Our Alaskan To Do List

I'm making this official. Y'all can keep me accountable if I let us leave the Last Frontier without finishing my list.

Here it is, in all its glory:

1. See the Arctic Ocean
2. Enter the Arctic Circle
   
3. Watch the Northern Lights - DONE!
   
4. Experience Iditarod start in Anchorage
5. Take the Denali Bus Tour
6. Kenai Fjords National Park
   
7. Glacier Bay National Park
   
8. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
9. Hike a volcano
   
10. Go to the Midnight Sun Baseball Game
11. See the Yukon Quest (start or finish)
    
12. Ice Park
13. Walk on a glacier
14. Winter Solstice Festival
    
15. Wildlife/Glacier Cruise
16. Outhouse Races - DONE!
    
17. Anchorage
18. Anchorage Zoo
19. Polar Bear in the wild? (Completing this depends on whether or not we can find a way to do this safely)
20. Chena Hot Springs
21. Less Developed Hot Springs (Tolovana)
    
22. Permafrost Tunnel
23. Alaskan Railroad
24. Tour the super computer
25. Touch a musk ox
26. Visit Santa at North Pole - DONE!
    
27. Get a PFD!
28. Play with the super cold - water disappearing, bananas shattering, whatever.
29. Museum of the North
30. Alaskaland! (Pioneer Park) - DONE!
31. Salmon Bake (mmmm)
32. I'd like to see the salmon run at one point. Anyone know where I can see a river so full of fish that I could just reach in there and grab one? Or are those rivers all claimed by bears?
33. Ice Museum
34. Gold Mine (any one of the cheesy tourist attractions will suffice)

What an amazing place I live in.

Alaska is Awesome

Two license plates I've seen in Fairbanks this week:
WUHOO
and
PUCKOF

Oh Alaska, how I love you.

I could not get enough of Alaska today. Yesterday we went to Family Reading Time @ the Library and got a free book for the baby, then we went to the Literacy Council and found the cheapest used books in Fairbanks, hung out in Pioneer Park and enjoyed the weather, went to Home Grown Market for local food, and tucked my daughter into bed at 9:30 before sunset. Today, baby and I walked to the lake, checked out the musk ox farm, and enjoyed the sunset around 10.

Another reason Alaska is the best state of all time: people pass on their stuff. I went to say hi to my neighbors tonight (and bring them banana bread) and they offered me 2 grills, a patio set, and flower boxes for my porch! Sweet! I've been scouting the transfer sites for all of those things! I have also prayed for each of those things in the last week. Ask, and it shall be given to you. (Matthew 7:7) [That verse is NOT saying you'll get anything you want just by praying or asking for it. Intentionally misrepresenting bible verses might be a sin. Oh well, it's already typed; no way to fix it now.]

Alaskans are fantastic.

Outhouse Races

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I know my outhouse is the best, but I need a way to prove this to the world."?

Well, Alaskans have a solution to this age old quandry. We race them.

How do you race an outdoor commode? You strap skis to the bottom and get four friends to push you over the finish line!


Oh Alaska, you never cease to amaze me.