Hey everybody!
Sorry we haven't posted anything in a while...we have been having trouble with our internet connection. Turns out we never had one! We had been picking up on a signal from someone else in the complex that we are staying in! So we got the temporary housing to install one and it should be up soon, as for now let the piracy continue... lisa asked me to let you know that if you want to view old posts just check out the archives section...
With that out of the way... let us wish you all happiness and joy for the holidays... wish we could be with you all. We will update more and give you a report for christmas soon! We promise....
We have been real busy getting ready to close on the new house and preparing for the holidays! I have 2 jobs now, working at sears and Providence health systems. I work for sears so we can get some deals on home stuff and then my job at the hospital is working out great! I love the place and the people... Hopefully I will be involved in alot of good things there. So needless to say I have been quite busy with the 2 jobs working about 13 hours a day! Lisa has been doing great at work and is learning so much and working real hard too! We are excited about christmas and will be spending it with some of lisa's coworkers, hopefully we will make some new friends for the holidays! Soon after that we will be moving into our new house and getting started on all the fun that comes with that! It will be nice to start to settle in a bit.
It snowed quite a bit today, nice to have so much snow for christmas, we haven't had that in so long.... Oh almost forgot to tell you all that Lisa has started to learn to play the guitar, she has an acoustic of her own now... We are excited to be welcoming Vanessa from Hawaii soon, we miss her and can't wait to have her back in the group again....
I guess that is the quick and dirty version, so I will leave you with warm wishes for you and yours... Check back for christmas updates!
Ben and Lisa!
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Soaking up the Alaskan ways!
First and foremost, just wanted to tell all our friends and family "THANK YOU!" for checkin out our blogger and seeing what we are up to. Its great to show you instead of just telling what we're doing. Also, it was great to talk to all of you that I spoke with on the phone this weekend, I'm trying to catch up now that some things have calmed down (except the house!). Amber B, keep healthy and give all your boys hugs and kisses (and shakas to Kolin. Pam, you will be in my thoughts more than ever and my fingers and toes and eyes are crossed! DaNa, always great to talk to you, very envious of your trip to Mexico. Mom and Dad, glad to hear grandma is there safe and REALLY excited to hopefully see some pics of the new house on a blog of some kind! Kevin and Spring, thank you so much for putting together your blog so we can still feel some Hawaiian warmth---love the banana hammock pic!
Ok....now to share some things we've been doing. A couple of days ago the temps got warm enough to allow snowman building! So while I was at work, Ben spent some time on our new neighbor. The temps kinda melted him and all the other snow away, but when there's more, I'll build my own.
Went to an Ace's hockey game (Alaska's pro team) and forgot how much I liked going to hockey games after being away from it. That got us in the mood to try our luck out on the ice and go ice skating. We both had a blast. Ben took the "well if they can do it, I can too" approach and was trying some fancy footwork---did pretty well, defintily fun to watch!
Then today we went ice fishing. It was an event put on by the city where they would supply the rods and bait and would drill a hole for you. So after about an hour, we had caught a total of 6 rainbow trout! We went home and fried them up in some butter for a good fresh lunch. Mmmmmm.
Ben ice fishing
Ok....now to share some things we've been doing. A couple of days ago the temps got warm enough to allow snowman building! So while I was at work, Ben spent some time on our new neighbor. The temps kinda melted him and all the other snow away, but when there's more, I'll build my own.
Went to an Ace's hockey game (Alaska's pro team) and forgot how much I liked going to hockey games after being away from it. That got us in the mood to try our luck out on the ice and go ice skating. We both had a blast. Ben took the "well if they can do it, I can too" approach and was trying some fancy footwork---did pretty well, defintily fun to watch!
Then today we went ice fishing. It was an event put on by the city where they would supply the rods and bait and would drill a hole for you. So after about an hour, we had caught a total of 6 rainbow trout! We went home and fried them up in some butter for a good fresh lunch. Mmmmmm.
Ben ice fishing
Monday, December 05, 2005
Some highly anticipated shots of the new house... of course the furniture is going with the seller! We just got back from our inspection and found some issues that we need to get fixed before we close, so keep your fingers crossed that we still get it! This is a view of the downstairs living room, we think it has potential as a game room.... There is a little door about 2 feet tall on the wall to the right that leads to storage, thinking we could make that an extra bedroom and rent it out to a kegerator! There is a bedroom and a bathroom and laundry room down here too, oh and access to the garage is directly behind me.... Nice big 2 car garage.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Everything crystalized!
So the fog rolled in the other day and blanketed the entire city for about 24 hours. It was wild! You couldn't see more than 20 feet ahead. The temperatures dropped again and froze all the water to everthing in town. It made all the trees look like bright white crystal structures....
It started to snow only not really, Lisa said that the airport was seeding the fog to try and get it to go away so they could land planes, but it didn't really work. It did make it snow though, which was wierd cuz the sky above the fog was clear, which meant that all the snow was coming from the cloud that was all around us, just condensing right next to us and turning to snow which fell in very isloated spots. Strange weather...
So, as you have read, we got a house! We will be moving in sometime in early January, we are pretty excited.... We are going to go to the home inspection on Thursday the 1st. We will take a bunch of pictures then so that everybody can see. It's going to be fun... We have 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, with 2.5 floors and a 2 car garage.... will tell more when we have some pics to show.
So we went out the other day and took a picture of our shadows at noon! The days are almost the shortest that they will be this year. Soon they will start to get longer... can't wait for more light so that we have more time to do stuff that requires some light. Although we really haven't been limited, it will be nice to see the sun more. Dusk and dawn last forever here and even in the middle of the night it's bright enough to hike without a light. The sky glows a pinkish peach color. Very cool when combined with the full moon!
Oh and I fixed the blog to make it easier for you to comment on the posts, so hopefully we will hear more from everybody who reads this now!
Hope all are well and that we see you soon!
It started to snow only not really, Lisa said that the airport was seeding the fog to try and get it to go away so they could land planes, but it didn't really work. It did make it snow though, which was wierd cuz the sky above the fog was clear, which meant that all the snow was coming from the cloud that was all around us, just condensing right next to us and turning to snow which fell in very isloated spots. Strange weather...
So, as you have read, we got a house! We will be moving in sometime in early January, we are pretty excited.... We are going to go to the home inspection on Thursday the 1st. We will take a bunch of pictures then so that everybody can see. It's going to be fun... We have 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, with 2.5 floors and a 2 car garage.... will tell more when we have some pics to show.
So we went out the other day and took a picture of our shadows at noon! The days are almost the shortest that they will be this year. Soon they will start to get longer... can't wait for more light so that we have more time to do stuff that requires some light. Although we really haven't been limited, it will be nice to see the sun more. Dusk and dawn last forever here and even in the middle of the night it's bright enough to hike without a light. The sky glows a pinkish peach color. Very cool when combined with the full moon!
Oh and I fixed the blog to make it easier for you to comment on the posts, so hopefully we will hear more from everybody who reads this now!
Hope all are well and that we see you soon!
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Turkey Village Inn day
Sorry for the delay in our blog, boy have we been busy. Like Ben said, I've been working a ton, just finished six 10-hour night shifts in a row. Can't seem to get back to a normal sleeping pattern, however I do another six nights starting Saturday. Whew!
Ben got to finally see moose up here! As we were driving out of our neighborhood, a shadow moved behind our neighbor's tree. As we turned back around to get a second look, another appeared from behind their driveway. They were even bigger than the ones I saw at work the other day. Their shoulders were about 6 feet tall, and their racks were probably 10 feet. Hopefully you can see them in the picture.
A moose!
As the winter is really setting in, more and more snow is falling and teasing us---we want to make a snowman but it's too cold and dry. But we sure can make snow angels!
Trees outside our place under the new snow
Snow angel havin fun!
Lots of snow!
On our brief moments of free time, we've been ferviously searching for a place to call home. Having a very tight market up here has made it a bit of a challenge, however just yesterday we found a great house and quickly put an offer down. It was accepted that night! So if everything goes right, hopefully we will be in our new house sometime January.
Our new house!
As for Turkey Day, we had been so busy with everything, and since it was only us two that we didn't cook anything and decided to go visit the local Village Inn :). Not bad, got soup, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, and a HUGE slice of pie all for $11. Don't think we'll make a tradition out of it though, we sure missed all our friends and family. With it being quite cold out for the day, we decided to come home with some eggnog and rum to sit by our fire and plan out everything we want to do with our new house. Also to give thanks to all those who we miss....cheers!
Cheers!
Ben got to finally see moose up here! As we were driving out of our neighborhood, a shadow moved behind our neighbor's tree. As we turned back around to get a second look, another appeared from behind their driveway. They were even bigger than the ones I saw at work the other day. Their shoulders were about 6 feet tall, and their racks were probably 10 feet. Hopefully you can see them in the picture.
A moose!
As the winter is really setting in, more and more snow is falling and teasing us---we want to make a snowman but it's too cold and dry. But we sure can make snow angels!
Trees outside our place under the new snow
Snow angel havin fun!
Lots of snow!
On our brief moments of free time, we've been ferviously searching for a place to call home. Having a very tight market up here has made it a bit of a challenge, however just yesterday we found a great house and quickly put an offer down. It was accepted that night! So if everything goes right, hopefully we will be in our new house sometime January.
Our new house!
As for Turkey Day, we had been so busy with everything, and since it was only us two that we didn't cook anything and decided to go visit the local Village Inn :). Not bad, got soup, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, and a HUGE slice of pie all for $11. Don't think we'll make a tradition out of it though, we sure missed all our friends and family. With it being quite cold out for the day, we decided to come home with some eggnog and rum to sit by our fire and plan out everything we want to do with our new house. Also to give thanks to all those who we miss....cheers!
Cheers!
Monday, November 14, 2005
Kincaid Park
Hey everybody,
So while Lisa is hard at work I have started to explore the city of anchorage, I heard that we have some 120 + miles of trails here. Tons of them are located at Kincaid park. So that's where I started!
(Just to let you know as a quick side note, I have made it so that you can click on the pics to enlarge them if you want to look closer at any of the shots.)
So to tell you the truth, I went there because Lisa has been seeing a ton of Moose by her office and that park is where they are all coming from! I wanted to see a moose, other than the dead one on the highway. I didn't get the privaledge, maybe because of the loud kids that were runing the trails that day, or maybe cuz they were all right outside Lisa's office! When she got home she told me about a group of them that were maybe 20 feet from her desk! I did get to see some other cool stuff and get some exercise. Here are some shots of the stuff I did get to see.
View of one of the lighted trails at Kinciad park, a great place to learn cross country skiing and when the snow starts to pile up a great place for some snowshoeing!
The peaks in the distance are labeled, McKinley is about 150 miles away and Mt Foraker is about 136 miles. Who knew you could see that far! We had a hard time seeing Molokai when we were on Oahu and that was only 50 or so miles away... I bet Lisa can explain to us why, I will ask her tonight and see if we can post the answer. Until then consider it a contest, whoever can tell me the correct answer first will win a prize!
View west from the park...Mt. Susitna on right ~30 miles from me and in the distance you can see the Tordillo Mountains, they have a ton of glaciers over there! that mountain range is about 80 miles from where I stood! What a view!
The pics of the moutains are taken from the point of the peninsula that the city of anchorage is on. I am looking across the inlet, farther than I thought at the time!
I also had a little fun in the snow as it was a little deeper at the park than the dusting that is covering the rest of the city.
My first snow angel, I remember doing these as a kid in the WI.
Can't wait for more snow though to build a snow cave and an igloo and snowmen, although it might be tough as the temperatures around here keep the snow so cold that it doesn't melt at all and stays very fluffy and wont stick together, it takes like 5 minutes to pack it into a measly snowball!
So while Lisa is hard at work I have started to explore the city of anchorage, I heard that we have some 120 + miles of trails here. Tons of them are located at Kincaid park. So that's where I started!
(Just to let you know as a quick side note, I have made it so that you can click on the pics to enlarge them if you want to look closer at any of the shots.)
So to tell you the truth, I went there because Lisa has been seeing a ton of Moose by her office and that park is where they are all coming from! I wanted to see a moose, other than the dead one on the highway. I didn't get the privaledge, maybe because of the loud kids that were runing the trails that day, or maybe cuz they were all right outside Lisa's office! When she got home she told me about a group of them that were maybe 20 feet from her desk! I did get to see some other cool stuff and get some exercise. Here are some shots of the stuff I did get to see.
View of one of the lighted trails at Kinciad park, a great place to learn cross country skiing and when the snow starts to pile up a great place for some snowshoeing!
The peaks in the distance are labeled, McKinley is about 150 miles away and Mt Foraker is about 136 miles. Who knew you could see that far! We had a hard time seeing Molokai when we were on Oahu and that was only 50 or so miles away... I bet Lisa can explain to us why, I will ask her tonight and see if we can post the answer. Until then consider it a contest, whoever can tell me the correct answer first will win a prize!
View west from the park...Mt. Susitna on right ~30 miles from me and in the distance you can see the Tordillo Mountains, they have a ton of glaciers over there! that mountain range is about 80 miles from where I stood! What a view!
The pics of the moutains are taken from the point of the peninsula that the city of anchorage is on. I am looking across the inlet, farther than I thought at the time!
I also had a little fun in the snow as it was a little deeper at the park than the dusting that is covering the rest of the city.
My first snow angel, I remember doing these as a kid in the WI.
Can't wait for more snow though to build a snow cave and an igloo and snowmen, although it might be tough as the temperatures around here keep the snow so cold that it doesn't melt at all and stays very fluffy and wont stick together, it takes like 5 minutes to pack it into a measly snowball!
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Our first expedition beyond the city...
Since I had a day off of work, Ben and I went for a quick drive (actually about 300 miles round trip!) down south to the town of Seward. The road skimmed right along Turnagain Arm (named by Capt. Cook when he had to turn around after thinking it was an outlet) and through beautiful powdered mountains. We hoped for better weather, but it didn't snow too much and the clouds lifted enough for some great pictures. Along Turnagain Arm, we pulled out and saw the water and ice (yes, those are ice chunks, a bit colder than our old Hawaiian waters) flowing rapidly into the Arm. Turns out it has the second largest tidal difference in the world, having a change of about 33 ft in height. 
On our way down to Seward, we stopped by the Exit Glacier, only a tiny part of a huge ice field in Kenai Fjords Park. The wind was whipping through the valley. Luckily winter hadn't set in too far yet so the following sign didn't apply to us.
We attached a topo image in addition to the picture of the glacier to show you how small the glacier is compared to the ice field.
As we came into Seward, Resurrection Bay was on our left with the wind howlin through. This is where the Alaska Pipeline ends and the Iditarod official trail starts (not the race---that starts in Anchorage). The wind was so strong on the Bay, we wished we had our surfboards still with us!
We also saw a series of frozen waterfalls coming out of the mountains like this one...
Our place from outside.
On our way down to Seward, we stopped by the Exit Glacier, only a tiny part of a huge ice field in Kenai Fjords Park. The wind was whipping through the valley. Luckily winter hadn't set in too far yet so the following sign didn't apply to us.
We attached a topo image in addition to the picture of the glacier to show you how small the glacier is compared to the ice field.
As we came into Seward, Resurrection Bay was on our left with the wind howlin through. This is where the Alaska Pipeline ends and the Iditarod official trail starts (not the race---that starts in Anchorage). The wind was so strong on the Bay, we wished we had our surfboards still with us!
We also saw a series of frozen waterfalls coming out of the mountains like this one...
Since our days are short, we had to drive back to Anchorage in the dark. We found out after about 90% of the cars on the opposite side kept flashing us, that my lights are positioned a little too far up, so I'll have to get that fixed. We came home to our cozy house, thought we'd share what it looks like. Thanks for stopping in and taking a look into our Alaskan journey!!
Our place from outside.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Getting settled...
We made it! We're here freezing our butts off since the first night we arrived!
So things have been hectic around here lately, so much to do everyday, not much time to be at home on the computer.... we are finally getting caught up though. Lisa bought a new car, it's really a feat of modern engineering. She got the '06 Jeep Commander. If you want to you can read about it here...
http://www.jeep.com/
So things have been hectic around here lately, so much to do everyday, not much time to be at home on the computer.... we are finally getting caught up though. Lisa bought a new car, it's really a feat of modern engineering. She got the '06 Jeep Commander. If you want to you can read about it here...
http://www.jeep.com/
It's got a ton of fun stuff.
We also got registered at the DMV and got our new licenses, they're pretty cool! Official residents of the last frontier!
The heater in our temporary housing is on the fritz... kinda stinks, seeing as it's usually in the single digits outside, but our landlords are working on the problem. Everything is covered in snow or what the natives call a dusting...
Everybody here has been so nice to us, and we are loving the whole atmosphere up here. So many fun things to do just waiting for us. We haven't gotten out exploring yet because of all the moving logistics, but we plan on doing it soon and we will be sure to take pics. We have toured the city a little bit and here are some shots from that...
Anchorage from Cooks inlet
Mountain view at dusk
The famous "Koot's"
More mountains east of town.
Cook inlet.
A frozen lake!
The city is nice, it has everything one could want, but it still has a very small town feel. Haven't decided where to look for houses yet but that is next on the list.
Time is flying by each day with the sun coming up at 9:30 or so and setting around 4 or so.... dusk lasts forever!
We are debating on whether to get studed tires for the cars as we hear that the roads will be covered in ice by january. Going to hold off for now.... we'll see how it goes.
We saw our first moose the other day, albiet it was a dead moose... somebody hit it on the highway and it smashed the whole front of the car in including the windshield and roof. We need to get our names on the roadkill list so that we can be in line for the next one!
I (Ben) haven't gotten a new cell phone yet, but it is on the way and should be here early next week, the number should stay the same so no worries there.
Life in the AK is evertything we imagined it to be and more and we haven't even begun to experience it yet, so much to see and do it's almost overwhelming, in a good sort of way. We are starting to amass some winter gear and can't wait to get out in the thick of it.... see you all up here soon right?
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