Our new home

4-24-2014

     Our new house is not really a house. It's more like a shed with a window. I call it our walk-in closet with a bed. At least it's a full size bed and not a twin! There's a small porch off the front, just enough space for a chair. I wonder if we'll be able to add more on, so the deck could wrap around the side and we could sit and look into the woods, rather than at the mud out front. 

     The whole parking area in front was just torn up last fall for a new sewer system, and it froze before the rest of the dirt could be put back, so there's a huge pond/ mud-pit in front of our house. On the other side of the mud-pit is the Bunk House. It's not really a bunk house any more, but that's what it used to be and that's still the name. That's where the kitchen is, and the bathroom. Two bathrooms, actually. We could each have our own if we wanted to. And there are three refrigerators, so we're covered there. 

     I'm planning on making a lot more meals ahead of time and then freezing them, so we can have relatively fresh stuff without actually getting fresh ingredients every week. The closest store with fresh food is an hour and a half away. And it's 5 hours to Anchorage for any bulk item food. I'll be shopping for the whole month when I do. It's a different way of living. 

     The trees are all the same, boring, tall, scraggly mountain pines that aren't very pretty. It makes me miss Washington, and the temperate rainforest. A few things really make me miss it there, but so far I really like it here. The people have all been really great so far, and there's a sense of peace and independence that I just haven't found anywhere else but Alaska. 

     The mountains are not visible through the trees where we are, but a quarter mile down the road in any direction provides spectacular views. The mountains are so big here, and relatively spread out. It's like looking at three Mount Rainiers along a single horizon, with mountain sized foothills behind us, and wrapping around the sides. I wish I could take a picture but it's always just hazy enough that the snow blends with the sky in my photos, and the pictures all fail to represent what we're actually looking at. Just like Mount Rainier. You really just have to see it in person. 

     I'm excited to get out and explore it all. I really can't wait to fly over it. I'm not sure how likely that is for me, but it's a certainty for Luke. There is so much to see.