The End.

Hi guys,

I leave Alaska tomorrow morning at 8a and head home, going through Chicago and landing at BWI at 10p.

I haven't been up to much lately which is why I didn't update last week. I've been working and hanging out with friends but not going to any new places or anything. I did see G.I. Joe, though, and it was ridiculous, especially the lines the boys had. Ugg.

I've been saying goodbye to people but I'm not really good with goodbyes. Not that I cry or anything, I just don't DO goodbyes. It doesn't ever feel like the last time I'll see someone, even if it is the last. So it's hard for me to make them feel sincere and meaningful. They usually just turn out awkwardly. Oh well.

Today/tonight I'm not sleeping. I'm going to stay up until I'm on the plane. I'm hanging out with Tuck and all my friends up here and wasting away the night. We're going to my favorite place (Knik, where we camped) and we'll hang out and skip stones (something I'm still perfecting...) and talk, etc. We're also going out to dinner and I'm baking everyone cookies so that will be an adventure as well.

Alaska has been amazing. I'm not looking forward to leaving, though I am looking forward to seeing everyone back home. I love it here, at least in the summer. I've learned here that I can make things happen--I can make whatever I want happen, the hardest part is just figuring out what I want. It's a valuable lesson to learn and I doubt I could have learned it in a better way.

Everyone asks me if I'll be back and I don't really know. The winters definitely intimidate me and I think I need to give Colorado a try first before I commit to Alaska. I did make a pro and con list, though, as I plan on doing for all places I consider living long-term. It is as follows:

Pro:
-Its wild, unrefined beauty
-Perfect weather
-The feeling of possibility that permeates
-Fun wild animals
-Higher working wages
-20 hours of daylight in the summer
-Crisp, perfect winds
-Soft, cool, black sand
-Volcanoes
-Small earthquakes
-Mountains
-Even the weeds are beautiful
-Endless hiking and camping opportunities
-Being able to drive 30 minutes away and be in the middle of the wilderness
-Makes me not want to settle
-Everyone is unbelievably nice, but not annoyingly so
-Small town feel
-Big businesses feel accessible
-Berry picking
-There is a state fossil (wooly mammoth)
-Snow
-Everyone has trucks and big dogs

Con:
-Scarcity of horses
-Cold
-Scary animals
-High cost of living (rent, food, gas, etc.)
-Far away from family and friends
-No Chik-fil-a
-9 hours of daylight in the winter
-The need for snow tires, heated garages and automatic starters
-Rate of homelessness
-Makes me not want to settle down
-Skies are usually overcast and cloudy
-Have to fly to get anywhere –> expensive
-Ridiculous fishing restrictions

Thank you everyone for supporting me (even though none of you actually thought I would follow through on this) in my endeavour. Thank you Aunt Katy for coming up North with me to make sure I got settled here. Thank you Mom for coming to visit me and take me up to Denali National Forest. Thank you Dad and Heather for your contributions and encouragement to go visit new places. Thank you Granan and Grandad for helping me pay for the credit for my internship. And thank you to everyone else that contributed to my trip or even just read along about my adventures. I love you all and I wouldn't be who I am or do what I do without you.

I'll see you guys soon!

Small Update.

Just a little update because SOME people (KT) will bug me if I don't update each week.

There isn't much to say, but Sunday the Gold exhibit at the museum closed so Mark (my boss) asked me to work even though Sunday is my day off. It was really busy and I think we did well so I'm glad I could help and I'm happy we did so well. I worked Monday, too, and it felt weird not having the Gold shop upstairs to retreat to. After work I went hiking with a friend I met at the museum. We hiked up Mt. Baldy which is in nearby Eagle River. It was almost vertical the entire climb so we were wasted at the top and I was pretty grumpy. On the way back down, however, it was much nicer (even if it was scarier--loose dirt and gravel are not fun to walk down on a 35-degree grade!) and we even stopped to pick some blueberries for electrolytes. Mmm. I didn't even hurt much the next day.

Tuesday I had a day off and I hung out with friends. We went to lunch at the mall, miraculously found the only size 14 non-slip work shoes in town for Tuck, and then played computer games until dinner. For dinner we went to a hibatchi restaurant called Kobe--it was pretty delicious. The best teriyaki sauce I've had, but they didn't use it in the vegetables so it wasn't the best hibatchi ever, just pretty good.

Yesterday I was at the Red Cross and finished the rough draft of my book. Today I actually finished it and emailed it to my advisor for revisions. It took me way too long to get the little ends finished today because every problem possible happened. Oh well, it worked out in the end.

Tonight is a barbecue for Tuck's mother who is moving down to California. I don't know much about the barbecue but I hope there is space inside since it's raining and has been for a few days. This weekend I might be going to Troy's (Christa's brother and one of my friends) cabin. I don't quite know yet, though, so don't hold me to it.

Love and miss you all! I'll be home soon, don't worry.

Weeks 8 and 9

Yikes, sorry for the slow update but I haven't had much computer access in the capacity where I could make a good entry including photos.

Mom came and visited. She arrived Saturday, July 24 in the afternoon and hung out in town until I finished work at 6:15. She rented a car while visiting--a red PT Cruiser. After work we went back to the house because she was exhausted. The next day, Sunday, we went downtown to the Weekend Market and bought some gifts for people back home and had a delicious sourdough fruit waffle--so good. Afterwards we motored down the highway to the Wildlife Conservation Center. It was a lot of fun, even if the animals weren't in the wild. Then we went out to dinner with my friend Tuck at the Spenard Roadhouse which was SO delicious.

Moose at the Conservation Center.

Monday I had to work so mom hung out around the town and did errands. She picked me up from work and we went grocery shopping for our adventure the next day. We got trail mix and other goodies for the car and for snacking on the bus ride into the park. That night we cooked dinner--pomodora and spinach.

Tuesday we woke up bright and early and hurried to Talkeetna, a VERY cute down 2 hours north of Anchorage and 2 hours south of Denali. It was such an adorable little town. Touristy, yes, but in the cutest way possible. We got to our sled dog kennel tour just in time at 10am. They took us to the kennel and hitched the dogs up to a cart then divided us into three groups so we could all have a ride. It was a lot of fun. It's hard to describe the event because it's so awesome but I have pictures so you'll get the idea.

Dog cart ride!

After the ride they gave a little talk about the Iditarod (the kennel was an actual Iditarod musher's) and drove us back into town. Mom and I then sought out lunch, eventually finding it at the Talkeetna Roadhouse (odd how anything with "Roadhouse" after the name makes the food better...) in the form of TO DIE FOR berry pancakes. Oh my god--I want some right now. After eating we finished our drive to Denali and checked into our cabin at the Salmon Bake (or, "the Bake" for short), a restaurant that also has a couple of cabins in the back. The lodgings were indescribable--not bad or anything, but certainly different. It was like camping in a room instead of a tent. We had delicious salmon at the Bake and went to bed.

Our luxury accommodations at the Bake.

Wednesday we woke up early again and went to breakfast at the Bake. Then we headed into the park for our shuttle bus tour. It was an 8-hour roundtrip tour and it was amazing. I didn't really feel the need to see wildlife but everyone else on the bus did. I wanted to see the beautiful landscape. Basically, I want to build my dream house in the middle of that park. It's the perfect landscape for me: trees, mountains, and open plains for galloping on a horse. We did end up seeing wildlife: 4 bears (3 of which were a mother grizzly and her 2 cubs) and 3 dall sheep. We got back to the car around 6ish and went back to the Bake for dinner (again).

Thursday we got up early (again) and went back into the park to catch the sled dog tour. Denali uses a dog team to patrol the park during the winter. They don't race so the dogs are completely different builds--big and stocky while racing dogs are small and sleek. The dogs were pretty friendly and we got to pet them. They also did a demonstration. After the tour we got in the car and speedily drove home, having an appointment to make. One of Mom's coworkers is from Alaska and her brother-in-law here is a pilot. Mom and I called him after her coworker said he'd love to give us a ride in his plane. I don't know how I did it, but we met up with him and he flew us on a harrowing ride around the mountains that border Anchorage. Again, it's another experience I can't accurately begin to explain. I definitely kept seeing our deaths but everything was fine.

Inside, before take-off. Drew on the left, Mom on the right, me in the back.

Pretty, but scary!

Friday, Mom's last day in Alaska, I had to work. She came and visited me and saw my museum--I'm glad she got to see me in action. I can be pretty impressive when I work at the front desk and say my spiel. After work we went out to dinner at Leroy's, a diner similar to Jackie's but without the breakfast food spread. Then mom dropped me off at the house and went to fly back to Maryland. We had such a great time and I'm so glad she was able to come and share some of my Alaskan adventures with me. I will never forget it.

I went camping Saturday night and Sunday with my friends (it was awesome but this entry is too long to go into detail) and worked all week. Wednesday I started house-sitting for a coworker at the Museum (didn't I mention I was going to house-sit? No? Well I am). It's a little condo on the east side of town and it's pretty nice to have a place to myself. She has the weirdest cat, though. Oh well! I'll be house-sitting for 12 days (until Aug. 10) so stay tuned to see if there are any more stories.

Week 7

Another weekend (and week) update!

This past Saturday I went camping again--this time with a different group. A friend of mine from the museum, Thomas (who went camping with me last week), and a group of his friends came with me this time. Actually, I guess they took me since they drove and had all the gear, but I talked them into it. Anyway, we went to the Eagle River campground this weekend because the Eklutna Lake campground was full. We had a BLAST. It was really nice to be with Thomas's friends because they fit me really well too. In fact, I've sort of stolen them from Thomas as I've been hanging out with them almost every day so far this week but that will come later. We went for a walk along the water and they tried to throw me in (jokingly) and I resisted, sitting down hard on the ground and promptly ripping my jeans in the seat... It was a little embarrassing but definitely funny. I had to wear jeans with a hole on my butt cheek for the rest of the trip. We stayed up really late (4 am) talking, joking, and sharing embarrassing stories and even went on a little night hike. When we woke up in the morning we packed up and ate breakfast at a little diner-ish place called Jackie's.

Later that day we all got together again and had a cook-out. I brought frozen burgers and tater tots and we cut avocado and onions for the burgers. They were so good! My friend Tuck made them and he is trying to become a chef. We played pool and Apples to Apples and I went home late and tired. Oh well, it was worth it. Monday night we played Risk and watched 28 Days Later, much to my chagrin. It was sort of a good-natured hazing type thing because I mentioned while camping that I am really afraid of zombies so when I was the first one to be whiped out in Risk, I had to watch the zombie movie. It wasn't as bad as I thought, but it still made me jumpier than usual.

Today at the Red Cross I worked on the Penny Campaign, a fundraising effort we do in scho0ols that has students donate their spare lunch money. I worked on composing a list of donors who might donate prizes for the students who raise the most money. Then I wrote and mailed off letters to each of the donors. 99 donors makes for a lot of letters. I also have finished writing the text portion of my internship history book project. Tonight we are all going to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I couldn't be more excited. We'll probably get there early with everyone else in Anchorage and sit around talking, waiting to be let in to the theater and pick out seats together. We might get something to eat beforehand, too.

Saturday afternoon my Mom comes to Anchorage! We have our trip all planned out and next week I'll have pictures and stories galore for you. We will be going to the Saturday Market in town here and on Tuesday we will leave for Denali, hitting Sun Dog Kennels in Talkeetna on the way up for a Iditarod kennel tour and cart ride. Wednesday we will go into the park on a shuttle, probably hiking around for most of the day. Thursday we will come back to Anchorage, probably doing something else in Denali earlier in the day. I work Friday and Mom leaves Friday night so, while it's a short visit, I am really excited to see her and go on our trip together.

I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and have an exciting post next week so stay tuned!

Week 6

Hey guys! I'm reporting on my weekend.

Fourth of July turned out to be more fun than I thought it'd be. I had a couple of friends from work over to my house. I made a blueberry muffin loaf (used a meatloaf pan instead of a muffin pan) which was delicious and then we grilled burgers, wrapped them up in tortillas with Mexican cheese and salsa and made a Mexican burger (I didn't have American cheese or hamburger buns...). So, even though the food was supposed to be all-American, it turned out to be more representative of America's diversity? I don't know, but it tasted good!

Then we went to the Anchorage Bucs vs. Glacier Pilates double-header game where the fireworks were going to be lit off at midnight. The baseball games were sort of slow but it was nice to be out doing something and there was ice cream so that made it better. The fireworks were great and we had terrific seats by third base (fireworks launched from behind second-ish).

Sunday I did some errands (grocery shopping) and laundry and hung around the house. Sunday night, some friends from work and I went camping! I didn't have work, but they did and they came over at 7, I packed up and we drove up to Eklutna Lake and set up camp. On our way there, we saw a black bear cross the road which, of course, made me a little nervous because it meant there were bears near where I'd be sleeping almost defenseless. We managed to survive unscathed, though. The tent we had wasn't large enough so we spread a tarp over the tent and the nearby picnic table and slept in the space inbetween the two. Before going to bed we took a walk down to the lake--it was beautiful, blue-grey glacier melt. Though it took a little while to actually get to sleep (hampered both by the never-ending sunlight and our propensity to talk), I was pretty well-rested the next morning. I had to work the next morning so I'm glad I got enough sleep. We've decided to keep doing this every Saturday night (most people either have off or work later Sunday) for the rest of the summer so I'm pretty excited. It'll be a nice addition to my summer.

That's it for now! Next week I'll have more information about my plans for when Mom visits.

Short Update: Week 5.5 (or so)

Saturday (June 29) I went to the movies with Michelle again. This time we went to Bear's Tooth, the dinner theatre and saw Xmen Origins: Wolverine. Mostly we saw that movie because it was the only one showing at the time we could go. Ok, that was the whole reason. But it was a pretty good movie and we had a lot of fun. Great burrito.

Also, I've been trying to bike ride more. I need more exercise and I do have a bike so when I have the time before work I bike down the Coastal Trail. About 5 miles or so--it's a pretty good ride. It's really beautiful and on the way back you can see Anchorage stretched along the coast.

Mostly I've been working again this week. My mom is coming to visit me later this month (YAY!) so I did a little planning for that today. I'm really excited for it. We're going to go to Denali National Park which is one of the last things to do on my list (the other thing is fishing).

I'm not doing too much tomorrow (4th of July) since I have to work, the buses aren't running, and everyone is out of town. I'm making blueberry muffins and hamburgers (All-American food, right?) and attempting to find somewhere to watch the fireworks. Except I don't know where they're going off. Or when. Oh well, I'll try.

That's it for today! I'll let you guys know what I ended up doing for the Fourth when I write next.

Update:

I actually did some stuff recently and I have the day off so I thought I'd update rather than waiting until next week (next Wed, actually) to write a new entry. Plus, I'd probably forget about what I did today and yesterday if I waited that long.

First off, Michelle, the girl I know from college who is oddly and coincidentally also up here for the summer, invited me to the movies with her housemates last night. We saw Up and it was really good, definitely a move into adult-oriented animated movies. I had a lot of fun, even if it was sort of expensive ($24 for the movie, 3D glasses and cab fare!).

Today I had the day off and I started it off by walking on the treadmill while watching the Sex and the City movie. I walked for 30 minutes of it and then just watched. Yesterday one of the girls at the ARC dropped my camera and it stopped working, giving me an error message, so I went on the Internet today to see what the error meant and how to fix it, etc. I found a site detailing the steps to fix it, got the tiny, tiny screwdriver and fixed my camera! I rock. Also, I painted the downstairs unit bathroom for Rob (the contractor). He gave me ice cream and money but I had fun so all that was just extra! I like to paint.

Just thought I'd share! Love you guys and miss you even more!

Week 4 (I think)

First off, the movie with Laura on Monday night last week was a lot of fun. It was called Outrage and was a little art house documentary for Pride Week about how closeted gays in the government are preventing gay rights bills from going through and, thus, basically hurting everyone including themselves. It was really interesting.

The rest of the week was pretty normal, I worked at the Red Cross and at the museum. I've started on my project at the Red Cross which I have to do to get credit for the internship through my school. It was going to be a 15-page paper but now I think I'm going to be making a history book of the ARC's history in Alaska. It'll be a lot of work but a lot of fun, too. I like doing that sort of writing/designing work.

Christa left on Thursday to go to fish camp, as I said she would in my last entry so the house was kind of lonely but I wasn't home much. The wedding was Saturday and it was too cold to wear my dress so I wore a blazer of Mom's and nice, black dress pants. It ended up being really cold at the actual wedding because it was outside and on the water so the wind was really cold. Other than that, though, it was a lot of fun. The music was great and so was the food (though I wish there had been more!).

I didn't do anything else last weekend or yesterday to write home about but I might be going to Whittier tomorrow. I have the day off (weird, yes) and I've befriended Christa's contractor (Christa is remodeling the basement unit) and he's going to Whittier to look at a job and offered to let me come along. I think Whittier has the longest tunnel in the US so that will be fun/scary (tunnels sort of scare me, especially ones that go underwater--I prefer bridges). I might stay home to do laundry and relax, though. I also have Friday off and I have no idea what I'm going to do. Might try to hang out with someone but we'll see. I'm working for the rest of the weekend, though, because I have Wednesday and Friday off.

Not much more to say--sorry! Hope this is enough to tide you over.

Week 3.5

Yeah, that's right, I'm doing another update! A lot happened this weekend so I thought an update was in store, though I hope I still have something to write about later this week...

First off, I got a bike! Georgia (my boss's boss at the Museum [she actually just left us...]) gave it to me to borrow for the summer. She was so sweet in doing this for me and she's been great the whole time I've been here. I'm sorry to see her go but it's a new chapter in her life and she's excited. She's opening a gallery of her own and I wish her the best of luck!

Saturday morning I went into work early because I hadn't seen the museum yet. I went through and took pictures. Not of the Gold exhibit, though, because a) I've already seen it and b) we don't allow pictures of the exhibit (didn't get the rights to it). It's a really nice museum though there doesn't seem to be as much stuff as I'm used to but we're still under construction and there will be a lot more to see next year.

One of the paintings in the Alaska Art exhibit. This painting is of the "American Reindeer" and is painted by James Audobon, a famous naturalist-scientific painter.

I don't know who painted this one but I really like it. We have postcards of it, too, so it must be popular. It's a nice, modern take on landscape painting.

Moose!

The museum shop! Well, part of it. The girl on the left is Carolyn (my buddy) and on the right is Ali.

Saturday night I went out to dinner with business associates of Aunt Katy's. It was SO much fun. They were really nice, welcoming, and fun to hang out with. I met them at the Captain Cook hotel (nicest hotel in town) after work and we went to Moose's Tooth where I went with Aunt Katy when we first got to Anchorage. It took a while to be seated but we filled the time getting to know each other (me and them, that is. They know each other). We eventually got seated and ordered tons of food, even dessert! They let me take everything home with me since they don't have fridges in their rooms. It was a really great night and they'll be back in town in July so maybe we'll do it again!

Today I had off and Christa and I woke up late then hung around until 12. We went to Home Depot and the grocery store because she's renovating her basement unit (we're in a duplex) and because we decided we needed to start eating better so we bought yogurt and fruit and salad, etc. Then we went on a LONG walk with the dogs. It was a good day. Now we're eating a healthy dinner of grilled chicken salad.

This week looks pretty basic but next weekend I've got the wedding to go to so that will be a lot of fun and something to look forward to.

OH! I'm going to a movie with my friend Laura tomorrow (met her through a friend from SP who goes to school with her) at the dinner theatre called Bear's Tooth (owned by Moose's Tooth people). My life is getting social! Haha.

Love you guys and, for those of you who were at the Father's Day/Birthday party today, I miss you and I wish I could have been there!

Week 3?

It's been a lot of the same this week. There were a couple of things of note, though.

I made a factsheet/brochure for the ARC which will be a great addition to my portfolio. Now I'm working on developing the slogan, logo, and scheme for the Penny Campaign which is a fundraiser we do in elementary and middle schools. Also a nice addition once it's done.

A co-worker at the Red Cross named Krista (she's actually one of my bosses) is getting married on the 20th and invited me so I'm looking forward to that. I went shopping after work last Friday and found a dress (as well as some other things I needed). It's a simple sundress. Black with white, green, and red flowers. I like weddings because I love to get dressed up.

Sunday I had off and went grocery shopping and did laundry. Then Christa (my roommate) invited me over to her parents for dinner. They have a Sunday night dinner with friends, etc. She and her mom made Thai food and it was ok. I'm not a Thai food person. Peanuts are NOT supposed to be hot.

Last night Christa and I went to her office (Prudential) softball game which was really fun to go to. It was SUCH a nice day (it hit 80!) and it was really great to be outside and enjoy the nice day even though I worked until 6. That's the beauty of summer here in Alaska--you still have daytime after work to go out and do stuff (I know, I know, I should be doing more, then, right? Harder than you'd think without a car.)

I get Sunday off again this weekend and it looks like a business associate of Aunt Katy's is in town to open a Walgreens in Wasilla (home of Palin and about 30 min. North) and he offered to take me out to dinner so we'll probably go out Saturday or Sunday night which will be a nice highlight of my week. There are so many restaurants around here that I want to try out but they're a little pricey so it's always great to have someone else pick up the bill! Also, I think one of my friends at the museum (Carolyn) is having a house-warming party this weekend so I'll try to go to that (hopefully it doesn't conflict with the dinner!).

I hope everyone is having a great summer--sorry that it's so rainy on the Coast! Maybe you should take a trip up here and visit me!

Week 2

Hi everyone!

It's been a while, but I've been really busy at work.

I've totally figured out the bus system and it has stopped being as stressful as it was the first few times when I thought I would miss the bus or get on the wrong one. Now it's pretty easy and I've gone grocery shopping using the bus. I also bought a bus pass which makes it more convenient to take small trips than before.

We had a couple of donor receptions on Thursday and Friday nights at the museum so I came in at 4 and left late around 10 but it was fun to see people dressed up and nice to get some experience with the registers before the swarm of people on Saturday. On Friday we even got to have some of the leftover hors ouevres. Cream puffs!!

Saturday was the museum's opening day and we had over 10,000 people come through! The Museum Store itself made over $10,000 (breaking its sales record) and the Museum got over 300 new memberships. It was really exciting to be a part of it and now things are settling down. The learning curve is finished and I can answer most questions people have about the Museum and the store. It's been hard to restrain from buying a lot of stuff in the Store. There are a lot of really cool pieces of art and jewelry and it's getting harder and harder to resist--I have a 20% discount so why not buy the whole Store?!

Yesterday and today I've been at the Red Cross (Mon-Tues: Red Cross, Wed-Sat: Museum, Sun: Off) doing a bunch of things. I researched and added to the archives, did data entry for donations, mailed out thank you letters to donors, and today I started writing summaries for next year's hero nominees (the RC does a breakfast in April each year to thank heros who have gone above and beyond over the year to save people's lives).

I don't have much more to report since most of my time has been spent working. Last night I did have moose meatloaf, though. Christa made it for me and Mike (her friend) and I didn't even know it was moose until after I ate it (they told me). It was delicious. I get Sunday off this week and already plan to go to WalMart--not sure what else I'll do.

I'll try to write every week so until next week, have a great one!

Days Eight and Nine

Hi! I managed to find a connection that is strong enough in my room so I thought I should give you guys an update on yesterday and today.

Yesterday was the soft opening of the store--it looked great after we rushed to finish in the morning. There were a lot of people and we made a lot of sales. We were busy but the register isn't hard to figure out and most of the rest of the job is obvious enough for us (me and my co-workers) to figure out on our own. Katy came and visited me and we went through the Gold exhibit because I hadn't seen it yet--it was ok. I'm not really a gold person. Then she went to go look at the rest of the available exhibits and I went back to work.

After work Katy and I packed my stuff into the car and went to dinner: we had reservations at Simon and Seafort's for 7:30. It was really, really good food--the best of the trip--so it was a nice ending to our journey together. I had the salmon and Katy had chicken dijon and we both got desserts. Afterwards, we went grocery shopping to get me stocked on frozen and perishable food stuffs. Then I unpacked my stuff into my new space and Katy tested out my DishNetwork. Christa is away for the weekend since it's Memorial Day weekend so Katy and I had the place to ourselves. Katy had to leave at 12:45 for her 2:30 flight so we stayed up watching Chocolat. It was a really nice day and a great way to end our trip. I was so sorry to see her go. We had a great time and she was so good to me--I am immensely thankful. I locked every single possible lock in the place and went to bed around 1.

This morning I woke up and stayed in my pajamas, watching TV and calling friends back East. I took a shower and got dressed around 1 and then walked the long (longer than I thought...) walk to WalMart to buy more hangers for my closet. Since it was such a long walk I decided to try taking the bus back (partially). It worked! I figured it out and took a bus more than half of the way back and decided not to go the rest of the way because I didn't want to wait for the transfer to the other line so I just walked. It's a nice little ride and walk if done together. It's too long if one just walks. So I'm pretty proud of myself and it speaks to Tuesday when I have to take the bus downtown to get to the Red Cross.

For the rest of the day I'm just going to hang out here and tomorrow I might go on a hike with my boss from the museum and his dog since I don't have anything to do. Might rain, though.

Anyway, I'm glad to have an Internet connect, even if it's not very good. I hope it stays open so I can keep updating. Katy says she has pictures of yesterday that she's going to send me so I'll post them whenever she sends them to me. I think there are some of the museum.

Talk to you guys later!

Oops!

Hi, guys.

I'm writing this from the front stoop of my new place. There isn't an Internet connection yet--I'm stealing a neighbor's and I have to sit outside by the road to do it...It's kind of awkward.

I won't be updating for a while because of this but I'll try to update periodically (maybe at work) and such. Sorry if I don't respond to your emails or messages--I can't!

I hope to encourage Christa to get a connection soon and then I'll be back on regularly (probably more than regularly--I'm an Internet addict!).

Anyway, sorry about this and I hope to be back soon.

Love!

Day Seven

Hey guys,

Again, not much to say. Today was my first day of work. I went in at 9 and filled out forms up in HR for direct deposit, taxes, etc. Very exciting. Then I went down to the store and was put to work doing odd jobs: emptying boxes, making displays, organizing shelves and other similar things. It was fun work, work I like to do. I like to organize and make things look nice so this was fun. Since the museum isn't open to the public yet (it's been closed for major renovations and opens next week), we're still in crunch time to get the store setup and ready to open. The soft opening is tomorrow and Katy will be coming in to see the store and the whole museum. I go in at 9 and work to get the store completely setup and then I'll work a register until I go home. Once we open, working the register will be my main task.

During lunch I had to go to City Hall to get an ID because security in the museum is really tight since we have the Gold exhibit from the National Museum of Natural History and it's a big deal. The ID was uneventful and then Katy (who picked me up from the museum and dropped be back off after lunch) went to lunch at a nearby sub shop. We got chicken gyros which were delicious. She brought me back to work and I did more of the same.

After work, I walked back to the hotel room since the museum is really close and it was a nice day out. We hung around the room, me chatting online and Katy watching TV and taking a shower. We decided on Japanese for dinner and picked a nearby place that the front desk recommended. We walked since it was so close. It was really good, surprising since it was attached to the Econo Lodge... Despite that though, it was good food and we both enjoyed our dinner. Then we settled in to watch a movie in our room (we would have gone out to see a movie if there was ANYTHING we wanted to see...) and will go to bed early since I have to get up early again tomorrow.

We didn't move in today just because there was no real reason to. I'm closer to the museum here at the hotel so I might as well make use of that while I can. Plus, I got off work around 5:30 and there wasn't a significant amount of time to move in--we'll do it tomorrow after work.

Sorry there's not much to share. After work starts and I settle down there won't be much to report on here and I'll probably only update weekly instead of daily. I hope no one minds.

I'll let everyone know more about the museum once I actually get to see exhibits tomorrow. I'm sure Katy will have stuff to report, too. Plus, I'll have my first real work experience doing what I'll be doing for the rest of the summer and I can report on that. Maybe I'll make funny cash register mistakes or something, who knows.

Anyway, I'm starting to sound boring so I'm going to sign off. Have a good day (I've realized that everyone probably reads these entries the morning after I write them so I've switched from "Goodnight" to "Have a good day.")

Day Six

Sorry guys, today we just relaxed around the room and around town. I watched TV for most of the day and Katy worked and did other stuff.

We left the room around 2:30 to go to lunch at this horrible restaurant called Gwennie's. It's hard to explain the awfulness. We should have known, reading the Google Maps reviews... We sat under YELLOW fluorescent lights and there was a stuffed bear and a stuffed arctic fox in the least cool way. I would have taken a picture but we were seated by the kitchen and the waitresses could look over to us. Katy and I both had gigantic BLT sandwiches.

After lunch we went and window shopped in a strip mall that had two outdoor stores, two coffee shops, and a book store. The book store was really cool because most of the inventory (huge store!) was used and really cheap. Then we went back to the hotel and changed to go walking on the Coastal Trail which was lovely but a little chilly. Nice walk, though. After walking we went to Coldstone Creamery to round out our balanced meal (singular--we didn't even want to eat) of the day.

Tomorrow I'm going in to work at the museum at 9 and working probably until 6ish. Katy will do who-knows-what to fill her day. She's talked about bringing the computer to a cafe and working there. So yeah. I'll let you guys know about that tomorrow. It will mostly be last-minute crunch time for setting up the store: stocking, cleaning, organizing--you know, stuff I love to do!

So stay tuned tomorrow and I'll tell you how my first day was. I hope it's terrific and telling of how my summer will be. Wish me luck!

Day Five

Hey guys! Today was a LONG day... There isn't all that much to say because a lot of it is best translated in pictures so I included quite a few. We got up early and drove down to Seward, a port city in a bay on the Pacific Ocean. Along the way we stopped at a bakery in Girdwood and I got a ham and cheese croissant which was delicious but horrible for me and Katy got a triple berry scone which also looked delicious. In Seward we got on a 6-hour cruise tour and saw lots of wildlife.

Boats in the harbor in Seward.

Watching for whales!

We saw all kinds of wildlife, mainly whales, but we also saw bears, dall sheep, and sea lions. Lots of birds, too. Whales are really hard to catch well on a camera so I stopped taking pictures to just watch them. We saw porpoises, orcas, and humpbacks. It was really, really cool. There were TONS of them, usually swimming together.

Orca!

Black bear

Glacier.

Katy and I in front of the glacier.

On the last part of our trip we had to stop and "take on some new passengers" from a charter boat that had lost an engine. That was kind of dramatic. We had to slowly sidle up to the small boat and then lash it to us so the passengers could board.

The boarding.

Like I said, we saw a lot of wildlife. On the way back, we saw fewer whales and more sea lions and dall sheep. The sheep were my favorite part--no idea why. The sea lions were pretty cool, too. There was one bull in particular who was regally poised on the top of a high rock, his snout in the air, not moving a muscle as we noisily drove past in our boat.

Lazy sea lions.

Dall sheep!

After our long, but enjoyable cruise, we headed back up the beautiful (it really was) highway to Girdwood and ate pizza at the pizza place next to the bakery where we had breakfast. The pizza was really good, greasy, and cheesy. After dinner I treated Katy to ice cream because a) she rocks and b) we had both wanted ice cream for a while.

Driving back into town, we stopped at WalMart to get stuff that I'll need when I move in Friday night (we moved it because I'm going to be working all day Friday and Saturday (soft opening for the museum on Saturday). That was quite an adventure in and of itself. The people here are, as I have mentioned, peculiar. We saw quite a few characters. Katy saw one that had only rubbing alcohol, ketchup, and plastic bags. I saw two ladies in full-length floral dresses from Dress Barn and we both met a guy looking for nail polish "that won't come off" to mark his arrows with. Shopping in the food aisle, we came across this lovely scene of deliciousness: canned meats galore (see below)!

This picture doesn't do the scene justice.

After WalMart we were wiped out and headed back to crash in the hotel room where I am now writing this. Tomorrow we have nothing planned. We might go bike riding but I really have no idea. I want to try to find a bike, but we'll see. I would be perfectly fine if we didn't end up doing anything except hang around here. We're both drained from the perpetual activity.

Anyway, have a good night and I'll be back tomorrow.

P.S. Facebook album update tonight because we took so many pictures!

Day Four

Hello everyone. Today was, again, beautiful weather: 60's and sunny. Everyone is really happy with the weather and we can't argue. We had a late morning today. I watched TV and hung out and Katy got to go for a run. Around 11:45 we left to drive to Fort Richardson for the horseback-riding trip. We had to check in on the base and it was sort of an (unexpectedly) complex process. We still got to the meeting place on time and met Steve, our guide and the owner of the business Horse Trekkin' which does trail rides in and around Anchorage. He told us he and his clients before us had seen a bear and we were pretty excited to see one, too.

Me and Steve in front of the horse I rode, Duke.

We didn't see a bear, but we did see a bald eagle and A MOOSE! I spotted it. It crossed the road right in front of us and Steve's dogs froze and then started barking at it. Steve said it was a bull and the bull just stared us down, eventually running off into the woods with the dogs chasing it.

Can you see the moose? Right-hand side by the treeline.

We rode to a high area where it opened up and we could look out and see the valley below where Anchorage is. Steve pointed out Mt. McKinley and Sleeping Lady to us, ranges that people had been talking about.

Katy and I! She's on Rusty.

We came to a part of the base where clearly operations had been done before since there were burned spots and rubble around. It was open, though, and Steve told me to get on Rusty and have a go at running around. It wasn't a very good area for it, though, because the ground was uneven and Rusty wanted to stay with the rest of the horses anyway. It was pretty fun, though. On the way back we waded through a rushing stream. It was really cool. I led because Rusty is Steve's horse and knew the way and is usually the lead horse. He just got in the water and walked right through--he knew the way. I could feel the water pulling him back, though, so the current was really strong but we were fine.

Steve and I, after the ride.

After the ride, we drove up to Eagle River again. We had missed the whole town yesterday (we got off the highway too early) and so we wanted to revisit it. We got lost in a community but when we pulled up alongside to ask a mother where the town was, she offered to let us follow there after giving us an extensive list and description of all the restaurants. People here are BEYOND nice. Also, there apparently were three bears roaming the community. It's intense out here. Anyway, we followed her to the downtown area and eventually settled on Johann's Cottage Cooking and Catering. It was very "homemade" food and DELICIOUS. Best meal yet. We had taco salads each, and shared sweet potato fries, corn fritters (with devilishly delicious honey butter) and peach cobbler. It was so good.

Katy with the interior of Johann's behind her.

After dinner we drove to Thunderbird Falls, something I had read about in our guide books. It was a one-mile hike, but there were quite a few hills to walk up and down and, with a full stomach, I quickly felt ill. We got to the falls and they were sort of underwhelming but it was still a good photo op.

We went back to the hotel room and I took a nap while Katy read. Now we're hanging around the room, getting ready to go to bed for our busy, long day tomorrow. We're going to drive down the Seward highway, one of the top ten most beautiful drives in the country, and go to Seward for a whale-watching/glacier cruise tour. It's a 6-hour tour and we will see whales, other wildlife, and glaciers! I want to see a glacier before they're extinct so I'm looking forward to this next trip.

Tune in for gorgeous picture on the ride down to Seward and (hopefully) pictures of whales and other fun wildlife!

Goodnight, guys!

P.S. Facebook upload tonight!

Day Three

Hi guys! Today was less exciting, but still (oddly enough) exhausting. It started off with me being awoken by the sounds of the city outside my open window...(Katy insists on it being open for the fresh air) and her type-type-typing on the computer, industriously working remotely ON HER VACATION. I disapprove even though I've done it myself. But in this case, it was getting in the way of my sleep. Anyway, she continued to work until around 11:30 when we left and went to the bank to withdraw money so I could pay Christa for the deposit and first month's rent. We also went to the post office so I could mail some post cards.

At 1:00, I had a meeting at the Anchorage Museum with Mark, my future boss to be shown around and make a tentative schedule. The museum is amazing and the store is huge. It's going to be really cool to see it all come together in the next couple of days (the soft opening is this Saturday and the public opening is next Saturday).

After that meeting we went to Humpey's, a bar and grille nearby and sat outside, basking in the sun and eating nachos and fries. We talked about my meeting and about what we wanted to do tomorrow. We decided on horseback-riding and made the appropriate calls. 12:30 tomorrow on the Army base. Apparently the parks around here aren't open yet for horses so we have to ride on the base which will be pretty cool.

We went back to the hotel so I could change shoes because the ones I was wearing were giving me blisters after my ridiculous trek yesterday. After changing shoes I found a promising bike on Craigslist and followed up--going to go look at it tomorrow after riding. Then we drove over to Christa's to give her the money and see all the changes she had made around the house in just two days! She had put in a new TV, a bed with bedding in my future room, and put up new lights. She will have new doors (with locks, though I don't really feel the need for one) by the time I move in Saturday. I'm so excited!

My future room.

Katy in the living room.

Diamond, my new pseudo dog!

Roomies! =P

After seeing Christa, Katy and I went adventuring up to Eagle River where we climbed steep residential streets, looking for great views--we found them. As we drove up, we came around a corner and saw spectacular views of the valley and shore. There were even parasailers who had jumped from the peaks above us and were sailing down to the valley floor below. It was pretty awesome.

Case and point for beautiful.

After our adventuring we went to go find dinner; naturally, in the most obtuse way possible. We eventually settled for Boston's, an Applebee's-esque Canadian chain not to be confused with Boston Market. It was interesting and we got to see interesting people (see below).

The angelic couple.

After dinner we promptly went back to the room where Katy immediately started working again and I watched TV, my stomache starting to feel worse and worse. As I write this, it hurts but not enough that I feel confident that I might throw up. I think it will remain a dull discomfort, a definite reminder of my quality meal. Katy feels similarly. Oh well!

Now it's time for bed. Katy will work again in the morning and we'll go horseback-riding (!!!) and then go look at the prospective bike. Horses! Yay!

Tune in next time!

Goodnight, guys.

P.S. The commenting feature of the blog should be working now--let me know if it isn't.

Day Two

Hey guys! Today was amazing.

We started it off by having Life cereal in the hotel room. We went grocery shopping yesterday and got cereal and milk for the hotel room so we wouldn't have to eat out every morning.

Then we walked to the Anchorage Festival and Market down the street. It's a market that springs up every weekend of the summer. It's really cool and has lots of vendors with clothing, jewelry, and (since we're in Alaska) fur. I bought a ring that has a bead of garnet (my birthstone) in the center--lots of rocks and gems up here, even a gold rush!

Katy thought the Philly Cheese Steak vendor was ironic.

After the market we walked back to the room to get ready for our trek up a mountain! We had decided yesterday to climb the Flat Top Mountain trail. We drove there today, easily enough, despite the rental car's protestations.

The mountain from an overlook at the bottom of the trailhead.

The trail started off pretty easy with a dirt trail, but there was still snow on the ground and the melting made it icy and slick. We had to trudge through it on narrow paths smoothed by footsteps before us. It was kind of harrowing. There was definitely one part that was terrifying.

Katy in awe of the task ahead of us.

We rested often on the way up. The way down was much easier, even if it was more dangerous.

We reached a point where the trek was noticeably more dangerous and strenuous. It was pretty scary looking but I was determined. Katy decided to hang back and wait, but I went up, literally climbing rocks to the top.

Zoomed in view of the last part of the climb up.

When I made it to the top, I was so relieved and tried not to think of the climb back down which would be really scary since there was a snow bank right between the top and the first part of the rock. Slipping down that would be easy and very dangerous. I called my mom (yes, we had cell phone service!) and told her I loved her--just in case--and because I wanted to tell her I was on top of a mountain and had cell phone reception. I ended up sliding down the snowy part in the most controlled way I could. Apparently, according to a local, other locals climb up and SLIDE ALL THE WAY DOWN on the snow but it was a little too thin today to do that. Imagine.

The view was gorgeous and mind-boggling. I'm afraid of heights but my fears couldn't even register because the heights were so amazing and probably because of my stubborn determination to make it to the top. You could see so far--even across the bay to the other side-- mountains in the distance, of course. Did I mention that three-year olds and dogs climbed this? Yeah, I don't know how, but they did. I even saw a guy in flip flops.

View from the top: my trip down.

After the climb and subsequent climb down, we drove back towards the hotel. We stopped by DQ on the way back because we were in dire need of ice cream. When we made it back to the room I passed out for a much-needed nap and Katy did, well, I don't know what she did because I was asleep. I think she read.

We went to Snow Goose's for dinner and it was pretty good, despite not having a preparation of salmon that I wanted. I was looking forward to salmon but there will be many more opportunities. We came back to the room and now I'm writing!

Tune in next time to hear about my meeting with Mark, the manager of the Anchorage Museum Store where I'll be working this summer. I'll be scheduling with him and probably get a little tour of the museum which hasn't opened yet from its renovations. I'm also going to go to the bank and get out money to pay my deposit and first month's rent on the house and then bring it to Christa to lock in the room so no one takes it out from under me!

Anyway, goodnight guys!

P.S. I'm going to try to upload an album on Facebook with lots of other pictures. Katy has to work, though, so I might fall asleep before she's finished and just post the album tomorrow.

Day One

This first entry will include the flight and the first full day in Anchorage.

Some basic info. about the trip for everyone:
-My aunt Katy is with me for the first 10 days to help me get settled and to tour around with me.
-I will be working at the Red Cross office up here doing event promotion and at the Anchorage Museum in the Museum Store.
-I arrived May 15th and I will be leaving August 20th.

Waiting in the airport.

First off, the flight was WAY long. It was the longest flight I've ever been on and it definitely felt that way. Luckily, there was TV for most of the longest leg.

Taken from the plane.

We landed in Anchorage around 10ish Alaska time and 2 in the morning our time so by the time we rented the car and got to the hotel (Days Inn), it was 12 (4 our time) and Katy and I promptly passed out.

Today, we got up at 9 in the morning (1 in the afternoon our time!) and went to breakfast across the street at the Country Kitchen. It was pretty good. Reindeer sausage was available for an additional $1.19. We did not partake. It's really strange walking around Anchorage because one second it looks like a normal city and the next, you see snow-topped mountains in the distance.

After breakfast we went to meet a prospective roommate. She is REALLY nice and it looks like it will work out, though it's not set in stone. It's a cute house with a nice backyard, close to biking trails and the bus stop. I'm pretty excited and hope to move in Saturday.

After meeting Christa (the roommate) we went to the Alaska Zoo. It has a lot of indigenous animals from Alaska but is pretty sad and doesn't seem to receive much financing, despite being the state zoo... There were moose (HUGE!), polar bears, tigers, wolves, arctic foxes (adorable!)


After the zoo we went to find this trail riding place I found in one of our information books. Turns out, it's a vendor that does the rides out of an equestrian center and there was a little festival going on with demonstrations and pony rides. We stuck around for a bit and watched a cutting demonstration (where a horse and rider "cut" a cow from the herd and herd it around in specific patterns).

Then we headed back up north, to see a Salmon Viewing Platform, stopping at the 5th Ave. Mall because I needed khakis and we did a little shopping. When we got to the Salmon Viewing Platform it turned out that it's not the right season for salmon quite yet because we didn't see a single fish, despite the clear water.

After not quite viewing salmon, we went to find dinner. We decided to go to Moose Tooth's, a place we had heard a lot about from tourists and locals alike. It's a pizza place and bar that makes their own Ranch dressing, brews their own beer, and is known for their breadsticks. I can account for two of the three being as delicious as we heard--the breadsticks were fantastic.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped by a Fred Meyer (like a Super Target or Super Walmart that has food and clothes, etc.) and got food and cutlery and stuff. The people here are very easy to people-watch. Katy likens it to Dayton, Ohio.

Now we're in our hotel, exhausted, even though we really didn't do anything very strenuous. Oh well, we found me a place to live and that was the most important thing to do. Now we can do fun stuff! Still need to find me a bike, though.

Our hotel room.

Tune in next time to hear about any new developments. Tomorrow we go hiking on the Flat Top Mountain trail aka. up a mountain! Pictures, of course, will follow. For those of you on Facebook, there will be more pictures (more than on the blog, I mean) available when I post the whole week's collection this weekend. The blog will only feature highlights.

Goodnight, guys!

P.S. The sun is just setting now and it's 11:00pm.