A vacuum from a long time ago, and possibly a galaxy far, far away

     Dan is going to get a haircut today.  He meant to get one before we moved, but wasn’t able to fit it in.  You know how sometimes you come out to your car and there is an advertisement or coupon on the windshield?  The other day we were out shopping and we came out to our car and found a stack of about 30 post-it note style coupons on the car for Sport Clips.  It was like someone was told to distribute the coupons but didn’t want to and just plopped them all on our car.  None of the surrounding cars were couponed. 
     As promised, here are some pictures of our apartment; the pictures of the church will have to wait until another time.  The kitchen is messy and we’re still working on getting it cleaned up and organized.  It is trickier than it should be because we don’t want to get confused about what items came in the apartment and what belongs to the church’s intern program.

Living room with a glipse into the bedroom on the right.

Compared to our last kitchen, this is a 15 butt kitchen.

Bedroom. Behind me and to my left are 3 storage areas.  We have a lot of room to put stuff.

     And dude, check out our vacuum.  It looks like a Mac from 1992.

     Last night I had a dream that Dan and I were on a road trip.  We had stopped to take some pictures and Dan wandered off, as he does sometimes.  When he came back he told me he bought some ducks.  I asked him how many and was told 35.  We still had three days of our road trip left.  I shouted, “35 ducks!?” and me shouting in my dream woke me up.  Yep, 35 ducks.

We got rain coats!

     We are ready for anything now.  Dan got the one that had the picture of the crab fishermen on the tag.  I got the one that was cuter.  They were surprisingly hard to find- all the coats they have for sale right now are winter coats.  It is usually rainy here.  But at least it is still pretty when driving around.

 

     The Minnesota State Fair is something to be treasured and cherished by all who know of it.  Don’t get me wrong, the Alaska State Fair was not at all bad, it’s just that the Minnesota fair is special.  Just check out the difference in the maps of the fair: Minnesota Alaska

     It turned out to be a good fair to walk around while pregnant though.  It was cool, not very crowded, and we probably covered the entire fair 5 times in about 4 hours.  We saw some giant cabbage, which was neat, but it was strange that all their livestock were in one building… and it was not even close to full.  It was a very conquerable fair.  No particularly fascinating food, but we did enjoy a spectacular pretzel. 

Yes, they died his poof purple.

My pregnancy app says my baby is the size of a rutabaga.  I don't think it means this one.

 

General view of the fair.

     This evening was sponsored by House of Prayer staff who gave us tickets to the fair and to STYX for Dan’s going away gift.  Concerts here are crazy different than the grandstand.  One neat thing is that you can actually hear the music outside the concert area fairly clearly so in the afternoon, we were able to enjoy their sound check while walking around.  STYX was great.  We both thought that their voices were still surprisingly good especially considering how high they sing for some of their songs.   It was a fairly short concert that started at six.  The fair doesn’t close until ten.  It was nice that at the end of the concert we were still able to walk around the fair and everything was still open.  Our little Cheppit (baby) didn’t mind the concert too much- VERY squirmy at the beginning, but then he calmed down and couldn’t have cared less.

The view before the concert was pretty neat with the mountains in the background.  They disappeared later.
 

We could have gotten quite a bit closer, but I wanted to be in the back so I could sit against the wall when required.

     It was raining a lot on Sunday morning and we were kind of concerned about a craptastic weather day, but our whole fair time was great, about 30 seconds of sprinkles and that’s it.  For a while it got really windy and I thought I was in Fargo, but then I saw a mountain.  The drive home was super crappy though.  The fair is about an hour north on AK 1/the Glenn Highway (the only road that goes north out of town) and we enjoyed a beautiful drive there on a nice normal (to us) freeway, but driving home was pretty rainy.  The roads here have so many trucks driving on them that they have huge tire divots that collect the water and our teeny tiny car had some teeny tiny hydroplaning problems.  What made me mad was that I was going probably 10mph slower than everyone else, but I seemed to be the only one having problems.  I talked to some people at church though and they said its not just me, people drive crazy on that road an many people end up in the ditches.  Of course it will be even worse in the winter time.  On the plus side, we really have no need of this road unless we go on a trip, which probably won't happen now until next spring anyway.  The danger of this road did surprise me though.  One would think the 2 lane highway heading south weaving around mountains and stuff would be more dangerous, but no.
     Next time I hope to post some pictures of our apartment and the church Dan is working in so you can get a feel for where we are.  We decided not to get internet in our apartment so I'll probably be posting on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons here, so evening in Minnesota.  Hopefully I'll have enough to say to keep it interesting.

Who doesn't love a baby in a space suit?

     We are using some kind of Saturn car for the year.  Not only do I find myself sitting on the ground unable to see anything in this great world of trucks, but I go to fill gas and can't find the lever to pop open the gas cover.  So I look for the book.  No dice.  What kind of car doesn't have a book?  Then I decided to channel my inner top gear nerd and found it in about 2 seconds.  We were under a quarter tank and I filled it completely full.  Total gas entered: 8.3 gallons.  That was different.  I'm used to putting in 19.  I joked that its such a generic car that it doesn't even say what kind of Saturn in is on the outside- Dan looked on the insurance card and it said SL.  It about as plain a car as you can get.  But it's working well and I'm sure it gets decent mileage so lets see how far our 10 gallon tank takes us.
     I decided to take care of some business today so I attempted to go to the clinic to drop off some forms and pick up some forms, and then run to Tidal Wave Books to pick up a cheap baby name book because our kid will probably need a name and we don't have one.  One would think this an easy day of tasks, after all, its not very much. Well, one would be wrong.  Finding the clinic wasn't too bad, I will blame my trouble on my phone's directions and poor building labeling.  Once I was inside everything was wonderful and it seems like a good place so that's exciting.
     The bookstore was a whole different story.  Oi.  It sits facing a one way street going west and there is a one way street going east behind it.  It is in the middle of a strip mall that you can't enter from the east or west side of the block and there was giant construction going on so you can barely access it from the eastbound road on the south side.  In sum: hard to get in, I don't know exactly where I'm going, and because of my teeny tiny car, I can't see anything.  Luckily my trials paid off and I was greeted by a wonderfully organized, easy to navigate, inexpensive bookstore.  I even came across this little treasure:

     I didn't buy it.  But it was nice to look at.  Who doesn't love a baby in a space suit?  If you don't, you are wrong.
     Recently I had a dream that I was a speaker at a presentation about the Higgs boson.  Correction, not A speaker, THE speaker.  I knew everything and I was thoroughly enjoying my speaking time (weird).  It was a really long dream and I knew so much that when I woke up I seriously thought I should go back to school to become a physicist.  It took me a good 5 minutes to realize that that was a bad idea.  I blame this dream on the fact that I watched 2 episodes of the Big Bang Theory before going to bed.  One was about Sheldon's fear of public speaking and in the other, Leonard was invited to CERN.  From this my mind makes magic.  Let's face it; a world where I am a physicist and enjoy public speaking would be pretty magical.  I would also have a job... SUPER magical.

What time is it? Alaska Time!

Compared to my past entries about traveling adventures, this post may seem dull.  It’s just normal life stuff.  Here is a picture of a hole in a rock and a cloud on a mountain to satisfy any scenery cravings:

     We moved in to our apartment yesterday.  It’s nice to have our own space, but being that it’s furnished by an 80 year old and contains none of our stuff it’s hard to see it ever really feeling like my place.  It is a very nice apartment though.  Giant sized rooms compared to our last place.  The kitchen has a full-sized gas oven and range and you can’t touch opposite walls at the same time!  We have a dining area, a large living room with a futon and a couple chairs, and a TV with free cable.  Their cable package up here is huge by the way- it is something like 150 channels.  No internet yet though, so we need to figure that out.  The bedroom is huge- big enough that we should be able to just put up a room divider when the baby comes and reaches the point that he needs a separate room.  Also plenty of clothing storage, which is definitely something we’re not used to.
     It looks like we’re going to need to buy some kitchen towels, and we had to get a can opener.  I’m sure some other things will be added to the list.  What kind of fully furnished kitchen comes with NO kitchen towels?  Very weird.  Oh well, I’m sure we need more anyway.  Overall, the place is great; we even have access to a laundry room.  The land lord lady seems very nice and has already been more helpful than the person we worked with over the three years we stayed at our last place.  To do that though all she needed to do was give us keys to the front door, so I guess the bar was set pretty low. 

     I found a doctor, I think, and will be seeing her on September 10^th.  I’m still working on all the insurance crap so hopefully I’ll have that figured out soon.  I’ll have my glucose test that day which I am REALLY not looking forward to because my body hates sugar, but I don’t need to fast for it so maybe it will go okay.  Someone in the general public finally acknowledged my pregnancy the other day without me bringing it up as the reason I’m not ordering a beer at a brewery.  So, at five and a half months, I finally look a little bit pregnant.
     I still haven’t adjusted to the time change so I wake up starving and ready to go at about 7:30.  I realize that that is a decent time, but then I end up needing about 2 naps during the day which is just stupid.  Dan started his job today so I was able to hang out with him a bit before he went to work because of this time zone nonsense.
     We keep seeing reminders of people we know all over.  One of our waitresses was a shorter, brunette Bobbi Jo with the same voice and eyes, we saw a West who had let himself go a bit, and we heard Eternal Flame which of course made us think of Kristin.  It was neat.
     I was going to write a dream down here, but discovered it was not interesting until the end.  I was riding a bike to get home, which is common enough, but I was in some country in Central America and all I had to do was get through Mexico and a couple other countries but I knew I had to avoid Columbia (geography skills aren’t great in dreamland apparently).  Luckily I made it through five countries (each about a block big, which was good for me on my little bike), narrowly avoided being shot at in the parking lot in Mexico, and made it safely to the Cedar Grove neighborhood, conveniently located just north of the Mexican border.  This was especially strange because I thought I was heading home and I haven’t lived there in 16 years.

Porcupines, the most popular roadkill in Alaska

For real.  They are everywhere.

     We took a trip down to the Kenai Peninsula these last couple days and it was wonderful.  Partly due to the fact that the car we are using this week is an Explorer.  This vehicle is about 10 years old and has many of the same quirks (afflictions) that my beloved Sploder had.  The driver's door can't be opened from the outside (at least it is not January in Fargo this time), the windshield is cracked, the rear windshield wiper doesn't work, and it does not like hills.  Between all that and the interior being gray, it is easy to forget that it is not my old car.  There is some pretty severe construction happening on the Seward Highway though and pregnant me wished at that time we were not in an Explorer.  The seat belt kept getting to tight do to the bumpiness and that was not what I needed to be thinking about while driving  this road.
     Alaska doesn't have many roads.  You want to head south?  You hop on the Seward Highway.  That is your only choice.  After about an hour part splits off and heads toward Sterling, City of Kenai, Soldotna, and Homer, it is called the Sterling highway.  It is hard to get lost here.  Both these highways literally end at the ocean.  The major destinations are Seward and Homer.  You hit water you've gone too far.

Shops on the spit

     We wanted to go to Homer because we heard it was an artsy community and Dan wanted a hand made mug.  As far as Alaska goes, they probably are the artsiest community, and they had quite a few galleries and studios, but it is important to remember that this is a coastal town in Alaska, so really, they are a fishing community.  That is not to be forgotten.  We went out on the spit and found some shops, a billion seafood restaurants, and boats.  So many boats.

     Homer is also where the Time Bandit from Deadliest Catch is docked.  We did not see it, but there was a Time Bandit store.  We didn't visit.
     Although gloomy and drizzly, I was able to get a decent picture of the mountains in the bay at Homer.  I was not as lucky with similar conditions in Seward.  It was pretty neat to see how the clouds move around the mountains, but most of the time it made for REALLY bad pictures.

     We walked around town for a bit and found Dan a mug and learned some things about pottery at Jars of Clay.  The artist was very kind and welcomed us back into her studio to observe what she was working on.  Dan said it was cool.  I was exhausted and sat on the floor doing my best to cool down.  No it wasn't hot, it was about 60 degrees, but I have issues.
     We ate dinner at Fat Olive's.  It was very good, very busy and, plenty pricey, but everything is, so we dealt.  After a quick trip to get groceries we went to the hotel and it was FINALLY time to sleep.  That was a very long day.
     We left at seven the next day to make sure we got to Seward on time for our fjord tour/wildlife cruise.  We went with Major Marine Tours mostly because they had a sale and a 5 hour cruise which is what we were looking for.  The morning started out a bit dreary, but apparently that's how it is in Seward.  I took a lot of pictures, because the scenery was beautiful, but with my standard digital camera and my own personal limitations I didn't do so well.  A tripod and a camera I actually have some control over would have been nice.  But I persevered!  And the sun came out!  And it was beautiful!  Oh, and by the way there were lots of boats in Seward too.

     Alright.  The tour was a wildlife tour.  We were guaranteed wildlife and we are happy to report that they delivered.  We saw thousands of kittiwakes (a cuter, though not quieter, seagull equivalent), a couple sea otters playing about, porpoises swimming alongside the boat (for about 5 minutes- they were having a blast), several bald eagles, puffins, and probably a hundred sea lions basking in the sun.  Some of these were understandably hard to photograph, but I did what I could.

This was definitely a happy accident.  I was just seeing if I could get the eagle in the center (tiny
white dot) and while reviewing the pictures later I see eagle swooping in on the right.  Neat.

     One of the hardest things to remember while touring the fjords is a sense of scale.  In some spots there are many boats, but often not where you want pictures.  I did get a couple though and they give you an idea.  In the fist picture is probably the smallest island we saw.

     As far as the boat ride went, I don't know if the baby loved it or hated it, but there were definitely strong feelings about the situation.    

     For dinner we ate at the Seward Brewing Company. It was their opening day and it was fantastic.  Best beer cheese soup in the history of the world.  I would be quite content with alternating that and Cossetta's mostaccioli for the rest of my life.  Forget content.  I'd be thrilled.  

     The drive home was just as beautiful as the drive there, complete with gorgeous sunset.  Very distracting to the driver.  And just to prove that we are in fact in Alaska and not just pulling images from the internet while hiding in a cave somewhere, your lovely hosts:

     Also, thanks for reading and for all your comments!  I'm glad you are enjoying the blog!

It's a cloud! It's a storm! It's a mountain?

     Yesterday we decided to conquer downtown Anchorage.  The population of Anchorage is 295,570 but it feels much smaller than that.  The downtown area seems a bit larger than the downtown Fargo area.  It is surprisingly easy to forget that you are in a valley surrounded by mountains.  Being from Minnesota, when we see darkness on the horizon we assume it is a storm and our brain doesn't register anything as strange.  Eventually you remember though and you are surprised all over again.

     We started with the visitor centers to stock up on free maps and other info and explored the free exhibits they had there.  We headed to the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewing Company for lunch.  It was fantastic: beautiful view of the Cook Inlet, tasty beer (Dan’s review), and good food (exceptional burgers).  After lunch we went down to the railroad station to attain more free information about our future adventures and had a picture time:

     More walking and shopping followed.  We took a shuttle down to the Ulu Factory and Ship Creek where there were quite a few people fishing.  It was not warm; these fishermen were for real.  We learned at the Ulu Factory that they are not able to copyright the word ulu, it is just a word in one of the native languages.  It means 'woman's knife' so it would be like copyrighting the word knife.  It just can't be done.  Because of this, if you buy an Ulu knife (you can even get them at Target here) you need to make sure it says made in Alaska otherwise you will get one made in China.  Not cool.  

     Hmmm... what next.  Oh yea, we were dying of exhaustion and had to go to Target to get a couple things we didn't want to pack and some groceries.  Having not adjusted to the time change (3 hours) we were in bed at 9:30 and I'm pretty sure we were sleeping at 9:32.  This meant that we woke up at 6 this morning.  No problem for me- bowl of cereal, more area research time and a nap.  It was all for the best anyway because we didn't have access to a car until after lunch today.  We then decided to go to the Wild Berry Park/Theater/Candy Store place for two reasons: reindeer petting and chocolate waterfall.  

     The trip was a complete success.  Plus we got fudge, wildberry kats, milk chocolate porcupines, dark chocolate local berry jelly things, and truffles.  Big win for the team.  Next we were off to the zoo! 

     The Alaska Zoo is very different from the Minnesota and we both anticipated that this would be the case.  Many of the animals, especially the birds, are there because they were found orphaned and otherwise would have died or because they were injured and would have died.  It was quite fun, and a completely different feel than the zoos I've previously visited.  I did the super touristy thing and took pictures of pretty much everything.  Here are some favorites:

     This last pic is just to give you a feel for what the zoo is like, it is literally walking through the forest.  Annoying amount of bugs, but an otherwise great atmosphere.  Side note: that camel was born at the Minnesota zoo!  

     We finished the evening by going to Earthquake Park to see how much of the land fell into the ocean in 1964.  We took a treacherous mini hike down a very steep and slippery hill and FINALLY got to stand along the coast.  It isn't very hospitable, but provided a decent view. 

     Super long post, sorry about that.  Tomorrow Dan and I are heading out of town to Homer and then Seward the next day.  I'm sure we will have lots to report.

In the beginning...

     You will all be very excited to know that there is a picture of me in the airplane safety brochure.  Some of you know that one time while flying to a dance competition I had to change into my costume on the plane.  It was a tight squeeze but I emerged after about 5 minutes with feathers popping out of the top of my jacket and on the top of my head only to find the captain of the plane had been waiting for me the whole time.  Well, the reason I’m in the brochure is that every cartoon character in there is dressed as a normal person and then there is this girl in the “braced for impact” position sitting there in a tutu and her pointe shoes.  I guess it’s good that the artists have some humor in their life.  Observe:

     After we got through security everything went incredibly smoothly.  I now know that all of Sun Country’s flights leave in the morning.  I was pretty impressed with the employees though, both Sun Country and TSA, who got things straightened out and kept them moving as much as possible.  While backing away from the gate we hit something, so that was a new experience.  I still don’t really understand what happened regardless of the pilot's announcement.  Funny how we strain to hear what the pilot says but the flight attendant’s announcements about food are loud and clear (I got a pizza, it was delicious).  Anyway they got it checked out and everything was fine.

     The flight was super empty so we were able to spread out a bit and actually be comfortable enough to get some rest.  Most of the people on the flight are middle aged men who I have decided are the ideal flying companions.  From observing their reading material and their cribbage boards I have deduced that most are hunters/campers/fishermen.  These guys know how to fly.  They are quiet and friendly and apparently full of surprises.  The two burly bearded men sitting in front of us ordered white wine spritzers- and the Sprite they mixed their wine with was Sprite Zero.  I just didn’t see it coming.