"I can not do everything, but I can do something."



Beaver Lake



Oh, glorious weekend! Like many of you in Arkansas, we too had beautiful weather over the week’s end (though it was only in the 30’s and not the 70’s like some of you). To celebrate the sun and our availability to it we went hiking-- but I’m getting a head of myself.

Friday night was our night to host our dinner clubish thing we have going on with some locals our age. Well, I guess word got out about what a great time we were having and people started showing up that we didn’t know. Being such a small town and all, someone inevitably knew someone else in the room, but that’s not to say Scott and I knew them. But we try and live by an open door policy and when there’s a knock we always say ‘come in!’ Pot luck style made sure there was plenty of food even for our new friends who, I guess, got the memo. Most everyone stayed late into the night talking and getting to know one another. We ended up making five new friends that night, and are glad for the new relationships.

Now back to the sunshine. Saturday two of our friends invited us hiking up a new and beautiful trail. They were very tolerant of me stopping every 100 feet or so to snap pictures. The walk was so spectacular I was somewhat frustrated I couldn’t capture it all for your viewing despite my best efforts. I continue to be flabbergasted by the absolute lushness of everything around here even though there is snow on the ground around it. I guess in my mind I equate snow with brown and dead, not vibrant and living. 

This trail has quickly become my all time favorite so far since we’ve been here. It was a pretty easy hike (especially with me stopping all the time for photo ops) that took us up to Beaver Lake. The lake was frozen over and covered with snow but was still very pretty. Our favorite part though wasn’t the lake but the 360 views of the mountains encircling us. I felt like I was in Michel Crichton’s Lost World. This stuff just doesn’t exist outside of good fiction. I couldn’t make up my mind where to look because it wall all so breathtakingly beautiful.



Mt. Edgecumbe (Left) Sitka (Right)



Yesterday Scott finally got to go down with me to Totem Park where we read about the history of the island and its people then walked lazily around the trails  and shore line for a couple of hours. Last night another student from UAMS flew in for the start of his 12 week rotations up here so we went to the air port to meet him and took him out for a little local flavor. That’s right, open mic night at The Larkspur (a great local restaurant). There are some really talented musicians around here. Surprisingly blue grass is a local favorite/specialty. There was quite a bit of banjo picking for us not to be in Arkansas, though I did get asked if I knew how to play the washboard and spoons… because I’m from the south?

Speaking of local music, I’m really excited about this next week. The annual Sitka Jazz Festival is kicking off and promises to be a lot of fun. I’ll be sure to document and report back. Since the weekends are for play, (and now that I’ve had my two very large cups of coffee) I’m off to do the neglected laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. Oh, domestic-hood.

May your Monday be bright and wonderful—

Love to you all,

S/A

33.334%

Friday again already! I can’t believe how quickly three months is zipping by. We are already a third of the way through our stay here in Alaska and I feel like we’ve only experienced the tip top of the iceberg (figuratively speaking though Alaska does have many beautiful icebergs to visit).

When we found out we were moving here in the winter the most common reaction was, “Alaska in the winter? Isn’t it going to be dark all the time?” Well, yes and no. When we first arrived the sun was coming up around 8:30ish and going down around 4:30ish so basically if you worked a day job then, yes, it’s dark all the time. But every week we gain another 5 minutes or something like that. Before we leave in March we will have more light than dark. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Today I was super excited to see Scott off to work and notice for the first time it was light outside. The sun hadn’t come up yet at 7:30 but the sky was already light enough to see. This was great! It’s been either over cast or rainy this past week so to see the sun already was super exciting. So, I grabbed my camera and headed down to the docks at the end of our street.

There were a couple of cars parked up on the hill who had the same idea to enjoy the sunrise. But heaven forbid I should ever be normal so, I clambered my way down to the water’s edge for some photo ops. One thing kind of weird about the weather here is when it’s dark and cloudy and rainy, it’s not as cold as when there are no clouds and the sun is out. It’s been in the high 30’s low 40’s most of the week but today was a nippy 28 degrees.

Down by the water was even colder though. Getting down there was somewhat of a trick since the moss covered rocks were frosted over. Extra slippery! But I survived and was able to enjoy the sunrise and from a different perspective. I can’t believe people get to live places like this and to them it is just ‘the usual’. There is nothing usual about watching the sun paint snow covered mountains in vibrant pinks and reds.

Speaking of locals, our land lady came to check on me yesterday. She was asking how we were enjoying the hiking and outdoors and I mentioned that before spring we should probably get bear bells or the like (to make noise when you’re hiking so you don’t startle a bear and have it eat you). She then told me her favorite bear joke—Marma, I recommend you skip this part of the blog…

Q: How can you tell the difference between black bear poop and brown bear poop?

A: Black bear poop has grass and berries, brown bear poop has bells.

Hardy har har. On that note we will wish you all a wonderful weekend. We are hosting our Friday night dinner get together this week so I’m off to start cooking. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful so we’ll probably hit the trails!

Until we meet again- All our love,

S/A

Hope floats... but not kids.

So, by recommendation of a friend I have begun reading Henri Murger’s The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter: Scenes de la vie de boheme. It is really spectacular. I love starting a book I know nothing about. It’s like painting a picture on a blank canvas that you get to discover. My said friend is lending me his amazing first edition. He treasures this book, rightly so, and keeps it in a box and the box in a zip lock bag so you can imagine I’m not allowed to underline or make notes in the margins. So, I have found myself stopping frequently to write down little quotes I love (of which there are many).

While speaking of the most common type of bohemian, poor and living one piece of work to the next, he says:

They had no other fortune… than courage, which is the virtue of the young and hope which is the wealth of the poor.

This really spoke to me. I have always desired to invest in life and its experiences and not its monetary value because with hope we have wealth when economies fail and jobs are scarce. With hope we don’t have to be afraid of where the next pay check is coming from when we can hold our loved ones safe in our arms.  Money is a necessity of life but there is no life without hope. And I hope we are investing in the right things in life. So, we should be studies of Murger’s young and take courage in times of uncertainty.

Well, that was a little heavy for an Alaskan blog but it was something I wanted to share. To lighten the mood and hopefully put a smile on all our faces I’ve been on the lookout around town for funny signs. This is what I have found:



 

No Dog Pooping Allowed




Found at the harbor on the end of our street



Then why the sign?

 
All our love to everyone,
S/A

Blue 42, HIKE!



Hellooooo and welcome back.

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekends as much as we did.



There was quite a bit of rain here this weekend but we decided to not let it dampen our spirits. We had originally planned to go hiking Saturday morning with some friends but that was quickly called off due to a heavy rain. Since we had the car though, we decided rain wasn’t going to stop us from driving around. We went down the southern side of the island to Silver Bay/Whale Park to a check out trails for a clearer day. The heavy rain turned to slushy sleet then to small hail and we passed some hard core runner man and offered him a ride. But being Mr. Hardcore Runner-man he graciously declined. If I’m ever like that people, you know there is something seriously wrong with me.

As we were driving back the rain cleared so we stopped to check out a trail we passed on our way out called Thimbleberry. It was a nice hike. No crazy knee deep snow or blazing our own trails through the woods. It was very relaxing and made for a perfect Saturday stroll. The trail went to two lakes. We made our way to both, though the path got really icy in parts, and stopped for a respite at the further lake called Hart Lake.

On our way back the rain started back up and we made it to our car in the nick of time. One electric blanket and some rather awesome sushi later we were watching bad old movies and planning out our Sunday. This didn’t take long since the NFL playoff games were going to be on.

Sunday we had brunch at a local hotel where Scott got his Alaskan king crab fix and then walked downtown to watch the games. Neither of us cared about the outcome of the game but the overwhelming majority of Sitka resoundingly cheered for the Packers. Congrats to those of you who have teams going to the Super Bowl, condolences to those of you who do not.

In other news, not this weekend but next weekend (aforementioned Super Bowl weekend) Scott and I will be flying north to Anchorage for one of his interviews where we will be greeted by the warmness of family. My mom’s first cousin and her family have lived in Anchorage for several years and are kind enough to invite us into their home. I can’t wait!!!

I promise to blog the full experience for our readers and am secretly hoping to see a moose. It has been my epic disappointment to find out that there are zero moose on Sitka. So, Anchorage is my big chance! I’m a little too excited about this, but hey, it’s a moose, they’re HUGE!

All our love to our friends and families near, far, and further away.

Thinking of you always,

S/A

Sitka Friday

Hello to you all and happy Friday! Congratulations you have made it to the end of another week.

Scott had the day off since he put in four tens this week and he brought home the hospital’s loan out car. We were very excited to get to use a car on the island for the first time and set out to see the furthest away places.



We headed up to the North end of the island to see the swans at the bird estuary. They were a lot bigger than I expected and of course flocked towards us when we got out of the car. Not gunna lie, I was a little intimidated. Then we walked around the board walk to check out the views. It was really peaceful and a little drizzley. The fog set in more quickly than we expected but we still made it all the way around and back before it was totally dark.











Pretty sure this was
was a past bear den



Scott was really in awe of how massive so many of the trees get around here. I have fallen in love with all of the lush green. Even when it snows everything is still so alive.







Many people have asked me what I have been doing all day while Scott has been at work (besides taking up photography and almost killing myself running in the snow). Well, I’ve been working too, just a different kind of work. I have been diligently plugging away on the computer trying to finish my first novel. I’m currently about two thirds of the way finished and absolutely love the story. I’m writing it for my own enjoyment, both in the process of writing and for the story.



Plot point story board
 to keep me sane.
(first few ch.)



Tonight we’re having dinner with friends and I have a dozen potatoes to bake… surely even I can handle that, right? And next weekend we will be taking a little trip :) More details to come later.

Enjoy your weekends!

All our love,

S/A



The Right Stuff

I would first like to say how incredibly proud I am of Scott and how hard he is working for us in his rotations. The end is in sight and I know it would be easy to start slacking off but he is still out there giving 110%. I know the people he works with appreciate his efforts and I’m sure his school will too. Almost there!

With that said, yesterday I went out to run some errands. I needed to go to the main post office in town and found out the fastest way to get there is through the state park. So, I rode my bike down to where the road ended and had to walk it (since riding in the park is against the rules) to the other side. I kid you not; it was over the river and through the woods.

The park was very pretty, if not a little moist. But while making my way through I heard a familiar tune. New Kids on the Block!!! It was the distinct beginning of “The Right Stuff” you know where it goes “Oh, oh, ee, oh, oh. Oh, oh, ee, oh.” I looked around to find the source and gush with the person over a shared past love, but didn’t see anyone except a pair of birds looking at me like I was crazy. I decided to keep walking and forget about it but as I turned to leave it happened again! I whirled around just in time to identify one of the ravens as my karaoke culprit. I sat there and stared at the bird in disbelief. It had to be a fluke. There was no way a bird could sing New Kids… but then it did it again. I got my phone out as fast as I could to record the teen pop feathered friend but he wouldn’t sing on the spot. We had a stare off for what was entirely too long for me to care about a bird singing an old 80’s song. Alas, reliving my childhood was over and went on to the post office a little nostalgic.

So, remember the other day when I said it had been snowing and then raining and then snowing again? Wasn’t that hilarious? Well, today I decided to go for a run since there are ZERO treadmills on this whole island for my use! There is one gym where they do kick boxing and yoga but they charge an arm and a leg! There isn’t even a track for public or purchased use. So, I donned my flashing runners arm band, laced up the ole’ sneakers, and hit the pavement… oh, did I say pavement? I meant solid sheet of ice. I made a very valiant effort at running on the ice but decided a broken knee cap wasn’t worth it, I could always bust out the Nutcracker if need be. So, I tried to jog on the road until I realized it wasn't much better and it had cars that could come careening out of control and kill me. So then I tried running in the grass only to find many hidden (half frozen) ankle deep puddles to fall in. Squishy tennis shoes was where I drew the line. Feeling this just wasn’t my day I tried to make my way back home. To my misfortune I found running uphill on ice not only difficult but pointless too. I know there were some local shop owners who had to be pointing and laughing saying, “Hey, check out the ridiculous bimbo in the earmuffs trying to run up hill on ice. She has to be from out of town.”—Fail.

Ay me.

I’m glad to be safe at home with dry socks on and the electric blanket cranked up. Perhaps my writing will be more fruitful than my amusing exercise efforts today.  If anyone has any ideas on how to work out without going to a gym (since we have none) or running out side; please do share your secret.

Sending a little wet and chilly love to you all,

S/A

Brown bear, brown bear what do you see?

Happy Monday and Martin Luther King, Jr. day. I hope everyone who was fortunate enough to have the holiday off got to enjoy their long weekend. Everyone else, my condolence, Scott is in the same boat. On the up side though, he’s working four ten hour shifts this week so we can have a long weekend this coming weekend. But to get in a ten hour day requires an early start so, 5am came too soon. I bought us a bag of coffee last week that had on the label “When served in bed, will wake the dead”… and it had a picture of a pirate skull on it. Perfect!

Yesterday was a cold snowy day here in Sitka so we tried to stay in most of the day. The snow was a really fine light snow but over twenty four hours it built up to about four inches—Arkansas still has us beat though. This morning was a much heavier snow until the sun came up then it turned to rain… which turned everything to slushy mushy nastiness. But I just looked out the window and can see ginormous hunks of snow pouring down again. We’ll see how it goes over night.

Today during one of the small weather breaks I took the bike down to the South end of the island to the totem park. There are some nice walking/running trials through the forest for people exercising themselves or their pets.

I did the loop stopping constantly to take pictures. I’m definitely bringing Scott back down there on Friday. It was really beautiful.  I walked out onto a deserted pebble beach at the end of the estuary and half expected a brown bear to come lumbering out of the woods for a snack. It was really peaceful. I was out there more than fifteen minutes and never saw anyone.

Now, given if I had been attacked by a hungry brown bear, I would have been up an estuary without a paddle, but what’s life without a little excitement of the unknown. –Well maybe I’m being a little dramatic (Me dramatic? Psh!). So, all the bears are in deep winter hibernation and I was in no danger, except from some mama bird who was really perturbed I was too near her nest.

All in all I feel like this is a more typical Southeastern Alaskan winter rather than the glorious sunshine we’ve had the last two weeks. But if this is it… I can handle it for sure!

Love and cheers,

S/A

Better late than never

Sorry to be a little tardy on today’s blog.

Since we’ve been here in the last two weeks, we have been super fortunate to fall into a great group of friends that are around our age. We’ve been hiking and done dinner with them a couple of times but last night was our turn to host. So, we had the crew over for potluck and Pictionary. Good times!

After sleeping in blissfully this morning, I got up and made us some good ole’ fashioned War Eagle Mill pancakes (I had the mix shipped before we left). As we stuffed ourselves we got a skype call from Marma and caught up on all the latest Fayetteville news.



Scott (right) downtown



As the afternoon rolled around we decided to be super tourists and head down town to look in the local shops. There were some really beautiful sculptures made out of whale bone, mammoth ivory, and Oosik. Oosik, what’s that? Well I’m glad you asked. It’s a bone from a walrus that was used, most commonly, to make tools in the Alaskan villages. Oh, did I mention it’s the Walrus’ penis bone? Um, yeah, look it up, I’m not lying. Gross.

After a couple of hours in and out of the cold we decided to head home for a refueling snack. Once the electric blanket got plugged in, it was downhill from there. I picked up Harry Potter (I finally decided to do it) and started reading and reading. When I eventually looked up it was dinner time. Having been thoroughly entrenched in Hogwarts, we missed the rest of the daylight.

So, we decided to skip cooking and head over to the local Mexican/Pizza place. -- Why waste space with two restaurants when you can just combine? -- The chips and salsa were great but the pizza was fantastic. I guess it must a weird Alaskan thing to put fresh tomato slices on the top of the pizza, but everyone here serves it that way.

Tomorrow we’re going to visit the Russian Orthodox Church. Today was the Orthodox New Year’s Day so they are still celebrating. Since Russia was the previous owner, Orthodoxy is prevalent here. We look forward to learning more about the influences to this state both foreign and native.

All our love, S/A

Sea and Food

Ok, can I just say how much I love food? Like, seriously, I pretty sure I’m having a love affair with Mangos right now. Of all the things in the world I could become obsessed with when I move to Alaska and I pick Mangos? Is there no justice? Thankfully, I’ve been able to find them and after a few days in the sunshiny window, they are ready to eat.

Good news also, Captain Roy (our “black market” fish supplier) tracked down Scott at work and we were able to buy some awesome fresh Alaskan salmon. I think before it was all over with we ended up with something like 5lbs of fish. Dag yo. So, anyone who knows me knows I am culinarily challenged (to put it lightly) and I need help. Please email/facebook/post on here… whatever… some great EASY salmon recipes. I think tonight I’ll stick with the old fashioned seasoned and oven baked recipe, but with this much fish we are going to need variety!

 Side note: In case you doubted my complete lack of cooking abilities, which I’m sure no one did, allow me to present exhibit A (as seen right): store bought cookie mix. ALL I had to do was add butter and one egg. Silly me read where it said ‘add one stick of butter’ and not the measurement. Since not all butter sticks are created equally (or the same size) I added one long (full cup) butter stick and mixed well. People, it was chocolate chip soup. So what else could I do but start adding flour? Very logical. But then it needed vanilla and an egg… and then it needed a little more sugar. *deep sigh* Finally, I achieved the right consistency and flavor and realized I was about to have to bake about a million cookies (just a rough estimate). They turned out a little on the cakey side, but very edible which is an A+ in my book.

          From the harbor                                                                                                                                                            From the SSSC

Speaking of seafood… well more sea and less food; I went down to the harbor do take some fun pictures today. The water here is super clear so I could see tons of star fish near the shore. I did my best to take pictures of them but was a little frustrated I couldn’t get closer—enter Sitka Sound Science Center (say that three times fast). The SSSC had a bunch of cool touch tanks full the local sea life so I was able to walk around and get really close for some fun pictures of the local critters.

<--- The harbor was iced over

Tonight we’re planning on going outside of the city lights (about three blocks South from our house) and take some moon light pictures of the stars and mountains, fingers crossed!

All our love,

S/A

The people we meet

Fact: On January 3, 1959, President Eisenhower signed the official declaration which made Alaska the 49th state.

The formal transfer of the Territory was made at Sitka on October 18, 1867. The purchase price was $7,200,000.00.  For the mathematically challenged, like me, that breaks down to TWO CENTS an acre. Talk about black Friday sales!

Also, as a side note, there are people reading this blog who were not only alive when Alaska (and later that year Hawaii) became a state, but they probably remember it. It wasn't that long ago folks!

Fact: The land mass that is Alaska makes up over 20% of the United States territory.

That’s kind of like those “yo-mama” jokes you used to hear when you were in grade school. ‘Well, Alaska’s so big it has its own time zone’… oh, burn. –My infinite nerdiness never ceases.

Fact: Alaska's flag was designed in 1926 by a 13-year-old Native American boy, Bennie Benson, from the village of Chignik.

            Take that Betsy Ross.

So enough of the History lesson for today; experiences speak louder than words. I have already told you all about how amazingly friendly and trusting everyone is but some people are out right characters.  For example: last night we went to watch the SEC win for the 5^th year in a row at a BCS championship and met some local fishermen. We all started talking and I expressed how very upset I was at the unavailability of fresh fish on the island. It’s an Island for crying out loud and everyone here are fisher-people. They explained that to make a profit they have to sell it to the big-wig companies and not locally. So, the only way to get fresh fish is to go down to the dock and get it from a friend. – Great. So, I guess I’ll line up with the seagulls on the docks and bob up and down going “mine,mine” like from Finding Nemo.

Halftime rolled around and we decided to head to another venue. At the start of 3^rd quarter our new fisher-friend walked in the door and approached us smiling. He had gone home and gotten some of the smoked salmon he made the day before and said he would sell it to us for a deal. It looked amazing so we bought it and thanked him very kindly. I have no clue what fish goes for on the docks so I’m not sure what constitutes a ‘good deal’ but the price fit us fine. We asked how we would find him the next time we wanted more fish. He explained he would find us. I suddenly had the urge to hide the fish in my coat and keep walking nonchalantly.

Our server had observed the transaction and laughed with us when I told her I felt like I bought an illegal substance. She told us a story about men walking up to her with backpacks full of shrimp to sell but acting like they were selling Rolexes on the black market. Characters.  I guess if the black market around here consists of fresh fish, I’m not overly worried.

                        For the record though, the fish was fantastic and I hope he finds us again soon!

Fun times! You can’t meet a stranger here. Everyone wants to talk to you and help you out somehow. They’re all very interested to hear that we are from Arkansas. One man even knew someone who’s daughter’s first husband’s uncle used to live in Arkansas… or Arizona, he couldn’t ever keep them straight.

Love to you all,

S/A