What is life but one Grand Adventure...

One year ago today I started this blog. I was preparing to leave my beautiful island home in South Carolina for a little adventure to Alaska. I didn't really know what was coming next, but I was ready for something completely different. And I can definitely say that I found it. 

View from the top of a ridge on the Carlana Lake Trail

Yes my 6 month adventure completely changed my life, but isn't that what adventures are supposed to do. I was subbing at a school yesterday and one of the other teachers was asking me about my life and pretty much thought I was completely crazy. Her questions were something along the lines of:  You moved all they way across the country alone? Your parents are okay with that? How could you possibly move to a new place not knowing anyone there?  

These are all questions that I have heard many times. I mean I've lived in 4 different states and 5 different towns in the past 3 years...so I've heard most of them before. That is the reaction that I get from most people...that I'm crazy. I get it, it was a stretch for sure to move 4,000 miles away from my family and friends to a place where I didn't know anyone. But the great thing is...there are new people there, you make new friends. 

As far as are my parents okay with it...it wasn't there decision. I'm very thankful that my parents have always been supportive of whatever I have wanted to do. But even if they hadn't been supportive, it's still my life and my decisions to make. And I made the decision long ago I never wanted to live a boring life. So yes for me that means that I moved to Alaska, it doesn't mean that I don't miss my family and that we aren't still close. It just means that mine is a little different from yours. 

That is why when recently a friend of my parents from home tagged me in a Facebook post as one of his inspirations to remember to live an adventurous life, it was really refreshing (thanks Steve). One, its always nice to know that you can be an inspiration to anyone, no matter what their age. I mean that's why I want to be a teacher, to inspire the next generation to love the natural world and adventure the way that someone once did for me. Two, it's also nice to know there are other people who get the same feeling that you do when you take risks to not have a boring life. 

Yes this blog entry has been a little different from the other ones about my adventure. But I'm happy to know that it doesn't end any time soon. I plan on inspiring as many people as possible to live a crazy and adventurous life. I'm not telling all of you that you should leave everything and move to Alaska, although you should all visit! But you should do things that make you enjoy your life.

An adventurous life does not necessarily mean climbing mountains, swimming with sharks, or jumping off cliffs. It means risking yourself by leaving a piece of you behind everywhere you go along the way.

This is one of my favorite quotes that I have ever read! Yes I have done a couple of those crazy adventurous things. But I've also left a part of myself every single place that I've been, and I've replaced it with a small piece of that place. Because to include another adventure quote: "We must take adventures to know where we truly belong." Every single adventure makes you who you are!

Keep in mind, watching a sunrise and sunset can be a great adventure. It all depends how you look at it. My life isn't an adventure because I live in Alaska, there are many people that live here who live boring lives. My life is an adventure because I refuse to let it be boring! It's a choice that I make everyday. Because as Eleanor Roosevelt said "The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, and to reach out eagerly and without fear for a newer and richer experience." 

So I hope this post inspires you a little, even if it is just to see the adventure in your everyday life. I also challenge you to take some of the big adventures. They might even change your life, mine did. A year ago when I started this blog I never thought I'd still be in Alaska. And I couldn't have imagined that my life would be anywhere close to how Amazing it is today! 

And now I'll leave you with a few of my favorite adventures New and Old, Big and Small! 

Fishing with Kayln, Ben, and Chris when I lived in NC

Getting to swim with this 12 foot Tiger Shark in Bimini

Dancing my way through the Color run with Ann and Scott

Releasing my Green Sea Turtle babies with Ann

Exploring Jekyll Island with Carly, E-fay, and McNaughty

Making it to the Redwoods

Everyday rainbows with Ann and Scott

Sarah's bachelorette party at Disney

Exploring Yosemite National Park 

Watching sunset from the top of Cadillac Mountain in Arcadia National Park

Ziplinning in the Alaskan Rainforest

Exploring MBSP with Tristan and the SC tree 

Finding my first Chiton

Meeting the Bullpen Cop in Boston!

Don't live the same year 75 times and call it a life! 

-Robert Sharma

Home Part 2...

After a week of resting I had some wonderful friends come to visit me in Savannah. I met Kat and her twin sister Elizabeth when I first started at Edisto Beach State Park. Kat was also a ranger, but shortly after I got there she moved to Chester State Park.

Me, Kat, and Elizabeth

They met me at my mother's boyfriends house for a beautiful afternoon in the South Carolina Lowcountry. We spent the afternoon on a boat ride. We visited monkey island (yes there are actual monkeys there), glimpsed Edisto and Hunting Island, and saw some cute little dolphins. Then we had a wonderful Low Country Boil. This for those of you that don't know is a wonderful mixture of spices, shrimp, corn, potatoes, and ours contained sausage. 

Tybee Lighthouse

Then we headed back to Savannah to spend a wonderful day on Tybee. The sun was out and some more of our friends were coming into town for the wedding. So that night we had a cookout with all of them at the house that they rented. 

Pat and Little Noah

Friday was time for the rehearsal and dinner. We had a lovely time at dinner at North Beach Grill then headed to Bennies for Karaoke and some time with family who had just arrived. It was so nice to spend some time on Tybee again.

Saturday was wedding day. It was a beautiful ceremony full of so much love. I didn't trip walking down the aisle and I made it through my speech! My little sister made an absolute beautiful bride and brought everyone to tears with the amazing vows that she wrote. I am so happy to have gained more family that day, I gained 2 new big brothers and a wonderful new little sister! Preston and Sarah are so great for each other and I wish them nothing but the best.  

  

Me, Rebekah, and Ashley

Tristan at Fort Pulaski

Sunday and Monday were our last 2 days in Savannah. Tristan and I said our goodbyes to all of Preston's family and then did a little exploring. Sunday we went to Fort Pulaski on Tybee Island and a wonderful walk on the beach. We found some great shells for our shell collection and watched a beautiful sunset. 

Tristan with a Horeshoe Crab

On Monday we visited the 4-H center where I used to work and said hello to all the staff. We also played with some of my favorite cuties. Tristan got to hold his first snake (Monty the python), we visited with Zoe (my sea turtle baby I took care of when I worked there), and played in the touch tank. It was great to get to introduce Tristan to all of the cool animals that we don't see in Alaska. 

After the 4-H center we headed to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. We spent about 2 hours driving the 3 mile road looking for wildlife. We found so many alligators, even a mama and some babies. We also spotted tons of birds, once again Tristan was so excited to see all the wildlife that was all new for him.

Savannah NWR

Tuesday we headed to Myrtle Beach, because no trip to the east coast is complete for me without a stop over there. Tristan had some amazing SC BBQ, which was the one thing on his list of things he wanted to do. I'd say he enjoyed it since we came home with 3 bottles of sauce. 

Pitcher Plants

While in Myrtle we spent some time with Ann and Scott. We visited Lewis Ocean Bay Preserve and found venus fly traps, pitcher plants, and the Red-cockaded woodpecker. We also spent time at both Myrtle Beach and Huntington Beach State Parks. 

Venus Fly Traps

The Venus Fly Traps turned out to be Tristan's favorite part of the whole trip! Which I understand, they were so cool to see in the wild. Plus they don't grow anywhere else in the world other than in Carolina Bays in North and South Carolina. 

It was so nice to visit with my friends in Myrtle and to be around the park for a few days! I have missed all of them. It was so wonderful to show Tristan all of the things that I love about the area! We got to help out with the Amazing Race which is still one of my favorite events that the park puts on. Who knows...maybe we will even compete in it next year! 

The SC tree at MBSP

After the race we headed back to Va. We spent a couple days at home visiting with my dad and other friends and family. Thank you to Gayle for the fried chicken and pineapple cake. We also spent an evening with dad narrowing down the boxes to bring me here in Alaska. 

Finally on March 9th we got on a plane and headed back home to Ketchikan. I had a wonderful time back on the east coast. I'm so glad I got to do so much and see so many people. But we were very happy to be back home in our sleepy little Alaskan town. Thank you to everyone who made my trip home so great! 

Atalya at HBSP

Home Part 1...

Well I have been back east for 2 weeks and it has been a whirl-wind. Already I have spent time in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

I had a few days at home with my family in Virginia, which was a great way to readjust to the time change. I visited with friends and family and dad and I spent some time thinning out my stuff some more. I'm slowly getting the stuff I want to keep narrowed down. 

After a few relaxing days at home I hit the road for a very long day. My first stop was in Savannah, but due to traffic it took me about 8 hours to get there. Then I got in the car with my mom , sister, and some of her friends for the rest of the trip to Orlando (another 5 1/2 hours). After living in Ketchikan where there is only about 30 miles of road to drive on...that was a bit of a struggle for one day.

Disney was fantastic. I got pictures with Mickey, Ariel, Anna, Elsa, and more. The day started off sunny...then quickly turned to a light steady rain. This wasn't so bad for me since it rains everyday in Ketchikan...plus it drove some of the people out early so by 8 PM we never waited more than 10 minutes for a ride. 

The bummer about the rain is that we were picked to be the Grand Marshals in the parade, and because of the rain...the parade didn't happen. But I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the Disney staff. We stood waiting with them for over an hour waiting to see if the parade would happen, so we missed out on some stuff. But they were incredible about this. They gave us fast passes so we could ride the rides with long waits (Peter Pan and the new 7 Dwarfs roller coaster). Even though we weren't actually in the parade, we were given Mickey ears that said official Grand Marshal. The staff was nothing but incredible while we were there, but we already knew that. 

They are Disney...and they make dreams come true. 

After coming back to Savannah I decided it was time for another trip. I headed North up the coast to see some friends. I stopped by the park in Myrtle to say hi to my favorite people, then I headed to Wilmington. 

My best friend from home lives in the area, so I wanted to spend a few days with her. We had an aquarium day at the Fort Fisher Aquarium. I love NC aquariums, there are several up and down the coast and each one is unique. We went in the middle of the week so there was almost know one there, so it was nice to be able to watch all the animals with out a ton of people around. 

After my time with Austin, I headed to Pine Knoll Shores, NC. This is where I lived during the 12/13 school year. I worked at Sound to Sea camp. The people there became more like family (kinda like most places I live). I try to visit once a year...so I made my yearly trip up. There was dancing with Mindy and Meg, meeting the new staff, seeing all of the animals, lunch with Jen, and video games with Teddy. It is always nice to get to spend time with the people that I love that live in different places. 

I made it back to Savannah again yesterday after a quick stop in Myrtle for lunch with my favorite professor from college. This week is kind of a resting week for me. More friends will be in to visit this weekend, then people start to arrive for the wedding Sunday. Tristan will get in Monday...less than a week!! YAY!!!! Then next week will revolve mostly around last minute wedding details.

As true to my life the past few weeks have been nothing short of an adventure!  I still have 3 more weeks on the east coast and I'm sure the adventure will continue. 

Until next time...

January

This is post is pretty short. 

This month I have worked. I subbed in a Pre-school class for most of the month. Our theme this month was transportation. We studied planes, cars, trains, and boats. We did a lot of painting and crafts. We made planes out of clothes pins and boats out of old cereal containers. That was fun for the kids. We even filled up the sand pit with water so that they could watch their boat float. I enjoyed my time in the preschool, it reminded me that I miss spending all of my time teaching kids! It also reminded me that I love teaching older children. 

I had my meeting to set up things for this summer. I will be back with Allen Marine as a naturalist again. I cannot wait for the summer season to begin! I am ready for talking about whales, seals, and eagles to be my life again! 

The days are getting longer here in Ketchikan, and it has been decently warm for the last few weeks. We have also had torrential downpours and hurricane winds. But you can tell that spring is on its way and summer will be here before I know it. 

The never ending adventure is on the move again tomorrow as I hop on the plane to head back home for a month or so! I'll be visiting a little bit of everywhere from VA, GA, Disney, NC, and SC while I'm home! I'm excited to see all of my friends and family! Plus the main event...my little sisters wedding! Tristan will be joining me for a few weeks, so I'm excited to get to show him around! 

I hope I get to see all of you while I'm home! The next few weeks will be pretty busy filled with traveling and visiting! But I will try to keep you updated from the road! 

SNOW....

First I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! 

We had our friend Stephanie over for dinner on Christmas Eve. Then we spent Christmas Day playing in the snow and Tide pooling. 

Tristan and I got each other stuffed mini deep sea creatures. He got a blobfish and I got an isopod!

Christmas Day is also Tristan's birthday. So we decided to do our favorite thing and go tide pooling! It was a -3.05ft tide at around 7PM. So we bundled up and put our headlamps on and climbed down the rocks to the beach. 

It was just starting to snow flurry while we were out there and we could hear a whale blowing every now and then. We found all sorts of creatures from Sea cucumbers, sea stars, shrimp, pipe fish, sculpin, rockfish, urchins, different species of snails, chitons, and a few nudibranchs! We took the sein net out and attempted to catch some fish. We only lasted a few times since our hands were super cold at that point. 

Buffalo Sculpin

                                                                                

Being a beachbum from the Southeast, it has been many years since I have seen snow. Well that is no longer the case. We got a couple of inches the day after Christmas, but inland they got a lot more. 

Since Christmas day it has been sunny and cold everyday! It has also been beautiful! We have taken adventures inland to play in the snow almost everyday. I bought a sled and attempted sledding for the first time in years yesterday. I stepped in a soft spot and sunk to my hip until I hit the hard snow! 

I could tell you about it all day...but I think I'll just show you a few pictures! It is breathtakingly beautiful here! It has turned into an amazing winter wonderland! 

Yes I am slightly jealous of the 80 degree Christmas back home. And I'm sure I would have spent it basking on the beach in my bathing suit if I had been at home. But I enjoyed my winter wonderland with these 2 cuties this Christmas! 

Finding a Christmas Tree

As always with my life this was an adventure.

 As most of you know Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year! So when I told Tristan that I was coming back for the winter, the first thing he said was that we could go and cut down our own Christmas tree. It has been years since I have had a real tree and I have never cut my own down so I was super excited! 

So last Saturday we headed out to Slivis Lake trail to the designated area where you are allowed to cut Christmas trees. It was raining when we woke up...but by the time we drove out South the sun was peaking out from the clouds every so often. Although it was still cold enough that some of the snow that had fallen the week before was still on the ground. We hiked a little way up and then made our way down into the Muskeg (basically a swamp). It was cold enough that the muskeg was frozen over so we didn't have to worry about sinking! 

We searched all around the muskeg for the right tree. Tristan insisted that we have a Bull Pine...so we looked all around to find the perfect one. Well it turns out that the perfect one was actually the top of a larger tree. So up the tree Tristan went with his saw to cut it down as Siren and I watched. 

 

After he cut it down and we trimmed it down to the size we needed, back down the mountain we headed. Thankfully the Christmas tree area isn't too far up the trail, and the trail is an old logging road so its not too bad. Then Tristan got the tree all tied on top of the little bug! 

Once we got the tree home then the real adventure began. Our tree stand is a little bucket that uses rocks to hold the tree up. So we had to perfectly position the tree with the rocks so that it wouldn't fall down. Then we realized we didn't have have enough lights so off to the worlds smallest Walmart we went. I ran inside and grabbed another string of lights. 

We got home and put the lights up on the tree but then realized that we didn't have any hooks to hang any ornaments. So back to Walmart we went. This time we also got a tacky $8 star that lights up for the top of the tree. So back home we went to finish decorating our tree. 

Our ornaments are the entire collection of characters from the original Rudolf that Paula and I found on sale at CVS on Christmas Eve in 2001. So daddy mailed them up for me along with a few other wooden ornaments. And our tree skirt was made by Tristan's mom when he was a little kid. We also found stockings that she had also made and they are hanging up near our tree (we don't have a fireplace)! 

Other than finding a tree I have basically been working. i have been subbing in a pre-school class for the last 2 weeks and I'll be there through Thursday when Christmas break starts. We have been studying dinosaurs. We have made fossil cookies, skeletons out of pasta, and volcanoes. This week is their Christmas program so I will be helping with that on Monday night. 

We took Siren on a walk today and I saw a few little snow flurries. The mountains have been covered with snow for a while, but they are calling for the first snow here in town tomorrow. Then basically the whole end of the week it is supposed to snow. I'm looking forward to Christmas break so that there can be lots more adventures!  

I promise to post pictures of the snow in the next few weeks. Until then enjoy the Christmas season!!!