Alaska

So this is a long overdue post but one that I didn't want to go unposted!  Last year when Karl was in Korea he had a temporary duty assignment in Alaska that fell over Labor Day Weekend.  We made a last minute decision for me to go up and spend the long weekend with him and it was the BEST DECISION EVERRRR!

My time with Karl was so fulfilling and needed for us after such long periods of time apart.  Beyond that, Alaska was and is one of the most beautiful places Karl & I have ever seen.  The air is so fresh and crisp and the view was different in each town we went to but equally beautiful no matter where we were!  I cannot express how much I loved that weekend!  It felt like such a long trip, even though it was just 4 days.  We saw so much but both of us would love to go back!

We rode the train all day to a super cute town called Talkeetna (which is apparently where most people start their climb of Denali) and stayed there that night in a little apartment over a bakery and cafe.  It was adorable.  Next time, we want to take the train one stop farther to Wasilla and go whale watching!  The whole train experience felt like we were in a movie or a dream or something out of this world.  The mountains, greenery, the snow, the cabins in the middle of nowhere.  There was a car with a glass-dome roof that we sat in on-and-off for the whole train ride that gave us a 360 degree view, the train had great food and hot drinks... I could go on and on.  I would never have thought that a long spontaneous weekend in Alaska would end up being one of my favorite vacations ever!  God is good and so fun!!

Then we went on a hike.  We were in Denali National Park and we chose a "strenuous" trail.  I was feeling really confident.  I don't work out.  Ever.  I have the endurance of a large, mouth-breathing lap dog.  But I figured, like, there were A TON of old people and kids at the park so surely they mark the trails based off the physical capabilities of the weakest human.  The trail was 2 miles, each way.  I haven't walked a mile since my freshman year of high school.  WHY DID MY HUSBAND AGREE TO THIS??  I will boil the whole thing down to 3 points:
1) I literally thought I was going to die on that mountain.  Die of cold.  Die of exhaustion.  Die because I did smell bears.
2) My legs did stop working.  They stopped over and over and over again.
3) While he didn't say anything even remotely close to this, I knew 100% for a fact in my mind that if I didn't make it to the top of the mountain my husband would be crushed.  His soul would die.  Right then and there.  He was counting on me for the absolute greatest moment of his life.  What is wrong with me??
But we made it!  It was literally the coldest I have EVER been at the top.  And going down was possibly worse than going up.  And I felt SO ACCOMPLISHED when we made it!  But not accomplished enough to ever do it again.  ever.  That mountain owned me.  Here is picture proof, in chronological order...

 ...and there is my mule of a husband who didn't break a sweat and Richard Simmonsed me up that mountain.

Then the weekend was over. I remember how hard it was to leave him.  It always is.  But if I remember right, we only had to endure about 6 more weeks before he was home for good!  Since then, I have only been separated from him once- for Lucy's birth.  When we say goodbye it feels like we are saying bye for months and months.  It is the worst feeling.  My mind cannot comprehend a short-term separation.  I say to myself over and over, "it's just a weekend," or "it's just one week," but literally in my mind it's months!!  It's like a weird form of PTSD or something.  IDK.  A weird after-effect of 6 years of goodbyes.  I cannot wait until November, when we feel safe that we don't have to say goodbye anymore.  Goodbye is so lame. Alaska is so cool.

Hannah K.C. Burton