Officially lost in a whiteout

Trip Start Mar 04, 2004

Trip End Mar 12, 2004

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Flag of United States Girdwood, Alaska, United States
Tuesday, March 9, 2004

Today we woke up to alight flurry. We met everyone for breakfast and then headed out for our day of snomobiling. We headed to Girdwood, home of alyeska ski resort. It turns out that Nigel and I booked a tour that I found a month or so earlier and then when we met up in anchorage, everyone else wanted to do it with us. Well things got confused and they ended up not having enough room. So the rest of the group went on another snow machine tour and Nigel and I booked with Glacier City Tours . We met with our tour guide (I forgot her name!) and also met two other guys that were going to be with us, father and son. Nigel and I went to the back room and got outfitted for boots, helmets, and goggles, and hung around for a little bit. Then jumped in the truck and headed over to where the snomobiles were. When we got there, our guide got all the snowmobiles lined up and ready to go. She had another call saying that two more were on their way. So we waited for them and then got a crash course in snow machine driving

Just a small amount of ice

. That's where we hit our first snag in the road. One of the machines wouldn't restart. At first, they thought that it was out of gas. So they tried siphoning it out of first the truck then one of the other machines. Don't remember what the actual problem was...but that wasn't it. =(
We finally got going about a half hour alter and our adventure began! The machines took a little getting used to . VERY bumpy! My poor back! I knew I was going to be sore after this one! Our guide made sure to tell us to keep in her tracks and not veer too far off the tracks. Because it was cloudy, it was hard to see the contrasts in the ground and ditches came up pretty quickly if you weren't paying attention! We stopped once or twice for a break and then headed over to the glacier park. Words can't even describe what the glaciers looked like! Such an amazing blue color!! There were at least a dozen 'glacier blocks' so we drove through and then got off to get a closer look. It was pretty hard to believe we were actually standing on a glacier! We obviously had to take the typical pictures in and next to the glaciers. Our guide had brought us apple cider and snacks so we munched on them for a bit then head free time to play and race on the snomachines. I definitely had mine going to about 50! As were were playing around, we saw another snowmahine tour pull up to the glacier park. Of course...who was it? None other than the rest of our group!
They didn't stay too long and by the time they left, it had really started snowing! As we were driving around in the field (or lake?), it was hard to keep track of where the rest of the group was!
Our guide realized it was getting bad so we started to head back to base. It seemed as though as if every minute that passed, the snow just kept getting thicker and thicker

Trying to drive home in the complete whiteout

! All of us at one point or another tipped over or got stuck in the snow somehow. Oh yeah, on they way there and back, we had to cross two small streams and get up this really steep hill. Of course, I almost got stuck going up one!! But I made it! =)
So anyways, we went back over the rivers and tried finding our way back. Needless to say, we couldn't see in front of us more than about 30 feet or so. We then met up again with the other group (by accident) and we all found our way back to the road...which took us about TWO hours!! Eric flipped his machine on to his leg and was bitching about it for days! Dave hurt his ribs somehow, and Chaliese managed to crash into a tree I think! If we were lost for 10 more minutes our guide was about to pull out the GPS system. It was definitely nerve wracking! You seriously could barely see the person in front of you!
All in all, snow machining was an amazing time. Definitely an adventure though! Next time...NO BLIZZARD! But I guess not to many people from around here can say that they got caught in a blizzard in Alaska! =)
Nigel and I got back to base and changed boots...although we were still SOAKED through to the bone! So much for waterproof! We hung out in the gift shop until the gang came to get us. I ended up buying 3 polar bears made of ivory.

OK...here is where my detailed descriptive diary ends..

Waving goodbye before the whiteout

. so now .... Almost a year later..I have to remember the rest by heart.... Yikes!!

Poor dan had to drive around in the blizzard!! We stopped at the Bake Shop (another place I heard raves about before I got here!) and ordered pizza and soup, etc. parking the van turned out to be a fiasco with it slipping and sliding EVERYWHERE!!! On the way home after the bake shop, we stopped at dan's friend Ethan's house (the same friend we went out with earlier in the week to humpys). We got to play with his two sons, who are adorable!! It's SUCH A different life over there! I can't even describe it! So laid back, so carefree. Dan and ethan are the total typical surfer guys. All they do is travel around to amazing places and surf. Ethan was getting ready to go to Vietnam (I think!? Or the phillipines) to go surf next.

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