Adios Summer

The seasons are changing here in Anchorage... its now in the 50s-low 60s almost exclusively. My fall / winter clothes have been great for the past month and will probably suffice until it starts snowing... which apparently is in late October. I don't think I'm ready yet! Luckily I have a trip planned to Houston the first week of November for training so I'll have to do some winter clothes shopping then.

The weather did warm up a bit a few weekends ago, which was perfect since I had booked a kayaking trip with a few of my friends from work in Whittier. On our drive to Whittier we saw some Beluga whales in the water! My first whale encounter in AK. I definitely want to do a whale watching cruise at some point to see them up close. I'll keep that on the to-do list to entertain my visitors next summer :) It was a bit chilly that morning in the mid 40s, however the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky! It actually warmed up into the high 70s by the afternoon! I started the trip with lots of warm layers and waterproof coverings, but ended up in my tank top and rain pants at the end of the day.

This was my second time kayaking in Prince William Sound and first time in a double kayak. It felt much sturdier than the single, or maybe I am just a pro now :) It was a neat trip, we kayaked to a salmon run and saw some salmon swimming upstream. It was fun to try to trap and catch them out of the stream. We also saw a pair of bald eagles! I was so so excited and I hope to see them a little closer eventually. It was hard to capture on my little waterproof camera in the kayak but I could definitely tell they were bald eagles. There were lots of waterfalls along the water, even one that we could kayak behind which was fun. We also saw sea lions popping their heads up every now and then. I didn't realize how big sea lions were until a week later when I saw their full bodies at an aquarium. Yikes!

Alaskan Sea Kayakers in Whittier

All geared up in our waterproof gear and skirts to
keep the water out of the boat

Erin and I in the kayak

A beautiful day in Whittier

The base of the salmon run, where the freshwater stream meets the ocean

Our guide showing us how to catch the fish with our hands!

Trying to catch the salmon

Erin caught a bunch

Cool rocks along the stream

Erin, Steph, Steph, and Steph haha... Just call us all Stephanie

Waterfall at the top of the salmon run stream

Lovely day

Spot the bald eagle

Bald eagle taking flight

Steph not doing her share of paddling :)

Taking it easy in the kayak

Paddled up close to the waterfall for a light splash,
it was getting pretty warm!

Getting a splash

Paddled behind this waterfall, so pretty!

View from behind the waterfall

A couple weeks ago, my group at work went on a teambuilding overnight trip to Seward. Seward is about 2.5 - 3 hours south of Anchorage. It is famous for the really deep fjords that were carved out by icebergs and glaciers many many years ago. We spent the first day at the Alaskan Sea Life Center, which is essentially an aquarium with lots of fish, sea mammals, and a few birds. We got to do a "behind the scenes" tour and interact with the sea otters. They are such funny little creatures! They move about so effortlessly in the water like fish, yet hobble along on their stomachs on land as well. The trainers let them out of their cages for some tricks, one in which they kissed our shoes. We got to pet them, which was weird cause they have fur but are so smooth and slimy at the same time. We also got to see some puffins and a family of sea lions. There was a newborn 2 month old sea lion, at a whopping 75 pounds! The dominant male sea lion was over 2500 pounds and had to be kept in his own cage.



Map of Seward, AK



Sea Lions playing in their pool

Sea Lions playing in their pool

Puffins

Trainer letting the sea otter come out for some tricks

Petting the sea otter

Super high speed video of sea otter doing tricks

The second day of our teambuilding event was spent on a Halibut fishing charter. Unfortunately, it was a stormy day with gale force winds and big waves so we couldn't go out to the prime fishing spots. I took a Dramamine so I wouldn't get sick in front of all my co-workers haha. It made me very sleepy so I took a few naps inside on the boat since it was raining and cold. We did catch some fish though, lots of rockfish and a few halibut. We split it all up in the end so I have some halibut in the freezer :) I was also introduced to my new favorite food on this trip, Alaskan king crab legs!! Sooo tasty.

I'm nearly finished with my house and I'm so excited! It's a relief to have everything in order and ready to go for the winter. I just need some manly muscles to come help me put my new area rug underneath my couches haha. I'll include the last of my house photos, which is basically the whole downstairs, on my next post :)

I've been feeling a little unmotivated to work out outside lately because of the rain. But we've had a few nice days when the sun finally peaks out, and I've gone for a few jogs and bike rides in the neighborhood. The bike ride I went on with my friend Stephanie was a little ambitious and it ended up getting dark before we finished! We saw a female moose grazing on the trail and had to back track out of her view until she moved along her way. Then right after I complained that I've only ever seen female moose, we nearly rode right over a huge male moose with big antlers. Luckily, he was sitting next to the trail and not up on its feet, so it didn't chase after us. At least I don't think he did but I didn't look back, I've never peddled so quickly haha. Definitely not in Houston anymore! Before it got dark, we found some wild raspberry plants and made a pit stop for some berry nutrition.. they are oh so tasty!

Found this running trail in my hood

Picking wild raspberries

I had my very first visitor this weekend! My sweet friend Aubrey came up for some end of summer adventures. It was so great to see a familiar face here and it made it feel a little more like home. She was here for a short time but we packed a lot into the weekend. By far the most exciting for me was white water rafting at Six Mile Creek. I've never been white water rafting before (another check off the bucket list) and it was AMAZING!

Since the water is so cold, we wore "dry suits" that had latex and neoprene around the wrists and neck to keep the water out. We got all suited up and listened to the safety talk, in which the guide essentially scared me half to death. I'm already a bit of a nervous nelly, but I soon became terrified as he was explaining all the risks and what to do when you fall out of the boat. I'm a really strong swimmer due to my many years of swim team, but apparently the current and eddies are quite strong here. We did Class 3, 4, and 5 rapids, so pretty much as hard as they get! I'm so glad the safety talk didn't scare us off, because it was definitely the most exhilarating thing i've done here so far.

Our raft crew and guide in our dry suits

Listening to the safety talk.. everyone looks serious and Aubrey is laughing!

It began with a swim test across the river to practice swimming 45 degrees upstream and float down feet first. As soon as I dove in, my hands were immediately freezing and I was moving nowhere as I tried to swim. My first thought was OMG there is no way I'm going to survive this... But we all passed the swim test and anxiously got into the raft with our awesome guide Tommy. He was so helpful in letting us know what to expect and teaching us how to paddle. I volunteered to sit in the front of the raft since I don't wear contacts and could handle all the splashes in the face. 

Prepping for the swim test

Brrrr

We managed to get down about 15 rapids only falling out once! It happened so fast that it's hard to recall how exactly we fell out, but we all managed to stay right next to the boat and easily get back in. Afterwords, Tommy told us that he had been making it a little rough on the Class 3 & 4 rapids in the beginning to see if we would fall out and to prepare us for the Class 5 rapids at the end. 

Besides during the initial swim test, I wasn't cold at all because it was so exciting! After the last big rapids, Tommy had us all get in the back of the raft and do a "wheelie" where we popped the front of the raft up and floated for a while vertically haha. Aubrey and I jumped out of the raft at the end and floated for a couple minutes in the river. What an incredible experience, floating down a river in Alaska in September!

The first canyon of rapids

Getting ready for the first rapid

Our guide told us to pose for the camera in sync like a Viking Warship... however we failed for the first photo stop and looked like a drunken spider with our paddles totally out of sync

Survived the first rapid

Looking a little more in sync

My close up haha

Our safety boat that was supposed to scoop us up if we fell out

 Class 5 rapid called the "Staircase"

A little nervous

Bracing for the splash

Boom

So fun!!

Erin perfected this smile :)

We did it!

We finished up our rafting day by checking out the town of Hope, Alaska, an old gold rush town with a population of about 50 people. We found the one and only restaurant to grab a drink after our exhilarating adventure. To round out a true Alaskan experience, we had some delish Alaskan food that evening back in Anchorage (aka king crab legs) and took a road trip along the coast to check out some glaciers the next day. 

Welcome to Hope, AK

Nomming on some king crab legs

Driving along the coast

Portage Glacier

Bergie bits falling off the glacier

Huge glacier

On to some Alaskan daily facts. There is no AC in the houses here! I couldn't believe that moving up from Texas, but there have only been a few times I've really felt that it would have been nice to have. Usually my standing fan cools the bedroom at night. However, now there is not really a need for it at all as my house has been between 63-67 degrees the past couple weeks. I refuse to turn on the heater until October! Let's see if I can last haha.

Something kind of strange here are the flights into / out of Anchorage. The flight times are most popular around midnight or in the wee hours of the morning like 2am. Usually when you arrive at other airports during those terrible hours, everything is closed and deserted as you walk to the baggage claim with only your fellow passengers cause the rest of the airport is empty. Its quite the opposite here, the airport is bumpin at midnight! The security lines are long, the food places are open, and people are everywhere. I guess since its such a remote area the flight times work best like that, but its pretty nuts. So when you come visit me, don't be alarmed if the only flights you can find get in at 1am :)

Getting Settled

I can FINALLY report that I am a homeowner!! This is such a relief and I feel like I can finally start "living" here if that makes sense. I'm no longer a vagabond in this strange and beautiful place. Now that I have an actual address, I can become an official Alaskan resident. One perk of becoming a resident is the state gives each resident a portion of the state oil and gas revenue every year. A cool bonus, but I won't start getting my annual checks until next year after I've been here an entire year.

I've made some more progress on getting settled into the house. I think I've found a spot for everything in the kitchen! There is much more counter space than I had in my apartement, but the corners make it a bit hard to utilize the cabinets to their fullest. I put some lazy susans in the cabinets to maximize the space, especially with the spices. I also found the cutest owl coffee mugs and stand on clearance that look great on my counter! It's fun to cook in the new kitchen. I just resubscribed to Cooking Light magazine and they email me a recipe a day to help give me ideas and recipes that are easy and healthy.

Owl mugs

First breakfast in my new home as a homeowner!
Egg white, turkey, veggie scramble

Chicken, black bean, and veggie tostadas! One of my daily Cooking Light recipes

Orange beef and veggie stir fry, another Cooking Light recipe

Recipe borrowed from Ali - Cajun Sausage Egg Casserole

One crazy thing about the kitchen is I have a gas oven. This definitely freaked me out the first time I used it. I preheated it and ran upstairs to finish folding some laundry and came down and heard the very faint sound of flames and slight smell of gas. I didn't know if I accidentally turned on the gas range instead. So I ran over the oven to turn it off and actually saw the reflection of flames in the oven (like you would under a gas grill). For those reading this who have a gas oven, laugh away cause I probably sound like an idiot haha, but I had no clue such a thing existed. I immediately took out my manuals and googled gas ovens and started feeling better that it was a real thing. And that reminded me to make sure to get a fire extinguisher the next day. Good thing natural gas is so cheap!

I'm starting to get super organized thanks to some Pinterest ideas, such as getting a large binder and putting all my user manuals in it for easy access. This has especially come in handy with the excessive amount of instruction manuals for all my new appliances in the house. I've also got my office pretty well organized. It's nice to have all my files and documents finally put away rather than scattered everywhere. And I'm still really liking my new desk. Sadly my cubicle at work doesn't accommodate my diplomas so I hung them over my desk. And of course I've got my shrine to Brett Favre and the Packers on display!

Binder of manuals - thanks Pinterest!

Each manual gets its own sleeve

Completed office ( had to close the blinds due to glare)

My finished desk! Love the glass top

Packers wall in the office

I finally have cable / internet up and running! I got a Tivo box which is great because I can turn on my Pandora while I'm cooking. Jason came over to help me hang the TV on the wall above the fireplace. It looks great cause the wires were already prewired through the walls so no cords have to hang down. The internet is pretty strange here.. I had to sign up for a limited data plan, similar to a smart phone. I've never heard of places having unlimited internet, so it was a little difficult to figure out which plan to choose. I decided to start with 60GB to test out the first month.

TV mounted above the fireplace

The living room still needs a little organizing, such as an area rug which I finally picked out this week. It should arrive soon which will tie the room together and make it feel more cozy. Hardwood floors will be chilly in the winter for sure! It's nice to have a little half bath downstairs off the living room instead of having to run upstairs. I'm quickly remembering the pains of stairs haha.. it was nice having a one story apartment for the past 3 years! I still need to figure out what to put in the front entry way. I've never really had a need for a coat rack or a "mud mat" for guests to remove their snowy dirty shoes... so that's still on the list of to-dos.

Half bathroom downstairs... if you haven't noticed yet, my fav color is green

Jewelry corner in my bathroom now complete
with my new necklace holders!

It's been raining quite a bit here and the temps are starting to lower slowly, but as mentioned before that doesn't seem to stop people from getting outside and enjoying the day. It did clear up one late afternoon to go berry picking! I was super excited for this activity, however the "short hike" to the berries ended up being over a 3 mile round trip excursion. I didn't make it to the blueberry fields, however we did pass lots of little raspberries bushes. The wild raspberries are so little and cute! I've heard of lots of blueberry fields from coworkers that are closer and don't require long hikes, so I'll be checking those out soon hopefully!

Hiking to the berries

Wild raspberries

Berries and flowers along the trail

Itty Bitty Berries

My pickings... I ate a lot on the hike back to the car!

With all the rain, I've had lots of time to get the house together and organized. However, its still not complete... I can't believe its taking this long! I've just about finished the upstairs, but I still have some work to do in the living room, kitchen area, entryway, and garage. So photos of those still to come.

Nook at the top of the stairs

I'll be spending a lot of time reading here in the winter

My puzzle table! Katie will like this :)

Guest room all ready to go for whoever wants to visit!

I went to lots of concerts back in Texas, so one thing I knew I would miss moving up to Alaska was live music. However, I already made it to my first concert up here! O.A.R performed a couple weekends and although it rained, it was a lot of fun. I use a website called Songkick that syncs to my itunes account and lets me know when any artists I listen to will be in the cities I've selected. I used to get a weekly summary email of all the artists on my itunes coming to either Houston or Austin and it was a little depressing when I changed my city to Anchorage and almost all of the shows were wiped clear. However, I got a Songkick email this week, only the second once since my O.A.R. notification, and it just so happens to be for one of my favorites... Matt & Kim!! I've seen them in concert 4 times, twice in Austin and twice in Houston and they never fail to disappoint. I couldn't be more excited that they are heading all the way up to AK in September, however it will be so weird seeing them without Hayley, my faithful concert buddy and fellow Matt & Kim lover. We've been to all their shows together.

Double rainbow at O.A.R.

Raining at the concert but having fun at O.A.R.

Cool panoramic with the double rainbow

Matt & Kim concert in Austin with my concert buddy

I've been on a couple recent adventures such as fishing in Seward, playing with sea otters, and kayaking in Whittier! However I think I've exhausted this post with house stuff so I'll write again soon with my adventure stories!

So now for some Alaskan facts, mostly related to transportation. First, there are a lot of traffic circles here. There is one in Houston that always gave me trouble on Washington and Westcott, but I bet I'd be a pro at it now since there are so many here. It still gets a little tricky when there are two in a row and I go all the way around the second one to make a left turn... it just feels like I'm driving in loops!

Along the lines of traffic, the red lights here are so incredibly long. I'm used to the "walk" symbol on the crosswalks counting down from 15 seconds max. Here they are 45 seconds! So it really stinks if you just miss the light, cause you will be waiting for awhile. Luckily though, my commute to work is only 12 minutes! It's a nice change of pace from the 25-30 minute commute I had in Houston. And it makes the long lights not seem too bad :) There is a lot of construction on the roads everywhere around town. Everyone keeps telling me there are two seasons here... winter and construction! It seems like every road has been under repair from the last winters ice damage at one point or another since I got here.

I still don't have my AK license plates. The title company back at the dealership in Texas needed proof that I lived in AK and didn't need to pay sales tax on the car. However since it took forever to close on my house, I've been unable to provide proof of residence since I was still using my Texas drivers license. So hopefully I'll get that sorted in the next month so I can get rid of my paper plates. I did finally get my AK drivers license, which required an online driving test! Thankfully since I surrendered my TX license, I did't have to take an actual road test, just the computer test. I took a couple practice ones online and averaged about an 80 so I was a little nervous since I had to get an 80 to pass (16/20). I actually missed 4 of the first 10 questions so the last 10 were a little stressful! Luckily I just barely passed and they printed my new license on the spot. Stephanie is now an Alaskan!