Why Alaska?

When Ben and I started telling friends and family we were going to be moving to Bush Alaska, we got a lot  of questions. And one of the main questions we got was, “Why Alaska?”

Welllllllll…..

When Ben got closer to finishing his degree at BYU-I (in Spanish Education), we realized that we didn’t know what our next step was. We had had some ideas floating around, but nothing was set in stone and we also just weren’t 100% sure about what we wanted to do. Or where.

In a lot of ways, we had Ross Geller in our ears saying, “The world is your oyster! Kick up your heels! Paint the town red!” We had many options and nothing that we were tied down to. So we started brainstorming and researching our different options.

One thing that Ben quickly started pulling for was Alaska.

Ever since we got married, Ben has been telling me that we need to give Alaska a try. No, the man had never actually been  to Alaska. But that was no matter in his deep abiding love for the state. I think it’s a guy thing.

Anyway, this time when he mentioned it, it actually made a little bit of sense. I mean, there are more teaching options in Alaska with better pay. There’s adventure in Alaska. As far as teaching goes, there’s smaller class sizes. More one on one teaching.

As we considered this option, we did a LOT of research. And there were certainly factors that made us nervous. But there were more factors that made us excited and helped us to think that this really was an option for us right now.

So Ben applied and found a job with the Lake and Peninsula School District. He started working in November. When he came home for the Christmas break, he snagged me and our dog Jaeger and brought us back to Pilot Point with him. We haven’t been here for very long but we’re enjoying it!

There were a lot of reasons we decided on Alaska. In a way, it just fit. So here we are! Taking it one day at a time and enjoying the journey!