So good to be back on here....

These are pictures that I took after we got off the plane, and were getting settled into the hotel. :)

Hey... I finally got a computer and internet here... and I am so ready to get caught up on all that has happened since I posted last. We are settled into our house now.... still finding things to make it more like "home", but we are pretty comfortable. It has been fun finding new things that fit the house, since we sold pretty much everything to make the move up here more easily. I will have to post more on that later. ;)



Everyone has asked me what my impressions on Alaska were, so I thought that I would list some of the differences that I noticed right away. Soooo... here it goes!!!!



1. There are bicycle racks EVERYWHERE!!! It is so not uncommon to pass 10-15 bicyclists on your way to town here. I think it is funny to go into McDonalds or places like that, and pass a big bicycle rack. There are so many people that bicycle during the summer that they needed to have a place to put them, I guess. I just never remember seeing any bicycle racks in Arkansas unless it was a school yard. I think thats cute. :)



2. Earthquakes!!! I never remember hearing about Alaska getting any earthquakes before, but the first night I got here, I woke up in the early morning to the bed shaking. I remember thinking that it had been too long since I had shared a bed, and the usual tossing and turning was waking me up, but then I thought that when someone turns over, the bed shakes up and down, not SIDE TO SIDE!!! I was so surprised, but sleepy, so when it was over, I just went back to sleep. When I walked down into the lobby of the hotel the next morning, all the visitors were stopping me in the hall, grabbing my arm, and saying, "Did you feel that!?!". I guess they were just as surprised as I was. Over the next two weeks, we felt two more. I didn't realize that Alaska had so many. I was later told that the state has hundreds every day, but most are so minor that they aren't felt, and it is such a big state that it usually doesn't cause any damage. I guess that it is something to look forward to. :)



3.The amount of sunlight in the summers. I did know about that when I got here, but I wasn't really prepared for the long nights. It was so hard to settle down, and get the kids asleep, because you couldn't mark time by the amount of daylight. I never really realized how much I relied on the light to tell the time, but I guess I did. Now I just look at the clock all the time, and try and make sure and have the kids in bed a decent hour. They would just lay there too, to wound up to settle down. We finally hung quilts on the windows, (I did buy black-out curtains that guaranteed to block out 90 something percent of the light, but they didn't do too good of a job. :) Quilts are much better. :)



4. Prices!!! I am still not used to paying $1.75 for a double cheeseburger at McDonalds.... some things are not as bad as others, but some are worse. :) We have found that for grocery shopping Sam's is the way to go... I wish I had had one nearby all my life. :) It is just mostly the restaurants that are high. The morning after I arrived here in Alaska, I walked down the lobby to bring back breakfast for everyone because I got up early. I ended up at the coffee shop to get James a cup, and got 4 muffins for the four of us for breakfast. It ended up being $22 dollars!!! Wow. I was so not used to that. :) I did find them later at the grocery store for about a dollar a piece... (and they told me at the coffee shop that they were fresh baked.. they must have put them in the oven to warm them up. I wonder if my family would buy that one?)

5. The amount of places to shop. I can't tell you how many people in Arkansas I had grab me by the shoulders and shake me and say, "Alaska!!! Don't you know that they will have to fly a helicopter over your house to drop a fruit basket in your yard!?! Are you crazy?" I guess it may be like that in some of the more remote areas, but the Fairbanks area is nothing like that at all. There are actually a whole lot more shopping possibilities here than we had back home. Don't get me wrong... I still REALLY miss Catos, Olive Garden, Cracker Barrel, and Sonic... still hoping they get those here. I just have found alot of other places to shop. I really love the Fred Meyer store (kinda like a Wal-Mart, but I actually like it a whole lot better. They have some really neat home decor things, and an excellent grocery store... and if you drink coffee, they have Starbucks for the weary shopper. :) I have found Hallmark, an excellent toy store, an antique store that I love, a really great thrift store where I was able to find almost the whole collection of Janette Oke, Beverly Lewis and Anne of Green Gables books. :) I also found a great book store... it has been so much fun shopping for things to fill up our house. :)

6. No fireworks for Fourth of July. I guess they do set them off (but I think that most of them must have started wildfires, so to me it was not worth it. :) Besides, you can't really see them anyway it is so light out that time of year. Everyone has told me that they more than make up for it at New Year's, so I am looking forward to that. :) We did go to a parade, and a kind of carnival thing, so it was alot of fun despite the lack of our normal firework routine. :)

7. Hard Bread. I guess the altitude is different here so it rises different and that plays with the taste, maybe it is froze before it got here, or something. It just TASTES different... I miss soft sandwich bread. :)

8.The amount of people that walk places. Back home, you really didn't do that unless you didn't HAVE a vehicle, or it was broke down. Here, people walk to enjoy the sunshine and mild temperatures after being cooped up all winter long. I have enjoyed getting out and walking myself, trying to store up sunshine and colors like Frederick the mouse. :)

9. That everyone is a die hard hunter here, and bullets and guns are SOOOO hard to get a hold of. Of course, that doesn't really matter to me that much, but I have spent alot of time in sporting goods stores waiting for James. :) I guess that they are hard to ship here, so everyone just buys them out as soon as they arrive, or something.

10. Lack of sweet tea. :) I guess we are southerners, huh? The very first thing that we bought for the house was a tea maker. You can get tea here at restaurants, but it is usually fruit flavored and sugarless. Another thing about being southern, having people notice my "accent". I didn't realize I even had one, but apparently being up here it is noticable to people. James has a much stronger accent than I have, and all the waitresses love that. For which, I don't usually tip too well. Haha. :)

All in all, I have really enjoyed the experience of being up here. I do miss our friends and family, and the things that were familiar to me, but it is exciting to discover new things together just the four of us. I am looking forward to discovering more and more things as we make this our new home.