Mancations and surprises!

Right, I’ll just get right to it.

Scott made it back from his epic mancation safe and sound. I left off last when the boys were on their way through the Wild West and heading towards the Grand Canyon.  After they arrived they walked around part of the south rim taking pictures and going off on trail hikes. When I asked what it was like Scott said (ever so eloquently), “It’s big… really big… much bigger than you think, big.” They camped the night in the park before packing up and heading off the next morning.

5-6 hours later they unloaded in Las Vegas. They stayed the night at the Mirage and spent time in Caesar’s Palace.  But time wasn’t on their side—less than 24 hours later they were off again keeping the desert road hot to LA. When they reached LA they made sure to see a few places Scott and I missed when we were there in December. First on the agenda was the Observatory and Hollywood sign. How I missed out on those, I don’t know. Next, they went back to the Getty Center (where we spent a 5 hours and only saw 2 of the 7 buildings in December). But now Scott has racked his Getty total up to 4. Have I mentioned how unbelievably HUGE this place is? From there our daring duo took off for the coast. Malibu at sunset was the perfect way to end the day.

Bright and early on day 6 they were off again, ever ready for the next adventure. The destination in mind was Yosemite National Park. They reached the gate around sunset and thought they were there in plenty of time to set up camp. What they didn’t know was that it would take them another 1 ½ of driving through the park to get to their campsite. Again, it was big… really big. The first day they saw incredible things like the Half Dome, El Capitan, Bridal Veil Falls, and Cathedral Rock. Not bad for one picture! After a rainy night, the boys woke dry and ready for a day of hiking. Good for them. I would have wimped out looong ago. When I asked Scott how the experience made him feel I got, “It was snowy” for my answer. This is why I do the blog typing.



Half Dome, El Capitan,
Bridal Veil Falls, and Cathedral Rock 



Bridal Veil Falls



At the park he found a place with cell reception long enough to tell me he would be home late Sunday night (three days later) and that he wouldn’t have reception most of the way. Silly me believed him. Saturday night—4 am (technically Sunday morning) I got a call from a road weary man at my front door to come unlock it and let him in. J J J I didn’t know I could be so happy at 4 in the morning! Sneaky boys drove straight through the night to get back home sooner. 

Thus was the perfecting ending to the epic mancation.

And it’s a good thing too because while out on the open road Scott received a call…

He got the hospital pharmacist job in Branson!!!!

That’s right folks; home sweet home for the Dr. William Scott Hickeys is now Branson, Missouri. He starts June 13^th at Skaggs Regional Medical Center. We’re going up this weekend to look at houses and I’ve already been scouting breeders for my first puppy! Trust me, I waste no time. This day has been four years coming and we are SO excited!

Next week: Fun In The Sun, Graduation Celebration—Mexico style!!!! 

Love-love-love,

S/A

Man-cation: Part 1



Well, for those of you who don't know; Scott and his friend Joseph have set out for the Wild West. This all started as an epic idea several months ago. The original plan involved a three week road trip stopping in every major state park west of the Mississippi, LA, and several monasteries along the way. This seemed a little ambitious to me so they scaled it down to about a third of its original size. Even with an editing eye on the planning, it is still a huge undertaking of an adventure.



Blown over trailer 2



Blown over trailer 1

The duo took off early Friday morning around 6am and drove out the panhandle of Oklahoma before turning south and heading through part of western Texas. There had been nasty storms blow through there the night before and the guys were still catching the tail end of them. Everyone learns about the dust bowl in school as a child but they got to see what it really meant. Scott sent me pictures from his iphone for photographic evidence.



He said as they were driving down the road the wind was blowing 40 mph with gusts up to 60mph. There were semitrailers blown over all over the place. The first one they saw, they assumed was an accident but after the sixth or seventh they realized what was happening. The wind damage could be seen where road signs were blown off and water towers were almost knocked over. The dust from the dust bowl was flying around in a dirty brown haze, clouding the horizon. He even said they had a tumbleweed stuck in the grill of the car... You know you're in the Wild West when tumbleweeds get involved. 



All we are is dust in the wind

Leaning water tower of Texas



 

After leaving west Texas they drove into New Mexico where they camped for the night by a lake in Albuquerque. Now that is one long haul for a day. I'm sure they solved the world’s problems while simultaneously making colossal scientific breakthroughs. :) This is what man-cations are about.

This morning they broke camp around 8am and started the rest of their drive to the Grand Canyon where they will camp and hike for a couple of days. They say they aren't tired yet and that spirits are high which is good because they still have nine days and countless miles to go. Scott said he'll try and find some place with wifi where he can upload some pictures from the camera and email them to me to share. 

I'll keep the updates coming- All our love

S/A 



NM camp



Of business and pleasure

I can’t believe we’ve only been home for a week. I feel like Alaska is a distant memory and everything back home was just put on pause, awaiting our return. I’ve continued to substitute teach now that we are back and Scott has been enjoying his month off. Saturday was Daddy’s birthday and we were able to celebrate with him on Thursday before we skipped town (Happy Birthday again Daddy!). After taking the week to see all of our friends and family here in Fayetteville we headed south to meet up with our UAMS crew in Little Rock.

Thankfully, business down there didn’t take very long and we could skip right over to the pleasure aspect. It was so GREAT to see them. It had been more than the three months we were gone since we had hung out with this group and there was much eating and catching up to do.

It’s a fact: Food brings people together. Good food and drinks make that time unforgettable. In our three years living in the Rock we managed never to dine at The Oyster Bar three blocks away from our apartment. Upon strong suggestion from a fellow student and friend we decided it was high time. We had the fried oysters and clam strips with sides of fried okra and boiled shrimp. God bless southern food!

Of course we also hit up our favorite Mexican restaurant and Sushi joint. Good eats all around.

I know our time together with friends and family before graduation is fleeting. I’ve never been in a part of my life where I might move and stay somewhere. I’ve not lived in the same place for more than 9 months in the last six years. This move home from Alaska put me at number 11. I’m ready to put down roots but uncertainty of the future is always daunting.

Scott is preparing to leave on his man-cation this weekend with his childhood friend, Joseph. I will let him tell you all about it when he returns… hopefully in one piece.

All our love,

S/A

Birthday Boy!

Oh how quickly time flies when we’re having fun. Another year has come and gone and our dear William Scott is 26. He’s officially on the downslide of his twenties. Upon quick reflection of 25, the year was good to us. We left Little Rock for the last time. He gained hands on experience in many different fields of pharmacy. We had a grand adventure in a faraway places. We escaped tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis, and Sarah Palin. All in all it wasn’t a shabby year.

I must say though, I have very high expectations for 26. This spring alone brings us his graduation from pharmacy school and a celebratory vacation to Mexico. Not to mention the prospect of new jobs, new houses, and possibly a new city. It’s going to be a hard year to top, I can tell already.

Scott’s mom asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and having been back from Alaska for less than 24 hours the answer wasn’t hard to come by. The weather was in the 70’s, perfect, glorious sunshine, so a cook out was in order. We grilled out burgers and hot dogs, baked up some beans, had cold potato salad, and chocolate covered strawberries. For his birthday “cake” he reverted to his childhood and decided upon “Dirt Cake”.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Dirt Cake I have provided pictures. Inside the bucket is chocolate pudding layered between crushed Oreos. All of this to be toped unceremoniously with gummy warms and fake flowers, for dramatic effect. It is heaven at any age. Unfortunately, I think it confused our 16month old niece to see all the adults she loves and trust devouring dirt so gleefully.

After cards and presents the men folk went to play Settlers of Catan in the middle of the living room. If you don’t know what this board game is you: A) don’t know Brian Hickey B) not of the male gender under the age of 35 C) don’t know Brian Hickey.

Nothing can replace time well spent with family and friends. I’m glad we made it home in time to celebrate.

Love you all,

S/A

Top 10 things I learned during our time Sitka

1.       You become a true Alaskan when you can pronounce the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi without stuttering.

2.       Just because it is in the 20’s and raining doesn’t mean recess is cancelled.

3.       The only two topics of conversation are daylight and Alaskan Airline miles.

4.       Pizza/ Mexican restaurant is a normal combination of eateries.

5.       There is no such thing as a “value menu”.

6.       Beer is an acceptable form of currency.

7.       There are three plumbers in Sitka and none will turn off your water or defrost your frozen pipes for you.

8.       You can tell who isn’t a local by the types of socks you wear.

9.       “Kake” is a village not a tasty dessert.

10.   You can’t own enough gortex or wool.






Kids at recess on a cold wet day



Sheet'ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi
Preforming Arts Center





 



First day in Sitka: Sun at "high" noon



Freezing in layers and layers
of gortex and wool



"Back to the place where they still say grace"

So, I once quoted The Lion King to say “home is where your rump rests”. In theory this is true. You can make just about anywhere home with a little courage and the right person by your side. I have no doubt that we will someday very soon be faced with this directive but—man, there is just no place like home with your mamas.

Our journey home from Sitka was a long one but thankfully, very smooth. We ate dinner at The Nugget Diner in Sitka’s microscopic airport on the 31^st and then flew off for Anchorage with a quick pit stop in Juneau. We had a short layover in Anchorage where we tried to stretch our legs and get snacks before take off at 11pm. Our flight was an overnight flight to Chicago which was great because I thought we would sleep through the whirling time vortex of doom. Best laid schemes, eh? We managed to land on the only row on the whole overnight flight that didn’t recline. Joy. Needless to say, sleep was not forthcoming.

We touched down in Chicago this morning around 8:30am (central time). In order to uphold good trip juju, we ate at Wolfgang Pucks for symmetry. Despite exhaustion, it was still delicious. Pushing on like soldiers off to war we found our gate and waited… mostly unconscious. When it was time to board we flung ourselves in our seats and waited for it to be over. Dramamine is great but I should have tried something stronger to conk us out on the puddle jumper.



Fayetteville, AR-- HOME!!



Half in a dream, we came out of the cloud bank and landed in sunny Tulsa, Oklahoma around 2pm. The Red Buds are blooming, the Jonquils are aglow, and spring green is everywhere! I love it! We grabbed our luggage and made a run for the door only to be caught by surprise…



A little quick background here; I thought Scott’s parents were picking us up because Marma was teaching and said she couldn’t get off work because of all the missed school days during snow-ocalypse.

Now, back to the story-- As I made my way through the revolving doors of death I was greeted by a tiny blonde woman in purple whom I love. My wonderful (and sneaky) Marma had taken the afternoon off to come surprise me and pick us up. In true dramatic movie form, I dropped my bags and ran to her, crying and hugging her till I thought she’d pop.



Our little journey home



Our times are all messed up because we lost three hours jumping time zones and we haven’t slept in a couple of days. We’re in that weird limbo of ‘to nap or not to nap’.  Tomorrow is our little Dr-to-be’s 26^th birthday so, undoubtedly, there is much to celebrate this weekend. We are glad to be home with our families and can’t wait to see everyone over the next week.

I was going to try and find some witty way to end this blog but I feel like my brains have been scattered between here and Alaska. Though, our Alaskan adventure has come to completion I’ll keep up the blog so our friends and family near and far can keep up with us in our upcoming chapters of life: graduation, Mexico, and unknown future plans.  

All our love and gratitude to everyone who supported us along the way,

S/A