Alaska 08

Alaska- Well this is the second time I have begun this post. The first one has vanished thanks to my son hitting the power button. (Let’s say I trusted a 17 month old more than one should- sitting by me on the couch while I typed).

Anyway, here I am again. We did have a great time. We are so blessed to have so many people in our lives that we love and who love us. The friends we made in Alaska set such a standard for compatibility and friendship that it is hard to measure up. We grew together during our Northern adventure. We shared happiness, loneliness, laughter and tears. We became each other’s extended family. Now we are all in different placing in the world, but I feel that in our hearts we are all still in North Pole, AK, waiting on our husbands to come home from the desert, and our Thai rolls to come to the table.

Our last night in North Pole- 2006. Present: Angie, Katie and Becca, Robyn, Laura, Wes and Bo and Jake-- Missing: Ashlyn (sleeping), Ranger (eating neighbor's trash), Allen, John and Chris (deployed)

We hadn’t seen our friends, the Madden’s, since we left Alaska May 1, 2006. So much has changed in that time. They have a new baby, Sam, and their oldest, Bo, is now 2.5. We have also been blessed with little Wilson. We have moved to MT and then to WA. I am in grad school and Chris is out of the Air Force. Time flies.




During our time in the Great North we caught up (which only took three seconds- that’s how you know you are good friends) and we enjoyed watching our boys get to know one another.
Our first night we went to eat at the Pump House and the setting, as always, was amazing but the service, as always, was… well, Fairbanks. We also were able to see my Uncle Barb for a few minutes that night. She was on a land cruise with a friend. It is funny to think that we meet up with each other in Alaska. She was able to come and visit us in Alaska March of 06 (when Bo was born).


We spent at lot of our time at Pioneer Park, which is really a great place for the kids. I don’t remember ever going there when we lived there. Funny how kids change the way you see a city.




The boys played on the slide, swings, and (no surprise) wore themselves out by the end of each visit. The men even came to the park with us one afternoon and we rode the “choo-choooo” and had dinner at the AK Salmon Bake. During our stay we also took the boys to the river on Chena Hot Springs Rd. On our way there we saw 3 moose. The landscape hasn’t changed much. Alaska is a beautiful place. When we were driving around I felt like I was still living there, which was weird and nice at the same time. (I was completely overwhelmed with emotion when we drove by our old house. It was so strange. We experienced so much there. Dating. Engagement. Marriage. Deployment. Life.) Chris was able to catch up with some people from base and couldn’t believe how much the base has grown and changed. I was also able to catch up with my good friend Anne and her son Kyle. Her husband is deployed right now and the young kiddos were in Pennsylvania so I didn’t get to see everyone, but it was still great seeing Anne and Ky.



We ate amazing salmon almost every night. One evening I fixed spinach dip, which some of you will hopefully smile when you think of all the dinners we’ve shared with spinach dip and Hawaiian bread as our appetizer. We also had some awesome Wolf Rum dessert. I ordered the same old, same old-Chocolate Fusion. Delish. I think the last time I ordered that I ended up getting it for free. Thanks to my Ace Venture skills and a bet with Allen.




I hope that it is not another two years that we see each other. I still like the idea of finding a city that we all like and all of us moving there. Sorry though, I don’t see it being Fairbanks. How ‘bout Spokane or Knoxville??