Hi everyone! February in Alaska is officially here, and I’m kind of in love with this month. We’ve got lots of snow on the ground (which is groomed for perfect ski and fat bike conditions), the weather is cold but not below zero, and the days are getting longer. We’ve got about 8 hours of daylight now, and we are currently gaining 6 minutes of daylight each day! When I leave work the sun is just starting to set and it’s seriously beautiful. Our sunsets are so long and colorful up here.
It’s incredible how much of a difference sunlight makes on my mood. As I was hiking with Ridley on the Smokejumper Trail this weekend (52 Hike Challenge hike #2!) I was surprised to feel warmth from the sun! This is a huge deal because it means that the sun is finally starting to rise in the sky instead of staying close to the horizon. This might not sound like much to those of you who live in the Lower 48, but up here it’s a total game changer. All of a sudden, I feel the urge to be outside ALL THE TIME. It’s getting hard to make myself go indoors to go to the gym so I’ve been trying to find lots of fun ways to get my exercise outdoors.
One sneaky way that I’ve been soaking up the extra sunshine is by taking hour long lunch breaks. During this time I go home, open my curtains, and eat lunch while the sun streams into my living room. And then I take Ridley on a half hour walk on the trail next to my house! It’s his favorite part of the day, and it’s definitely starting to be mine too. There’s nothing like hearing the silence of the forest and seeing the sun shine through the frost covered trees to completely reset my mood for the rest of the work day.
I’m still taking a full dose of Vitamin D daily, and occasionally using my Happy Light at work, but I’m finally seeing the light at the end of the long Alaskan winter. My days are spent dreaming of all the skiing and fat biking I can do on my (slightly) longer weekend days, and if it weren’t for the intense avalanche warnings I’d be plotting my next alpine hike as well!
What are you doing to take advantage of the longer days? What’s your favorite way to get extra Vitamin D during the busy workweek?
Mom in the Mtns 
Looks beautiful! 🙂 I’m spending these grey days inside, actually, haha! I hope there will be sunshine soon!
I hope you get some too! Grey days are the worst. We get a ton of those in Anchorage 😦
Looks so beautiful, we have grey skies, rain most days and a little snow this morning.
I hope you get sunshine soon!
“Here comes the sun” is the title of a book I’m reading later this week. I guess we could all use a little sunshine. It’s raining in NYC today.
That book sounds awesome! It’s also the title of one of my favorite Beatles songs, and I always think about that song in the spring!
Alaska is on my list of places to visit sometime. It looks so beautiful! It’s so refreshing to see someone embrace the cold instead of complaining . Lately, I’ve been loving my outside winter runs instead of cacooning up on the treadmill. And the cold bothers me less and less each day 🙂
Oooh you have to come visit! Although after I came here on vacation I decided I had to move up here 🙂 I’m glad you’re enjoying winter running! I love running/biking outside way more than going to the gym. It’s crazy how much I’m able to adjust to the cold temps!
I know right… our bodies are much better in adjusting quickly than we give it credit. Will definitely visit it at some point 🙂
those are some seriously gorgeous photos!!!
Thanks! It helps that everything around me is so pretty right now!
Man, the colors in that sunset!
I know! The sunset makes the mountains glow pink which is my favorite time of the day!
Your sunset photo is stunning with the moose. That alone would make my daughter excitedly say, “Let’s go to Alaska!” It’s on my list. We’ll definitely get there in the next couple of years.
You should! We have moose everywhere 🙂
That’s great! My daughter loves moose!
We had 2 days of sunshine the month of January, I was starting to lose my mind! Last night at 5:30pm when it was still light outside- suddenly my whole world brightened….Spring is coming!!!
Ugh that sounds like every December in Alaska. Too many cloudy days is seriously painful!
Wow those pictures are so pretty!!
Thanks!