Say It's Great To Be a F-L-O-R-I-D-A GATOR!!!

So Amy and I woke up bright and early Saturday morning to prepare for our Gators to stomp LSU! It was an interesting morning between watching ESPN, waiting to hear if Tebow was cleared to play and of course listening to all the crap talking about how the Gators were going to Death Valley and no undefeated team had gone there and won in over 20 years! Anxiety started to set in as we're listening to all this and before we knew it... it was game time and Tebow had been cleared to play!!! Whoot Whoot! So, we headed over to the Peanut Farm and had a great time arguing with LSU fans and chanting FLORIDA chants!! It wasn't a great game, but we wone 13-3! :)

Operation Pacific Angel

Operation Pacicifc Angel is a recurring joint/combined humanitarian assistance mission designed to bring humantiarian assistance to areas in need in the Pacific region. This year the U.S Air Force decided to head to the Quang Tri Province in Vietnam and I got to be a part of this 2 week long mission ! It was pretty amazing and we saw over 5,000 combined patients in a 5-day period. It was exhausting, but very rewarding. Like so many other poor, communist countries most people simply cannot afford healthcare. On the way there we stopped in Hawaii and Guam to pick up more people, I had never been to either of those places, so I took advantage of every second. First stop in Hawaii was the Pearl Harbor Memorial. Only went to the U.S.S Arizona, but it happened to be on September 11th, which gave me a lot to think about that day. :( It was a very memorable experience.

Then it was beach time!! I have a friend who lives there and him and his family took me for a drive around the Island. It was awesome, we went by the "Chinaman's Hat" then up the North Shore and on to "Pipe" where they do the national surf competitions! There were 12 foot waves that day... Incredible! We also decided to do some snorkeling at Hanauma Bay! I loved this place!!



The next day it was on to Guam. I must admit, I'd would have a horrible case of Island Fever if I ever got stationed there, but the beaches just kept getting better. The water was a warm 82 degrees and crystal clear. I remembered I had a waterproof camera and decided to try it out on some beautiful scenery.



Then it was time for work... Off to Vietnam! We flew on a KC-135 Refueler which was a rather comfy ride if I must say... LOL You can see me lying on the floor, reading a magazine.

So after a 12 hours plane ride, we arrived in Vietnam just to have to get on a bus for 4 more hours to get to our destination. LOL We worked hard and played hard, trying to enjoy as much as we could. For some reason I'm always blessed with amazing people wherever I go, so that make my job very easy! All went well other then the interesting meals we ate... Fried Shrimp with the heads on them, Frog soup with the skins in it and you can't forget the rat/roach infested restaurants! I can only laugh about it now, cause you had to remember where you were. Overall it really was a great experience!







That pretty much sums up my trip! Winter is quickly approaching here, so I'm sure I'll have something new for you guys shortly! Love ya!

All Good Things Must Come To An End...

Well summer's coming to an end here and quick, but have no fear.. I've been taking complete advantage of what Alaskan summers have to offer. We started it off with a crazy camping trip at Kenai Lake which was amazingly beautiful and a TON of fun. Then this past weekend my friends and I decided to hit up the State Fair and while roaming around people watching, we found a fair hair stand and decided that since the 1st Florida Gators game was the next day we should get our hair colored..... Let's just say it was a good idea at the time.

Though we had a blast with it, it took 3 shampoo washes to get it out! SO, needless to say we wont be doing that again anytime soon... I think! ;) Oh and BTW they won their first game 62-3... GO GATORS!!!

We enjoyed the rest of the fair and headed up to Denali for the weekend to see some friends and so I could go and find me a moose... Which I did as you can see! LOL

Haha... Just playing! But, I did get to see 2 Moose after a late night out with the girls. We walked up stairs and looked out back and there they were licking away at the salt lick... Too cool! I couldn't get any pictures cause to was to dark, but it totally made my trip and lead to me buying a shirt that says 'Moose make me happy' which is SO very true! While in Denali you can't help but get trapped in the surroudning scenery and the beauty of the leaves changing .

We ended the weekend with an awesome hike up Flattop Mountain. Flattop Moutain is 3,510 feet high and has beautiful panoramic view of Anchorage! Although I wanted to quit 5 minutes into the hike, my roomie Amy pushed me to keep going and I was glad we did because we felt good about ourselves afterward :)

Phew.. so that was a long, but fun and entertaining 2 weeks! I'm headed out on a humanitarian mission for a couple weeks, so I'll talk to ya'll soon!

Halibut Fishing

Well, I went on my first Alaskan fishing trip this past weekend and had a blast! We went down the Kenai Coast to Homer and launched the charter boat out of there and had an adventurous 6 hours trip. The first couple of hours weren't so good due to my weak stomach.. Had a little bit of sea-sickness, so I laid down and took a litttle power nap and then woke up to begin my fishing!! I caught about 10 Halibut in-a-row.. one 30 pounder too :) It's really fun/easy fishing because as soon as your bait hits the bottom you get a bite and then BAM! Halibut is a really ugly fish, but it sure does taste yummy.

Me and my roomies and our fish!

After we left Homer Amy and I stopped at this river to try some Salmon fishing. We didn't have any luck, but it sure was beautiful and the weather was great!

Me in Amy's wadders.. These things are great!

Journey to Alaska

Phew.. Well we made it! After 10 days of traveling I can finally plant some roots in my new home. Our journey began in Las Vegas of course and our first stop was San Francisco! I never understood what the big deal about it was, but trust me.. I KNOW NOW! It was amazing, well other then driving the insanely crazy hilly streets they have with my ginormous truck. LOL Almost took a couple cars out more then once.. Hehehe My hunnybun Andrea and her hubby Troy were supposed to come up to Seattle with us, but they had an unexpected situation arise while in San Fran and they had to leave us. However we enjoyed our time with them!


We also went to a Giants game.. That's baseball to those like me who had no clue they even had a team. LOL Here's me and my Annie enjoying the view, the hotdogs, the hot cocoa (Yes really) and the game!

Our next stop was the Avenue of the Giants... My Poppop always talks about this place but you really do have to see it to believe it. These thousand year old trees not only make you feel young, but way small too! :)

We continued on up the Oregon Coast (my favorite place) It is so beautiful with all the trees, rocky shorelines and cool crisp weather. I grew up near the beaches, but these were different.. well besides the obvious freezing water that I just had to go walking in.

Our last stop before braving the ALCAN highway was Seattle... Home of Grey's Anatomy!! Whoot whoot... even though Seattle Grace doesn't exist. LOL We did enjoy Pike's Pier, the Space Needle, a cool Duck Tour and some YUM seafood!


The last few days of our trip were through Canada... (2500 miles) Took us 3 days and it was amazing. We ran into some "friendly" Bears, Moose, Stone Sheep, Buffalo and a real cute Prairie Dog :) If you ever get the chance to camp through Canada... DO IT and take your time. It's extremely beautiful and there's so much to see, plus the ALCAN highway has an interesting history.