Greetings

PHOTO: Jen & Chris in the Chena Hot Springs Ice Hotel near Fairbanks, Alaska. This is a year round ice structure that has an ice bar, ice rooms with ice beds, etc. Notice that I am drinking an appletini out of a glass made of ice! The weather outside was -40 degrees. We also went into the outdoor hotsprings under the Northern Lights.

This is the first entry of our new blog. I've been wanting to create a place to post stories, pics, etc since moving up to Anchorage, Alaska.

I'm currently post-call after a 30 hour sleepless shift at the hospital...which somehow seemed to me the perfect time to take on a new project! Chris says that I always tend to do new projects at the most inconvenient times, such as when I brought home 20 plants and decided to pot them all the same night that I was flying out for a conference. Hmmmm....

We purchased our first house (that is our first LAND house, as our first home is our sailboat High Endeavours) this year. It is a simple ranch on a court off a side street that is nestled in the foothills of the Chugach Mountains. We have ski trails out our backyard and moose in our front yard. The house needs some serious up-dating and it is keeping Chris quite busy. I'm not sure quite where he learned how to do house projects, but he has been doing a great job and I just smile when he tells me that he's "punching a hole through the wall" or "going into the ceiling to do some wiring." I have ZERO skills in this area and am baffled by it all. But it is coming along great and we have a guest room ready for guests - but make your "reservations" early, as this summer is already filling up!

Our Anchorage address is: 8620 Kushtaka Circle, Anchorage, AK 99504
Our home phone: 907-929-1189
Our cell phone: 907-242-7868

Our "real home" - our sailboat, High Endeavours - is in Seward, Alaska. This is about a 2-3 hour drive south from Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula. Even though a city named Anchorage should have...an anchorage...it only is used for large ships. So, our boat has found a home in a mountain surrounded harbour in Seward, noted by Sailing USA to be one of the "top 10" sailing destinations in the US. We try to get down to see her on a monthly basis, as the snow and ice builds up and creates horrible weight on her. In April, we have a 10 day vacation where we plan on sailing over to Prince William Sound for some exploration.

I have been BUSY with residency, which has been difficult as I have not been able to "keep up" with family and friends as much as I'd like to. I am working 80 hour workweeks with a few 30 hour shifts in there. I'm learning a ton and am very happy that I chose this program and the speciality of family medicine; but I am also beginning to get a bit worn out. This first year is the most brutal. The second and third year have fewer long call shifts in the hospital. I work between two hospitals (Providence Hospital and the Alaska Native Medical Center), our clinic (where I have my own patients), and various locations throughout the state (Bethel, Soldotna, Dutch Harbor, Nome, etc). The program's focus is to train "frontier family docs," which goes one step beyond "rural."

Chris has been busy with house projects, boat projects, and working at REI; where he was recently promoted.

That's all for now. Will write more soon,

Much love,

Jen