Enjoying America's other annexed state.

What I had originally anticipated as a summer of frigid boredom and isolation in Alaska has turned into some of the most enjoyable few months of my life. If you haven't yet made the trek to the Final Frontier (and it really lives up to its name), then you should. Alaska is breathtakingly beautiful, filled with friendly people, lots of dogs and lots of salmon. Pretty much all of the stereotypes you think of when you imagine this place are accurate. Bears really do live in people's backyards, being charged by a moose is truly an immanent threat, you could literally catch a spawning salmon with your bare hands in any given neighborhood creek and the produce sucks.

Probably the best part of being here is that it is really kid-friendly. Tawny and I had visions of walking our kids (who are not siblings) around the concrete sidewalks that surround our apartment complex while freezing in the arctic weather. What we've found is a place peppered with public parks and well-manicured walking paths connecting them all, bordered by a clean (and okay, admittedly frigid) river. We're outside enjoying nature just as much (if not more) than we do in Hawaii.

Oh yeah, the mosquitoes really are gargantuan and vicious...






Whether it's Hawaii or Alaska, we can't seem to keep Harper out of the water.