I’m sitting in carpool line late September/early October and I receive a text from my husband, “What do you think about Anchorage? – low probability of it happening”  Famous last words.  I replied that we could do it, not thinking it would really happen.  There have been other times we thought we were moving due to his job, but the moves always fell through.  Of course, it did happen and what followed was whirlwind weeks of researching schools, cleaning out closets and doing minor repairs to get our home on the market, answering questions from friends, family and acquaintances, house hunting and all the holiday stuff that normally goes on that time of year. It was stressful, but I was excited.  I’m a native Texan who has never lived anywhere further north than Dallas (unless you count the summer I interned at a law firm in D.C. – the year before D.C. interns became so famous).

The weeks flew by as we dealt with our To Do lists.  Soon our family of five was headed north to the Last Frontier.  We arrived at the end of December.  Anchorage is currently having really cold weather and near record snow.  I’ve lost count of how many times the locals have told me, “Really, it’s not normally this bad.”  All in all the transition has been about as smooth as could be.

So, why did I start the blog?  Friends and family of course!  I’ve had so many people tell me what a great adventure we’re having (I agree) and they want to hear what Alaska is really like as opposed to the reality shows.  I’ll tell you right now, I’m not a person that enjoys technology.  Oh, I love my computer, email, the internet and Facebook, but I just want to turn the things on and have them work.  So I’m sure I’ll make some mistakes here.  As I tell my kids, be patient.  It’s a learning process for me too.

Finally, via Facebook I asked friends and family members to suggest a name for the blog.  I also told them I’d cite whomever provided me a name.  So a special thanks to Chuck.  I didn’t use his suggestion of Musings from Mt. McKinley, but his idea started the thought process to arrive at Texas Tales and Denali Dreams.

Till next time…stay warm!