A year living in Alaska

“If you want the ultimate, you have to be willing to pay the ultimate price” 

-Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) in Point Break

Fortos' Fort in Alaska

I arrived to Alaska bright eyed and bushy tailed exactly 365 1/4 days ago. That is exactly one year in case you have trouble with math.

I was full of hope, optimism and dreams of the future. I had so many plans when arrived. Some of them have been met others are still a rigorous work in progress.

I learned a long time ago, not in some institute of higher learning–that I paid for out of my own pocket, but from the school of life–that nothing in life is free and things rarely come easy.

I have worked hard for everything I have ever done in life and I am proud to say that no matter what obstacles are thrown my way it is how I overcome it is what matters.

I guess you can say I really became a man when I moved up here. Yep, thats right, at the ripe old age of 39. It took me this long to really set my priorities in gear and get busy living instead of the opposite.

That brings me to my life up here in the Great White North. 

This past year was harder than I thought. I had never imagined that life would be so rough without my wife, my biggest fan and supporter, my wife, Michele, here.

We decided before we bought our house up here that she and the kids would stay in Denver at least until this summer so we could continue with our dog training business.

That has been bittersweet. 

A lot of good has come out of this past year. I have done a lot of work on the house, I have ran a heck of a lot of miles on a dog sled and I have accustomed to life in Alaska, never mind if it is 25 miles to the nearest grocery.

I am still learning that they do things different here and life is a lot slower than I am used to. But I love it here.

We’ll see what the next year brings and I hope that it teaches me as much as the last.

First Blog Post from Alaska:

The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams: August, 8, 2010

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