Still actively blogging, but on my other blog....

Hi!  I've made a decision that I'm going to start putting most of my blog posts over on my other blog

Life in the (907)

ouralaskalife.blogspot.com

The reason is that I often have something non-Alaskan to blog about, but no pictures, or Alaskan pictures, but not a lot to write.  So, I'm just gonna mash it all together over there.  You might end up getting a picture of snow-covered trees on a post reviewing a book (hint hint), or a cooking update and weather update all together.  And for those of you who have been checking both blogs, this will maybe help you out!  Less work on your end!  See I'm really just doing this for you...

So I'd love for you to join me over at 

Life in the (907)

ouralaskalife.blogspot.com

See ya over there!

a new blog: Life in the (907)

Hi everyone!

I decided shortly after we got back from Alaska in June that I would get a new blog name and address so that it could be easier to find by my non-relatives.  :-)

Reason:  I have been searching for and devouring all kinds of blogs written by Alaskans for a couple years now.  They're just not that easy to find, and I wanted mine to be.

For now I'm going to keep up this blog too (need to connect my computer to the internet so I can blog out road trip west, for example), so please read both for all the info!  If I ever get to the point where I only post to one of the blogs, I will make that apparent.

In the mean time, my new blog is called

Life in the (907)

http://ouralaskalife.blogspot.com

You see, 907 is the area code for all of Alaska.  And since I married the phone guy, it just seemed right.

I've already put 4 posts over there, so go and check them out.
How our move to Alaska came to be
Anchorage to Glennallen - the drive to my new home
an organized pantry!  (see what I've been up to up here)
my first Alaskan earthquake!  (yep, we had one this morning!)

What I've been up to...

Sorry I haven't been in the blogging world for a while now.  Things have been a bit, oh, hectic lately...  You know, sending my husband on a 3200 mile road trip with all of our stuff, selling a condo and a car, quitting my job of 13 1/2 years, and then road-tripping 2400 miles in order to get on a plane, and what-not.

I don't have things all set in place at this time, so please enjoy these few words with multiple photos...

My life the past couple of weeks:

• Wed. Sept 10 - my last day of work

• Fri. Sept 11 - closed the sale of the condo at 9AM; drove to Illinois (side note, leave more than a day to finish up unloading your house before a sale, no matter how empty you think it is...)

• Tues. Sept 16 - Tina and I left on our road trip.  Made it to Keystone, the town outside of Mt. Rushmore.

• Wed.  Sept 17 - Saw Mt. Rushmore!  Drove on to Butte, MT ("I touched the butt!")

• Thurs. Sept 18 - drove the rest of the way to Seattle.

• Fri.  Sept 19 - delivered the Subaru to the transit company that will transport the car up to Alaska.  Had the best day ever being a tourist in Seattle!

• Sat.  Sept 20 - sent Tina on a flight home; saw Jeff for the first time since July 10; flew up to Anchorage on the same flight as him*.

• Sun.  Sept 21 - did some shopping, which was hard since I didn't know what Jeff did and did not have in the kitchen.  Finally stepped foot into the house that we live in.

• Mon.  Sept 22 - started my new career as a house-wife.  The commute is wonderful!

*Jeff spent the week of Sept 15-19 in Boca Raton FL at training.  It was lucky that he was in training the week that Tina and I were traveling, and were able to meet up in Seattle to fly to Alaska together!

Photos from Alaska

Jeff put some good photos on his Instagram today.

First, the mountains...

Jeff said that the mountains are not "out" much - usually behind clouds.  Looks like he got lucky this time.  Can you imagine - this is his view from near his office!!!!

just in case you were wondering the names of the mountains.

Did you read that?  If not, go back and read it.

Really, largest active volcano in Alaska?!?!?!  I did not read that sign before I agreed to this!  Luckily, Mt. Wrangell is fairly far away, which is why, although it's so tall, it looks small in the first photo.  Mt. Drum is the mountain that looks so big, because it's so much closer than the others.

What's more - I noticed those flowers in that picture.  Aren't they pretty?


And here's one for all you Deadliest Catch and Captain Phil fans...

Jeff took Rhyanne to Valdez a couple weeks ago, and saw the Cornelia Marie at the dock.  I'm looking forward to more "close encounters" with Alaskan TV celebrities up here...

Until next time...

motivational phrases

As we all know (if you've read any of my blog posts, that is), I'm on Pinterest.  A lot.  So it's probably not a surprise that I have an Alaska board over there.  Of course I put some of my pictures from when I blogged our Alaskan Honeymoon, I've also pinned some great pictures of Alaska, some different things to do there, some houses up there once Jeff started having interviews, stuff about repelling mosquitoes, and motivational phrases.

I'm in that board today, cleaning some stuff up, moving some stuff to my new Gardening board (really?  I can't even believe that I want to garden), and thought I would share with you.




(side note - we went to church the Sunday before Jeff's interviews back in June, a nice WELS church in Eagle River.  Silent prayer I asked God to help me to trust Him and to trust Jeff.  It's not always easy, but I can't help but believe that God's hand has been in this entire process.  We are just being guided by Him.)




And my personal favorite:


I've not taken too many risks in my life.  I never snuck out of the house.  I never tried drugs.  I've not done too many things that one might call "outside the box."  In fact, I can only count 4 instances:

• Leaving home to go to college (Mom was super surprised, and I never planned to go to Millikin, but it was the best thing I ever did...  within the first 20 years of life, that is).
• Moving 2 hours away to a new state where I didn't know anyone, to take a job.
• Joining a dating website, which is something that I said I would never do.  Within a week, I had been messaged by my future husband.
• Moving to Alaska.  That's 3200 miles outside the box.  How will it turn out?  Well, in my experience, taking that first step out of the box has always been worth it.  So why the hell not.

Photography Challenge Day 23: Patterns

I've taken a few photos over the years of what I would call "patterns", or backgrounds for photobook or scrapbook pages.

Can you guess what they are?

A.)

B.)

C.)

D.)

E.)

F.)

G.)

H.)

A.)  Evergreen after an ice storm, at Mom & Dad's house, 2009.
B.)  Cave bacon - it's a geological feature in Cave of the Mounds, which I visited with Rylee in 2010.
C.)  A column and the ceiling of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, which I visited with Jeff, Kiaj, & Rhyanne in 2010.  I stood very near that column and pointed straight up.
D.)  An air vent cover at the National Art Museum, Washington DC, also 2010.
E.)  A stone wall, also in DC, also 2010.
F.)  A rock near the shore in Whittier, Alaska, one of our stops on our Alaskan Honeymoon in 2012.
G.)  Trying to photograph water at the Anchorage Zoo, Alaska, 2012.
H.)  Birch tree, also at the Anchorage Zoo, 2012.

Out of all these photos, I think only one or two made their way into photo albums...

Sharing our photobook: 2012 Alaskan Honeymoon

Click here to view this photo book larger

I put a lot of time into this photo book.  I'm pretty proud of the photos Jeff & I took - enjoy!

Itinerary: 15 Day Alaskan Vacation

We've since moved to Alaska!  Read about Our Alaska Life here...

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Looking for a two-week Alaska itinerary that doesn't include a cruise?  

Here's ours from our Alaskan Honeymoon.  This post is link-heavy - click on the links for more information about the place from either my earlier blog posts or their websites.  I hope this is helpful to at least one person out there!

Day One:

• Up at o'dark thirty to fly in to Anchorage, Alaska.  Two meals, three planes, four airports.  O'Hare was definitely my least favorite of the airports, and Madison, Seattle, and Anchorage were all nice.
• Lunch: the Wolfgang Puck Express in the Seattle Airport.
• Dinner:  Rum Runners in Anchorage (now closed).
• Hotel:  The Westmark.  I have heard it said that the only people who stay at the Westmark are people on a "tour".  I wouldn't recommend it even though I'm sure it was a wonderful hotel back in the day.  It's run down and needs a major update.
• The first five days of our honeymoon were part of a Gray Line of Alaska tour.  I am officially not a fan of "tours" after this trip, and you can learn a little bit more about my opinion here and here. 

Day Two:

• Breakfast:  Buffet at the Solstace Restaurant (on the first floor of the Westmark).  It was excellent and I don't know when I've ever eaten so much bacon.
• Bus ride to Denali National Park was about 4 hours, with potty break at a Princess lodge.  Pretty views, but a potty break stop for buses, so be careful when booking your lodge and find out about any cruise/tour line affiliation.
• Lunch:  Picked up lunch at the "cafeteria" at Denali, called the Morino Grill.  It was just chips, fruit, sandwiches, and drinks, but it was lunch!  Also, if you are staying at a lodge at the end of the park road, this is your last chance to pick up some snacks.  :-)
• The bus ride to our lodge, the Backcountry Lodge, was a 6 hour trip.  Click here for some advice about that trip.  Be prepared for some amazing scenery.

Day Three:

• All day in Denali and at the lodge!

Day Four:

• Breakfast at the lodge, then the bus ride out of the park.  What amazing scenery!
• Lunch:  Nenana View Bar & Grill - located in the McKinley Chalet  Resort.  
• Dinner was at a fish & chips place near the hotel, and it was excellent!
• Hotel:  McKinley Chalet  Resort.  Never again. 

Day Five:

• Breakfast:  We shared a foot-long sandwich at Subway.  When the ads say that prices not valid in Alaska & Hawaii, they mean it.  It was expensive!
• Lunch:  lunch at the "cafeteria" at Denali, called the Morino Grill.
• Then we hopped on the train to Fairbanks!  It was quite the experience.  
• Hotel:  Fairbanks Westmark.  Meh.  We ended up skipping dinner that night.

Day Six:

• Breakfast:  McDonald's (sometimes you just want what's easy and familiar).
• Lunch:  Pizza (made some good leftovers)
• Jeff rented vehicle from Arctic Outfitters (they allow their vehicles to go on the Dalton Highway).  That's right, the Dalton Highway.  It was the summer solstice, and we were going to be at the Arctic Circle for at Midnight!
• Dinner:  the Yukon River Camp.  They're pretty much the only thing between Fairbanks and the Arctic Circle.  Get their while their open so you can use a real toilet, gas up the car, and have a good meal.  

Day Seven:

• No hotel overnight.  Once we got back to Fairbanks around 4:30 AM, we joined others by sleeping in our vehicle in the WalMart parking lot.  
• Breakfast:  McDonald's. 
• Hotel:  Aurora Express.  Wonderful service at this little B&B!  Definitely, if you want to stay in the country, in the fresh air, in a train, stay at the Aurora Express!
• That day we also went over to North Pole to see Santa at the Santa Clause House.  
• Lupper:  the best chinese food I've ever had at the Pagoda House.

Day Eight: 

• Breakfast at Aurora Express.  There's a good chance the sausage in the omelet was made of moose.
• We checked out the Great Alaskan Bowl Company, the Farthest North Harley-Davidson Outpost, and Pioneer Park.
• Lunch:  Korean food at Pioneer Park for Jeff.  A&W for me.
• Dinner:  The Cookie Jar.
• Overnight again at Aurora Express.  Thank you Sue!  You were great and we very much enjoyed our stay!

Day Nine:

• All day train ride to anchorage w gold star package.
• Dinner:  Papa John's pizza.
• Hotel:  Anchorage Grand Hotel

Day Ten:

• Breakfast was provided by the hotel.  
• We checked out the Earthquake Experience Theatre (skip it), and The Ulu Factory (go during the week to see production.)
• Lunch:  Leftover pizza (yum!)
• Dinner:  The Bridge (BTW, they don't have anything other than seafood.) 
• Hotel:  Anchorage Grand Hotel

Day Eleven:

• Breakfast was provided by the hotel.  
• Took the train to Whittier and found out the the ferry we were supposed to take to Seward was broken.
• Lupper:  the best pizza I've ever had at Varley's Ice Cream and Pizza Parlor.  It's the only reason I would ever return to Whittier.
• Hotel:  Inn at Whittier

Day Twelve:

• Lunch:  Orca Cafe.
• We were not a fan of the glacier tour.
• Dinner:  Pizza from Varley's Ice Cream and Pizza Parlor on the train ride back to Anchorage.
• Hotel:  Anchorage Grand Hotel

Day Thirteen:

• Breakfast was provided by the hotel.  
• Alaska zoo.  We finally saw polar bears!
• Lunch:  Burger King.
• Dinner:  We had shopped at Super WalMart and made dinner at the hotel.
• Hotel:  Anchorage Grand Hotel

Day Fourteen:

• Breakfast was provided by the hotel.  
• Drove to the Seward SeaLife Center.  Puffins!
• Lunch:  Oriental Garden.  No, don't go there.
• Hotel:  Anchorage Grand Hotel.  Back to the hotel to make dinner.

Day Fifteen:

• Breakfast was provided by the hotel.  
• This day was spent stalling until late evening flight out.  We had Taco Bell for lunch, drove to Wasilla (but didn't do anything there), and saw a movie.  

It was great.  Alaska was awesome.  I'm ready to go back...

What I learned on our Alaskan Honeymoon.

After every experience you probably learned at least a little something, right?  Well, after a 15 day honeymoon in Alaska, I would say that I learned a lot.  I know what I liked, what I would never do again, and what I would like to do differently next time.  Yes, next time.  Jeff's already planning, or at least daydreaming...

1.)  Airplanes suck.  Bad.  They're so small.  The seats are so narrow.  They're just plain uncomfortable.  Problem is, we used a travel agent to book our airplane flights, so we have no idea what else was available.  Next time, we will book our own flights, and then maybe we would have a wider plane.  Also, by booking our own flights, we could check into buying 3 seats instead of 2, simply because it would be more comfortable.  Also, I would rather not fly.  But, it's just kind of inevitable when you're headed to Alaska and you live in Wisconsin.

2.)  Don't assume you have to book a "tour" in order to go to the place you want to stay/visit/experience.  If you think you HAVE to take the tour from the tour company, then it's called marketing.  Get on the interwebs, look up that place that you want to say/visit/experience, and call them.  Even if you have to organize your own transportation, you will be okay.

3.)  Try it, you might like it!  I am not outdoorsy.  But the BackCountry Lodge was perfect for us.  The name could have scared us me off.  The fact that there is no TV/Cell Phone could scare people off.  But we ended up loving it.  All except the mosquitoes.

4.)  Often times "touristy" things in Alaska cater to Cruise Lines.  AVOID if possible.  Take more time to search and you might find a great B&B in a train or a small one-day cruise captained by the owner.  And you'll be able to avoid the huge crowds of people.

5.)  If you do the "touristy" things, consider your timing.  We went up to the Arctic Circle for midnight on the Summer Solstice.  We knew that a tour bus would be up there at midnight as well.  So we decided to take our picture with the sign as soon as we got there because we knew we would not be able to get a pic, just us, at midnight.  Find out when the tour groups will be places and go at a different time.  I guess that means you should look into group tour stuff so that you have that information.

6.)  Don't always count on the transportation you've arranged; have a backup plan.  Sometimes the ferry breaks down.  Either have a back-up plan (if we'd been in a car we would have just driven to Valdez) or someone who can make a back-up plan materialize in no time.  We are still very thankful to Pia for her amazing work getting us a hotel room and train tickets when we ended up stuck in Whittier.

7.)  Do something or stay somewhere that makes you feel at home.  Vacation can really be a lot for some people.  Moving around from hotel to hotel got really exhausting, so staying at the Anchorage Grand, basically in a small apartment, at the end of our trip, and cooking at "home" and staying in watching TV felt good.  It was relaxing to not HAVE to be Doing Something all the time.

8.)  Pack light.  If you're going to be in more than one hotel, definitely pack light.  You'll be happy in the end that you only have one shoulder bag and a small wheely-backpack with you.  Schlepping sucks.

9.)  Look at the map.  When you're told to take a taxi from point A to point B, you might find out that those points are only 3 blocks away, or you'll find a hotel close to your transportation.  Seriously, people, look at the freaking map.

10.)  I almost forgot this one.  Going to Alaska does not require going on a cruise.  If you like cruising, by all means, go that route.  But if you're not going to Alaska to enjoy the amenities of a cruise ship within the majestic surroundings of Alaska, then skip the cruise.  Google sometimes makes us think that "travel to Alaska" = "cruise to Alaska".  Be bold and think outside the cruise ship!

In the end, as long as you enjoyed yourself and the people/person you were with, it was successful, right?  Now, if you end up heading to Alaska, let me know!  Ask me in advance for info/recommendations!  If you've already been, add your thoughts in the comments!  (Loretta, I'm looking at you!)

This was our last view of Alaska...

That's Mt. McKinley, above the clouds, from the airplane.  We didn't have a window seat, so a big Thank You to the college student from LSU that Jeff leaned over to get the shot.

Don't worry - we'll be back.

See the full itinerary here...

Ahhhh, puffins......

Since we didn't see many sea animals on our little cruise, we knew we wanted to head down to Seward to the Alaska SeaLife Center.  It was a great drive down the Kenai Peninsula with some beautiful scenery.

Of course after a bit the window was covered with the remnants of mosquitoes, so not a whole lot of good pictures out the windshield...

I was so excited when we got to the SeaLife Center that I was only a little deterred by the fact that there were a LOT of tourism buses up front.  There wasn't a wait at the door and we were able to get a view every where we went, so all was good.

And the best part of the Alaska SeaLife Center...

Puffins!

Oh, the puffins!  How cute were they!  I don't think I'd ever heard of puffins before getting on the Google before our honeymoon.  And then I just couldn't get enough...

tufted puffin

shy puffin

bathing puffin

horned puffin

two puffins

close-up puffin

Oh for cute!  I just want to squish their cheeks!  There were some other birds in their area, which, by the way, was open to people; if you were lucky you could probably touch one!  There was a puffin just a couple feet away from Jeff an a, well, not sure what it is, but this was just a couple feet away from me:

Finally Jeff was able to drag me out of the seabird area and we checked out the rest of the center (after using antibacterial hand stuff, anyway...)

do you have any idea how hard it is to photograph an octopus?

Seward is a very cute town, and the area near the SeaLife Center seemed based around the tourist trade.  But still cute!!  It's another one of those towns whose size is limited by the water and the mountains.  It seemed like the mountains grew right out of the water!

Seward is really a cute town.  One I would like to be able to visit more frequently than once every 35 years. But the population is less than 3000, and I didn't see a Target store anywhere...  so I don't think I could live there.  But man, I would like to visit again...

See the full itinerary here...

We saw two real polar bears in Alaska!

Why, yes, we did go to the Alaska Zoo!  How did you know?

We had some time to kill the day we picked up the rental vehicle in Anchorage.  We had Burger King for lunch (Jeff likes it and has it as a rare treat sometimes b/c there aren't any convenient to us.  Did you know that they have Bacon Sundaes?  Just sounds gross), and were trying to decide what else to do, when we remembered the zoo!

The Alaska Zoo was really very easy to find and it's interesting.  It's not huge and crowded, like the Brookfield Zoo.  It's smaller, and with few enough people that you can see what you want and won't get crowded out.  Like the Vilas Zoo.  I liked that.

Apparently back in the 40s or 50s there was a contest where you could win money or an elephant - because the people who did the contest figured "No one will want an elephant!"  Wrong.  The winner wanted the elephant!  An elephant was found, and a few years later, after acquiring some other animals, the Alaska Zoo was born!  Hmmm, maybe I should have taken a picture of the sign of that story so I could have told it better here...  Next time.

A lot of the animals at the Alaska Zoo are rescue or hurt animals, which is cool.  What else is cool is that the zoo is in a wooded area.  Lot's of hills and bridges and trees.

this is in the zoo - so pretty!

I really liked it.  Too bad my feet didn't want to work that day.  Darn you Mother Nature and your monthly gift!

So, yes, we did see polar bears!

And snow owl...

And snow leopard...

hi kitty mow!

D'aw!

And bear...

look at him eating his cantaloupe!

And so many pretty flowers...

do you see the stamen on this flower?!?!?!  So freaking awesome!

taken just after a light rain shower and the sun came out

So, to sum up, you should put the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage on your "must visit Alaska" list.  :-)

See the full itinerary here...

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We've since moved to Alaska!  Read about Our Alaska Life here...

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