Do you go sledding all the time in the winter?

Just because we have snow for most of the year does not mean that we go sledding all the time. It is just like if you live by a beach that does not mean you go almost every day. I normally go sledding a couple times a year and it is always a lot of fun. The difference about sledding in Alaska is that instead of sledding down hills you can go down mountains. This makes everything so much more exciting. With my youth group every February we go to a mountain pass called Hatchers Pass. They drive us to the top of one of the mountains and we sled down. Some parts were so steep that I started going way too fast so I would purposely fall off the sled to stop. It would take us like 30 minutes to get down the mountain and a van would be waiting for us at the bottom to bring us back up. It is so much fun, the next day it is almost guaranteed that you will be sore, but it is definitely worth it.

Do you have lots of snow days?

Snow days actually happen on very rare conditions. Since the in winters it is constantly snowing, the city has a really productive system in clearing the snow really quickly. We might have one snow day per year but it is not because their is too much snow. The snow days we do have are normally when it rains during the day and freezes at night. The roads become ice rinks so it is really dangerous to drive in the city. It is even worse for the people who live on the mountains. School buses pick them up, but with icy roads it is impossible to reach those houses. On these "ice days" everyone stays home because the weather is so bad, it is kind of like when people refuge from hurricanes.

 Last year we actually got three "ice days" because the roads were so bad. This was the most days off we got from school in so many years. The best part was that it was the three days before Thanksgiving so we had a whole week off school. It was like having spring break in the winter!!