Stepping Off A Cold Plane

August 23, 2012
After shivering under a lame airline blanket and attempting to nap for 5 hours, we finally land in Anchorage. Excitedly we get our bags ( and blankets ) and head for the door. The wind making its way into the gangway is cold and quickly reminds us that this is Alaska. "Maybe I will get that coat out of my checked bag after all." Its 1:30am by the time we hop in a taxi to pick up our rental car. So far there isn't much to see. In the dark, Alaska's largest city looks about like any other city in the lower 48. Once our rental is loaded with our bags, we type in our first destination of Soldotna in the GPS and begin our journey. Coffee is sounding really good about now, seeing as we only got maybe a total of two hours of sleep, however there seems to be nothing directly on our route.
Soon enough the city disappears and we are seemingly nowhere. Along the Sterling Highway there are numerous pull off areas on the side of the road. Must be for emergencies. It looks as though there is water out my window and mountains out Andrew's, but it is so dark we just aren't sure. "Go ahead and sleep if you want," Andrew tells me, " I'll pull over if I get tired." Directly ( or so it seems ) I fall into a deep slumber, the car slows down.  Andrew is obviously tired and we are in a little parking area on the roadside.  We settle back in our seats and all I can think is, " Can a bear get into this car? " I guess the bears weren't interested. Needless to say, a PT Cruiser isn't really made for sleeping, so after about an hour and a half we are on the road again. Where is the coffee???!!!
Now, you should know that Alaska has three seasons: winter, winter, and construction. We, of course, are visiting during construction season (summer to non-Alaskans) as this is the only time most Americans think the state is even open. We pull up to a stop sign held by a woman wearing a safety vest and typical Alaskan attire: Carhartt type overalls and jacket and ExtraTuf style (rubber and weatherproof) boots. Oh, and a winter hat. And a hood. And gloves. Okay, the point is, she looks cold. Once we are completely stopped, she walks to the driver window and Andrew rolls it down. "Hey guys," she smiles, "Did you see that bear back there?" I am inwardly panicking now ans she is grinning from ear to ear. The air coming in from the down window is ridiculous, but it's obvious she wants to chat and Andrew is just as thrilled. I sat back in my seat and covered up. Evidently the car that was somewhere in front of us has told her they had seen a bear crossing the road, but she didn't really believe them. Andrew began his game of twenty questions and we quickly learned this nice lady's entire life story. She told us how easy it was to live there, how nice everyone is, how the cold isn't too bad, etc. Turns out she also works for the planning dept in Soldotna, so, of course, we talked construction. It had now been verified, no building permits would be needed when we moved. Hallelujah!!! It was a sign. We were stuck there for at least 30 minutes and learned so much it was crazy. When she got word on the radio that were good to go, we had to ask one last, most important question yet... "Where can we get some coffee?"

In The Beginning...

In the beginning there was a family of six.... Autumn (me), Andrew (my husband), Angelo and Jasper (our sons), and Dulci and Tempi (our daughters). We have decided to pick up and move to Soldotna, Alaska. We are ready for a change, a big change. We are saying goodbye to mortgages, credit cards, "normal" jobs, and "normal" life. We are taking my parents along for the ride. Why Alaska???? one might ask. "Well", I say, "Why not?" Alaska is beautiful! If you don't believe me, look at the picture above. That is Mt. Redoubt, a volcano, that can be seen from our new street. I took that photo in August while visiting Alaska for the first time. WHAT? Yes, I have only been to Alaska once, for two weeks, and my parents (Jeff and Beverley) have never been there at all. This is our story....

Unhappy with what one would call "normal life", my husband and I started discussing a move. We agreed that we wanted to get away from it all. We considered Tennessee, Montana, and even as close as the mountain area of NC. None of those options, however, seemed to fit. I said, Alaska, as somewhat of a joke to start, and Andrew got really excited. "Would you really move there? I mean, really??? The cold, the dark, the bears (I have had a lifetime phobia of bears)?" He asked. "Sure", I replied, " If there was really a way to move there, I would go. I mean, not to the North Pole, or Barrow, or anything that extreme, but yeah, I've always thought I would like to live there".

And so it began. Countless hours of research. We became obsessed. Online articles, books, tv shows, movies, anything with Alaska or about Alaska and we were all over it. Once we saw that it was possible, and not as extreme as the general public thinks, we were hooked. There were a couple of problems though. One, we had never even been there. We can't seriously consider moving someplace we have never even visited. So just for the heck of it, I looked into a trip there to check things out. It was a sign..... a cheap cruise, encompassing the weeks around Andrew's 31st birthday. We talked to my parents and told them our crazy idea of moving, how we would have to go on this trip to verify that we could really live there, and that we wanted them to come along. They thought we were nuts.... but only for a few days. Soon enough they had decided. They were coming too. We met at a park, let the kids play, and got down to business. We decided that in order to know if it were really possible, we would have to go there and check things out, the town, some properties, meet some people, get the feel of the place, see if we really belonged there. We told them about the cheap cruise we had found but the kicker was that we couldn't afford for everyone to go, it was a two week long trip, and the babies (Tempi and Jasper) had never been away from us at all and Jasper was still breastfeeding. They agreed to watch the kids so that we could find a new home. Everyone knew that once this was booked, there was kind of no turning back. It was a lot of money towards a dream that we were gonna have to make our reality. Everyone was in agreement. It was gonna happen. The trip was booked.