home sweet home post

A week or so ago, Ryan and I came back from vacation in our home state. It was nice to sleep in, eat out (and have good options) and see folks.


Our first stop to "civilization" was Seattle. At least, SeaTac. Art was hanging from the ceiling above us while we enjoyed some burritos from Qdoba. We arrived in Chicago late in the night and Ryan's mom and her boyfriend picked us up from the airport. After a long drive home and a good night's sleep, we continued our food journey with eating at one of my fave restaurants with former co-workers. After a haircut and some shopping, I met up with some of my favorite people at Johnny Bz for vegan hot dog goodness! I also got to see this little guy, whom I missed very much.


Next, we met at Stella's downtown to see more of my favorite people!




We stayed the night at my parents' house. After some breakfast, we drove back to Sue's for the next few days. It was Ryan's birthday! Happy Birthday, Ryan! We gave him some presents. Neyla, the dog featured two posts ago, got to "play" with the wrappings.



The next day, Ryan stood up in a wedding. I went with Sue and Dick. Between the full Catholic wedding and reception, we spent some time in downtown Grand Haven, looking at different houses, the lake and soaking up some atmosphere at a new sports bar that opened.

watching

Oh yes, I have gone to the dogs. Brooke is out of town at a conference and taking her licensure exam, so I am watching Ms. Oreo again. We have hung out in the evenings and today I took her for a walk around the airport loop. It's cold...it's been in the 20s and 30s for the past week. It is nice in that we have had more sunny skies. Time to bundle up!

neyla

I will update more about vacation soon. For now, stare into the soulful "innocent" eyes of Neyla.

fall in wrangell

It is still Fall in Wrangell, although more leaves are turning brown and falling off their branches than a few weeks ago. We have had a couple days of welcomed sunlight now after over weeks of wind and rain. At one point, powerlines, trees and siding were blown around. Our dumpsters? In creek beds or blown over to the neighbors' yards. These sun-filled days are beautiful and Ryan and I went out to enjoy yesterday's.

It's hard to believe this fall has gone so fast. I look forward to Halloween...but cannot believe that is next weekend already.

Autumn in Anchorage

Last week I was in Anchorage for a training. Right now, the money seems to be in tobacco prevention and cessation services and as a result, our agency (well, the school) was awarded a grant to fund a school-based tobacco prevention coordinator. That's me!

So, off I went for a week to Anchorage. The first three days were for a wellness training and part of that was a track of tobacco prevention and cessation. That was pretty interesting and I met a lot of good people with which to coordinate. The latter two days of the week I spent at another conference on childhood nutrition. This conference gave me good ideas of activities to use with the students, as well as a holistic approach to tobacco prevention (i.e. not just say no to tobacco, but put it in the context of being healthy all around).

With the conference, I was also able to get out and about Anchorage. I walked to a variety of restaurants in which to eat as well as shops (large and small). It was great. It was sunny and brisk (high 30s, low 40s) the whole week. Fall is definitely apparent in Anchorage. The trees were all a lovely shade of yellow, orange or burnt red.

Below are a few photos of my journey:


The view from the plane on the way to Anchorage. Normally this is covered in mist.

Wall divider at Ginger.

Wall art and light at Ginger.

Baked tofu on a bed of israeli cous cous. Rich and surprisingly flavorful.

Rustic fries at Glacier Brewhouse. I love fries and these are easily the best I have had.

The special at Glacier Brewhouse. This is not vegan. The person next to me ordered it.

Mmmmm....room service at the Millenium Hotel. Black bean and olive hummous with warmed pita and grape tomatoes. I picked off all of the feta I could. It was not listed in the ingredients and I was disappointed to see it on my plate.

one year

The weather is back to how it was when I moved here a little over a year ago--cold and rainy. Strangely, it feels nice and like home now. I think it helps that I get more rides and have access to other cars, too.

Ryan and I have been together a year now too. The slippers pictured above are one of the anniversary gifts he bought me. They were well-needed, too, as I had worn through my other boot slippers. He also bought me a larger memory card for my camera, which is very nice considering every time we'd go somewhere to shoot photos I would run out of space. He taught me some swimming strokes and although I'm still very much a beginner, I no longer have to use a board or a noodle to swim anymore. Small steps, right? We went to the movie the Expendables and had a good time with the action and corny jokes. Other than that, it was just a relaxing weekend.

One of my coworkers left this week, which has left us with a transition period before the new person can arrive. I think I'm still getting used to the increase in caseload, but it should smooth out in the next week or so.

Ryan and I will be heading home in November for a week. I look forward to seeing my friends and family again as well as meeting more of Ryan's family and friends. I purchased a new dress for a wedding that Ryan is standing up in--it will be strange to wear it since I've become accustomed to wearing jeans while living here.

ketchikan weekend

The last weekend in August, Ryan and I went to Ketchikan. It was nice to get off the rock and onto another one for a couple days. We took the ferry; the first time for me during the daytime. I enjoyed the views of the water and islands on our way. We were very hungry when we arrived and opted for chinese food (a food I definitely miss here).

We enjoyed the spring rolls.

Ryan slurped the soup. I greatly enjoyed my Mock Duck in Yellow Curry while Ryan was satisfied with his mongolian beef.

That night spent in the Methodist Church at their hostel. I recommend it for those who need a cheap, clean place to stay. The people who run it are very friendly.

The next day, we wandered around town until we were called to attend a cross country meet. Following our time there, we ate at Subway and then decided to relax for a while. Later on we went out and explored more of the city. We had a good time snapping photos and dancing.

We also ate at the Pirates Saloon.


The following day we headed back on the ferry. After I got some food in me, I took a good nap in the solarium, cocooned in my sleeping bag. I had forgotten how nice it is to take little weekend vacations and was very glad that we went away that weekend.

season changes

The days are already getting shorter here. What is nice about it is that I no longer wake up at 4 in the morning to blazing sun and then have to try to fall back to sleep. However, it makes it extra hard to wake up when it is dark. It wouldn't be so dark except that it rained for the past week straight and heavy clouds stayed in the area. So what do I know from this? The weather and seasons are changing.

adventures in baking

Ryan decided to make bagels this week. The first batch were plain bagels. They were fantastic! Excited by our first results, we decided to make agave, cinnamon, and crasin bagels next. These turned out great as well!

Yum!

lots to catch up on

Once again, it has been a while since my last post. The past few weeks have been very busy and so have resulted in less posts. What have I been busy doing? Well, besides extra work at work, I also traveled to Anchorage. This is where I had to take my licensure test. It was nice to have a three day break from regular work and while I studied, I also shopped for items to stock up on at home. While I have not had trouble cooking for myself in Wrangell, I have had trouble finding a variety of vegan items I can eat at restaurants. While in the Anchorage area, I enjoyed different varieties of vegan fare, including a tempeh wrap, salad with all the fixin's, soy patty, and vegan ice cream. One of the things I have also missed and had not been able to order has been the Gimme Lean "sausage". Luckily, the container of such a thing survived the plane ride home and I enjoyed eating sausage-flavored soy again!

Anyway, back to the main reason for going to Anchorage - the test! Although I had a brief moment of anxiety when I submitted the test, I need not have had it at all. I passed! Just like that, it was over. I still had 90 minutes left for the test, but I did not want to second-guess myself on the answers to the test and just went ahead and submitted it. Hooray!

In addition to passing my license test, I was able to get outdoors for a few more activities. A couple of weekends ago, the hiking club went to Salamander Ridge to hike to the top. Although I was very cranky towards the top, after a break, I was in a much better mood at the top and climbing/sliding back down.



This week, Ryan had the chance to go to Anan and invited me along. I had not been there yet. This is where the bear observatory is on the mainland. Although afraid of bears popping out at us on the trail, none appeared until we reached the observation deck. They were so roly-poly by this point that they only lumbered along and swatted at salmon. I was hoping I would get to go to Anan before the season closed and I did!



Also, when one lives in the Wrangell area, one always hears about "going up the river." Although at first I thought this was a euphemism for going to jail, it actually refers to boating up the Stikine River to cottages. Ryan and I were able to do that today as well, with Ryan covering the Fish Camp for the newspaper. It was a beautiful day and we came back sunburned and sleepy from the ride.



There are other trips I hope to do before winter begins: Ketchikan, hiking Middle Ridge, hiking North Wrangell Trail with Brooke (and coming down Rainbow Falls). I'm sure more activities will be added to my list over the next few weeks.