Roadtrip to Alaska: Day 6

**Before I continue, I would like to congratulate my Lady Falcons for winning the New Year's Blast Tournament back in Columbia, SC!! Way to go, ladies!! Ya'll are the awesomest!! :-)

Day 6 (12/28): Santa Fe, NM --> Tucson, AZ

Because we did not get to see Santa Fe much the night before, we got up early the next morning to walk around some more - despite the 13-degree weather - I had been looking forward to Santa Fe for quite a while, and it surely did not disappoint!

I love the adobe architecture!

This must be the coolest parking garage ever

Random picture of me on the street

The Laretto

Laretto Chapel

New Mexico State Capitol

More adobe!!

San Miguel Mission Church - the oldest church structure in the U.S. (ca.1610)

On our way to Tucson...and I absolutely love the sky and the clouds!! (See if you can spot the bird flying in the air)

My other favorite city of New Mexico! :-)

Did I mention I like the sky?!?

What? Sky?

We must be approaching Arizona...

Yep! ...and the speed limit is still 75! ;-)

Roadtrip to Alaska: Day 5

Day 5 (12/27): Amarillo, TX --> Santa Fe, NM

After attending church in the morning, we began our drive to Santa Fe. However, before long, I spotted "Cavender's Boot City". So Mama and I decided to go in and "look around." And yes, there was a lot to look at...

Well, somehow "looking around" turned into "trying them on"...

...and then I walked out with my own pair in the bag... These stores are dangerous, I'm convinced!!

It was a beautiful day, but the rest of Texas looked like a whole lot of nothing...


I was excited about going to New Mexico for the first time, though...

...even though it also looked like a whole lot of nothing for a long while

But one major reason for loving New Mexico is the speed limit! Doesn't it look like they really want you to drive fast?? ...that's how I took it anyway... ;-)

We got to Santa Fe a little later than anticipated, thanks to the boot shopping delay, but we walked around Santa Fe Plaza for a while even though it was too dark to take many pictures.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis Assisi

We ended our evening at a neat restaurant in the Plaza

Santa Fe, one of my new favorite cities, to be continued..

Roadtrip to Alaska: Day1 - Day 4

Day 1 (12/23): Columbia, SC --> Birmingham, AL

No pictures were taken for the first day, because there was not much between South Carolina and Alabama. I refrain from using the word "boring"...so let's just say that it was "familiar".

Day 2 (12/24): Birmingham, AL --> Memphis, TN --> Little Rock, AR

I had been watching the weather and knew that there would be some rain on the way, but I had no idea water would be pouring from the sky in such huge volumes...all day...

The weather, however, did not deter me from detouring slightly through Graceland...

Day 3 (12/25): Christmas in Little Rock, AR with the Audases/Gallaghers

The Audases got a Wii for Christmas - so guess what we did the rest of the day? Why run 5 miles up the hill when you can exercise in the comfort of your own living room?!?

It was on the verge of violence on several occasions! But boxing was a good stress relief, I must say, especially when you fight the right opponent!

We look very well-behaved in this picture!!

Well, not for long...

Day 4 (12/26): Little Rock, AR --> Oklahoma City, OK --> Amarillo, TX

1 1/2 days after Oklahoma City had its biggest snow storm ever, I decided to go for it...bravely or stupidly...

We stopped briefly at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial as we drove through

This one hit harder than I thought it ever would...

We drove on toward Texas. One great thing about driving west is we get to see spectacular sunsets! I kept making Mama nervous by continuously snapping photos away while driving, especially on the snowy/icy parts...but I just couldn't resist!

Shamrock, TX - the Irish self in me needed a picture with the sign with my straw hat on...go figure!

Bethel

I got to fly out to Bethel for a few days last week. Bethel is a small Eskimo town of about 5,000 – but the largest compared to the surrounding villages. Everything is extremely expensive. Gas is $6.00 a gallon. There are two grocery stores in town, and I was shocked to see the price labels…



I spent three days shadowing a PT (Nondas) at the only hospital in town, which I thought had a unique design.

The Natives in Bethel are Yup'ik Eskimos, and therefore speak Yup'ik. I was frequently mistaken to be an Eskimo. On several occasions, some elderly people just began speaking Yup’ik to me with no hesitation...I just returned a blank stare and a smile. :-) It was quite amusing. Most of the signs in the hospital had both English and Yup’ik.

The majority of the people do not own a car, so snowmachines are a major means of transportation.

Another major transportation is taxi cabs. About 1/3 of the cars in Bethel are cabs. Interestingly, the two competing taxi services are owned by Koreans and Albanians…

Typical houses (sorry, no igloos...) :-)

A family with a sled dog team…

I had a wonderful visit with my friends Nondas and his wife Melissa, who is the audiologist at the hospital. In the picture below, Melissa was preparing dinner while John (a nurse at the hospital) and I snacked on moose jerky.

The weather conditions are harsh in the winters. One day, half of the patients had to reschedule or cancel their appointments due to blizzards. That same night, there was a wind storm that made the house shake so much that we felt like we were inside a washing machine. It was -24 degrees the next morning - by far the coldest temperature I've experienced.

Before my flight back to Anchorage, we had just enough time to squeeze in some snowmachining. It seemed like we put on 50 layers...

Oh yeah!!

Since there’s not a whole lot out in Bethel, most of the land is basically snow-covered wilderness. Once you’re out in the middle of the wilderness, everything looks the same. I wonder what they did before GPS came along...? I guess that's why frosbite is one of the most common diagnoses treated at the hospital.

I had such a lovely time in Bethel and learned so much about the culture! It was time to head back to 'civilization' from this one-room airport...