The Last Week

This week has been totally chaotic. We had the Conference for work last week, which went really well but was insanely stressful. I have been moving at a snail's pace ever since then just trying to recover. The last thing I need is to show up in Alaska sick and totally drained.

All my course work for the semester is done, and I just have a few more small paperwork things to do at work before I can offically seal everything up at the office for the summer.

I got a card yesterday from a good friend of mine, actually it was a birthday card, just a bit belated. It was actually really good to read it this week, she wrote about how she hoped I was settling into Mankato, and making this place my home, even if its only for a short while, and that she hoped I was meeting people that would become close to me. The timing of this card was actually perfect. I thought about it, and this place really has become more of a home to me than I ever would have expected. There are people here that mean so much to me, and saying good-bye to them is going to be really difficult. Though, there is comfort in the fact that in a few months I get to come back to the people at school, at chuch, and at work that make my life so enriching while I am here.

This is going to be a busy week full of saying farewell to alot of people who have meant so much to me this year and have made Minnesota so dear to me.

Starting this morning... I'm off to church. Only 4 more days in Mankato.

Travel Plans

10 days and counting until I leave for Alaska and I'm starting to figure out where to stop where to stay and how on earth I'm going to spend 4 days in a car! I've heard the drive is amazing!

Tentative Itinerary:

May 4th: Mankato to Regina, SK
May 5th: Regina, SK to Hinton, AB

Then I'm going to spend 6th in Hinton hanging out with a good friend from Grad School.

May 7th: Hinton, AB to Muncho Lake, BC
May 8th: Muncho Lake, AB to Haines Junction, YT
May 9th: Haines, AK!

The Last American Frontier

The countdown is officially down to 15 days. Oh geez! I don't know that I'm totally prepared for what I am about to go do, but I'm getting there.

I was chatting with a friend of mine from High School when I was back in Chicago over Easter and was talking to him about Alaska. He was saying how he has thought for years that I was born a century too late. That I would have loved to be a part of the exploration of the US, traveling in wagon trains and exploring the untouched woods of the great west. He said that Alaska is perfect for me, it gives me that chance to stretch out the explorer in me.

The more I read about Alaska the more I hear people talking about it as the Last American Frontier. This is an arguable point, i realize, but all the same, its completely foreign to me. I don't just want to go to Alaska, I need to go to Alaska. I need to be 23 and do take advantage of the life that I have before me. I think there is something to be said for putting roots down and really becoming a part of some place specific, but for now I know I'm not ready for that. To put it proverbially, I still need to figure out what kind of soil I can grow best in.

Anyway, I've been trying to get in a bunch of paddling to get ready to spend a summer on the water (or at least that's where I think they are going to have me for most of the summer). Yesterday I was out paddling on the Minnesota when this awesome little beaver popped up next to my boat. He was awesome, we moved along in the river for a little bit together, me padding and he diving for something under the water and then he went on his merry way. Sometimes even on the rivers right along the highway you can find little treasures.

T-minus 28 days!

Holy nut! It's less than a month til I leave for AK! I'm getting super stoked. Even went out for a paddle the other day on the Minnesota, but it was like being on a river treadmill. There was some serious current going on.

Anyway, the offical departure date from MN to start heading north is May 4th! Which means I should be in Edmonton by the 5th and in Skagway on the 8th in time to drive into Haines and start trip prep stuff on the 9th!

School is winding down, and the conference for work is in two weeks... which means I'm ramping up training and reading to get me ready to be leading trips in a whole new climate, environment, and with a brand new company. Gosh I love a good adventure. My friend Hoover says I have the spirit of a frontiersman. I love it.

This is where I am going to be living when I'm not in the field. My awesome portable apartment that my grandfather got for me. Complete with "no see em" netting so I don't get carried off by all the little black biting things at "night".

More pre-Alaska stuff soon!