Today is July 1st, 2011, the first day of the rest of our lives, and Kathy just accepted a job in Craig, Alaska! This is not a drill! Craig is on an island in Southeastern Alaska, and 600 miles north of Vancouver, BC. It was very tough, but it a position she just cannot refuse. The hardest part, with apologies to Kelli and Jared, will be leaving grandson Henry. We have already warned Kelli to keep a constant watch on him when we begin packing! He is, of course, the cutest and smartest boy, and loves his Grandma and Grandpa. Those Henry hugs and smiles and faces are going to be very, very hard to live without. This assignment is for two years, and Kelli and Jared have promised to come visit us at least twice.
We are leaving other family behind as well, but what's two years when you are 45, or 30, or even 20? We will definitely be keeping in touch, via this blog and Facebook, and the occasional Skye session, too. We may get lucky and score the newer 4-bedroom house as a rental, in which case we would have lots of room for adventurous visitors!
So, that's about all we really know at this point. We will be buying an Alaska-ready car, most likely a lightly used Subaru Outback, to make the trip and use on the island. We will be taking two Golden Retrievers with us.
Oh, here are some early FAQ's:
- No, I don't have a job, or a prospect, have to wait and see. I will be able to continue my online BA program though, in Environmental Resource Management at CSU Bakersfield, so that's good.
- The island gets 120 inches of rain a year, fairly spread out among the months.
- No grizzly bears on the island, but plenty of black bear, bigger than usual we are told because there are no griz to hunt them or compete with them, even though there is lots of salmon!
- The nearest fastfood restaurant is a three-hour ferry ride to Ketchikan (okay, maybe this was more interesting to me than anyone else!)
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