Climbing

Scott and I decided to try climbing Mt. Baldy yesterday, which is a popular place to hike in Eagle River. It was really warm out, almost too warm, and the higher we went, the warmer it got! It used to be just the opposite. Climbing upward (what seemed to be vertical at times) was a challenge, but coming back down was a lot harder because there was loose gravel, rocks, and dirt everywhere.

The winding ribbon of highway leads to Anchorage, and you can see the ocean beyond that. The big white roof in the middle is Wal-mart and our house is somewhere right behind that.

Scott at the top.

The Chugiak area, which is north of Eagle River.

Me at the top.

Looking up at the top from 3/4 of the way up.

Wal-mart, again, is off to the left.

The town of Eagle River. That's the ocean in the background.

Pictures

My flowers so far...



The temperature at 6:30pm on May 26th. If I would've had my camera with me last night, I would've taken another picture. It was 73 degrees at 9:30pm.



Taken from our front porch at 11pm on May 26th.

Where am I supposed to shop?

These are just the thoughts in my head as I sit staring at my new Fossil purse that I had to pay $14.95 to have shipped from Macy's...

One of the biggest dilemmas I've seemed to be faced with here is that of where to shop. For those of you that don't live in Anchorage, there are two malls and one is pretty sizeable. But there are also only two department stores. JCPenney's and Nordstrom's. There's The Gap, Eddie Bauer, American Eagle, Old Navy, Kohl's, Target, etc., etc. But when it comes to looking for specific items that I know I want or need, sometimes I need more variety than that. For example, I miss Macy's a lot. I didn't buy all of my clothes there, but it was where I shopped for purses, and it was the best option I could think of for a semi-formal dress. Two months ago, when I needed to find a dress for the Army ball, I was brought to tears a couple of times by the lack of shopping here. JCPenney's had nothing that didn't look like either a 14 year-old or 45 year-old should be wearing it. There was no middle ground. Nordstrom's had a few dresses, but I didn't feel like spending the kind of money they were asking on a dress that was just okay and wasn't something I'd actually want to wear and feel good in. I visited David's Bridal (they do have one!) in South Anchorage once, but the customer service in Alaska is the same as it is in Pennsylvania. You PA brides will be happy to know that it is, in fact, not just you! I was quickly reminded why I did not use David's Bridal for my own wedding, and I left the store in a hurry. I actually entertained the thought of going home just to do some shopping (and get a new phone! Verizon phones can't be activated in Alaska because there are no digital towers. It hurts to talk about the ridiculousness of all that though, so another day...). I spent many hours on the Macy's website, credit card in hand, wondering what I should do and if I should order. Then, I visited the Nordstrom's website. They had 500% more dresses on the site than they did in the store here. I found one, thinking I could at least take it back to the store if it didn't work, and that is the dress I ended up wearing to the battalion ball. Accessories were another issue entirely, but I could probably go on about that forever...
Alaska has some wonderful features to it, obviously, and Anchorage is a regular, developed city. There are some things that it does not have and I didn't realize I would miss these until I didn't have them and they were 4,100 miles away (well, technically, I could fly to Washington state if I was desperate, which some people do). No: Victoria's Secret, Boscov's, Bon-ton, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Macy's, Sheetz, Verizon, Panera, TJ Maxx, Staples and I'm sure I can think of more. I probably spend a lot of time thinking about what I miss compared to thinking about what I have. There is Kohl's, Old Navy, Best Buy, Coldstone Creamery, Dairy Queen, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot, Kay Jeweler's and I'm sure I can think of much more. Perhaps the best thing about shopping in Alaska is that there is no sales tax. It's a great place to buy a car!

Battalion Ball

This past Thursday was the 425th BSTB Battalion Ball. I've discovered that you have to know what you're talking about here concerning the military, because it has a language all of it's own. It's kind of strange how it's becoming so common in my everyday life. Like I said, I never saw myself doing this. I thought for awhile that I would need a chart, and I actually contemplated designing a flow chart for myself, just so I could easily explain it to those who asked, but I think I've got it all in my head now.
We are part of the Brigade Special Troops Battalion (BSTB) at Ft. Richardson, AK. Let's just leave it at that for now. I'm very slowly getting to know people and understand where they fit into the framework of the Army. Going to the ball was definitely an Army learning experience! But anyway, here's a few pictures from the ball. Justine, my brother Denny's girlfriend, took most of these for us on our porch/balcony.

Plans that go awry

I've spent a lot of time thinking about starting a blog. Most of my friends here in Alaska seem to have them, and I've been encouraged to start one for myself. I hear it's a great way to keep in touch with the people at home. Home being Pennsylvania. I think it would also be practical and beneficial to have a record of things that I can reflect back on after we leave Alaska, almost like a photo album.
The most difficult part for me was a title. I've never been very good at "titling" things. How can you describe your life, that your writing about, in only a word or two? For some, that might come easily, but definitely not for me. I tossed around a few ideas in my head and on the layout page, but none seemed exactly right (One was something about living in the land of the midnight sun, and other Alaskan titles). So I started thinking about why I was starting a blog in the first place...My life has changed A LOT in the last two years. If I was living in my hometown in Pennsylvania, would I have a blog? Umm no. If I wasn't a brand-new Army wife living almost as far away from home as possible, would I have a blog? If I wasn't experiencing something completely new on an almost daily basis, would I have a blog? Would I feel the need to document my days? Probably not. The reason I'm writing this is because I'm living a life I never thought I would, so why not write it all down? Hence, my title "Expecting the unexpected...". Not only did this seem to fit with my life over the last year or so, it's a military mantra. You never seem to know what will happen next.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be living in Alaska. Even when I agreed to marry my husband, who was planning on a military career, I assumed Alaska was the last place in the world we would end up. Ironically, it became the first place we ended up. One week after our wedding, we drove the 4,100 and some miles to Anchorage. What a learning experience that was! I moved out of my tiny hometown in central Pennsylvania, away from everyone and everything I've ever known, and I fell into Eagle River, AK. The strangest part for me is that after less than 8 months, THIS now feels like home. And that didn't take the whole 8 months. It took about 2 months for it to feel like home, and I credit the church and the friendships I've found here for that. I feel like I've been here forever.
But back to the title...My description shows one of my favorite quotes, and it's from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Never my favorite book, I remember reading it in 9th grade English (or was it 10th?), but the quote stuck with me. As a student teacher, years later, my supervisor loved to say that whenever I'd show her my lesson plans for approval. As a teacher, it's usually true, but as a person living in the world it's ALWAYS true. I've had things planned out more times than I can count in the last 5 years. However, none of that even matters now, but those plans all went "awry" in their own little ways, and I was led down a different path. My path has brought me to the Army (which I never saw coming) and to Alaska (which was even more unlikely than me being involved with the Army). It's all such a blessing though, because so much good has been brought into my life because my plans went awry. I've realized it's as much a good thing as a bad thing when plans go awry.
As my plans go more and more awry (yes, I'm using that word a lot), I see more and more opportunities come into my life. Opportunities to expand as a Christian, a teacher, a wife, and a leader. Some I never saw coming, but when I expect the unexpected, I'm always pleasantly surprised at the good things at work in my life.