Alaska Tour 2013, Week 1

 

If you follow me on any of my social media, you've probably heard we arrived safely in Anchorage, Alaska last week for our extended stay, but if not, let me catch you up to speed and share some of our hopes for while we are here.

In my last post, I shared how overwhelmed I had been feeling in life in general, and with the impending temporary move.  I am happy to say that this trip so far has been exactly what I needed.  A week ago, my husband finished his CPA exam, and God willing passed, meaning the endless hours of studying (and being unavailable to us) have finally ceased.  The very next day, the three of us and our jam-packed luggage, made our way from New York City to Anchorage.  All in all, we traveled for close to 11 hours from door to door.

Despite the 4 hour time change and exhausting travel, I found myself eager to get out and explore the next day.  We are staying in an extended stay hotel in Midtown Anchorage, and the accommodations are excellent!!  We have a two bedroom, two bathroom suite with a full kitchen.  It reminds me of the luxury apartments I always wanted to live in when I was in my 20's in the Seattle area.  These suites are even better, though, they come with free daily housekeeping, an indoor heated pool and jacuzzi, fitness center, and complimentary breakfast every day of the week.  They even have a complimentary light dinner four days of the week!!  

Just when this overworked mama was at the end of what she could handle, relief from so many daily tasks has come.  I am getting rest, much needed!!  And even better than rest, I get to spend time with my husband again, and Zion gets to have her Daddy to play with.  

Once we were unpacked and settled in our new home, I started putting together a list of things to do while we are here.  We will probably need to add more to this list, but it is a decent start.

You will notice one item is already crossed off the list!  The first weekend we were here, we had the amazing experience of attending the Iditarod Race ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage!  

 One of the coolest parts of our trip downtown was the corporate suite we had access to, since Jerry's client here in Anchorage sponsors the Iditarod race.  We were able to step in, warm up and enjoy complimentary snacks.  

My favorite part of the Iditarod race was hearing the dogs howling while clearly Zion's favorite part was meeting the Fur Rendezvous Royalty.

View my Video of Iditarod Dog Howling

 

Some of the more interesting finds so far in Anchorage were the crazy fur mullet hats for sale during the Iditarod, selling for $450/each and the crazy donuts at Fred Meyer - which I didn't try because I am a Maple Bar only type of girl...and they didn't have a single one.  

After brunch on Sunday I took this shot of the mountain range surrounding the city of Anchorage.  I can't even begin to tell you how stunning and beautiful the mountains are.  This picture makes them look so tiny - but they are huge and close!! I hope to be able to get some good mountain pictures in the next few weeks using my new Nikon DSLR!

What adventures have you been up to this week?

       

Thanksgiving in Ohio

We just returned home yesterday after our weekend in Ohio for the holiday!  It was such a great time visiting with my husband's side of the family.  I couldn't wait to share these fun pictures from our visit.  Hope you and your family had a beautiful holiday as well!  

   

Thanks to our dear friends who flew out to Peru for the holiday, we were able to rent their car from them, and make the 9 hour treck on Wednesday last week.  Zion did amazing the entire car ride, snoozing a couple of times.

 

Zion enjoyed the company of her cousins.

Thanksgiving at the Baxtron's is always a memorable experience - my favorite foods this year were Dad's collard greens and hubs' cheesy green bean casserole.  Mom also spoiled us with candied sweet potatoes! Yummy!

All the brothers were reunited for the Christmas holiday which meant a lot of laughter, loud discussion and trash talking - all in love of course!

   

After filling her tummy to the full, little miss Zion enjoyed apple pie ala mode while the adults played a bit of Pokeno.

 

Zion's favorite thing to do over the weekend was grab the house phone and tell us she was having an important conversation or "just busyin'" as she liked to put it.  We also did some searching for new Ohio State gear.

 

I got some new Ohio State socks (which will be great for crossfit ;) and we dressed Zion in her cheer gear for The Game.

 

Jerry took me out to a couple of new places this trip - the first being Adriatico's pizza.  We had the deep dish pizza with beef and pepperoni...a big hit!

   

Game day was a blast - every one in the house was decked out in Scarlet and Gray as we cheered on The Ohio State Buckeyes to another victory completing their perfect season.

 

We finished our trip by having a late evening date at Jeni's - seriously the best ice cream I've ever had in my life, and that is saying a lot!  Then we stopped by the place where Jerry proposed to me 5 years ago on Thanksgiving.  

How was your holiday?  Did you travel?  What was your favorite part of your holiday?