Spring Time Cometh
There are many places in the world that are already knee deep in crocus', daffodils, and the beginnings of tulips. Up here in alaska we are still knee deep in snow. BUT... the temperatures are turning, the days are getting longer (we're gaining about 35 minutes of light a week), and the roads are filled with little freezing/thawing/freezing riv-u-lets of melting snow. I keep looking at the mountains and hoping to see the spots of green, which will grow larger and larger revealing the trails that are calling. Soon the remote hotels will start to open, advertising good deals for early season adventurers. The moose will start disappearing (more food, easier to walk in the wilds and off the beaten path... not that you don't see them on the path, especially on your way BACK from a hike̷ 
and the bears will start appearing looking for an easy meal after a long hard winters nap.
It is hard to remember to stay in the moment. I've got to try to get in one more cross-country ski across a local lake, get to Alyeska Resort to ski downhill, and to enjoy the mosquito-fee evening walks, even if they are a bit slippery. It's not the prettiest time of year. The layers of gravel that have been put down on the ice over and over again are dusty piles on the sidewalks and roads. The grasses that are peaking through the snow are beaten down and brown as dirt. The trash that has been buried for most of the winter is becoming apparent (the city wide clean up is still a month away). But there are some amazingly clear days when Mount McKinley is sticking up so high and clear that it's hard to believe that you can't see it every day. The trees that are bare right now will burst out in green in the coming weeks, over the course of two or three days we will go from brown and bare to full greenery. The transformation is so fast that it boggles the mind (usually in late May, I expect it to be early this year).
Life in Anchorage is lovely at this time of year. There is something about the light and the promise of all things to come that give a sense of excitement!
