Saturday, July 24, 2010

Sourdoughs







We're home on a Saturday afternoon, rare in our case. Returning from a four-day trip south to the area known as Turnagain Pass, we are catching up and catching our breath after a whirlwind month of July.

A trip to a friend's fishing lodge on Lake Clark unfortunately couldn't materialize, so with a few free days we packed up and decided to head to the Pass for an in-depth study of the area, oft-driven by but never explored, at least by us.

We stayed at Summit Lake Lodge, a quaint motel and restaurant nestled at the foot of the Chugach Range and Summit Lake. Reminding us of our beautiful Cascade Mountains in Washington, the lodge and lake was a perfect spot to truly "rest and recreate", even though the premise was two or three stories I am working on. No matter, rest we did, and Yukon and I even had the chance to catch up on conversation.

Rafting trip, hikes, museum stops, a little fishing, Seward Sea Life Center; we did it all without feeling compromised for time or energy. It was really, really nice, especially so when Yukon told me that our house refinance came through and we were now really, truly, residents for the present, and possibly future.

Those of you who know us know that Alaska was not initially a permanent stop for us. We are and always will be somewhat nomadic, loving the world and everything in it, thanks to the United States Government's employment system. Seven years was our marker; after that we would stop, evaluate the family and our goals, and decide how to proceed from there.
Since we just refinanced, I'm guessing we'll be here for at least five more. Things are going really well for all of us, Bear is due to start school and before long Wolf will be ending it, so we'd like to have the knowledge of stability, at least for a while.

Plus we've done all the work on the house. I promised myself I would never, ever sell a house again until I had the chance to live with any renovations. Guess we're no longer Cheechakos but Sourdoughs, going on five winters in Alaska. Feels pretty good, too.


2 comments:

Natalie said...

Congrats on the sourdough status. Time to celebrate!

Unknown said...

must of been a weekend for this conversation, we had a very similar one with a similar result. Reevalute in 4-5 years and see where things lie. I write that and you never know what tomorrow will bring and I am learning to live with an open mind.
Welcome to the sourdough ville and enjoy it while here, liquid sunshine and all!