ALASKA

So here is the reason, or the excuse I should say, as to why I made the trip to Alaska. I was asked to go to the Fairbanks hospital which is a part of Banner, (same company who owns the hospital that I work at) to help the staff with their new L&D computer charting system. I jumped on the opportunity at a paid trip to Alaska since I've always wanted to go but have never been.

So here it is, this is Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. I think they deliver around 1,000 babies a year which is twice as many as we do here in Fallon. They definitely got their moneys worth out of me. I was whooped when it was time to leave. The staff was great though, everyone tried really hard to keep their heads up during such a difficult transition.

Here are 3 of my favorite nurses that I got to know during my stay. I really enjoyed all of the nurses there. They all helped me plan the vacation part of my trip.

During our flight over Collene and I had a 5hour layover in Seattle so we decided to head out to Pikes Place Public Market. It was so pretty with all of the flowers everywhere and tons of crafts to cruise around and check out.

Taylor flew into Anchorage as soon as I was done at the hospital and we were off to start our vacation. We stopped just outside of Anchorage on our way to the Kenai peninsula to walk up a trail. The leaves were all turning color and falling, making for some great picture taking.

We headed straight to Seward which is a pretty little town right on the coast of the peninsula. There wasn't a whole lot of activities to do since tourist season had just finished. I wasn't aware that the state of Alaska kinda goes into hibernation when the tourists leave. It was ok though, because we didn't have to fight with crowds, we had no real agenda and plenty of time to relax and soak up the beautiful scenery.

Without much to do, we had plenty of quiet time and I really enjoyed the alone time that I was able to spend with Taylor. We have such a good time together. Never an awkward silence or forced conversation, we're just always on the same page. I love it!

We did stumble upon a cruise that was still operating and took us on a 2.5hr tour across Resurrection bay. It was our only sunny day during the entire Alaska trip and even so, it was still pretty dang cold out on that boat.
Both Taylor and I really wanted to see some wildlife and better yet, a glacier while we were there. The cruise took us close enough to this glacier for some pics and also gave us a glimpse at the sea lions.
After the boat ride we walked down to the Sealife Center in Seward. The king crab kinda signifies Alaska to me (Yeah, I'm a big fan of "Deadliest Catch") so thats why this crab gets the spotlight :)

On the 3rd day of our trip we decided to head down to the tip of peninsula to a little town called Homer. There is a little piece of land that extends out into the ocean called the Homer Spit that has plenty of shops and restaurants (I would imagine its pretty busy in the summer). Sadly it was pretty much deserted and after a 4hr drive down slick Alaskan roads I would have to say that it was kind of a let down. Taylor and I were also a little disappointed as we stumbled into a restaurant advertising Fish and Chips, only to find that it was an oriental restaurant with a rainbow of items on their menu, very little of which was Chinese. I should have known better when I realized the window said, "Fish and Chip" and their logo was a big yellow SMILEY FACE :)

Here is a pretty little spot just off the road as we were leaving Homer.

The road conditions made for some intense driving but that didn't stop us. We spent 10hrs in the car this day. Its a good thing Taylor is a good driver.

IT was a great trip and I would like to go back some day during the summer months to do some fishing next time. Alaska is definitely a beautiful state.

Oh yeah, and just for the record

I didn't get to see a moose :(