Hello From The Last Frontier!

Ahhhh, we have arrived and are loving Alaska. The beauty that God created here is breathtaking. No one can deny that there is a God after seeing this scenery!

After an extremely long flight, we arrived in Anchorage around 3:30pm. Just outside the airport, we saw the magnificent snowcapped mountains, reaching up to the sky and welcoming us. The photo to the left is one of many photos we have taken of the mountains. This particular view is one we will see just outside our townhouse!

So far, the weather has not been as frigid as we originally thought it would be. Today the temperatures are in the mid 30's but reaching in the 50's by the late afternoon. The snow in town has melted and all that is left are piles of dirty snow mounds and sludge. High atop the mountains the snow is still glistening but is slowly melting and you can begin to see shades of green beginning to return.

The food here is fantastic. We have already eaten halibut (the most wonderful tasting fish in the world), and smoked salmon. In the photo, we went to the Snow Goose and ate fried halibut - yumoo!!!

The salmon season is fast approaching and we can't wait to go fishing. Kim told us the other day that once the seagulls return, it is a sure sign that salmon season is not too far behind. Surprisingly enough, there are seagulls everywhere, especially near the bay. We thought we left those type of birds in Florida!

One thing that we have noticed is that food, produce, and paper products, here are quite expensive. What would cost us around $8 in Jacksonville, costs approximately $15 here. We're glad we will be working soon - we're spending all our spare cash quickly!

Kim took us to the rail yard and we we able to see the train cars that we'll be on up close. Wow, these things are huge and much, much bigger than we thought. You can barely see Rennie and I sticking our bodies out of the train car (picture to the left). The guests will be on the top floor of the car with us and dine in the lower portion.

Our training begins on May 5 (Rennie's 50th birthday) until May 12. The first train leaves May 13. A normal schedule for us will be working two days on the train, then one day off - two more days on the train, then three days off. On the three day break we will be able to work another shift or go on an excursion.

We move into our townhouse on Friday. For right now, we are in a hotel in downtown Anchorage. One view from our balcony are the mountains, another is the bay, and another is a part of downtown Anchorage. I'm guessing the size of Anchorage is approximately the size of St. Augustine. About 270,000 people live in Anchorage - so much smaller than Jacksonville.

Today we are supposed to go to an Alaskan museum. Hopefully we can learn many things that we can use with our narration on the train.

So far, our adventure is all that we have hoped it would be and we are truly happy and excited about what is to come our way.

Until next time...Pamela