Alaska Bound: Day 7

Via a detour to Palouse Falls, we made it to Gig Harbor, Washington! It's really great to be back and visit with old friends.

Palouse Falls was spectacular. Even though it is in the middle of nowhere, it was a great sight in the middle of the flat high desert of Eastern Washington.

We'll be here for a few days then we're headed up to Bellingham, Washington area to catch the ferry to Alaska!!!

Alaska Bound: Day 6

We left Butte this morning and headed for Ritzville, Washington to be in a perfect place to go down to Palouse Falls tomorrow. We stopped in Mizzoula, Montana to get my hitch flipped as there was no way we would make it on the ferry at low tide with such a low clearance. The winds started blowing up a dust storm and the tumbleweeds were rolling around when we stopped for the day!

We have traveled through 13 states thus far and covered around 2740 miles!

Alaska Bound: Day 5

We landed in Butte, Montana and stayed at the Hotel Finlen. We met up with one of my dads friends who owns a restaurant in Uptown Butte called Uptown Cafe. If you're ever in Butte, go there to eat. Amazing food and great people.

Butte was a pretty neat place with many old buildings from when this town was booming.

A view overlooking Uptown Butte.

We checked out many remaining headframes from when it was one of the largest copper boomtowns in the West.

In Butte, the saying is "a Mile High, a Mile Deep and we're all on the level".

Official Alaska Physical Therapist!!!

I have officially passed my fingerprint background check and officially have my Alaska Physical Therapy License! Waaahooooo! (or was that Wahoo?)

Alaska Bound: Day 4

We made it to Billings, Montana, but not without driving straight through Winter Storm Atlas in Bismark, North Dakota. There were many patches of blowing snow on the road which turned into slush making our trip quite trying. We took our time and at points only went 35 MPH but made it here safely. Unlike many tractor trailers, cars and trucks in the median of which an idiot trying to pass me joined them. He was directly beside me cruising at a clipping pace when his Avalanche (ironic, I know) kicked out and he went flying into the median. Lucky for us, he went left and not right, into our trailer. My steering wheel now has hand grips.
It was beautious as we hit Montana and we could see the amazing mountains once we hit Billings.
The Rimrock was all around Billings making the landscape more exciting than all those flat states.

On to Butte tomorrow where we'll play for a couple days.
To end the day, I'll sing you a little song... "Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play..."

Boring update of the day: 42 US State License Plates and 4 Canadian Provinces that we've seen thus far.

Alaska Bound: Day 3

Our game plan fell slightly short today. We were planning on cruising to Bismark, North Dakota but instead had to stop at Casselton, North Dakota due to weather.

We still hit 500 miles, but winds, rain and sleet and the opportunity for taking extra time when needed landed us here.

We now have 38/50 USA license plates and 4 Canadian Provinces. Boring, I know.

Many more spectacular photos to come. Just nothing but flat for the last few days. Headed to Montana next with the opportunity to stay at an amazing Lake House thanks to my co-worker Billy!

P.S. Just a shout out to a great PT I worked with at UVA: Congrats Talia on being UTeam Employee of the Month for September!!! You deserve it girl!

Why I'm Moving to Alaska: Reason 2

Check this out. While perusing on Meetup.com, I found this amazing event happening in December. Ladies, you better not wait until June to visit - the Talkeetna Bachelor Society holds a Bachelor Auction and Ball and Wilderness Woman Contest. I can't make this stuff up. And they have a Male Order Catalog, to boot.
Game on.

Why I'm Moving to Alaska: Reason 1

This is an amazing article. And I love it. Click this link.

Alaska Bound: Day 2

We made it into Portage, Wisconsin last night around 8:45 pm. Apparently they roll up the sidewalks earlier here than even my small town of Brookville, Pennsylvania. Luckily we had cheese, crackers and beef sticks packed so we just had a little picnic before hitting the sack. We have a little over 1,000 miles under our belts already and have seen 35/50 states license plates. Sorry no fun pictures today - we hope to have many more when we're not pounding out the miles (12 hour day).
Jameson's handling the long car rides like a champ.

Alaska Bound: Day 1

I have successfully made it to my first stop of the trip, Brookville, PA, to pick up my dad. I have made it through 4 states today (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania) and have 9 more to go! The trailer was a learning curve but I think we'll make it.
I had to leave my couch, loveseat and chaise lounge behind cause they wouldn't fit.
PS Moving when everything fit in my car was a whole lot easier.