The countdown begins
My family (well, mom, Dana, and Erik) came up to Anchorage to visit for a week last week. I am so happy the weather cooperated. Sunny skies and mid 70's every day. I haven't seen a rainy/snowy day in a month, which is the last time it snowed. Now we are having some freak heat wave from China with 85 degree weather. Unheard of in anchorage.
We had fun and I and I miss them terribly. I took them to Matanuska Glacier so they could climb on it. At 27 miles long, 4 miles wide, and who knows how deep, it's one of the largest and most easily accessible glaciers by car in the US. Climbing on a glacier blew my mom's mind. I also took them on a Kenai Fjord's tour, which is a boat tour in Resurrection Bay where we saw sea otters, sea lions, humpback whales, puffins, bald eagles, some random bird that looks like a seagull but the tour guide adamantly said it wasn't, and really beautiful scenery. On the Sunday they came I took them to the Sunday Market and downtown for shopping and they all had a lot of fun looking/buying native Alaskan air work and sculptures. We took them to some park areas and did some easy hiking since mom isn't much of a hiking person. And other things besides.
And when they left it felt like they were never here. It went by so very quickly that I was left in shambles the next day and almost in denial they were every here!
BUT- now begins the official countdowns, as there are multiple.
Countdown #1: 28 days until we leave for Hawaii
Countdown #2: 8 months and 1 day until we leave for Tahiti (I love PTO)
Countdown #3: 12 months and 1 day until my contract with Providence is up
Countdown #4: tentatively 16 months until we move back east and back to civilization
Alaska is beautiful. And for the outdoorsman, it is paradise. But Anchorage? Anchorage is a very boring city without any real character and very little history. I find nothing appealing or attractive about this city and I hate being so far away from family. It's a full day of flying to go visit family and it costs a minimum of $600 just to LEAVE the state. Doesn't matter if you are going to Seattle or New York City. $600+. Thankfully JetBlue just started flying seasonally as of this year, but that is only 4 months of 12 where plane tickets are a bit cheaper... And not by much.
Returning to the East Coast brings up its own set of problems. We really don't want to have to buy all new furniture again. But the cost of moving is ridiculous. Plus shipping or selling Steve's car. Plus flying back or road tripping? And so many other problems in between? I'll be saving for the next year just so we can cover the cost for everything. Yikes!
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