So long, Caribou...

Well, after a last-minute sprint to the finish that made going to Alaska actually look somewhat plausible, Nathan turned down the opportunity at Denali and they accepted. I had even gone as far as to talk to Denali's Science & Learning Center Technology Contact about volunteer opportunities that would have given us the chance to live in park housing. However, there wasn't already a good internet connection I could use to work there and the park would not let us affix a satellite dish to park housing. That was the last big obstacle keeping us from going, so we're not.

I'm actually relieved. It was a pretty exciting opportunity at first glance, but the extreme craziness of the logistics soon made me long to stay in the lower 48. Even if we could have gotten internet in park housing, I would still have had to volunteer an extra 8 hours each week just to live there (on top of a job where a 40-hour work week is unheard of). Plus, there's the problem of getting there, which takes about a week by car. Not to mention making sure someone is taking care of our house and yard. Anyway, you get the idea. Alaska, we'll come visit you sometime, how about that?

After a near-blizzard here Sunday/Monday, the yard this morning looked like this when I woke up:


I also got a chance to cross the Red River in Fargo on Saturday. I wasn't sure if I would see it until all of a sudden there were three-foot-high piles of dirt coming up the on ramp and then I saw a Red River sign right before freaking out. The water was almost up to the I-94 bridge! I estimate there was less than a foot left before it would have reached the road where I was driving. The restrooms in the park up the hill from the lake were half-way submerged. Sorry, I'm still kicking myself, but I wish I'd stopped for a picture!