't think I can handle snow boots in september. That would be a bit much.

Fairbanks, AK

Well, one marriage and one move later, I am now living even closer to the North Pole. I have relocated to the stunningly beautiful-ish town of Fairbanks, Alaska! So in case you are wondering... here are some fun facts about Fairbanks (according to Wikipedia)

1. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior of Alaska
2. Fairbanks is the second largest city in Alaska after Anchorage
3. In 2008, the city population was 35,132 people while the entire metropolitan areas population was 97,970 (I have no idea what the metropolitan area even means)
4. It is home to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which is the oldest college in Alaska.
5. It was founded in 1901 by Captain E.T. Barnette while he was trying to set up a trading post
6. It is classified as having a Sub-Arctic Climate. Meaning it has long bitter winters (yay), and short (yay) warm (YAYYAYAYAYAY) summers.
7. The Snowpack is usually established by October 18th and stays until May
8.The Highest recorded temperature in Fairbanks was 99 degrees F, and the lowest was -66 degrees F
9. At the winter solstice Fairbanks receives 3 hours and 43 minutes of sunlight.
10. At the summer solstice Fairbanks receives 21 hours and 49 minutes of direct sunlight.



So there you go... some interesting things for me to look forward to. Like frigid winter temperatures, and darkness... Should make for some interesting adventures. Did I mention you can see Russia from my house? :P

I Guess Summer's Come and Gone

June 21st was the summer equinox, which if you don't know is the longest day of the year. In most places Outside, it marks the beginning of summer officially. Unofficially memorial day marks the beginning of summer, but that's irrelevant to this post. So, ever since the winter equinox, we in Alaska have steadily been gaining light. Every day was a little brighter and a little longer and warmed your heart a little more because you knew the sun was coming back. It made getting up easier and the day seem cheerier and frankly I loved it. (Also I don't have trouble sleeping when it's light outside so I didn't even care about that.)

But now, it is past the summer Equinox. So instead of gaining light, we are losing a little bit of light each day, and I'm not going to lie, this depresses me. I feel a little bit like a tiny bit of my soul is dying each day. I'm not sure why this is. After all, I survived last winter relatively intact. Maybe it's because I will be spending this winter further north than I did last winter... which means it will be colder and darker. I don't know. But I do know that I feel like summer is already over and I might as well just pull out the parka and the boots right now because whats the point?! I'm sure I'll get over it. In the mean time I will continue to mourn for the sun that is still very much around all the time.