First Week in AK

Well we arrived last Wednesday to Wasilla. We are staying with Saun's cousin Travis, his wife Marissa and thier 6mth baby girl Lexi. They have a beautiful and cozy home. We are enjoying being here and thankful for having a homebase until we get settled. Also, baby girl is starting to crawl. So excited. Plus she is full of baby jabber and smiles.

It has been a week of adjustments to a new place and climate. Some of the mornings we wake up to snow and it melts by the afternoon. We did get to experience of first Northen Lights sighting. Very cool!

Last Saturday was Uncle Joes birthday celebration. We met alot of new people that have nothiung but encouragement for us on our new life. It was nice hanging around a campfire with a cold beverage in hand and moseing from one conversation to the next,.
My longtime pal Robin came to the social with us. Robin and I worked at Applebee's back in the day together as "hostess with the mostess". She came from AK to Purdue for school. It was great to go down memory lane together and the talk about the many Table 11 conversations.

We left our cat Woody with my folks.  We found out Monday that his kidneys are failing. He is currenlty is getting fluids via IV and has a catheter. I am so very sad. We have not been able to pinpoint this cause of this issue. Doc says he could have shown symptons prior to our departure but we would have not reconized them. He is 8yrs old so I am praying he will get through this. I skyped with Woody last week and he did not tell mommy that he was in any pain.

Our house closed today. We are so very excited. The proceeds of the sale will only get us closer to getting settled here. It also is justification to all the hard work we put into the upgrades we made over the summer. Wanna know who bought our home? You will never believe it, as we did not when we first got the offer. They are empty nesters and the husband works at a gold mine in Juneau AK. He was an engineer at CAT in Lafayette and he was transferred to the mine as a diesel mechanic. His wife stays back in Indiana as she did not favor the lifestyle of Juneau
The Lord does work in mysterious ways.

Today we will start the Alaska "to do list" head on.
Get jobs secured, find a home, and get Hannah into school.

Hannah is ready to go to school and meet new friends. She is doing good with the current adjustments. Loves being around her baby cousin.

We have arrived!

October 9th

We left Tok Ak and drove through Delta Junction. This the end of the Alaskan Hwy and it junctions to the Richardson Hwy.
We had driven 1422 miles north from the "0" milepost back in Dawson Creek BC
In Delta Junction we got our first view of the Trans - Alaskan Pipeline.
If you are watching Yukon Men on Discovery we followed the Tanana River all the way to Fairbanks.
We passed through an area called Tenderfoot. Between 1905 and 1995 this gold mining district produced 120,770 ounces/3.77 tons of GOLD! Yes my husband has "gold fever"

Next stop, North Pole AK to see Santa Claus House. Well, to our surprise Santa is on vacation until November 3rd. So we will for sure road trip back up there before the holidays. Lots of  neat trinkets and treasures. We were able to see four of Santa's reindeer. They were nappiung in the sun. Check out http://www.santaclaushouse.com/.

That evening we met up with Mike Davis and his family for dinner. Mike is a childhood friend of mine that moved to Fairbanks with the Air Force. Hannah was happy to see girls her age to play with.
Funny thing, Mike's parents live right next door to my parents. Kind of wild that both parents have a child and grandchildren that now live in Alaska. I think it will be great support for the mamas.

October 10th

LAST leg of the trip. We are finally going southbound on the highways instead of northbound.
We drove through Denali Park. We had a perfect view of Mt. Mckinley. No pics though :(. Saun had the hammer down no stopping until Wasilla. Do not blame him. We were done with being in the truck and staying in hotel rooms.

We arrived in Wasilla around 3:30pm. YEAH!!

While intransit to Wasilla we received information from our realtor that closing on our house is progressing quicker than expected. The buyers lender moved the date from 10/31 to 10/15. So stoked! These proceeds will only helps us move closer to settling here.

Today was very busy for us. Had to print closing docs, get notorized, and overnight to Indiana.
Open bank accounts.
Went to license branch to get new driver's license. Well we have to take a written test before we can do. So Saun and I will be studying the driver laws of AK tonight.

The journey is complete.....

4300 miles
Too many to count.. diesel fill ups and top offs.
8 hotel rooms
7 states
3 providences
2 border crossing
1 Hannah melt down
3 mommy grouchy mornings
1 daddy on the edge
Keeping the faith that we could survive 9 days together non-stop without choking eachother ....priceless!

 

 

 

Day 6

October 7th
We departed Fort Nelson BC and headed northwest to Whitehorse YT.
First thing was to dig in the trailer for the new No Doubt - Push and Shove CD that I bought two weeks ago. It is amazing how busy you get that you do not take time for the little things. The CD is great!

We passed through Liard Hot Springs. No time to stop and enjoy, but on our list for if we ever travel back through.
Muncho Lake was breathtaking. Took many pictures here.
For the next 90km. Alerts "Watch for Bison on the road". Got some great photos of the herd. At least 50-60 + some lil babies.
Other animals we saw were a mama bear with her cubs, moose, and caribou.
We have now entered the Yukon "Larger Than Life".
Next town was Watson Lake "Gateway to the Yukon" In this town is Sign Post Forest.
We decided to get a snack at the gas staion before entering the forest. Well lil Miss Hannah had an emotional break down. She wanted ice cream and we told her "No". Needless to say daddy had to escort her out of the store. Poor baby, it had been a long day and no nap.
Sign Post Forest was started back when the Alaskan Hwy was being built. Do you research, it is pretty cool. Lots of great pics here too! Even found a West Lafayette, IN sign.
We made it to Whitehorse, YT and stayed at the Yukon Inn. Decent place.

October 8th
Mama was up and ready to GO! Today we cross the border into AK. Felt like Christmas morning.
Once we reached Haines Junction we finally got a radio station and you guessed it we heard "North to Alaska". Also the sounds of Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, and the Battling Banjos.
In our Milepost is stated that the Alaskan Hwy all the way to the US border was in fair condition, due to permafrost issues. So we are motoring along and we hit a REAL BAD area. We hit two deep oopty ooo's. Yes we went airborne Griswald style. We did not leave the road thanks to Sauns great driving skills, but happy we did not have whip blash. All you could do is laugh. Did this really happen. We pulled over at next rest area to inspect. All was good.
From hear on out it was slow and easy down the road we go.

We reached the border. Weee-hoo!!!
Goodbye metric sustem...no more kilometers and liters. Back to miles and gallons.
Now we can use all the giftcards received as going away presents. They would not work in CA or YT.
We stayed the night in Tok, AK. A little red fox greated us as we were pulling the parking lot.
We wondered if our things in the trailer survived the airborne episode. They did.

October 9th
Woke up this am to 1" of snow.
Shhh...we take Hannah to the North Pole today :)

From the sounds of Phillip Phillips....
Hold on, to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road
And although this wave is stringing us along
Just know you’re not alone
Cause I’m going to make this place your home