We've moved!

No, not out of Bethel. :) We've moved the blog to http://susanandmarshall.typepad.com/

A blog update

I'm researching some major changes for the blog right now. We seem to have hit our storage limit for photos so I'm looking at the possibility of moving the blog to a new domain, or even purchasing our own little space on the internet. I'll update with a new address soon. Thanks for being patient and very happy Thanksgiving weekend. :)

Full recovery

The Tibby relocation story has been pretty popular. I just wanted to show that he has fully recovered and is a happy Alaska cat now. We moved his tower in front of a floor-to-ceiling window and he spends most of his time on it. The configuration of windows in our place means tons of sunlight, and he takes advantage.

He keeps going going into the arctic entry to explore; I think he's looking for his patio. Unfortunately for him, there is no screened-in patio or pet door here! I finally took him outside since he was so curious. He immediately squirmed out of my arms and pawed at the door to get  back in. It's a bit cold for his taste. He loves the spot in front of the heater and has found every warm spot in the house. 

He also loves this window to watch the ravens outside. They're bigger than Tibby, so it kind of freaks him out. But he loves watching them fly around.

Anchorage Update

I know I've been really quiet recently. Nothing is wrong. In fact, we're doing great, but have just been really busy. We've been settling into life here and doing well. As I mentioned last week, Marshall was at a board review course in Columbus. On his way back, I met him in Anchorage for a few days. We finally left the airport! It's very pretty from the airport and even prettier driving around. It's a small city, but surrounded by mountains. We decided to spend one day sightseeing and the other shopping. 

Anchorage isn't very big and is laid out on a grid, so that made it simple to get around. Unfortunately, there isn't a ton to do this time of year. We missed the summer activities and the snow hadn't arrived yet for winter sports. So we rented a car and decided to drive down the Kenai Peninsula a bit, taking in the sights. Without much of a plan, we ended up driving to Seward and back. First we stopped in Whitter and played around with the camera. We finally saw some snow and pine trees.

in Whitter

Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel aka Whitter Tunnel

Whitter is a very small port town, but surrounding area is gorgeous. We stopped for coffee and saw a coyote run in front of our car. It's a good place for whale watching cruises, but we were too late in the season. The only way there by car is through the longest tunnel in the U.S. It was kind of freaky, to be honest. It looks like someone just decided to blow up a tunnel in the mountain; it's quite rustic. And it's a one-lane road that allows cars and trains. So there are specific times that the tunnel is open each way and for each vehicle.

We kept seeing frozen lakes and people skating on them. What was strange is that most of the lakes weren't frozen all the way through. The sunny spots were still watery and the shady spots were solid enough to skate on. Kind of odd to see people skating right next to large puddles of water. But we stopped at a shady lake and walked around. The ice was at least a foot thick so there was no fear of falling through.

Now, I wasn't super prepared for our outdoor outing. I foolishly wore sneakers and have a t-shirt on under my coat. I am a bit cold in the picture to the right! (We ended up shopping for winter clothes the next day and I now have a large array of long sleeved shirts and wool socks.)

Marshall was determined to walk on a glacier that day. We did our absolute best looking for a glacier, and found a beautiful one at Kenai Fjords National Park. But . . . the road into the park was closed. Rats! So we were limited to just taking a picture. We definitely plan to go back on a later visit. Plus, we need our stamp for our passport book. :)

glacier at Kenai Fjords National Park

Seward was a really small town and didn't offer anything overly special as far as activities. But again, I think we were between seasons. We did see a sea lion swimming around though (or at least, we think it was a sea lion. We never got a great look at it.) Like Bethel, the only places to eat were Chinese or odd multi-ethnic places. So we had dinner at a Greek-Seafood-Italian place. I ordered fish and chips and it was the best fish I've had in awhile.

Day two in Anchorage was a shop-til-we-drop day. And boy, did we shop! Due to the high prices in Bethel and cost of shipping, no one travels without shopping at some point. Most people plan a short layover in Anchorage on any return trip in order to fill a few suitcases or plastic bins (called totes). Alaskans can check three bags for free when traveling within the state of Alaska, so Marshall and I had 6 free bags between us. And we filled them; with the handy luggage scale we borrowed, we got each tote very close to 50 pounds.

Being our first massive shopping trip, we were overwhelmed and exhausted by the end. We also did a ton of running around, comparing prices and checking store inventory. Next time will be easier now that we know what we're doing. We bought a ton of winter clothes, tools for our garage, baking supplies and some random odds and ends like batteries and wiper blades for the car. And we shipped one item directly from the store. Anchorage stores know how to deal with bush shoppers, which was so nice. We bought a table saw that was just too big to check on the plane. The store drove it over to the Alaska Airline Cargo office for us and we paid for the shipping once it arrived. Easy peasy.

Getting it all packed and then checked in at the airport was a pain, but was so worth it. We have so much now that we wouldn't be able to buy in Bethel or would cost us three times as much. It was a successful trip. However, even though there was fast food for Marshall and Starbucks for me, we were both really happy to get back home. The traffic, stop lights, crowds, and strip malls were all a bit too much for us. I felt much more relaxed arriving home and only have one stop sign between the airport and our place.

Anchorage is pretty though! :)

At long last . . . Anchorage

After more than a handful of trips connecting in Anchorage, Marshall and I will finally leave the airport! I'm meeting him there for a few days so we can sightsee and shop for winter coats. It looks like a beautiful city from the airport; I'm eager to finally see it from a different perspective. :) We'll post pictures when we return.

Ice on the Kuskokwim

Temperatures have been dropping so we stopped by the river to see if any ice had formed. It hasn't frozen completely, but it will very soon. It's gorgeous right now. 

We also saw a bald eagle riding on one of the ice flows! Unfortunately we only had the phone so our picture isn't very clear. Even though we live only minutes from the river, by the time we returned with a camera, the eagle was gone. Word got around though; we saw quite a few people pull up to the river bank looking for it.

We've had to scrape ice from the car windows for the past week and had snow on the ground this morning. It warmed up a bit so the snow melted and we have major fog right now.

Marshall and I getting our first taste of travel being affected by the weather; he was supposed to fly out a few hours ago and has been delayed multiples times. The morning flight was canceled and we aren't sure about his flight yet. At least he had a long layover in Anchorage; his flight out of Anchorage isn't scheduled until almost midnight, so he might still make it. Apparently this is par for the course on flying in and out of Bethel.

I love my cat

I love my cat. I love my cat. I love my cat.

But I will never, ever, ever, fly him across the country again!

Some of you have heard the saga of bringing Thibodeaux to Bethel, but I will regale the rest of you now. I have recovered nicely and Tibby and I are no longer traumatized. ;) Keep in mind, I had researched all possible scenarios and decided (with the vet's advice) to carry him on the plane. Cargo was a bit too iffy. No offense to people to have no choice in that, but I didn't want to put Tibby below the plane in a place with little temperature control. Particularly since we were flying from 90 degree Orlando to 30 degree Bethel. Our vet prescribed some sedatives and we were all set.

A big shout out and thank you to my friend Jason for taking care of Tibby for the last few months. Most of you heard us refer to Tibby being at camp; he was staying with our friend and well taken care of. Even had his pet door for the screened in patio. Spoiled, I tell you.

The big day arrived, and I picked Tibby up from Jason's at 5 am for a 7:30 flight. Flying in and out of Bethel is a major challenge. The only major connection is Anchorage and there are only 2-3 flights per day. Due to the schedule and time zone, leaving Bethel typically means flying overnight. However, coming from the east coast, I was able to fly during the day and arrive that evening. With layovers, I think it came out to about 19 hours total.

Gave Tibby the first dose of sedative and he was supposed to be drowsy by the time we got on the plane. Not so much. The sedative had virtually no effect. I'd heard that might happen, and of course it did. So he meows his way through the airport. I have to carry him through the metal detector while his carrier went on the scanner. He is a little freaked out, but ok at that point. I had decided to use points to upgrade to first class on the Orlando-Seattle and Seattle-Anchorage legs so we'd have more room and be comfy. So keep in mind through all of this, I'm surrounded by people who are expecting a very nice flight.

Enter the flight. Tibby yowls as soon as we got on the plane and is placed under the seat in front of me. I would soon wish for loud meowing as my biggest problem. About an hour into the 6 hour flight, he poops and pees in his carrier. I didn't realize this until later. Breakfast is served. I of course have the window seat and am stuck in said seat with my tray down, precariously set with food and coffee. Tibby proceeds to scratch at his carrier and thump on the seat in front of me. It's a racket that I can only pretend to ignore.

Then the woman in front me turns to tell me that my cat scared her. I apologize, thinking his thumping was just a major annoyance. She then mutters, "He's out, by the way." WHAT? Yes, Tibby has clawed a hole in his carrier, the creme de la creme of carriers, darted under this poor woman's legs, and is now nosing around at the cockpit door. I may have responded with an expletive. The flight attendants are not amused as they they to make breakfast with a renegade cat running around. One of them yells at me to get my cat put away. I am stuck in my window seat with no access out so I beg her to just grab him, promising he won't bite. She yells that she is allergic. Even better.

As Tibby makes his way up the aisle to explore, the man beside me grabbs him; thankfully he was really nice and not skittish around cats. I hold a squirming cat as the flight attendant proceeds to yell at me more to get him back in his carrier. I mention the gigantic hole. I stuff him back in, holding the hole shut, not a long-term solution by any means. She returns with some duct tape from the pilot. Good idea, but this does nothing beyond appearance. I end up holding the carrier on my lap for the remainder of the flight, another 4.5 hours at this point.

Remember how Tibby messed himself in his carrier? I soon realize this and figure that was his whole reason for escape. He's a fastidious cat, so that completely stressed him out. Without going into too many details, I clean it up as best I could without making it really obvious (using a leftover Starbucks cup I had on hand). Unfortunately, the stench of cat pee is something that will wake the gods, so we suffer the whole flight. Particularly since it leaks on my pants the entire trip. The flight attendants make faces and comment on the smell the whole flight. I am mortified and miserable, Tibby yowls in misery, and there is just nothing that can be done; we're in the air with no way to improve the situation. So I hold onto the carrier and pretend to sleep; at least I donn't have to see the flight attendants' sneers for the rest of the flight.

Seattle. Thank goodness I had a 4 hour layover. I bring Tibby into the nearest bathroom and basically take over the baby changing area to clean us both up. I chase him around the sink area a bit during this process. I figure we can just make it rest of the way if he calms down and I get a better handle on the duct tape situation. I pick a quiet corner, work on the makeshift hole repair a bit more and try to relax. Next thing I know, Tibby is out again and running around the terminal. I finally grab him from under the nearby row of seats, filled with people of course.

OK, so Plan B. I head out of the airport and to the taxi stand. I just need to find a pet store. The cab driver refuses to take me anywhere without an address, and the guys running the taxi stand can't seem to work their smart phones to find me an address. I point out to the cab driver that he has GPS and won't that direct him to a pet store? Apparently not. We're at a standstill. A cat pee scented standstill. I run over to ground transportation and see a young employee working on an iPad. Hallelujah! I am so happy I could cry at this point. I am given the address to the nearest PetSmart and convince a cab driver to take me there and wait while I buy a new carrier. Tibby is still meowing loudly.

I burst into the PetSmart and basically demand their strongest strong carrier. Of course, they tell me that the lovely destroyed Sherpa I have in my hand is the best one out there. Well, it sucks! So I just buy the cheapest one there is, transfer Tibby over, and head back to the airport. I of course left the stinky awful carrier behind. It wasn't even worth trying to get a refund; I would have rather burned it.

So the new dry, sweet-smelling carrier saved the day. The angry, pitiful, yowling kitty was now quiet and relaxed. We hung out in the airport and he didn't make a peep after that. He just looked around, napped a bit, and just chilled. The next two flights were heaven. Not a sound from him. He only freaked out again when we arrived in Bethel, but I don't blame him one bit. We arrived to cold rain and wind, exiting the plane via stairs onto the tarmac, and had to wait for bags in a tiny, loud airport. Any Florida cat would have freaked out a bit. But he did great, even after being soaked in cold rain and riding in a cab home.

He was thrilled to see Marshall and his cat tower, and has been a snuggly, happy cat every since. He spent a few days following us around, but is back to his usual antics now. We're are so happy he's home!

And yes, that is a homemade cat-sized and -themed quilt below, courtesy of his Grandma. :)

Winter Is Coming

No, this isn't a Games of Thrones reference; winter is quickly approaching in Bethel. Marshall and I are certainly weenies because we already think that it's cold and the river isn't even frozen yet! Remember when I told you that the days are getting shorter at a pretty rapid rate? Well, the temperature is dropping quickly as well. Unlike other places I've lived, when the seasons change here, it happens almost overnight. I noticed it when winter ended last year (we checked Weather Underground obsessively). All of a sudden in the last week, the wet rainy days have turned to clear, cold ones. For the past few days, temps at night have been below freezing and today it didn't get above 33. The lakes around here have some ice and we expect the river freeze up to occur within the next week or so. I think it will shock us how quickly it happens.

We moved last week from the temp housing into an apartment (one half of a duplex). Yay! The person here who moves furniture is a rock star and had all of our stuff in the house and put together in a day. By himself. And on top of that, he's super nice! 

It is such a relief to be sitting in my favorite armchair and snuggling with Tibby. Yes, Tibby made it to Alaska. It was a horrid flight, but we made it in one piece and have both recovered. More on that in the next post. Marshall and I have been unpacking, organizing and winterizing the apartment at a breakneck pace. We're a bit sore and tired. I'll have pictures of the apartment and more stories as soon as we're done settling in. For now, here's a picture of Marshall grilling at the temp house in the snow. Yup, we've had some flurries already. Actually, this picture is from September; everyone says winter is coming a little earlier than normal this year. Awesome.

A very brief hiatus

I am in Orlando right now to retrieve Tibby and bring him to his new home. Flights are pretty rough; I left Bethel at 8:45 pm Tuesday and arrive in Orlando at 5:45 pm Wednesday (including connections in Anchorage and Seattle). Thankfully I slept most of the way. I'll be back in Bethel and blogging next week. Expect posts on snow, our new apartment, and probably a bunch of cute Tibby pictures. Thanks again for reading!

Working for a living

Yes, we are both officially working! Marshall started a few weeks ago and it's going really well. Definitely a different experience but I'll let him talk all about all that. I was recently hired as the scheduler for the emergency department, so I will be communicating with local and traveling providers to keep the ER and in-patient wards fully staffed. It will be a challenge but I'm looking forward to it. The schedule is kind of like a big puzzle I have to conquer. :)

Yes, I'm disappointed I didn't end up finding a library position, but this will likely be a good fit. I plan on volunteering at the library and my new job will give me a lot of flexibility to travel and work on my own time. I love that.

Here is our new workplace, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region Hospital. I think it looks like a 1970s movie-set space station. Ha ha ha! Oh, and they have free coffee in the cafeteria, which is completely awesome. The ramp in front is where EMS brings in patients. All of the buildings here have metal ramps or stairs so that snow can fall through.

Someone asked that I write about the taxis here in Bethel (hi Pat!). As some of you have heard, Bethel has more taxi cabs per capita than any other city in the country. No kidding. There are probably about 90 cabs serving 6,000 people. It's really odd, until you think about how small the town is and how expensive it is to maintain a car (gas, insurance, etc). Frankly, you don't need a car here. Many people walk or take a cab in inclement weather. Other options include atvs in the summer and snowmachines in the winter. You know what we chose to do! Here I am picking Marshall up from work.

The cabs are really efficient and impressive. We have quickly become accustomed to calling them when the weather is really rainy. There are a few companies in town, but Quyana is our favorite. (Quyana means "thank you" in Yup'ik. In an earlier blog post, there is a picture of the Bethel welcome sign. The sign says Quyana Tailuci, which means "welcome.")

Anyway, when we call, we just say our address, not hello, I need a cab, this is where I'm going… just our address. The radio dispatcher is one of the drivers, and we tend to see him on our morning commute. All of the drivers hear the radio so the nearest cab just shows up, usually in less than a minute; they are so fast! The dispatcher keeps track of everyone on a magnetic board attached to his dashboard. So in the cab, we hear everyone around town calling in their addresses. We also might make stops on the way to pick-up or drop-off passengers. I seem to pick odd times to call, so I haven't shared my cab yet. Marshall has made stops on most of his rides. Oh, and cab rides are $5 per person per ride. They'll even make stops for you. So if I need to run in for milk on the way home, they'll wait while I run in.

But we still prefer adding more layers and taking our atv! In the winter, we can still ride as long as we block the wind and wear the right clothes.

We had a request to post more action photos, so we'll take some more videos of us around town. Particularly the sand pits we ride around in. :) We need set up a You Tube channel, but I'll make a priority as soon as we move. In the meantime, here are a few more of the beautiful Kuskokwim River and the tundra.

Ah, orientation

Well, Marshall went through it two weeks ago and now I am in orientation. Thankfully mine is a bit shorter than his. I will be the new scheduler for the Emergency Dept. (physicians, not patients). It's part-time work and very flexible so it will work really well with our future travel plans. I'm quite excited about it. I was a bit disappointed that the library wasn't hiring, but I plan to volunteer anyway. Wish me luck with my new position. :)

I have a a library card!

OK, so that might not be exciting to most people, but are you surprised? :) But in order to get the library card, I needed to have a P.O. Box, an apartment lease, and an Alaskan driver's license. We've been a bit busy recently. 

First up, here is the building that houses the library, museum, and cultural center. The library serves both the public and community college campus in Bethel (part of University of Alaska Fairbanks). That's a wide range of needs and expectations, and very rare in the library world. I've already met with the director and plan to start volunteering there soon. The Cultural Center is really like the multi-purpose  space in Bethel. I've been there twice already - for Saturday Market and the Blood Drive. I missed the crab dinner and auction recently, but the parking lot was packed. Anytime there is an event, it typically happens in the Cultural Center. It also serves as the drop-off spot for produce delivery. Thankfully a group of farms in Washington delivers boxes here; between this and Meyers Farm in town, we have some options on fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Saturday Market is really interesting. It lasts for a few hours and is a place for people to sell food and crafts, as well as set up information tables. I registered to vote at the last one. They also serve food so we stayed for lunch; only in town for two days and we saw people we knew. :) 

For those wondering, Bethel has about 6,000 residents. 

And here is our trusty atv. Notice the nicely decorated trash container. They're all over town, as there is no trash pick-up. There is also no mail delivery, so everyone has a free P.O. Box. The post office is great for seeing people too; I run into at least one person I know every time I'm there. One small story about the DMV (yes, there is one here). We showed up for our licenses and had to take a number. Then an automated system alerted us to our tun. "Now serving number 112 at Station 1." Sounds normal, right? Well, there was only one station, one teller, and a handful of chairs. It was like being in an SNL skit. At one point the machine got stuck so we had to listen to the automated voice run through 10 numbers before our turn. Oh, but the phone wasn't working, so the teller had to use her cell phone. Ha! 

A Confession

No, this is nothing bad! However, as some of you gathered Facebook, we did have an adventure with the atv within the first 12 hours of buying it. And since it seems the whole town knows about it, I might as well publish it for all the internet to see. :)

We'd been warned not to ride out on the tundra yet, as it's still very wet and muddy here. Everyone told us to wait until it froze. And of course we listened to that advice. Um . . . not so much. In our defense, we were on a trail and following tracks. The problem was that it had been raining a lot and, as we soon discovered, the mud is very difficult to judge just looking at it. The atv did great in the first few mud patches. The we hit a deeper patch and sank. And when I say sank, the mud came up about 3/4 of the way up the tires. Oops!

Marshall had the right idea and we traipsed off to gather branches. Thankfully the trees here are short and pretty weak, so we were able to break off a big pile. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the branches under the wheels far enough to get enough traction, and the two of us couldn't lift the atv on our own. On top of that, the mud was intense and kept trying to eat my galoshes!

So we were forced to make the call of shame. Ha ha ha! We were lucky and within walking distance of a friend's house. He and a neighbor came out and the four us us were able free the atv. We had enough materials, so we all just lifted each side of vehicle, placing the branches cross-wise under the wheels. After that it, it got out easily. Problem solved! 

Thank goodness for the niceness of people here. We were also very lucky we were near the road, knew where we were, and that the weather was clear. It could have been a much worse experience. You better believe we'll be very careful when snowmachining this winter. This is not a pace to mess around or think that you can overcome the weather with no precaution or plan.

Taking a picture of the atv stuck in the mud was not the first thing on our mind so we don't have documentation of this adventure. We were more worried about the solution and approaching clouds. It's not like we could just call AAA here. :) However, you can see some of the mud in the above picture. We took this a day later so that shows how much we had already cleaned off.

For your enjoyment, here are some more pictures of the tundra. It is so beautiful in its own way, flat with a few crests, some scrub trees, grasses, and wild berries (all edible). There are different seasons of berries (cranberries and crowberries are out now). You can just go out and pick them freely. We often see people with their buckets preparing for winter. Marshall and I picked some the other day and ate them as we found them. Fresh cranberries! The tundra is solid in some spots, and spongy or muddy in others. Such an odd surface, and very tiring to walk across.

Hanger Lake

View from Ptarmigan Rd.

Getting around Bethel

We've been spoiled for the past two weeks with beautiful weather. It's been mostly sunny, getting cooler but nothing too bad. However, today brought some very blustery rain. It hasn't stopped since this morning and we're now getting frost on the ground every morning. Brr! I skipped visiting the vegetable stand at Meyers Farm; perhaps it will clear up for their hours on Wednesday.

Apologies for the lack of pictures of us around town. Marshall has been at work and I don't see the need to drag the tripod around. But I promise action photos soon. I picked Marshall up from work last night and he got a shot of me driving up on the atv.

Speaking of, here is where we bought our new vehicle: Swanson's Polaris shop. Swanson's is one of the two big stores in town, and they have a separate building for snowmachines and atvs. Though the shop is privately owned. Not sure how it works, but the owner is super nice. Everyone here uses the term snowmachine as opposed to snowmobile. When in Rome . . .

You can also see a pretty good shot of what Bethel roads look like. Only about two roads in town are paved, one being the main highway - Chief Eddie Hoffman Hwy. Yes, we refer to it as the highway.

Our atv

The Tahoe will arrive next week on the barge. It will be nice for inclement weather or picking things up at the cargo airline. However, the atv is more useful in town and gets much better gas mileage. At about $6.75 per gallon, it wasn't as painful at the gas station:

Bethel is the transportation and economic hub of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region. We have an airport that connects to Anchorage and the nearby villages. And when I say nearby, I could be talking about a village hours away. It's nothing fancy but it does the job (most of the time). Unfortunately, cancelled and delayed flights are pretty common due to weather. There are also a number of smaller airline companies that fly all over the region and bring in cargo from Anchorage. Some of you watch Flying Wild Alaska, which chronicles the family that own Era Airlines. I haven't ordered from them yet, but they are in town.

Yeah, we don't even have a ramp. it is going to be very chilly in the winter getting off the plane!

Most people keep their boats in their yard, but you can park them in the slough. There is still plenty of river traffic right now. Fishing season is pretty much over, though a lot of people have been going up-river to hunt moose.

And there are lots of people who fly here. Marshall and are amazed at the conditions people fly in; similar weather in Florida would have been off-limits for us. This is H. Marker Lake, one of a few lakes in town. In the winter, people use it as a road and short-cut across town. And yes, quite a few residents park their planes at their house.

Taxis are one of the most popular ways to get around town. However that deserves its own post; taxis are ubiquitous here. :)

Our new home

As you all saw in our last post, we made it to Bethel! I will definitely talk about every little detail here but figured I should pace myself so I don't overload each post. :) It is so different here compared to Orlando, or any other place we've lived, but we love it so far. It just feels comfortable. It's too early to tell long-term but it feels right for us at this moment. 

As most of you may know, Bethel is located in a river delta, right on the bank of the Kuskokwim River (Kusko for short). We are officially located in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and the town serves as the hub for 56 surrounding villages. It's about 350 miles west of Anchorage, accessible only by air and barge. Yup, no roads in or out. In the winter, you can drive on the river, but that will still only take you to one of the nearby villages.  

Fishing is a way of life here and necessary to get through the winter. Unfortunately, we arrived at the end of the season, but you can be sure you will see lots of fishing pictures and stories here next summer! And it's a good thing we like salmon; that's the staple in Bethel. :) 

Kuskokwim River

Temporary housing

We're currently in temporary housing but just found an apartment. We should be moving on October 1, which means we can finally bring Tibby to join us! (For those who don't know, Thibodeaux aka Tibby is our beloved cat.) The temp housing is fine for now but we're eager to be in our own place. We have a rotating group of housemates, traveling physicians at the hospital. We've been lucky though, and roomed with some very nice people. And the house has a grill, which has already been used quite a bit. Did I mention that we are officially fans of moose meat? We received some as a gift. Wow, were we surprised! We've now grilled moose steaks wrapped in bacon and cooked up homemade moose sausage for breakfast. It is so lean and has a nice spice to it; the bacon on the steaks was solely to keep it from drying out. Yum, we are now in search of more. It's actually moose-hunting time right now (a lot of people in town are out hunting), so we should be able to buy a little more meat soon. One of the residency rules in Alaska is that you must live here a year before you can buy an in-state fishing, trapping, and/or hunting license. We might buy an out-of-state license after the new year so we can fish next summer, but will probably hold off right now. 

A lot of you have asked about the weather. It's definitely chilly, averaging between 40-50 during the day. We've already had frost on the ground for a few mornings. It's intermittently sunny and cloudy, and rains a fair bit; it changes throughout the day. However, we don't get those crazy thunderstorms like in Florida. Rain so far has been more of a random spitting or heavier drizzle. Enough to get you wet, but nothing that will force me inside all day. It's the wind that's pretty intense. I've seen some wind in Chicago, but this is something else. I hear winter can be harsh due to the wind, with lots of white-outs. The rain does make it really muddy as you can see. Thank goodness for galoshes! Everyone wears them here.

View from our temp housing

Necessary footwear

One final thought before I end this post. It is so beautiful and quiet here. We can actually hear birds as they fly by. Not squawking or singing, we can hear the sound their wings make, even really high in the sky. It's very cool and I've never heard that before in my life. Our second night in town was very clear, so we drove out to the edge of Bethel to look at the stars. Not that Bethel is really lit up, but we figured we'd have nicer pictures. Still working on the night photography, but it was breathtaking. I saw so many satellites moving throughout the sky, a few shooting stars and even the saw the edge of the galaxy. This picture doesn't do it justice, but here is the moon at 1:30 am over the tundra. Just beautiful.

Bethel: The Beginning

Before we even left Seattle, we did a little shopping. Ha ha ha!

We were scheduled to put the Tahoe on the last barge out of Seattle. This was imperative as they couldn't guarantee any later barges due to river ice. Before we even left Orlando, everyone in Bethel and at the moving company recommended that we fill the Tahoe up with heavy items. Surprisingly, we were charged based on the length of the vehicle as opposed to the weight. We were allowed to full it up to the windows and certainly made use of the space! For the record, that's a new (and empty) propane tank. :)

We did most of our damage at the pet store. We bought a year's worth of supplies for Tibby, figuring that shipping his food and litter would cost an arm and leg. We filled three shopping carts and cleaned the store out of their adult Science Diet food. We even went into the back and took every can they had. Hope no one came in later for some. Most of the store employees were in shock and wanted to know how many cats we had. However, we were totally spotted at the register. The woman in the next line just grinned and asked if we lived in rural Alaska. She lived outside of Anchorage years ago and could tell we were stocking up for the bush.

We also bought a grill, empty propane tank, and some stuff from Sam's. We kind of ran out of room, so the Sam's run was pretty small. About 8 boxes of laundry soap, a few cases of Diet Coke, some canned veggies. I think some trash bags. We had no clue what were doing! We just focused on heavy stuff.

The drop-off at the dock went as smoothly as can be. We were pleased. It should take about 3 weeks for the truck to arrive. It was quite odd to be down to only a few suitcases after the Tahoe drop-off. It really felt like we were slowly peeling away the layers of stuff as we made our way closer to Bethel. Though it has been interesting to see how little we need to be comfortable and how little of our stuff we missed. Though we can't wait to bring Tibby up here.

So on September 6, we got a a plane and flew to our new home. We made it! The ride was a smooth and no-fuss as can be. We also grabbed some McDonald's at the Anchorage airport before getting on the plane to Bethel. Marshall was adamant about getting one last fast food meal. I did not have time to find the airport Starbucks and had to settle for a greasy meal. But it was lunch and the last time I would be eating anything like it for awhile. There are no fast food chains in Bethel. Well, hardly any chains at all - Subway is about it. 

We arrived to sunshine (surprising) and chilly temps. However, that was mild because it's getting cooler every day here. We've been lucky to get quite a bit of sun. The weather changes very quickly too, so rain might roll in before you can even drive across town. It's really windy, in the 40s-50s, and rainy off-and-on. Aside from the storm last night, the rain is nothing like Florida or Louisiana. It's hasn't phased us a bit. :)

We're in temporary housing right now, a 4-bedroom house that we share with a constant stream of traveling healthcare workers. We've had three different housemates so far. We've been lucky though; they have all been nice and the house is pretty comfortable. We bought a coffee pot and wireless router so we would feel a bit more at home. We have our priorities! 

Life is really good and we are having a great time. I will definitely update more and give you all the details of the past two weeks. We've already had some adventures! In the interim, here is a picture of our new vehicle. It has been perfect for life here and we're having a blast on it.

Planning vs. Reality

I thought it would be interesting to compare the original trip itinerary with the actual events of the trip. It was altered before we even got on the road since we left a day early. I noted the actual events/stays in red. We were very flexible on the trip and had a few free days built in, solely for the purpose of adding time in places we needed more rest or in the event of car trouble. Thankfully there was no car trouble. The Tahoe treated us well! 

We used one flex day in Estes Park because we loved it so much and another in Yosemite because we were exhausted and needed a laundry day. We slowed down a lot toward the end of the trip too. We could tell from our pictures alone that were getting tired - fewer random shots and more of the touristy/posed shots. 

This was the trip of a lifetime for us and I'm so thankful we were able to take it. What a way to see the country!

8/10: leave Orlando, stayed in Ft. Walton Beach
8/11: leave Orlando, stay in Pensacola New Orleans
8/12: New Orleans Metairie, LA 
8/13: New Orleans Lafayette, LA
8/14: Lafayette, LA
8/15: Lafayette, LA
8/16: Lafayette, LA Hot Springs, AR
8/17: Little Rock, AR Lawrence, KS
8/18: Lawrence, KS Rocky Mountain Natl Park/Estes Park
8/19: Rocky Mountain Natl Park/Estes Park
8/20: Rocky Mountain Natl Park/Estes Park
8/21: Salt Lake City, UT Park City, UT
8/22: somewhere in northern Nevada Ely, NV
8/23: Lake Tahoe
8/24: Lake Tahoe
8/25: Yosemite National Park
8/26: Yosemite National Park
8/27: Sequoia National Park Yosemite Natl Park
8/28: San Francisco
8/29: San Francisco
8/30: somewhere in northern Califorinia Garberville, CA
8/31: Portland, OR Grant's Pass, OR
9/1: Portland, OR
9/2: somewhere in Washington Shelton, WA
9/3: Seattle
9/4: Seattle
9/5: Seattle
9/6: fly to Bethel

I promise to start posting about Bethel in the next few days, and we also plan to post a list of superlatives from our trip. Thanks again for reading along!

Sleepless in Seattle

So the driving part of the journey ended in Seattle. However, we still had many miles to go before the trip was officially over. Though excited about Seattle, we didn't do many touristy things; we finally hit our wall on the trip and just wanted to relax. Thankfully, we booked a room at the Westin for 3 nights so we had a comfy room and nice view of the city. And thank goodness for room service! We got really spoiled with that on the trip, particularly having a pot of coffee delivered in the mornings. 

Like San Francisco and Portland, we knew we would be back to Seattle and didn't worry about hitting every famous stop in town. It's not going anywhere and there was no need to force ourselves to play tourist when we were tired. I did try to make reservations at the Space Needle for dinner (and lunch) but they were booked; that will be a definite plan for next time. We love rotating restaurants. :) I didn't make it to the Public Library or any of the museums either.

Fresh seafood

We walked along the waterfront a bit and watched sunset while dining on fresh oysters and mussels. Does it get any better? :) 

The next day we checked out the famous Pike Place Market. It was incredible! I love that it's was a real market with tons of fresh food and homemade goods, as opposed to a touristy spot with just t-shirts and junk. I would be so spoiled to have something like that nearby. It was just wonderful - the sights, the colors, the smells.

It was a tad crowded but we were still able to wander around and enjoy the market. It reminded us of what the French Market in New Orleans used to be - a place for day-to-day commerce, local foods and goods, and a place to shop as opposed to the store. I'm still extremely sad that the French Market never revived to its original glory after Hurricane Katrina; it's a shame to see the shell of what it used to be.

I'd be disingenuous I said our stay in Seattle was stellar. The hotel was excellent, the food was very good, and the city and views are beautiful. But we weren't thrilled with the service anywhere and were turned off by a slightly snobby, rude vibe. I don't want to dwell on the negative but we got the point of not even wanting to go out, afraid that we would be disappointed again. Granted, we were tired and at the end of a very long trip. Also, I was expecting the slightly crunchy granola, laid-back vibe of Portland and didn't find that at all in Seattle. It felt like another busy city and not an overly friendly one. 

However, I did make a very important stop in Seattle: the original Starbucks store near Pike Place Market. Yay! They were very friendly and my mocha was outstanding. Marshall joked that angels would sing when I entered the store and that I would be issued a super-secret customer card. You could say it was my coffee mecca. 

The Original Starbucks!

Seattle was a bit of a downer compared to other stops on the trip, but I'm going to blame moving jitters and tiredness from being on the road for a month. We will definitely visit Seattle again and hopefully have a better experience next time.

Stay tuned for updates from Bethel, Alaska after this!

End of the Tour

Some really random thoughts first. Did you all know that you don't pump your own gas in Oregon? I know New Jersey is like that but we quite surprised when we needed gas in OR. Different, but I'm for it if it means more jobs. As one of Marshall's friends would say, it was quite civilized. Ha ha!

The Pacific Northwest is also very serious about their coffee. I already had an idea, but there were drive-through espresso stands everywhere I looked. I never saw a Tim Horton's, which was a bummer. I know that chain is big in Canada but I wasn't sure if there were any in Washington. Never saw one. I did try on a stand and was a tad disappointed. Apparently they don't serve drip coffee. I received an Americano when I ordered coffee, which is espresso and hot water. Um, not the same at all! 

We stayed at a very nice, and very crowded, Indian casino in Washington. It was Labor Day weekend so we were lucky to get a room. The gambling didn't impress me much, but it was a great location for our trip to Olympic National Park and the lodging was very nice. 

Olympic National Park, while picturesque, would have been more fun if we camped and hiked; it's not a driving park at all. We never actually saw the mountains in detail until we got to Seattle! We did make one stop to see the Hoh Rain Forest. It's a temperate rain forest, so very different from the tropical ones I usually envision. And of course it was dry season, so no dripping water or sprinkling rain. Pretty but not as impressive as we guess it might be in wet season.

Hoh Rain Forest

More rain forest

One thing we kept pointing out along the trip was all the crazy signs: leaping animals, open range, falling rocks, narrow bridge. We'd laugh pretty hard if we saw multiple in a row. Nothing beats the combo of leaping animals, falling rocks and sharp turn ahead! However, this sign took the cake.  If you can't read it, it's a permanent sign that says Congested Area. I thought it was a very optimistic sign.

We stopped in Forks, Washington for lunch. For non-Twilight fans, this is the setting of the famous Twilight books. I would have been in heaven if I saw a vampire crossing sign, but alas, no sign and no glittery vampires. ;) There were ads all over the place for Twilight tours and there were themed burgers at the lunch place. Yes, there was a Bella Burger. No, it didn't come with wine. (ha, I crack myself up!)

It was a long driving day but we finally made it to Seattle! We took the ferry, which was a nice break from driving and also a great place to see the skyline. It was pretty dark, but Marshall was able to get picture of Mt. Rainier. 

The ferry to Seattle (well, near enough)

Mt. Rainier and the Seattle skyline