What a start to this trip! If the next 3 and a half weeks are anything like the last 24 hours, I’m going to have the time of my life in Fairbanks.
First of all, I should state the obvious: it was really, really hard to leave home yesterday. Scipio spent a rainy morning wanting to do nothing but cuddle me through his cone.
When it was time to say good-bye to him, I’m not ashamed to admit I almost cried. And THEN I had to go and say good-bye to my actual wife. That one should have been easier, since I can FaceTime Elizabeth and she’s visiting in a little over 2 weeks. But airport good-byes are never easy.
My flight from OKC to Seattle wasn’t too bad (at least once we got past the horrible 3-gates-boarding-at-once crowd moshpit). The volume of smoke over the Cascades was truly horrific, but when it all cleared up by the ocean there was a wonderful sight outside my window: Mount Rainier.
Although the layover in Seattle was shorter than I thought, at least I had just enough time to grab a sandwich at a brewery before boarding my Alaska flight again. And then, the adventure really began. Fairbanks bound!
If only the sun weren’t setting directly at the end of the flight path, I bet flying over the the coast would have been epic. Fortunately, it had finally set just enough by the time we crested the Alaska Range that I got a good look at that.
Then the plane descended below the clouds, and I could see Fairbanks. It looked sort of like Iceland but with more trees (which I guess is nothing like Iceland). A quick landing later, and I was feeling the cool air at 65 degrees of latitude in August.
The rental car pickup process went extremely smoothly and efficiently (thank you, Fairbanks Hertz!) and my bag was waiting on the carousel by the time I was done. Fairbanks, I was quick to learn, is not a big town, so even after stopping at the wrong Best Western it was still only 15 minutes before I was at the hotel and checking in.
I got up bright and early this morning for my first day at NWS Fairbanks. The first stop of the day was at Fred Meyer to pick up something to eat for lunch, followed by a trip to the UAF Bursar Office to pick up my Polar Express access card (lol). Unfortunately, there was an issue with that, so I decided to just head over to the NWS office and figure it out from there.
Let me just say it: I really, really enjoyed my day at NWS Fairbanks. The view from the office is absolutely beautiful – it’s up on a hill on the 3rd floor of the UAF Geographic Sciences building. On clear days, you can see the Alaska Range from the office. The people, too – all of the forecasters were so helpful and nice all day long. The staffing issues I’ve heard rumblings about are definitely true – in addition to my first day as a TDY, it was also the new WCM’s first day, the new Service Hydrologist’s first day, and the SOO has been there for 6 weeks. So there’s an element where it seems like everyone is just trying to learn on the fly as they go, which can be a challenge. But I’m there just trying to do the same thing! I look forward to helping out as much as possible in the coming days, and I’m sure I’ll talk a little bit more about job duties in upcoming blogs.
My workday ended at 4:00, giving me time to head back to Fred Meyer for a more comprehensive grocery run (and to pick up dinner) while talking to my mom on the phone. Then the evening consisted of a trip to the Creamer Field, a beautiful park out on the edge of town:
And an accidentally way-too-long run along the Chena River toward sunset.
As I told Elizabeth when we FaceTimed earlier, I don’t think that today made me want to live in Fairbanks full-time. This place is so remote. But today made me feel excited to be a forecaster, and it really spoke volumes about the positive experience that I’m having in Alaska so far that makes me want to come back here on future (maybe non-work) trips. Tomorrow’s shift starts bright and early at 6:45, and I’m hoping to get to Angel Rocks east of town for some hiking in the afternoon. Let’s hope it’s a good one again!
