Thursday, March 10, 2011

21 Days in Alaska

We've officially lived in Alaska for 21 days, but it didn't feel like it at all until today. Today we signed a lease for an apartment! We've been living in a pet-friendly hotel since February 16th, our arrival in Alaska. Everything in Alaska must be an adventure as many transplants find hardship when they first arrive.

Another dog family living in our hotel had been here for a month--and that was during our first week. They have also had trouble finding pet-friendly housing. They're still here. There are two hotels in Anchorage that allow large dogs without a weight or number of dogs limit. One of these is undergoing construction and doesn't have a significant number of rooms available. We chose the one with the most rooms available. Let me describe our room: there are 2 full beds (one of which the dogs have adopted. They quickly abandoned their dog beds when they saw there were two real beds in their new location), a t.v., two closets (without doors), a bathroom and a long counter/desk. No  mini-fridge, no microwave. There is a microwave in the lobby, and thankfully we're on the first floor. Chef Boyardee should seriously consider giving us a sponsorship considering how much canned ravioli we've eaten in the last 3 weeks. I may not eat that again for a year!

The good thing about our continued presence in the hotel is that we got to share our dog-relief yard with an Iditarod team! We also went to the Anchorage start of the Iditarod. Videos and photos coming soon :)

We let the dogs run around the empty apartment for a bit after getting the key. They haven't complained or misbehaved about the room size, but they showed how happy they were to be able to run around in a space larger that 400 sq. feet.

Our new apartment is 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and most importantly, it has a kitchen! The Baking Odyssey has been on hold since the packing began. I did buy cooling racks (though for the past two weeks they've been serving as shelves, holding our canned food!), but other than that I'm still without my baking supplies. They have arrived in Alaska, but we haven't had them delivered yet. Hopefully within the next week or two the Baking Odyssey will resume!

We can't thank you enough for your prayers and positive thoughts concerning our move and adventures here.