Fort Richardson, AK

When we got up yesterday morning, we were all tired, cranky, and ready to get off the road. We left the hotel by 8am and were on our way. We had decided to drive a bit before getting breakfast. After an hour, we found a tiny convenience store open and we bought a healthy breakfast of bear claws and soda. ;-) The remainder of the drive into Fort Richardson was mountainous and rugged. There was alot of frost heaves, loose gravel and the road alternated between steep incline and declines. I caught a glimpse of a glacier! It was an awesome site. Unfortunately, due to the road conditions, I was unable to stop to snap a photo. At some point during our stay here I'll take a tour and get good ones.
We rolled into Fort Richardson about noon yesterday. It's right off the highway which is always nice. We couldn't sign into our guest quarters (aka hotel) until 3pm, so we explored the base and got some lunch.
This is a very large base- geographically anyway. One thing I wasn't aware of before arriving here is the Elmendorf Air Base is actually connected to Fort Richardson. These are "twin" bases. In fact, there is a joint BX/PX and of course it's on the Elmendorf side. So, it's a 15 minute drive from here to the PX and Commissary. Not a big deal but not as convenient as I'd like.
While shopping at the PX the fire alarm went off. It appeared to be a fire drill. I was separated from my family at the time in went off though and it was frustrating trying to find them in the crown outside. Fortunately, there weren't many groups of men and my two tall boys are fairly easy to spot in a crowd.
After the all clear we ate lunch at the PX and headed back to Richardson side to sign in to the hotel. It's $93 per day and the Army covers that cost. What they don't cover is the $20 per day we have to pay to have our dogs here. It's not the easiest thing to own pets while in the military but we've always felt it was worth the frustration. At any rate, it's still less expensive than a kennel and better for the dogs.
We got a three room "suite". It feels huge after days on the road in the van and one room hotels. As you enter the room, to the left is the master bedroom sans tv! What? No TV in the master room? Sgt Dad about signed us out of here! Straight ahead is the bathroom. To the right is the living/dining room w/ a pull out sofa bed (littlest son claimed that one) and to the right of that is another bedroom with two twins and a TV. What? TV in the living area and kids but not the master???? Sgt Dad wants to MOVE THE FURNITURE in order to have TV. I told him to dig our TV out of the trailer. However, it appears that there may not be cable and it's satellite TV out here. One must have a decoder box for satellite. You cannot splice cable with satellite like you can with cable. I'm not sure what we'll do about this but I'm not into moving furniture. Also notably missing is air conditioning. For most people this isn't a problem but for me, with my hay fever, it is. Already I'm itching all over and having some difficulty breathing. Whatever this is bothering me here fortunately isn't making my eyes itch and water but giving my skin that crawling feeling and the tickle in my throat. I'm not sure how I'll handle 10 days of open windows. Especially since the weather is like spring here. In fact at one point driving down the mountains I thought it was snowing but it was white fuzzies. I thought it was cottonwood like back in RaChaCha but my guide book said it was Willow and Poplar. I don't recall being tested for an allergy to those trees but since I was allergic to every one they tested me for, I would hazard a guess that those will do me in as well. At worst, I'll end up in emergency and begging Lodging for a window air conditioner or sweltering in a hot room to keep the pollen out.
(Don't you love my rambling??) After settling into the room, Sgt Dad and I went out for a few groceries. We have a mini fridge here and microwave so we are attempting to eat in more. While driving we saw a mama moose and her calf running across the road. Apparently, wildlife is common on the base too. Which made us wonder- do we have to worry about bears????
All in all, it's good to be at our new home. Hopefully today Sgt Dad will get some information regarding the availability of housing. Keep checking back- I'll keep you posted.