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Day 1: Anchorage – Whitehorse

Posted on May 9, 2013
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Today was the day when we started our 5,000+ miles in the truck from Alaska to Virginia. It was a sunny morning in Eagle River when we packed few last things into the truck, hopped in, and started driving. We had 690 miles of highway in front of us, and those miles flew by.

What a gorgeous day it was for driving! We had a great time, stopped every few hours to stretch our legs and let Tassu to sniff around. That little dog is such a great traveling companion. He was happily napping or looking at sceneries from the backseat. And of course making sure he got his share if we happened to munch any snacks.

From Eagle River we headed toward Glennallen, and Tok. We made it to Tok at lunch time, so stop at Fast Eddy’s was in order. The lunch was delicious: sandwiches, salad, soup…. And then 90 miles later we crossed the border, and were in Canada. Border crossing was, as always, a piece of cake. Some basic questions about where we are coming from and where we are going to, and we were good to go. After the border our trip continued to Whitehorse via Haines Junction. The roads after the border are bumpy. Very bumpy. Although I think they were better now than four years ago. However, even the truck got airborne a couple of times ….

We also saw some wildlife along the way: moose (of course, they are everywhere, all the time), a few caribou (and I was too slow to take pictures, and would have had only caribou butts to show), lots of swans, different kinds of ducks and bald eagles. And geesh, mosquitoes! There were quite a few big and mean ones about 50 miles from Whitehorse but they didn’t stop us from checking out an old bridge, collapsed log cabin and a little cemetery in the middle of nowhere.

Since it is getting late night in Whitehorse, and we have another long day ahead tomorrow, I will leave you with some pictures from today.

 

Ready to go!

Ready to go!

Truck before it got dusty and dirty.

Truck before it got dusty and dirty.

Fast Eddy's in Tok, AK.

Fast Eddy’s in Tok, AK.

Canadian...

Canadian…

Along the Alaska/Canada (ALCAN) highway. In Alaska.

Along the Alaska/Canada (ALCAN) highway. In Alaska.

Welcome to Yukon!

Welcome to Yukon!

An old-fashoned bridge, built in 1920'a.

An old-fashoned bridge, built in 1920′s.

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No Running, No Shopping But Eating Pizza

Posted on May 4, 2013
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Last night when I crawled to the bed, there was no snow on the ground anymore. And really, who would expect to see any snow in May? Not me, not even in Alaska.

But how wrong I was. This is what I woke up to:

Photo May 04, 9 18 43 AM

I had a long run scheduled for today but I decided to be a wimp. No matter what I tried to tell myself, there was no way I could convince myself to dress up once again like a Michelin man and head out. I need summer – sunny, warm days. In the morning I was working in my lab with hamsters, finishing up some research, and while at the university, I swear the snowflakes just kept getting bigger. There sure are days when Alaska is not making me happy.

And my day continued pretty much with a negative tone. Jason’s Grandma passed away earlier this week, and I did a quick stop at the downtown mall to see if I could find a two piece suit for the funeral. Banana Republic’s selection had apparently gotten significantly worse since my last visit at the mall – probably six months ago. No luck. Their Anchorage store didn’t carry anything formal looking. Nothing. In Lower 48 I often found pretty nice business outfits at Banana Republic…. disappointing. So my next step was Nordstrom. Which, by the way, doesn’t look like Nordstroms in Lower 48, at all. If you didn’t know, you’d think of being at Sears or Old Navy. Anyways, there was no single two piece suit in that store either. Nothing. In fact I was at the point where I would have bought any two piece suit without even looking at the price if I only had found one. So another major shopping disappointment in Alaska. No two piece for me but I guess my old black dress will do just fine.

Pigging out at a pizza restaurant made my day though. I had a chance to have lunch with one of my dear friends. And some girly time with pizza makes everything better – even a snowy day and unlucky shopping trip. But tomorrow’s long run will be even longer ……. gotta get that cheese off my waist although it was delicious.

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”― Mark Twain

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Finals Week

Posted on April 30, 2013
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It’s hard to believe how fast time flies by: it was  just few weeks ago (or feels like it) when I was standing in front of my nearly 30 students introducing myself. And here we are only a few days short from congratulating new graduates, and submitting the final grades to the student management system… spring and graduates are sure sign of the summer, even in Alaska.

Today is the big day. To my students. I finished their final exam last night – 7 pages of tough questions to answer in 75 minutes. After getting done with the exam, I have been grading homework assignments and weekly exercises nearly non-stop the whole night. And more to go through still …. I know how I will spend my nights this week.

Teaching at UAA has been such a blast and blessing this Spring semester. My students have been awesome beyond awesome, and I am proud of every single one of them. While Computer Science is not always the easiest subject to figure out, they have been working really hard while figuring out the problems. And I have learned so much from them. Every course  I have been teaching at the university level has taught me new pedagogical skills, making me a better professor. I have grown together with my students. And I dare claim we have had a great time – well, at least I have had fun…. hopefully my beliefs about being an extraordinary professor won’t be crushed when the class reviews come in.

 

 

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Saturday Sunshine

Posted on April 27, 2013
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IMG_6506_instantWhat a beautiful day it has been! Sun has been shining since the early morning, and days are getting warmer – even on the Last Frontier. Snow is melting, everywhere else but on the mountains as you can see on pictures. So we headed out to check out the running/skiing trails nearby. Despite my cold that apparently got worse this past week, thanks to all the flying I did.

It was a wonderful day. Hubby and the dog were goofing around while I was running. We had a great time, and made plans to return to Hatcher Pass in a few days – with snowshoes, or maybe with skis and skins, or snowboard. Some spring skiing & snowboarding sounds like a blast!

However, three miles were a joy, albeit really slow for someone running regularly 6:30 miles, and I am so hoping to feel better tomorrow. It’s hard to be fast when you have to cough or blow your nose way too often. But at the same time running shoes are so crying out loud my name, and begging to get out for a long run. And my Ironman training would greatly benefit from that too.

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P.S. The joy and surprise of the day came in the form of cheese today. After our outdoors stuff we ran some errands, including grocery shopping at the Commissary. More than one the Commissary has turned out to be a great place to find some tasty treats, such as Fazer Chocolate from Finland. And what did I see today?!? Bread Cheese. I haven’t seen the bread cheese since leaving Finland, which was like forever ago so no surprise, I was in heaven. Quick Google search also showed that Carr Valley Cheese ships this delicacy. Now I know where to find my bread cheese!

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Unaccompanied Baggage

Posted on April 26, 2013
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“You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.” ~Frederick Buechner

It sure is PCS (Permanent Change of Station) season. Neighbors are putting their houses on the market, old neighbors are moving out, new ones in…. I have been hugging friends who are leaving, bidding goodbyes, and making sure we have each other’s email addresses and phone numbers. We promise to stay in touch. Moving is a part of military life. Every few years the families pick up their stuff, move somewhere new, and rebuild their life. Our roots are grounded in our hearts are, not in physical locations.

When I got home from meetings tonight, and walked in through the garage, it hit me. Of course I knew my husband’s unaccompanied baggage had been picked up by the military movers yesterday but since I was busy with the work, I didn’t really pay attention to it. There is a huge empty spot in the garage where a few hundred of pounds of hubby’s military gear and some random stuff were piled up for the movers. It’s reality that his 6-month long Army training is starting in a few short weeks.  And before his class, we will be doing a cross-country road trip from the Last Frontier to the East Coast.

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