How it all started....

In 1992, Dick and I traveled to Alaska to get married.  We both had wanted to go there for a long time and decided that it would be a great place to get married and honeymoon.  So off we went, not knowing that this trip would be the kick off for a significant part of our life!

We arrived in Anchorage at 2 AM very tired, but excited.  We slept a few hours and then headed up to Palmer to the Alaska State Fair.  That evening we were married by a local minister and then headed to a local bar to have our "reception", LOL!  There was a colorful fellow in the bar who called himself Alaska Joe and he serenaded us.  After a few drinks and tall tales with the locals we headed to a restaurant for dinner.  I kid you not, I fell asleep at the table as it was 10 pm Alaska time which in my east coast world was 2 am!

We spent our honeymoon driving all around Alaska and marveling at the pristine beauty of the state.  Then we started looking at job openings and real estate prices in the classifieds.  We were hooked and kept saying, "wouldn't it be cool to live here?"

Fast forward to 1994 and Dick is sitting in his cubicle working away when he hears someone talking about a job posting in Alaska.  He reads the qualifications for the job and realizes that he meets every single criteria.  Ring ring ring --  I am sitting at work and my phone rings.  Dick says to me, "what do you think about moving to Alaska?"  Startled, I say where.  He says Fairbanks and I say well I'd rather live in Anchorage but what the heck.  He goes on the explain about the job opening etc etc and we decide he'd apply for the job!  To make a long story a bit shorter, he flew up to Fairbanks over Thanksgiving weekend for an interview and to check it all out.    It was -45º that weekend so he got a real flavor for real Alaska winter!  He started the job in February 1995 and I joined him after selling our house in Virginia in May.  

We spent 5 1/2 years fabulous years there traveling as much as we could during the summers in our pickup camper.  If you watched Ice Road Truckers you probably heard about Inuvik (NW Territories) in Canada, yep we drove there one summer.  You've probably seen photos of bears catching salmon at Brooks Falls in Alaska, yep we went there too.  It was the experience of a lifetime and I'm looking forward to making more memories this summer.

A photo from a favorite trip to Cordova, Alaska.  Pictured is Child's Glacier.