Well, I've spent my whole day doing paperwork as expected. I'm still in jet lag limbo from the trip over. But now it's the weekend, so I should be able to recuperate just in time to fly back east!

I've rented a mailbox at the UPS Store around the corner. So I now have an official Alaska address... Someplace they can send my paycheck!

Stephen and I opened a checking account at the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union. Someplace they can direct deposit my paycheck once that kicks in...

I'm in the process of planning for my upcoming trip to the ESRI International Users Conference in August. It's in San Diego, CA. So I'll be up here (back with the family after our cross-country drive) for about 2 weeks before flying to southern California for a week. Yay!

Tonight Stephen & I are skipping town with the baby to a vacation cottage about 45 minutes north of the city in Palmer. We're in the Moose Chalet, I believe. The weather's a little overcast and dreary right now. Temps are around 60 degrees. But it's supposed to clear up over the weekend and be up around 70 next week. Perfect!

We're in Alaska now...

It's 9pm Alaska Time, so 1am our time! We've just checked into our B&B. It's really pretty, right on one of the lakes in Anchorage... The hostess says she often sees moose nearby. Yay!

They have 2 chihuahuas (one's a puppy), 4 kitties... and one great dane who's currently in "time out" for eating tomorrow's breakfast muffins.

The plane ride went well enough. Super Baby did GREAT on her first airplane ride. No motion sickness and no ear problems. She actually slept much of the time. What a good baby!

Stephen and I are both WHOOPED! As soon as I'm finished with this entry, I'm heading to bed! Stephen's drinking the B&B's beer and preparing to watch their 50" TV in the common living area. I have to be at work at 7am in the morning... So I NEED some shuteye.

After we got in today at the airport, we picked up our rental car, a Ford Focus with a carseat, and went to meet the realtor. She showed us some rental properties. We'll be going back out tomorrow afternoon to view one again that we couldn't get into, but would really like to see.

That's about all I have for now..... Good night!

Today is my last day at work here in Virginia. I'm scrambling to get as much done as I can before heading out at 3pm. I'll be picking Alicia up from the babysitter's and then we're driving straight to Groton, NY before catching our flight tomorrow morning.

Things are spinning around so quickly, it's hard to know which end is up!

Stephen has an appointment to meet with folks at the University of Alaska and Alaska Pacific University on Friday. Hopefully his transfer to one of those schools will be painless.

We've finalized our lodging for this current trip. We're changing venues almost every night! Some of the nights we wanted to get out of the city (for the weekend and the 4th of July), so we've reserved some cabins in Palmer and Talkeetna. FYI, the show Northern Exposure was based on Talkeetna. We went there for our honeymoon back in 2001. The post office is a log cabin. :o)

A couple nights we'll be shacking up on the University of Alaska campus. They turn their student housing into Summer Guest Housing. $80 a night for a "double suite". Not bad.

Well... I've got work to do before the northbound bolt!

Here's our current itinerary:

Stephen, Alicia and I are flying to Anchorage from Syracuse this Thursday at 8am. We'll arrive in Alaska at 1:15pm Alaska Time that same day. They are 4 hours behind the east coast. We'll change planes in Chicago.

I need to start my new job on Friday the 30th in order to get on the State Pension Plan. All new hires after July 1 will not be eligible for this plan, only a 401(k) type deal. So we paid $1500 each for two roundtrip tickets (with only a 7-day advance purchase) to get on the Pension bandwagon. The state is reimbursing us for the cost of the trip.

I'll work for a week and then we'll fly back to Syracuse. We'll pick up our kids and pets and drive back to VA on July 9th. That trip should give us a little taste of what it'll be like to have all of us in the van when we drive to Alaska the next week! We plan to have a car topper for that trip, but it's still going to be a "cozy" ride! I should probably state right here.... "Don't try this at home. The drivers in this enactment are professionals." [Or just nuts.]

As it turns out, the movers aren't able to arrive until July 12-14. So we'll be chilling in Virginia until they show up, unpack our previous boxes, repack the stuff in their boxes, load everything on a 40 foot container and take off. We will then load what's left including 7 breathing bodies into the Chevy Venture minivan and embark on our 4500 mile road trip, which will include 3 days on a ferry from Washington state to Skagway, AK.

Once we finally arrive in Anchorage and bathe sufficiently, we'll sit back and wait for another month or so for our belongings to arrive. Doesn't this sound fun?! You betcha! And you can enjoy the whole adventure from the comfort of your computer screen. :o)

PS Alicia is officially 17 months old today!

Well, the older kids are in NY. I spent the weekend driving to Ohio to pick up Tess from Mom's, driving both she and Donald to Groton, NY to visit old friends for 2 weeks, and driving back to VA with the baby. All this over the course of 3 days. Phew! 1366 miles on the "new" minivan!

Stephen stayed in VA to try to do some fix-ups on the house we're preparing to rent out. He also had to work (last days...) at Eagle Eyrie and go to his last battalion drill of the Virginia Defense Force. Lots of good-byes.... again....

Wednesday afternoon/evening, Stephen, the baby, the cat, the dog, and I will be driving BACK to Groton, NY. We'll get there after midnight, crash on the floor of some friends for a few hours and then be driven to the airport (Syracuse) and fly to Anchorage, AK at 8am... We'll be there for about a week and a half while the older kids continue to visit their friends in NY. The pets will also remain in NY!