It has been exactly a year since Alyssa, myself (Zac) and the girls hopped in a ski-plane with over 1000 lbs worth of personal effects, uprooted from our home in Palmer, and moved
into the Alaska wilderness.
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| Not your average U-Haul... All loaded up, moving into the wilderness on 4/17/17 |
We were prepared for some culture shock and eventually settled in to the new home and lifestyle, but honestly it started out a bit rough. We got here just as winter was turning to spring, so being outside was no fun. You could not walk anywhere on the property without sinking up to your butt in soft rotten snow. Riding the snowmobiles was quickly out of the question as the patches of mud soon became larger than the patches of snow. We also knew in the back of our minds that less than 3 weeks after we moved, our first guests were going to arrive, so the stress of our first tourist season loomed closely.
Chloe and Eiley adapted easily and loved having mom and dad around all the time. They missed extended family that we left in Palmer, but overall, they have done great living out here.
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| Taking advantage of a hot summer day |
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| A successful day picking blueberries |
Alyssa didn't seem to go through many extreme changes because she's always been home with the girls and mostly missed her time with friends at church or the gym. I think the hardest part for her was getting used to having me around 24/7. I did a pretty good job of driving her crazy.
My problem was that for the first time in over 7 years I wasn't waking up to an alarm clock, rushing out the door, combat driving to work, or answering phones and dealing with customers all day at my office job in Anchorage. So I think I went through the most culture shock. I would wake up not knowing what to do with myself.... no phone calls, no traffic, no demands. Honestly, I didn't like it. It wasn't that I didn't like living here, I just didn't like having nothing to do.
Another thing that almost drove me crazy was a ringing in my ears that lasted about 4 weeks after we moved. Every night as I lie in bed, I swear I could hear a lawn mower or generator ever so faintly; it sounded like it was across the lake 400 yards away. I would ask Alyssa,
"Hey, are you up? Can you hear that?" We went through this several times until that ringing left my head. She would try to be nice and say something like,
"No, hun. All I can hear is you. Just try to ignore it." Easier said than done for someone who would rather punch a bear in the face than sleep in a bedroom with a ticking clock. I can't stand undeviating, soft noises when I'm trying to sleep or concentrate.
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| A quick family road-trip to Seward |
Having
Joe and Bonnie out here was our saving grace. It would have been a nightmare first year without them. Having people to visit with and show us the ropes around here was priceless.
As summer arrived we found a groove as best we could. Bonnie, Alyssa, and Caitlin (Alyssa's twin sister) worked well together in the kitchen and shared duties as equals. Joe spent a huge part of the summer building their cabin so they wouldn't have to live in the loft above the shop anymore. That left me with doing about 95% of the guiding and hosting. It all worked out well. Whenever someone wasn't busy working, they found time to play with Chloe and Eiley, so the girls almost always had a parent, uncle, or aunt to play with them. Some of the girls favorite things to do was go down to the lake and throw rocks, hike, or pick berries.
When we first moved to
the lodge Eiley hated being outside, but now it's hard to keep either of the girls indoors. Chloe (5) is so passionate about animals and nature that she absorbs everything she learns and has become very knowledgeable about many aspects of life out here.
Eiley really started to enjoy being outside more once she knew how fast uncle Joe could go on the snowmobile. She loves playing with Howie and sledding. Now that she's a little bigger (3), I think she'll have a great time outside this summer.
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| Flying to town in an R44 helicopter |
Both girls love to help around the house.. from dishes and sweeping to stacking firewood, I think they just love being around adults and feeling like big helpers.
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| Flying home in a Cessna 206 float-plane |
As I weighed the pro's & con's about life and making a living in the wilderness, I couldn't help but think that spending more time every day with my wife and kids was going to be worth more money than I could ever make at any job! And I was right. If drinking coffee with my wife, eating breakfast with my kids every morning, and on occasion staying in my PJ's until noon playing board games and doing puzzles with my 3 & 5 year old was currency, I would be the richest man in the world.
Then summer comes, and my job consists of hiking, kayaking, camping......and helping with dishes. I can't complain.
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| Alyssa & Eiley Kayaking, Summer 2017 |
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| Zac & Chloe Kayaking, Summer 2017 |
One concern of mine was wondering how all of our guests would treat our kids...or rather how our kids would respond to having strangers around all summer. It ended up being a really amazing thing to watch. All summer the girls had fun interacting with guests from all around the country and all over the world. They did origami with ladies from Japan and played board games with people from Finland. Guests read to and played with them, and both of my girls made tips. I am not sure how many 2 year olds are getting gratuity for being a lodge host, but I'm sure it's not many...
I am just going to be honest: I was kind of dreading our first whole winter out here. There is a lot of it! We have had over 6 months with snow on the ground, but the experience has actually been pretty neat. We learned a lot and had lots of fun playing in the snow. We also broke up the long winter with a trip out of state to visit friends and family for Christmas. That was an important trip for me because it was the first time in 8 months that I felt excited to go home. Now it's almost May, and we can look back at the snow storms, the crazy winds, the warm fire, and hot coffee, and it wasn't all that bad.
So, there you go. A quick look at how our first year living at the lodge played out. It has been fun, rewarding, hard, and exciting. It has taught us so much about ourselves, not to mention what it has taught us about running a business. It took me a long time to get to this point, but now I can finally say this feels like home.
