The Trip of a Lifetime

I'm Amy, and my husband is Trevor. We both went to the University of Alabama together and recently married on September 3, 2008. He's a civil engineer, and I'm a third year law student. One week ago today, we found out that Trevor got a job in Alaska.

So how did we arrive at the decision to go to Alaska? Well a couple months back, Trevor was laid off. The economy has been very bad for building and he was the last engineer hired. It seems that many of my friends have been laid off in the ailing economy--mostly because we are recent college graduates. Naturally, we were devastated...we had only been married four months. However, whenever one door closes, God opens another door.

Trevor had the opportunity to interview with a company with offices all over the Nation. They had an opening in Lexington, Kentucky, and Delta Junction, Alaska. If we took the Alaska job, we would be there anywhere from 8 months to 2 years working on a government project and would return to Alabama to continue working with Kaya Associates since it's based out of Huntsville. After thinking for a while, we decided that the opportunity to live in Alaska was too good to pass up. We are young and haven't any children...why not take the trip of a lifetime! It'll be something we'll never forget.

As far as law school, I only have two classes left. The dean has offered to work with me online so that I may still take the bar in February 2010. I'll just have to fly home to take exams. The bad part is that Trevor is leaving ONE WEEK FROM TODAY for Alaska, and I'll be here until the first of May so that I may finish up the semester. I don't know what I'm going to do without him for two months. I'm a law clerk at a defense firm in Birmingham which will keep me pretty busy...I love to research. It's going to be strange not having a job in Alaska...I'll definitely be studying for the bar and developing some much needed hobbies.

On a lighter note, we are super-excited, but nervous and scared. It is definitely going to be a huge shock for us, be we are confident that that we'll have a great time and have many stories to tell our children one day ( I know, I know....just go with it).

After we found out that Trevor got the job, we went shopping for thermals, snow-boots, jackets, sweaters, gloves....you name it! Where we will be living only has a population of about 800 and is at the end of the Alaskan Highway...it's the wilderness--moose, dall sheep, bears, etc. Needless to say, there will not be a lot of shopping, unless we drive to Fairbanks 90 miles away. Therefore, we've been doing a lot of shopping online and hitting up winter sales. We've got some good stuff so far, but who knew thermals were so expensive!? One paid of Ice Breakers thermals can run you $180...which is fine if you are a biker and only need them a couple times a week. However, we will both need quite a few pairs. Anyway, so far I've learned that dressing for Alaska is not cheap.

Over the next week, I'll be helping Trevor pack and likely be crying my eyes out. It's okay though, because he has the daunting task of finding a place for us to live--I can't believe I'm trusting him with this! Ha. Hopefully by the time I get up there, everything will be settled. Do they still sell electric blankets?