Time To Go Outside

With the fierce Alaskan winter rapidly approaching, Homer’s fisherman are pulling their boats from the water as they look forward to what next season’s halibut, salmon, or cod numbers will be like. In the same regards, it is time for us to once again pull up our anchor and get ready to move on. This time it is a little different though. We are not driving to an unknown city or state. Instead we are going back to where it all started. While we are not officially ending our travel careers, it does feel like the beginning of the end. While this is a sad notion to think about, the RIDICULOUS road trip we have planned and the prospect of being with friends and family for the holidays more than makes up for any disappointment.

Also, this road trip isn't just about being home for the holidays, it symbolizes that we are driving towards our future. And in typical Amanda and Charlie fashion, we are taking the scenic route. We anticipate covering about 8,000 miles of the US and Canada over the next month, before returning back to our old stomping grounds.

Route subject to change, but you get the idea.

Clearly, we have one heck of a voyage ahead of us. We figure, if we are going to road trip it back to PA, we are going to do it right. Scenic highways, National Parks, delicious food, and excursions galore, while visiting friends and family along the way. It really is the trip of a lifetime.

Since we have been busy planning all of this, we haven’t had much time for Alaskan adventures. It’s been pretty low key here, nothing too crazy to report. That doesn't mean we aren't still enjoying our time here though. Sallie and Dan invited the office staff over for a little going away party. We have been fortunate to work with an incredible group of people at Homer PT, so getting to have fun with them outside of work is just icing on the cake.

Amanda and I also got to experience our first Alaskan sauna. Saunas are a big deal up here. In the winter some people will sauna, jump in the freezing lakes, and then sauna again. Dan spends up to 4 or 5 hours at a time in their sauna. We did not desire to experience either of those scenarios, but it is surprising how well you sleep after baking at 120 degrees for about an hour. Amanda kept saying, “I felt like I was drugged.”

Our last big Homer event was a show that’s been years in the making. Sallie, along with the Homer Council On the Arts, managed to bring Quixotic to the Homer’s Mariner Theater. Quixotic is a music, dance, and acrobatics show that utilizes a multitude of visual effects to enhance the viewing experience. It is similar to Cirque du Solei, but not exactly. Bringing a show of this magnitude to a small town like Homer is no easy task. It was well worth the effort though as they performed to a packed house both nights while also having dates booked in Fairbanks and Anchorage. I don’t even know how to properly describe things like a mohawked guy spinning himself around in a giant metal hula hoop or an aerialist hanging 2 stories above the stage with nothing but a thin fabric sheet wrapped around the back of her neck. I wasn't always sure what was going on, but there’s no doubt I was thoroughly entertained.

Here’s a clip from a Quixotic performance to give you an idea.

From day one, we always dreamed of making it to Alaska. Our time here has been exactly what we hoped for, and then some. We have made some new friends and unforgettable memories here. A small part of me feels like we have unfinished business since we aren't experiencing the winter, but we have definitely taken full advantage of the time we had here. Besides, it just gives us an excuse to come back some day.

For the record, Amanda doesn't feel like there's unfinished business. Her main focus is quickly getting somewhere warm!

As we get ready to "go outside", which is the Alaskan expression for travelling to the lower 48, I am certain that we do so with no regrets. Also, if this should be the end of our travel PT days, we leave knowing we accomplished our goals and return to PA victorious. My friend Dave said it best, "You made it to Alaska. So, mission accomplished. You won."

A special thanks has to go to Clayt and Laura who helped us get settled here, shared with us all of their Kenai Peninsula knowledge, and have been tremendous adventure buddies. Melissa and Brady also deserve our gratitude because they were always willing to give us good Alaskan insight, helped introduce us to Homer, and kept us entertained. Darcy was a huge part of our success as she was willing to open her doors to us and quickly became our closest and most trusted friend. Last, but certainly not least, we extend a huge thank you to Sallie and everyone at Homer PT. We would have ended up somewhere in the Alaskan bush if not for Sallie. She is a gifted therapist who we have learned a lot from during our time at Homer Physical Therapy.

It is hard to believe that 5 months have come and gone. I can’t imagine what the next month on the road will be like. I definitely have no clue what happens after that. What I do know is that these last two years have assured me that together Amanda and I can handle anything, anywhere.

While we work diligently to pack the car and prepare for our big journey, kick back and relive all of our Homer memories!

It's Not Over Yet

I might not have been able to participate in the big bear hunt, but after a few low key weekends, a wonderful amount of sleep, and a disturbing amount of Netflix watching, I was back in action and ready to get my adventure on. 

The end of September and the autumnal equinox brought cooler temperatures, the first frost, and something they call termination dust.  Requiring an explanation, we learned that termination dust is the first snowfall that sticks to the top of mountains, signifying winter is on its way.  As a result, people are actively preparing for winter due to the quick turnover of seasons.  “Preparing” for winter seems to mean canning anything and everything you can get your hands on, getting as much hunting and fishing in as possible, cleaning up gardens, and preparing land and home.  People are working hard and at times looking for extra help.  Word reached us that a local non-profit (Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies) was looking for volunteers to work across the bay.  We jumped on this opportunity for another trip across the bay.  It also allowed us a chance to learn more about what goes on at the Peterson Bay Field Station, which we'd heard so much about.  They had enough work for two days, which made this an overnight excursion.  Overnight you say?  That means I’d finally got the chance to sleep in a yurt!  However, this was old news for Charlie who stayed in one just the weekend before when I was waist deep in Kleenex.

Believe me, I did NOT look nearly this cute!
1. My hair was less tame.
2. My nose was much bigger than hers...



Termination Dust
One month until the first low-land snow fall...so they say.

Before we move on, let me give you a little background on the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies (or CACS for short).  This is a non-profit organization that’s been around for 31 years and is centered around education, connecting people with nature, and the protection of Alaska’s coast.  They provide numerous educational programs throughout the year and opportunities for all ages that you won’t find many places.  The Homer and Kachemak Bay coastal ecosystem is quite unique and CACS enables people to connect with it, play in it, enjoy it, and thus actively learn about it.  It is a pretty neat organization.   

A hub for many of the CACS educational programs is based 5 miles from Homer, across Kachemak Bay, and located in the smaller Peterson Bay.  Here you will find a field station that was very cheaply sold to CACS by a local family.  Since that time it has been repeatedly renovated by a volunteer workforce.  You will also find heated yurts (a portable, round structure) built on platforms that allow overnight field trips, sleep overs, and work weekends to be quite comfortable.
 

Peterson Bay Field Station

Our group of 8 loaded into the Discovery, a large boat that took us across the bay on a rainy Saturday afternoon.  Once unloaded, we geared up in our work gloves and boots and were put to work hauling lots of lumber, which will be used to construct sturdy platforms for new yurts.  The following morning was spent dismantling a large yurt, which no one in our group had any previous experience doing.  Thus, it took a bit longer than planned.  Luckily we got the job done without any serious injuries! 



Floating Dock at Peterson Bay.
This allows boats to drop people off at various tides.
The dock is rigged to a man powered pully system.

Working hard to dismantle a yurt.

To keep us all happy and working hard the executive director of CACS, Beth, made sure we didn’t go hungry (mission accomplished!) and treated us to an evening of tide pooling.  As we’ve stated in the past, tide differences here are extreme with low tide revealing a pretty impressive marine world that is often covered in a few feet of water.  Charlie and I dabbled in tide pooling while in Washington, but Peterson Bay offers even more diversity and being guided by an expert clearly makes the experience more interesting.  So with head lamps donned we identified sea stars, chitons, anemones, crabs, nudibranchs, sea cucumbers, a sand lance, sea urchins, and of course all kinds of barnacles. 
 

Black Leather Chiton

Sand Lance

The work weekend doubled as cross training since we’ve been preparing to run a 10K in Anchorage.  The race was scheduled for the last weekend in September which turned out to be great timing for a drive north with fall foliage at its peak.  The race was a success, we were both happy with our times, but no records were broken.  By 10 am we were ready for phase two of the weekend – a drive further north to Talkeetna where we planned to rendezvous with our housemate Darcy and her parents who were visiting from Arizona.  We had a great weekend that was highlighted by quality time spent with quality people!
 

Post race.
We're all smiles!

Fall foliage with the Alaska range as a nice back drop.

Charlie welcomes you to Talkeetna!
Poplulation 876.

Darcy and her parents enjoying craft brews
at Denali Brewing Company.




K2 Aviation is stationed in Talkeetna.
They provide air travel to Denali
National Park for flight seeing tours
or a chance to summit Denali itself.

I've been working on this blog so long that it's now nearing mid-October.  What the heck!? 

Anyway, we now have just over two weeks left before we say goodbye to our Alaskan home and friends (new and old!).  The last month or so is when it becomes challenging to live in the moment because the end is looming and we are without plans for the next leg of our adventure.  Despite this, we do our best to  get out, hike trails we didn't previously get to, and participate in unique extracurricular activities.  This is all done in an effort to leave Alaska without any regrets.  With that said we've experienced beautiful sunsets, sunrises, changing vegetation; we had a glimpse of the reds and greens produced by the aurora borealis, learned more about wildlife poop than one may wish to know, watched 9 am Sunday football at a local bar while sipping an Irish coffee, and danced until we were dizzy at a local contra dance.  I won't get too sad yet, but it will be very difficult to leave the small town of Homer and the massive state of Alaska, both which we've learned to love.   



Breathtaking!  A sunset from our front porch.

To end on a positive note, Charlie and I have developed a post Alaska plan!  This was not an easy task, but after weighing every scenario we could think of, we've decided to embark on a huge cross country road trip that will lead us back to our home state of Pennyslvania.  We plan to spend about a month covering nearly 8,000 miles of Canadian and U.S. soil.  We'll be home for the holidays and have a home base where we'll decide exactly what is next.  Permanent or travel physical therapy positions, we'll be staying on the east coast where the adventures will continue!

Happy to have a plan!!