Well, with my studded tires off for the summer, I knew this was going to happen to us. I was stuck going 30mph the entire 11 mile commute home in 4WD. I couldn’t even go my normal route because that would have meant freeway driving. I took the side-streets and that made a world of difference. Less traffic and I could keep it safely in 4WD.
Of course I slid through a neighborhood intersection while traveling about 10mph and nearly wiped out a guy shoveling his driveway. Why he was doing such a thing is beyond me given that it was near whiteout conditions at the time.
Today is the last Friday in April. April 25th to be precise. As I look out my fifth-floor office window I see nothing but very large snow flakes falling to the ground. Looking down to the vehicles parked on the street I see snow quickly gathering on roof tops and hoods. Car windows are now impenetrable to outside light or interference. It is a January snowstorm reborn with the strength of April showers.
Earlier this month (April Fool’s Day to be precise) we were down in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County, California. We went on an excellent Jeep tour through several wineries and capped-off the day with an off-road tour through the Refugio Pass.
We started the tour at Gainey Vineyards, where there were some tasty wines to be drunk. Surprisingly, I liked the Merlot (which I usually don’t care for). Then we headed over to Bridlewood Estate Winery where I was under-impressed by the wine but very taken with the location (a former equine rehab farm). Drove down to Lincourt Vineyards in Solvang (which is actually owned by Foley) and ate a wonderful sandwich with some excellent 2005 Syrah. Finally, we ended the tour with the excellent host at Kalyra and a fine 2002 Barossa Valley Shiraz.
Take look at the photos we took!
Went down to the Midnight Sun Brewing Company this afternoon to grab a growler’s worth of their new specialty beer, ‘Mars’. 8.7% alc by volume and a nice 85 IBUs, it screams ‘bitter’ to your tastebuds. They call it a Belgian-style Imperial red-IPA. The brewery (basically a warehouse off Arctic Blvd with a small tasting room/storefront) is putting out a limited-release series called the Planets. Mars is the first release (only yesterday!) in the series and it’s mighty tasty.
Well, I sorta commandeered my co-worker’s casefile yesterday. He just had it handed to him from another co-worker who possibly won’t have time to try the case, I was in his office and I did a quick once over. I decided I wanted the file so I walked out of his office with it and started reviewing it. Pretty sad set of facts. Couple things missing that I need to get done. Nothing too complicated but it should be an interesting trial nonetheless.
Arrived back in town this afternoon. Had a very excellent vacation.
alaska, anchorage | operator101 | 
Friday 25 April 2008 5:59 pm | 
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