Hello 2018

It's a little late but the beginning of the year is always a little busy! We decided to take a train trip up to Fairbanks to check out the land and a new area with the hopes of seeing some Northern lights.  

The train ride was great and we did see some beautiful scenery when it was light out;)  

They have less light time up there and after a week of that I could tell the difference in myself mentally.  I'm glad we live in Anchorage.  On the train we spotted 22 moose and a couple of sheep!  We brought books for the long train ride but we spent most of our time looking out the windows to see whatever we could!  

A really cool thing was that the railroad is the only one in the U.S. that has "flag service" which is people who live in the middle of nowhere Alaska they can flag down the train so they can go to the next town for supplies and then also to get back to their homestead.  It's pretty amazing how people are living out there in the middle of nowhere, limited luxuries, little to no contact with others, and the brutal winter of Alaska! 

Our hotel in Fairbanks was perfect for us, they had a restaurant and bar LOL!  We found out that a lot of things close around New Years.  We were limited on what we could due to what was open and due to the biting cold but we did our best.  We checked out some breweries, got some local eats, went to the pipeline, and checked out a museum.  

outside of the auto museum, it was awesome and a great find in Fairbanks!

HooDoo brewery, good stuff...even had a porter myself and I'm not a beer drinker!

THE pipeline!

love the random art in the town!

It's easy to see why drinking can be a problem here...especially in the winter months with limited day light, cold weather that doesn't encourage one to go outside, have a nice drink is very appealing!  Although the weather is cold it is so beautiful!  

We didn't see any lights :( but we live here so I know we will eventually.  Maybe this weekend!  We both have apps that tell us when it's a good time and this weekend is looking good :)

Joe asked me this past weekend if I'm still happy that we are here in Alaska and I am.  It's amazing to think this, Alaska, wasn't even on my radar and not a place I'd think I'd ever wanted to live but here I am and I'm happy. 

Never say never!