Hey all. For those few who were wondering where I’ve been, I haven’t gone away. I’ve just been on the road! It’s been an amazing journey. In six days, my wife and I went through Alberta, Canada to British Colombia, then through the Yukon territories and finally to Anchorage, Alaska. From there, we went to Whittier, Alaska where we caught a ferry to Cordova, Alaska. This will be our home until September 12th. For those who don’t know, I’m a nurse. I’ve been one for close to ten years now. During that time, I’ve mainly worked in Intensive Care (seven years total), but I’ve also dabbled in the Emergency Department and virtually every floor imaginable. I even worked in Neonatal ICU for a year as an intern while I was in school. So I’ve been a lot of places! Fortunately, those skills have paid off, allowing me to do something I’ve always wanted to do – travel nursing.
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On the road, with four fuzzy babies (2 dogs, 2 cats) in tow!
For those who don’t know what that is exactly, it’s as the name implies, you get to travel for your work. Basically, you’re contracted with a hospital and work for an agency that works as an intermediary. The agency provides a recruiter, who acts as your liason between the facility you’ll be working and the company they represent. The recruiter is your life-line, and for travel nursing to be as smooth as possible, a good one is a must. I’ll talk more about that in future posts. In the meantime though, let’s talk about my latest adventure – my trip to Alaska!
My wife and I drove 12 hours from our last assignment in Spokane, Washington to Alberta, Canada. It took about twelve hours. From there, we meandered through Alberta and British Columbia, making our way through Jasper and Banff National Parks via the Icefields Parkway. Pictures of that leg of the journey are below!
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After making our way through Jasper and Banff National parks (which took about two days), we arrived in the Yukon Territories, making our way to Whitehorse. While there, we stayed at Muktuk Adventures, a fantastic ranch that provided amazing cabins and even allowed you to do some dog sledding. Being in the middle of summer, and due to a tight budget, I didn’t get to partake of that event, though they do run dogs year round (in warmer times you ride a wheeled sled). I wish I had snapped a picture of the main ranch where they house the dogs, but to get an idea, here’s a shot from their site.
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It was pretty insane as they had what seemed to be fifty to a hundred dogs kenneled in front of the main ranch. Interestingly, they were completely quiet and didn’t make a peep until our dogs, Zoey and Marley decided to announce their presence to the masses. Once our pups set light to that fire, we were treated to a chorus of howls and barks. It was hilarious, at least. After that, one of the owners led us to our cabin where we were treated to a spectacular view of the country-side. It was breathtaking, to say the least!
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
And that’s the end of this post. In the second part, I’ll post photos of the rest of our journey, as we move through the Yukon territories to Alaska and finally, to our destination, Cordova.
Post-time may vary as I’m on a spotty connection out in the boonies. But it’s pretty sweet. There’s a lot of reality t.v. shows focusing on Alaska right now, and it’s been ingrained in our collective consciousness that Alaska is the “last frontier” in the U.S. Having seen it myself, I can honestly say that assessment is true. If you ever have a chance, come visit. The Alaskan highway is pretty wild. Everyone we met was friendly (especially our Canadian cousins) and wanted to know where we were from and where we were headed to. During the summer, days do indeed get longer. I’m currently writing this at 10 PM and it looks like it’s about five PM on a summer evening. Even when it gets dark, it’s not entirely dark. So that’s pretty cool. I wouldn’t trade this for the winters though, where the darkness dominates. But Alaska and Canada are some pretty amazing places.
Anyhoo, that’s the rant for now. Enjoy the pictures. More to come. Image may be NSFW.
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-ty
The post On the Road – From Canada to Cordova (Part I) appeared first on sai tyrus.