Winter - From Two Perspectives

We've had a bit more snow than normal this winter... but nothing like the 27 feet that Cordova and Valdiz have.


Just before we left, we had one crystal clear day -- the kind where the ice crystals on the trees make every shaft of sunlight sparkle like diamonds.

Denali from Mi 6 on the Spur

It was 22 below when we left Talkeetna and headed south to the beach house.  Instead of warmer weather, we were greeted by blinding snow on the pass between Portland and the coast.  There was even snow in a couple of places along the coast -- but none at the house.  The gales continued after our arrival, and, at one point, we found three of the four highways from the coast to the central valley were closed due to landslides, flooding or snow.

We had some debris around the house -- mostly pine needles and small branches.  In one of the lulls we got out and cleaned up a bit.

We finally got one nice day for a walk on the beach... and could not believe the debris!  Driftwood we expected, but a TV?  There were whole trees, and even some pilings from a pier.  The power of the ocean is amazing.

The wind-whipped waves were churning up the foam, and pieces would break off and drift across the beach like little sandpipers.  And the wind was sculpting the dunes.