Sorry to Disappoint

I just got back from Homer, AK where I spent the best break of my life. The past 72 hours have been freaking amazing. Wish I had more pictures but here's what I got.

Camp is super and I love it up here. Sorry to report I am not the least bit homesick for Colorado. I only wish all the family and friends could be up here to see it all.

I woke up at 6am to go fishing in the Pacific this morning...life is awesome.

Updates Will Be Scattered

I have about an hour until I am back up at camp. You should all know that I have zero internet access so I will be unable to update you as often as previously expected. I do apologize but there's no real way around it. Check about every fourteen days and I should have new pictures and stories. Much love and do let me know if you would like a postcard!

I Heart Alaska!

No time to write....will update you later. In the meantime enjoy the photos of yours truly tooling around in the north. Things have been amazing so far and I bought my first pair of carhartts today!!! Woot.

Anchorage

Anchorage from the air.
26th Street Hostel bakyard

Today has been one of the most beatuiful days I have ever seen! It is in the mid 60's here, the sun, which has been shining since 4am is gorgeous and the air quality is amazing. I went for a six mile walk around the neighborhood surrounding the hostel. Anchorage is absolutely beatiful.

Yesterday was one of those rare completely overcast days in the city of Denver. So I left a day without sunshine to a place where the sunlight never really fades out. The journey itself was nothing spectacular. In fact, the plane ride was terrible. I'm talking the first hour and a half I was clinging to the barf bag and ready to hurl. I have no idea how we hit so much turbulence but I have never felt a plane bounce like that. After that it was fine, minus the third-rate Morgan Freeman/Jack Nicholson feel-good movie and the guy in front of me who hit me with the back of his chair at least six times.

Uncomfortable plane ride aside, my stay in Anchorage so far has been fantastic. I am staying at the 26th Street International Hostel. It is cozy, and as is usually the case in any hostel there are plenty of interesting people to meet. From middle-aged German women on soul-seeking journeys to gorgeous British pre-med students taking a gap year to backpack around the US, there is always someone to talk to. The owners, who are Nepali, have been amazingly friendly and helpful as well.

In two hours camp staff will pick me up in front of the hostel and I will be on my way to Wasilla, AK. Camp is still a ways from there, but that is the nearest civilization. While I still have the luxury of uninterrupted free Internet I took the liberty of looking up some facts about Wasilla. It has a population of just over 6,000 and a total area of approximately 8,500 acres. There is also an internet cafe, which will be the staging site for writing most of the rest of this blog.

Well, I think I'd like to read a little before I hit the road. I am currently making my way through Doris Kearn Goodwin's mammoth Team of Rivals. Thought I would just brush up on Abraham Lincoln...you know, just to keep summer interesting.

Graduation

Con la familia.

My academic family tree.

Mi madrina y yo.

After four years I am free from the drudgery of undergrad! About forty-eight hours ago I sat down to dinner with my friends and we breathed a collective sigh of relief. It was a rough journey, but fun. I feel I made the most of it...but now it is time for bigger and better things.

I am keeping this blog for the same reason I keep all blogs, as means to process my amazing and strange life adventures and to have a way to look back on how far I have come. As most who are reading this know, I have accepted a job at an Alaskan Girl Scout Camp for the summer. I will be about fifty miles north of Anchorage and not too far from the beautiful Denali. My summer will include living in a tent, learning to canoe, fighting off abnormally large mosquitoes and meeting scores of new people. Therefore I have titled this blog Elena's Greatest Summer Ever...because I am sure it will be.

I will most likely only be able to get to a computer once a week, but I will be sure to post all of my photos of the 49th state and my incredible adventures as soon as possible, so stick with me. Also, do let me know if you would like a postcard from Alaska. I'm sure I'll find time to write you a little something.