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!

Wedding Week

Wedding Week is officially coming to an end. We got quite a lot accomplished including three cake tastings, two flowers appointments, bridesmaids dresses purchased, and ceremony & reception sites viewed. Not to mention some miscellaneous verbal interrogations from various family members on other details yet to be decided.

If you are lucky enough to get an invitation to my sister's wedding, and if you judge weddings based solely on how delicious the cake is like Nathan and I do, I promise you will not be disappointed! Sam and Adam have decided to purchase a cake from Sweet T's Cakes. Don't be fooled by how beautiful they look, they actually taste even better! We were able to sample chocolate, marble, and vanilla cake with various flavors of icing from the normal chocolate and vanilla to snickerdoodle and peanut butter. Ammmmmmmmazing!

On Tuesday night, Meredith (Sam's other bridesmaid) and I made short work of the wine-colored collection at David's Bridal and ordered the following dresses:


The skirt and top are actually separate, so I may find a way to wear the cute shirt again.

In other news, Nathan has been deciding on jobs this week and yesterday he called Denali to turn down the offer he had from them. It just wasn't economically feasible and we really like having running water at our residences.

However, the hiring manager called him back and refused (for the moment) to accept his rejection! She came up with some very intriguing ideas, the front-runner being that I could volunteer a bit so that we could both live in park housing. Interesting - tell me more! Well, they're not sure what I might have to do or the hours, but after Nathan told them I was working on my Project Management Certification (PMP), they thought they'd be able to find some kind of project for me to manage.

We'll wait to find out what that might entail. I still argue that there is no use being in Alaska if I have to spend every waking moment either working or volunteering - even if my project is to count grizzly bears for the summer....eat, sleep, program, bears, get yelled at by customer, bears, program, beautiful mountain scenery, eat, sleep, imagine said customer getting eaten by bears - wait a minute, that's actually starting to sound fantastic! Where do I sign?