Finally I get to go!

 I was jealous that Kacy was having all these adventures in Alaska while I stayed home with the kids! I also wanted to make sure it was the right place for us, before we moved there. So Kacy talked to University of Alaska to pay for a trip up to Anchorage. We wanted it to be a fun last get away for us...since we really don't trust anyone watching our kids for a length of time besides family. Any grandparents want to move to Alaska? So the dates and get-aways will be niltch for a while when we get up there. Kacy was so busy working on his thesis and planned on working on it most of the time we were in Anchorage. Finally after pouting, I was like..."what is this all for?" Is the thesis going to get finished even if he worked on it the entire time? We had a long discussion and the conclusion was that even if he worked on it everyday as much as he could...he wouldn't get it done in time to graduate in the spring 2011. He was putting in lots of long hours and hard work, but it was taking longer than planned. We came to the conclusion that Kacy would get his draft done in the spring and come back to Pocatello to present his thesis and finish things up to graduate in the summer 2011. This meant a fun week in Anchorage for us!!



Holly at University of Anchorage really helped us out by recommending us a bed and breakfast to stay at...which is a funny story. We are not the Bed and Breakfast sort of people. Glenda Bach has a house she made into a "Bed and Breakfast" by using her extra rooms and loft to accommodate people. When I called to make reservations she talked to me for over 30 minutes...about everything. She also asked us what we ate and we were warned by Holly that she always wants to feed you, but the food is good. I was really hesitant about this...I like my privacy and I don't want to feel like a teenager having to check in.



Bed & Breakfast

We are blessed to have wonderful parents that love their grand kids enough to take them for a week. I have never left the kids for so long...and therefore being my organize freaky self made a box of stuff needed for each parent, stayed up organizing their clothes so that during the week the right parent would have the right # of outfits and pjs.  I also sent snacks and a very long list of things to expect. I am sure it was a little anal, but I didn't expect them to stick to a schedule. My parents and Kacy's parents split up the days...Nikki was also in town for some of them and that meant cousin fun. Besides the dreams of Konrad jumping into Grandma Burners "stream" (more like a fast flowing canal) and finding him drowned at the end of the waterfall that comes off the canal...or Konrad running up the driveway into the busy street of Poleline...I wasn't much worried about their safety. Just mentioned to not leave them alone about...oh a handful of times. Katy is still afraid of almost everything, probably because I tell her the unsafe things about everything, so I wasn't too worried about her running into trouble. Anyhow, I trusted them and the kids had a lot of fun. My mom mentioned that they went to the bounce house with the cousins and loved it! Pam mentioned that they went to Artic Circle w/the play area and Katy still talks about both fondly.

Rainbow between the clouds, seen from Airplane

We drove to Boise and flew from there to Portland to Seattle and then to Anchorage for the way there, on the way back we got to skip the extra Portland flight. It was a long day both there and back, and we had to sleep in the airport or at least get naps. I can't really sleep on the airplane rides, nor in the airport so I was really tired. I found looking at magazines and goofy stuff in a store in the Seattle Airport to be very entertaining. When we got to Anchorage we planned on getting a rental car, which would be some cool compact car...and ended up driving away in a mini-van. I have only 2 kids, and they aren't even with me and I have to drive a mini-van! That was the joke. Then we got to the Bed and Breakfast, in which we had the loft to ourselves thankfully, but it was like 11:00 pm Anchorage time...so like 1:00 am our time and Glenda had the table set out and dinner all ready for us. She wanted to talk to us...and for us to actually eat. I pulled the big eye look to Kacy...like what have we got ourselves into! I chatted nicely and picked at my dinner before I had to make the move and tell her I was just too tired to eat.      

The next day we drove around a lot to see if we felt good about Anchorage. Surprisingly it felt a lot like home. It is a lot like Idaho, just with tons of Birch trees. The weather is similar to Idaho, just a bit wetter and cooler in the summers. People told us we were coming up at the ugliest time of year, and we thought it was beautiful. I was a little disturbed about the quick sand where the tide goes in and out quickly...I can't remember what they call the place. My mind kept seeing Konrad running out onto it thinking SAND what fun, and sinking before I could get to him. Kacy said, "when are we going to just walk around that area and not be right next to him"...um never, ok.

Teton like mountains everywhere

Holly took us on a tour of the good neighborhoods in the city. The city is very easy to navigate and I am not sure if it had to do with always getting on google.maps to check out homes for sale or apartments for rent by satellite pictures, or if I was comparing it to Seattle...but everything looked familiar and easily drivable from one side of the city to the other. The housing is ridiculous! When I say ridiculous I mean priced high for what you get...and not a lot to choose from. Everyday housing seemed more hopeless then before. We weren't going to find a place to live on this trip...I was pretty sure of it. I was right. 

Touring the school also felt really right. I loved the library and sat in one of the comfy chairs by a large window and fell asleep in the sun. It is better than Barnes & Noble...I will be spending a lot of relaxing time there. I never got to see the art department. There is a hospital across the street and I keep thinking that I will try to find a job there.

So we made some friends, a funny German girl, Kim, that I clicked with. Holly is about my sister Tawnya's age, and has a boy about a year younger than Konrad and is really into art, we have a lot in common, plus she lived in Pocatello with her husband for a while and so they know where we are coming from. Lil & Dave, Dave and Kacy are two peas in a pod...he isn't real social and wants to live in the remote, likes hiking/outdoor everything, and they have similar educational goals. Last but not least Glenda who has the Bed & Breakfast, after figuring out to write notes when we will be returning or if we will be needing food made that night, much like having a mother...we became friends. She has really been helpful to us in so many ways.

In one week I do believe we really came to the conclusion that Alaska is the right place for us. I believe that every person and everywhere that we go in our lives teaches us something or helps us in some way.

Fur is big there...can you tell

What is left of the ice sculptures

random dino man walking down the street...I am not sure what his purpose was