The Adventure Begins

The dream of someday living in Alaska all began on our very first date. Three years ago, riding a city bus to a Rockies game in downtown Denver, we shared stories of our pasts and ambitions for our futures. Brandon mentioned that he would love to work in Alaska after finishing PT school, effectively planting the seed in my mind for what would eventually become a shared dream of ours.

Yesterday, we left Oregon with 6 crates, 4 suitcases, 2 guns, and a small arsenal of bug spray and flashlights (courtesy of papa Dodean) to chase that dream. We were off to work in Bethel, Alaska for the summer! Our first stop – Anchorage:

I have never seen mountains jut straight out of the ocean like that. Truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever flown into. Unfortunately, our layover was only 3 hours – not enough time to get out and explore Anchorage. We plan to spend a week there at the end of August.

After a quick dinner in the Anchorage airport and a few phone calls, we boarded the hour-long flight to Bethel. Our airplane was basically a glorified cargo plane. Several giant cargo bins in the front…. a few passengers loaded up a rickety staircase in the back. The flight was quick, the landing more like a throw-down than a “touch-down,” and you could hear laughter above the screeching brakes. “Welcome to Bethel!” the passenger to my right exclaimed with a smile after we peeled ourselves from the back of our seats.

We were greeted at the airport by two of our co-workers, also a husband/wife PT duo. Lucky for us, they were the two of the friendliest people we’d ever met, and they had a truck. We loaded up our 800 pounds of gear and they drove us to the bed n’ breakfast we will be staying at until our permanent housing becomes available.

The bed n’ breakfast house is cozy and situated right along the Kuskokwim River. The view from our loft room:

The river is still frozen, which is apparently unusual for this time of the year. Everyone in town is anxiously awaiting the big “breakup.” We hear it’s quite the show; the ice starts to all of a sudden break and float away and the river clears up over a span of 2-3 hours. People of the town even set up wooden tripods on the ice and take bets over which day the breakup will happen – as measured officially by when the tripod falls over.

While musing over our river view and our new surroundings, I glanced at the clock and realized it was almost midnight…. and daylight was still in full swing. This part is definitely going to take some getting used to. With the sun still high in the sky and not a shade, blind, or curtain to be found in the house, our bodies had no concept of bedtime. Lucky for me, I have a creative husband and a dad who won’t let me go anywhere without duct tape.

Well, at least we won’t be wasting flashlight batteries anytime soon.

Needless to say, it was not the most restful of nights we’ve ever had. Today’s plans are to rest, take an exploratory walk, and get ready for our first day of work tomorrow.

And so our Alaska adventure begins….. (: