New Year’s Eve in Anchorage, Alaska

This is a series of Facebook posts from an adventurous day in Alaska, December 31, 2010:

1) Hmm, more bad weather today. Adding “tire chains” to the grocery list, and I’m out the door. Driving to Seward to celebrate the new year!

2) Famous Alaska saying: “There’s old pilots, and there’s bold pilots, but there ain’t no old and bold pilots.” Meaning I’m stopping in Anchorage tonight. (More soon.)

3) So ... I was trying to get to Seward tonight, but got stuck in a steep, icy parking lot in Wasilla for a while. I finally decided to drive-slide the car to the edge of the parking lot where there was a small strip of frozen dirt and grass that went up the side of the hill. I got the tires on the right side of the car on that strip, built up as much speed as I could, and finally got my car up the hill. It took more than an hour to get out of there. After that I tried even harder to find tire chains but could not, so I decided to stop in Anchorage. They started the fireworks at 5pm (because of the whole darkness thing), and various shows went on all night, which was a really cool way to spend the evening.