22 April 2008
Here's a quick synopsis of what I have experienced during my final couple days in the Lower 48 up through today in the 49th and largest state.
First of all, people at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs were all but willing to help me get out of the Colorful State of Colorado (and when I say colorful at this time of the year its an array of browns, tans, and sometimes a little beige). After taking the time to drive down to retrieve my flight ticket, I eventually accomplished that mission by calling Alaskan Airlines, sounding as pitiful as I could, to see if I had a confirmed flight to Fairbanks. Luckily I did so my freaking out at civilians working on military instillations stopped there.
Once that was complete I finished packing my two suite cases essentially as I was walking out the door to go to the airport (sound familiar, Oh yes! I did this same thing just 16 months ago when I moved to Korea). But I made it traveling fine, no major issues, no diversions to a little town on the outskirts of Seattle.
When I got my luggage and stepped out of the airport in Fairbanks I was shocked at how warm it was. I had shoved my down jacket into my bag at the airport figuring it would be a good last minute decision, but I was hot in my sweatshirt and wasn't quite sure how to react. Was this normal for a town that had been showing highs of 40 all weekend? Was I getting a fever and over heating in -20 degree weather? But most other people acted excited about the warm weather so I went along with it.
My hotel for the first night was, to say the least, not what I expected. It started my 24 hour panic as to where I had decided to live. On the internet it appeared to be a nice hotel with a Queen Whirlpool Deluxe room for just $10 more, which is what I had. But the hotel was pretty old as far as the construction and interior design. It reminded me more of a '70s ranch than a modern hotel in a town that fosters a lot of tourists in the summer months. The whirlpool was nothing more than an oversize tube that gently bubbled after about 20 minutes of me pressing the button determined to get my $10 out of the night.
I don't know when the sun sets or rises yet. It's been light as late as 10 when I've stopped looking to see if it was light, and then about 5 in the morning. It's not sunny, mainly because there's some weird smog/fog over the city right now, but it's not dark like night is in the Lower 48. And what about those Lower 48. In only really two days here everything is so discriminated towards those pesky Lower 48. I never really thought people would refer to them as the Lower 48 all the time, but Alaska is one in its own up here. It definitely reminds you of how far away you are when you picture yourself on the globe in compared to the Lower 48.
I haven't explored the post too much yet. There's a large airfield where the Air Force has been doing touch-and-goes all day. The hospital here is the newest in the Military, newly rebuilt last year. I've learned that the unit I'm going to will be doing training in California this summer and then deploying sometime early Fall. This news was good news because I'm grateful to have more time with the unit before deployment, but bad news because now I actually have to find a place to live and a car so that I don't get stranded waiting for very expensive taxis.
I've learned some interesting information about Fairbanks. It's warmer here in the summer than Anchorage and colder in the winter because it's surrounded by 3 1/2 Mountain Ranges creating a bowl where the air circulates and either gets warmer and warmer, or colder and colder depending on the season. For reasons most locals don't know there is a huge tourist industry up here, but fishing and hunting is extremely restrictive and people have their vehicles taken away on the spot if they're found with the wrong fish on their line or a moose with too small of a rack. I'm excited to have a couple months here to do a little exploring, maybe go out to Denali National Park and see the infamous Mt McKinley (or Denali depending on your dedication to preserving native terms rather than Western settlers changing everything).
The town of Fairbanks is not that picturesque. It's extremely flat considering the mountain ranges we flew over, but I'll take some pictures. It snowed last week but has been melting since so it's pretty mushy and brown out. To prevent the moose from licking salt off the roads and becoming road kill the amount of sand on the roads could probably rival Iraq (course I've never been there so I don't actually know how much sand there is, but there's a lot here).
I thought I had a lot more to say about what I've been up to in just 3 short days, but I guess this is about it so far. I should know more about my unit and job within the next couple days to early next week, so be looking for posts or an e-mail.
The first picture is from the dinner Dad, Allison, and I went to where Homer Hickam, of the book Rocket Boys which became the movie October Sky. I was laughing hysterically because Allison couldn't keep bother her eyes open. The last three are from my last night where we (aka Mom) BBQed steak and we had Cable Cars, me and Allison had 1 too many (which was sadly 1.5). And the last one is Dad proving to us that he can still suck as well as he did before the operation!
First of all, people at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs were all but willing to help me get out of the Colorful State of Colorado (and when I say colorful at this time of the year its an array of browns, tans, and sometimes a little beige). After taking the time to drive down to retrieve my flight ticket, I eventually accomplished that mission by calling Alaskan Airlines, sounding as pitiful as I could, to see if I had a confirmed flight to Fairbanks. Luckily I did so my freaking out at civilians working on military instillations stopped there.
Once that was complete I finished packing my two suite cases essentially as I was walking out the door to go to the airport (sound familiar, Oh yes! I did this same thing just 16 months ago when I moved to Korea). But I made it traveling fine, no major issues, no diversions to a little town on the outskirts of Seattle.
When I got my luggage and stepped out of the airport in Fairbanks I was shocked at how warm it was. I had shoved my down jacket into my bag at the airport figuring it would be a good last minute decision, but I was hot in my sweatshirt and wasn't quite sure how to react. Was this normal for a town that had been showing highs of 40 all weekend? Was I getting a fever and over heating in -20 degree weather? But most other people acted excited about the warm weather so I went along with it.
My hotel for the first night was, to say the least, not what I expected. It started my 24 hour panic as to where I had decided to live. On the internet it appeared to be a nice hotel with a Queen Whirlpool Deluxe room for just $10 more, which is what I had. But the hotel was pretty old as far as the construction and interior design. It reminded me more of a '70s ranch than a modern hotel in a town that fosters a lot of tourists in the summer months. The whirlpool was nothing more than an oversize tube that gently bubbled after about 20 minutes of me pressing the button determined to get my $10 out of the night.
I don't know when the sun sets or rises yet. It's been light as late as 10 when I've stopped looking to see if it was light, and then about 5 in the morning. It's not sunny, mainly because there's some weird smog/fog over the city right now, but it's not dark like night is in the Lower 48. And what about those Lower 48. In only really two days here everything is so discriminated towards those pesky Lower 48. I never really thought people would refer to them as the Lower 48 all the time, but Alaska is one in its own up here. It definitely reminds you of how far away you are when you picture yourself on the globe in compared to the Lower 48.
I haven't explored the post too much yet. There's a large airfield where the Air Force has been doing touch-and-goes all day. The hospital here is the newest in the Military, newly rebuilt last year. I've learned that the unit I'm going to will be doing training in California this summer and then deploying sometime early Fall. This news was good news because I'm grateful to have more time with the unit before deployment, but bad news because now I actually have to find a place to live and a car so that I don't get stranded waiting for very expensive taxis.
I've learned some interesting information about Fairbanks. It's warmer here in the summer than Anchorage and colder in the winter because it's surrounded by 3 1/2 Mountain Ranges creating a bowl where the air circulates and either gets warmer and warmer, or colder and colder depending on the season. For reasons most locals don't know there is a huge tourist industry up here, but fishing and hunting is extremely restrictive and people have their vehicles taken away on the spot if they're found with the wrong fish on their line or a moose with too small of a rack. I'm excited to have a couple months here to do a little exploring, maybe go out to Denali National Park and see the infamous Mt McKinley (or Denali depending on your dedication to preserving native terms rather than Western settlers changing everything).
The town of Fairbanks is not that picturesque. It's extremely flat considering the mountain ranges we flew over, but I'll take some pictures. It snowed last week but has been melting since so it's pretty mushy and brown out. To prevent the moose from licking salt off the roads and becoming road kill the amount of sand on the roads could probably rival Iraq (course I've never been there so I don't actually know how much sand there is, but there's a lot here).
I thought I had a lot more to say about what I've been up to in just 3 short days, but I guess this is about it so far. I should know more about my unit and job within the next couple days to early next week, so be looking for posts or an e-mail.
The first picture is from the dinner Dad, Allison, and I went to where Homer Hickam, of the book Rocket Boys which became the movie October Sky. I was laughing hysterically because Allison couldn't keep bother her eyes open. The last three are from my last night where we (aka Mom) BBQed steak and we had Cable Cars, me and Allison had 1 too many (which was sadly 1.5). And the last one is Dad proving to us that he can still suck as well as he did before the operation!
1 comment:
I learned today that the smog/fog that has been hovering over Fairbanks is from a forest fire in Russia! It's mostly clearing up now making the city much brighter and more spring like!
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