Sweet Sweet Anchorage!

It is necessary to let you all know the adventures of the week, because this is a sweet town and you can't stay idle long. Monday, was the 5th, but celebrated like the 4th so no one was working. I took the time to get things ready for Chels to get here.

I was able to get a storage unit and so I went there and unloaded the U-Haul. Luckily, I was able to procure the help of two strapping young lads to assist with the piano. Everything else I was able to get out by myself. It took me a good two or so hours, but it is done.

I tidied up and organized a little and then went driving around town so I would be slightly more oriented. I also drove to the airport just to make sure that I knew where I was going (in order to pick up Chelsea the next day).

Also I was going to report the next day so I spent some time getting my uniforms looking sharp and organized. Called Chels and told her that I was excited to see her.

Tuesday: I woke up and went running. Got ready, called my unit's command support office (CSO) and didn't get anyone. I thought that was pretty wierd, but whatever. I decided to head over the Artic Warrior Orientation building and see what I needed to do to get checked in and start in-processing.

As I was walking out to the car some guy asked, "You going in to work today?" I replied that I was new and was trying to start in-processing. He then kind of laughed and said, "you aren't going to get very far today. Today is a PACAF Family Day, no one will be at work today." So, another day free to do as I pleased.

I took the U-Haul in and got that all squared away and they didn't make me pay for the trailer jack handle that sheared off earlier because it looked rusted. So, since I was by myself I took my bike along with me and planned on biking back to base via some trails I saw on a map.

Just so happens that Anchorage has some 90 miles of trails within its city limits and hundreds to thousands of acrea of parks (which could be consider more like clumps of forests with little paths through them). I found that there is like an entire network of trails within these parks complete with bridges, signs, paved/unpaved paths, lines on the pavement. It was intense, and this is what I felt like.

Among some of the cooler things, until I got lost was that along the trails are wild raspberries (not yet in season, but there will definitely be a return trip). Also, once I reemerged into civilization and found myself I smelled some delicious BBQ. Then, what to my wondering eyes should appear, a BBQ kiosk. This little shack of goodness made my journey so exquisitely delightful that I had to take a picture of the little shack. I had a beef brisket sandwhich, and the gentleman planned ahead and gave me six napkins (which were all used).

Tuesday still had plenty of day left in it so I went around town and saw some of the city. By this time my legs were starting to get tired but I realized I still needed to be up and going for about another 7 hrs in order to pick up Chels, but here is a few pictures of Anchorage. I included a wall mural of the Iditarod above the Post Office.

After all this I went and saw Prince of Persia and then went to the southwest part of Anchorage to a place called Kincaid Park (it was about 11:30pm by this point). I ended up seeing a cow moose and two calves one block after the last house. What a cool place.

I picked up Chelsea and we came back and went to sleep. I will have to mention that this is the first day since for over a week that I have seen darkness. I go to sleep and it is light and then I wake up and it is light. It is super cool!

Wednesday: Chelsea is here!! (Hooray!!) She slept most of the day, since I think she was striving to recover from the two hour lag and having stayed up nearly till 4:00am (according to the reckoning that she was used to).

I however went to a briefing and then met my sponsor, who was elected that day by the commander to be my sponsor, since they didn't know I was coming. Well anyway I now have a sponsor and I start orientation on Tuesday of next week.

Thursday: Wow the week is already flying by. But the cooler stuff is near the end of the week so I will dispense with no more about this day except to show a picture of this flower that looked to me to be a glorified piece of lettuce.

Friday: We went to the Anchorage Temple which was really neat. It is a quaint little temple and has some amazing design things. We also started calling about houses or apartments and left tons of messages, but nothing yet. Alas, we still ended up having a good day.

Saturday: We did several things one of which was catch the tail end of Germany vs. Uruguay. Following which we went for a bike ride on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. It is a 11 mile ride along the coast that takes you down into Kincaid Park. We did about 5.5 mi then turned around and came back. We figured we would do the second half later.

After that we went down town for a little, because on Saturdays they have a market full of local vendors. It was really cool and we saw this kid playing an electric violin, which was really cool. We thought of Melanie.

After that we went to this sweet place called the Bear's Tooth Theatre Pub. It is a movie theatre, but you order food and then they bring it to you in the theatre. It was great! We watched How to Train Your Dragon, which was really good.

Hopefully this next week is also full of excitement and fun!