Winter Vacation

Although I’m still a few weeks shy of Alaska, I have, since my last post, moved from Montana and am now enjoying a wonderful winter vacation in Salida, CO. I’m far away from most of my friends and family so I thought an update was due. Please forgive me if I don’t have anything very exciting to share. :)

My last few weeks in Helena were much enjoyed. I was able to share great times with all my wonderful Montana friends, play music with the greatest group of people around for one last time and go snowboarding at Big Sky with Craig (awesome!!). Finishing up work went well too. I feel so lucky to have had such a phenomenal experience working with Montana Youth Homes, I definitely will miss the kids and staff there.

This is how we celebrate a great year in Montana when there is no furniture left in our apartment.

These are those great musicians I mentioned. Sorry to those that got cut off (Jane, Dawn, Craig).

Craigo snowboarding at beautiful Big Sky, we had the place to ourselves! (thanks to my boss who let me go on a Tuesday!) :)

Craig and I said our goodbyes to Montana and headed back to our old home, Fort Collins, for a few days. We had a great time catching up with friends and the breweries, of course. I made a pit stop in Denver to visit my dearest friend, Kaitlin, and then to Salida, where we are now and will be until we start our road trip to Alaska! I feel very spoiled living the way I do here. We spend our days snowboarding at the quiet, but awesome, Monarch resort, as well as playing music, games, taking advantage of a free trial of netflix, reading books, and watching the wildlife play in the backyard. The best is when the fox come to visit because we can watch them hunt. My sister, Catherine, and her boyfriend, Matt, came last week from Chicago. We had a great visit with them, even though they beat us at shuffleboard.

**Photo to come of the four of us as soon as my sis emails them to me**

Dates are becoming official, as yesterday we made our reservations with the Alaska Marine Highway. Juneau, although it is Alaska’s capital, is inaccessible by road, leaving plane and ferry your only options. We are super excited for the opportunity to road trip through Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and then hop on a ferry that will take us on a two day trip through the Inside Passage of Alaska. We will get on the ferry in Prince Rupert, BC and will make stops in lots of cool spots on the way to Juneau. We will arrive in Juneau on March 3rd, leaving a few days to explore before my first day of work on March 8th. Besides a few bad dreams about grizzlies, I am getting very excited!