Alaska

My state of legal residence. Hopefully, the state of a future retirement cottage! My experiences while living in the 49th state are really the backdrop to this website. Everything in Alaska is big (but cozy)! Texas isn’t even a blip on the radar after you’ve experienced the grandeur of Alaska. Our experiences in AK include trips to Haines, Valdez, Seward, Soldotna, Cordova, Anchorage, Denali, Whittier, Fairbanks, Chena Hot Springs, and countless other little towns and settlements along the roads and waterways to those places. We sailed and fished and flew and hiked and skied and swam and camped and discovered and ate our way through 3+ years that we will not soon forget. Our second-born was welcomed into this world at Ft Wainwright’s Bassett Army Community Hospital inside Fairbanks city-proper. We found our way out of the cave of debt while taking in that extra Cost of Living Allowance (COLA). The base chapel became a second home - soon it will be destroyed after sixty years of decay to make room for a new one. Our memories and roots in AK go deep and the stories could fill volumes. My goal is to get at least some of it into a book before I get out of the military, but I’m waiting on God’s timing for that more than anything!In short, you’ve got to make it to Alaska! The sad thing is that most of you will only be able to spare a week or maybe two, to discover the Last Frontier. If that’s you, definitely make the most of your time - save up tons of money and pull out all of the stops! Also, you may want to buy Andrew Peterson’s CD Clear to Venus, it has a song called “Alaska or Bust” that will make you drop your job today and head north!