What happened to spring

In what amounts to about 45 seconds, spring left and summer took over -- and you only have to look in the back of pickup trucks roaring through the Valley to find proof.

Gone are the trailers full of snowmachines heading all points north. They have been replaced with canoes, boats on trailers and even personal watercraft to be used in lakes.

"It's a little chilly, but if you've got a wet suit, you're fine," said Bart Youngs, who took advantage of the early ice out of Wasilla Lake Sunday by zooming around on his SeaDoo. "I wouldn't be swimming in the water yet."

Youngs is like many people -- he's got a toy for every season. He said he was a little disappointed by this winter and the lack of snow, but he said the time he didn't spend riding his snowmachine will be spent riding his SeaDoo and fishing a little earlier than normal.

"I like taking out the canoe and fishing some of these little lakes," Youngs said. "It's more relaxed. It's not like combat fishing at Willow Creek for kings."

Fred Tyson took advantage of the early warm weather by getting his boat in the Wasilla Lake water Sunday for good reason -- he wants to be ready when the king salmon start coming up the Little Su next month.

"The last thing I want is to find out I've got something wrong with the boat and have to fix it when I could be fishing," Tyson said. "Spend a day out here, with this gorgeous weather, and I'll be ready."

Tyson's wife, Marcia, disagreed, however.

"Boys need their toys, and he bought this boat last fall and hasn't had a chance to play with it yet," Marcia Tyson said as she shot a glance to her husband. "He's been looking forward to this like a kid looks forward to Christmas."

Just like the winter was the warmest on record, the early stage of summer has already been reaching near-record highs for temperatures. During the last week, temperatures reached levels not seen until the middle of the second week of May last year.

If Wasilla Lake is any indication, summer got here a few weeks early -- last year, the ice didn't go out of the lake until around May 18, and two years ago, it was around the first of May.

"I hope the whole summer stays like this," Youngs said. "It'll make up for us not having a winter."