Getting to sleep

Have you ever wondered how light it is at night in AK? I'm in Anchorage & I can attest--it's light for a long time. This doesn't aid me at all in getting to bed at a reasonable hour. That will need to change, especially since Fairbanks ~6 hours north gets even more light.

Last night I decided to take a nice long ride on my trusted steed--the KINGBEE.

I wanted to check out the 11 mile stretch of bike path along the coast, aptly named the Tony Knowles Coastal Bike Path. I probably biked nearly the same just to get there. If it's any indication of how light it is, I began my ride just after 8pm. Here's the adventure that followed:
In the park where the coastal trail begins I discovered a public dirt bike track, definitely unexpected.

So I biked/hiked/pushed my bike up the sanddunes to take in the view with hopes of findings the trail on the other side.

After filling my shoes with sand, I did find a trail, as well as a female moose. I think we were equally startled.

After a bit of unplanned mtn biking, I found the paved path and encountered a porcupine on the path (my first ever meeting). Here's the pic below.

Didn't see it. Well, it was poor lighting and since it had done an about face to face its hiney at me and had its quills fanned in a big circle, I opted to settle for the blurry pic rather than take quills out of my lips, legs, and arms all night. The dogs I've known who've experienced it weren't in a good mood afterwards. I learned too that porcupines climb trees. Then I saw another moose, bummer only a female. Still no male sightings.

And then it happened. I saw a...

...a male moose just a few feet off the trail. I didn't freak out at being so close to it and only because a local was walking ahead of me and continued at the same pace simply walking on the other side of the trail as Mr. Moose. That's separate moose sightings in maybe a 30 min span!

Above is a pic of the amazing sunset at 11:45pm! The gain in light is ~6.5 min each day! And there's still light on the horizon in this last pic (below) from the grocery store last night and guess the time...
...1 am! I road the next couple blocks, made the pizza I just bought, & called it a night.