Step into my Office

The Russian River, world reknowned for its annual run of
sockeye salmon. A flycaster's paradise!

Okay, so here are a couple of pictures from the Chugach National Forest. I must admit I'm a bit sheepish about posting them as very few are so lucky to experience such a beautiful place, let alone work in one! I spent a day out inspecting foot bridges and boardwalks at the Russian River campground so work was actually accomplished. :) 

On another note, things came through with the house! I owe Cara for all the time and effort she put forth to pull this off with all the road blocks that were thrown our way this week. I was gone for work 2 days while she got to handle the last minute requests from the lenders, "thanks babe!".

Russian Falls overlook.

Despite being in a much better position this round, the lending industry is MUCH more difficult to work with now than they were 2 years ago. The movers got all our things unloaded today and we enjoyed an evening hanging out with our college friend and my fraternity brother, Kyle Kendall, who is up here working as a tour director. Upon final inspection of the house, we found that the sellers were more than generous to us as they chose to leave great possessions for our enjoyment. Lets just say the items left included multiple pieces of good furniture, an air compressor, 2 bows, dozens of arrows, 1000s of ammunition rounds, a new Ruger 30-06 rifle (can you believe it? I still can't!) and a giant stuffed marlin! I kid you not, there is a huge marlin in our garage, pics will definitely follow. Anyway, we've had a lot of fun sifting through and appreciating the things they left us. After meeting the couple it was evident that they were in our shoes 40 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed their time in Alaska. Apparently they wanted to leave us a nice house warming gift as they moved to Boise to escape the winters. Tomorrow we plan to continue our 'church shopping' by visiting all 3 churches we're considering in a morning church marathon, hoping it will be made evident where we belong. It will be nice to finally plug in to a community here and meet other young couples with similar interests. Today was Calli (cousin) & Scott's wedding in Priest River, "Congrats you two!". We're having a hard time accepting the fact that we will inevitably miss special events like this but are hopeful that our time availability will improve as we progress further in our jobs here.

Temporarily Settled...

Cara and I had a great drive up from Washington at the end of July.  We were treated to the awesome wonder of creation as we traversed the mountains of the Canadian Rockies on our way to the splendor of Alaska!  We didn't waste any time and were fishing our first weekend here.  As you can see, Cara tamed the Reds on the Kenai River.  Shortly thereafter we both geared up to get back to working full-time.  This was a tough transition after having all of June and July off to explore Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons along with visiting good friends in the Mid-West.  I'm sure everyone feels sorry for us right?!  Here goes a BIG thank you to all our great friends far and wide who hosted us at some point during our homeless, vagabond tour.  What a great summer we've had, truly blessed!

Anyway, we're definitely staying busy as work starts up and we get ready to transition into our new home.  We owe Freddie's a big thanks for the furnished condo but enough is enough, we need our own space!   Cara is enjoying her new pharmacy and from what I've heard (my co-worker has a good friend who works with Cara) she "seems nice".  Since starting with the Forest Service I have been absolutely spoiled with incredible opportunities to be in the field.  Working next to Portage Glacier, inspecting construction of the Iditarod trail, taking the train into the backcountry for the day, AND flying to Cordova for the day are all tasks I've been given in just my first 3 weeks!  I must constantly pinch myself saying "self, this is your job now, quit acting like a giddy little school girl and get used to working in the shadow of glaciers on a regular basis".  Needless to say, I'm very excited about the cool things I've gotten to see through work.  I'll be sure to post pictures of my "office" on a later post.  Meanwhile, this week we should be closing on our new house, pray that all goes smoothly!