I Miss Alaska

I'm having an "I Miss Alaska" morning....it's solidly springtime right now in Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley and there's nothing I'd love more than to be there right now, exploring. Instead, I am stuck in Michigan, exploring my photos from my winter 2008 jaunt to Anchorage, Girdwood and the Mat-Su Valley.

I mean, how can you not fall in love with a place where this is the view once you step out of downtown and are no longer surrounded by high rise buildings?



And there are birch trees....and even roads named after Mack!



Did I mention that I love the Alaskan birches?



Yup, I'm definitely a member of Birch Trees Anonymous.

And there are crazy roads like this with breathtaking views:



And magnificent glaciers:



And you have views like this from rest stops along the highway:



I kid you not...this was taken at a rest stop:



And then there's Palmer, a more rural, smaller town version of an "Ann Arbor of the North".



And with the sort of surrounding views we can only dream of in Ann Arbor (and, not to knock Ann Arbor, 'tis a pretty place, but it cannot compete with Alaska!)

And there are cool parks...



And the best food I've ever tasted...



And even on grey, gloomy and misty days, when you're driving along the highway, it still manages to be pretty.



And mountains...and all the trees...



And cool street lights...



And wild and crazy sprint Huskies like Mack are a common sight...



And it's just so darn pretty everywhere you look...even just driving down the road...



I seriously miss Alaska and wish I could be there right now....but a trip there is seriously out of the question for quite some time. It looks like possibly next year or the year after I'll have to have an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator implanted, which will be a costly procedure. My cost will probably be roughly $5,000 with insurance picking up the rest of the cost. Any/all spare money will have to be socked away in preparation for this medical procedure, therefore there will be no trips, no money spent on items I'd like to have, but do not desperately need (translation: I will have to continue to live with a mattress on the floor as my bed, as I cannot justify the expense of a bedframe when my floor bed works perfectly fine), etc.

Hopefully I'll be able to post more later, including a pupdate (a pup update, for those not fluent in Megspeak), and possibly some gardening photos. I may even be able to solar cook as it's pretty sunny right now with only an occasional cloud...I'm off to check the weather forecast to see if it's feasible!