Finally here!!

Yesterday was a pretty short day but it felt like the longest day yet. We dropped Claire and Lindsey off at their bus stop around 6:30 am so they could catch their ride to Denali. Brie and I had to drop the rental car off and get checked in before our 8:15 flight to Dillingham. I would have to say that checking in our bags yesterday on Penair was the most uneventful experience yet on this trip. We didn't have to go through security and the kind lady at the checkout counter only charged us for 1 overweight bag even though we had 5.

Our flight from Anchorage to Dillingham was pretty good. It was a big enough plane so the ride wasn't very bumpy which is a good thing because I don't think Brie would have wanted me to get sick on her!! It was raining when we landed in Dillingham and I would say Brie and I stood out like a sore thumb because I walked into the Airport/Room with flip flops on and no coat while Brie had on jeans with no coat. Think about this image, everyone at the airport was wearing rain gear, rubber boots or at least some kind of hiking boot; i had flip flops on.

Our wait in Dillingham before leaving for New Stuyahok was about an hour. Most people wouldn't complain about that but we were told that Penair sometimes cancels flights if its raining or cloudy for that matter so the longer we waited the more worried we got. We finally were able to bored our flight to New Stuyahok on the smallest plane I have ever been on. The belly of the plane was about 8 ft off the ground and the seating was similar to that of a bus once we got on board. The pilot and copilot were about a foot or so in front of me so I had to luxury of seeing all the gadgets and gizmo's during the flight. When the pilot went though the safety things he didn't even turn around; it was pretty funny. I think the best thing we invested in for this trip was motion sickness pills. The ride into New Stuyahok was about 45 minutes of pure stomach hell!! It was raining, windy and cold outside and hot as crab on the inside of the cabin because the pilot had the heater on full force!!

Alaska is a beautiful state and we were able to see that first hand yesterday on our flight here. I think we got about 2-3 thousand feet up so the views we had were amazing. There were a lot of little lakes and rivers along our route; we both said now we understand why its not very settled out here. Once we landed we got a ride into town by a local guy named John. He was a very nice guy and was talking to me a little bit about hunting. The first part of August is Caribou hunting season and then later in August it becomes Moose hunting season. I am very excited to learn and just see some of these amazing animals. John noticed my gun case when he loaded our bags into his truck and asked me about it on our way into town; he seemed impressed with what I brought so hopefully that is a good thing.

Its been raining for about 4 days now according to some of the people we have met. They are hoping it stops soon because its a cold rain and limits what you can do outside. We met Bob the Principal of the school where Brie is going to be teaching; he is a very nice guy and seems very dedicated to his job and helping the people around here. He gave us a tour of the village and school. The village is pretty small but seems well organized. A lot of the people live in HUD homes; don't ask me what those are because I am not sure. I think they are government built homes. They do have a boys and girls club in town but its not very busy at the moment. I hope to get involved soon. Bob said he would put me in contact with people at the Boys and Girls club so I can help out with anything that comes up.

All of our bins and boxes made it here. Our TV works great and my work computer is up and running. I don't have access to my work yet because I have to call and set up the server; found that out yesterday when I tried to log in. I am hoping for an easy fix and able to start working on Monday. Our apartment is really nice. We have a really nice sized kitchen with plenty of counter space. They supplied us with a nice fridge, microwave and oven. We also have a washer and dryer in our apartment along with a big freezer for meat and things. We have gone through a few things so far but everything is a mess at the moment. We are hoping to get things put away today so we can relax tonight and tomorrow.

Pictures will be coming soon!!!

Bags a plenty!!

Today has been pretty uneventful which to some people might seem a bit boring but considering yesterday we are pretty happy with boring. We basically took today to figure out our remaining bags and what we wanted to ship before we fly out tomorrow. The first thing we had to do was venture to Wal-Mart in Eagle River; this Wal-Mart has the most amazing view ever. I think we all decided that if Corporate Wal-Mart has pictures of all their locations this would be in the top 5 of amazing views. After our trip to Wal-Mart we had to go back to the airport to pick up our luggage; last night when we changed flights our luggage didn't quite make it to the plane in time so it came in a few hours after we landed. It wasn't a huge deal other than the fact that I could shower which was gross and if you know me at all then you know that showering is very important to me and something I do first thing every morning; it is now 7:52 pm here and I just got out of the shower for the first time today! GROSS!!!

Once we picked up our luggage we headed to Sam's Club to buy our meat, dairy and frozen items. I would have to say this Sam's Club was the smallest one I have ever been in. They had 3 frozen sections in total so our options were very slim. We were able to get the bare essentials luckily. We made a 2nd trip to Wal-Mart just because we love it so much and wont have one for 10 months; we also got another cooler for our food. Brie, Claire and Lindsey are now on their way to Target to do some shopping; they are supposed to pick me up a t-shirt to wear tomorrow so hopefully its not girly or stupid because I don't want the first impression of the people in our new home to be a bad one based on my shirt. hahaha

We are heading back to the airport tonight so Claire and ship her bin(s) out; we thought the post office stayed open later here but unfortunately it closes around the same time as any other post office in the country....Thanks Claire!! Brie and I are going to drop off our 2 coolers full of food at the airport tonight because they have big freezer/coolers for storage. We are hoping to have as little of luggage tomorrow as possible since these planes aren't very big. We just hope that they have enough room for me to fit!!

That's all for now. Tomorrow is the big move to New Stuyahok. Wish us luck and decent weather!! I hope I don't throw up on these planes tomorrow!!

From delayed to delighted

Today was quite the adventure. We arrived at the Airport with plenty of time to spare but soon found out that our flight into Detroit was delayed until 5:15 which turned into 6:00 then 6:59. Claire was nice enough to book it from O'Hare's Concourse L to Concourse E to join us while we awaited our departure. Claire was scheduled for a direct flight 2 hours after ours and we decided to go grab a beer to kill some time. We met two interesting guys; one of which was a film and tv show producer named Michael Russel with a resume about a mile long of awards he's received over a 40 year span in the business. The other gentleman's name was Siggy and he was originally from Iceland which Claire found to be interesting since she had spent some time in Iceland the year before.

The adventure continued when we returned to our gate to find out our flight was now delayed until 6:59 but our connecting flight out of Detroit was still on time and scheduled to leave at 7:20. I decided to ask a guy at the Delta counter what we should do and without hesitation, he decided to transfer us to a nonstop flight to Anchorage on Alaska Air. We had to haul a** from our gate down to baggage claim to get our bag and my gun, then head to the ticket counter for Alaska Air to check our bags again and of course pay the baggage fee again. We made it to our gate with just a few minutes to spare. We lucked out because it was the same flight as Brie's sister Claire, so she graciously loaded up a cart and took our carry-ons over to speed up the process while we reacquainted ourselves with security. The other lucky part is the fact that our flight has free WIFI, thus the reason we're able to message from 34,000 feet up!

With all of this you can obviously understand our delight from a delay with Delta. Tomorrow is a new day and will most likely be a new adventure for us to share with you!

Packing the final belongings!

Well today is Monday and Brie is on her way back to Wisconsin. I am here trying to finish my homework and load my suitcase. How does a person know what to pack and what not to pack? I think every time I go on a trip or something that requires me to take a suitcase I always end up forgetting something or I pack to much......I think Brie will agree to that when I packed for our Honeymoon last year. She says I pack like a girl but I don't; I just like having options sometimes.

We leave tomorrow night for Chicago. Plans have changed a bit; we were supposed to drive into Lancaster, WI and spend the night at Brie's folks house but we all decided that driving straight through to Chicago tomorrow would be a better option. I will enjoy sleeping in Wednesday morning, I am hoping for at least 7:00. I think my internal clock just doesn't want me to sleep much more than 6-7 hours.

Well I should probably get back to my homework. This paper is not going to write itself here. My next post will be from Anchorage, AK on Wednesday or Thursday. I am looking forward to this adventure!!