2012 Highlights

It's fun to look back at the past year and see how many things have changed.  Last year at this time (almost exactly) I was debating whether or not to even apply to graduate school...and I spent the better part of January deciding that yes, I would apply and 'just see what happens'.  Here's a review of my favorite memories and adventures from 2012.

January
The highlight of January was a trip to Arizona to visit family.  While there we went camping in Dad and Barb's RV (oh to look back now upon that trip in the RV and know that in less than 1 year we'd be living in one!).  We also visited the Saguaro National Park, Biosphere II, the Grand Canyon, and Sedona.  Truly a great vacation!

 

February
The azalea bush and daffodils in our yard was in full bloom and we visited the Angel Oak.

March
We braved a crowd of 40,000+ to do the Cooper River Bridge Run and Steve, Beth and I participated in the Rugged Maniac 5k.  Whew! 

April
I received official, final word that I was accepted to graduate school and Steve and I began planning for a 4000+ mile move!  April was also the first month of the CSA - every week a new load of awesome, fresh produce.  (and looking back now, oh how I miss it!)  Oh, and we went camping with friends and Seca took a mud bath!

May
We bought Irv, our home on wheels, in preparation for the move to Alaska.  We began selling off all of our worldly possessions (or that's how it felt) and also made a quick visit to Steve's family in Pennsylvania.

 

June
June was full with work on Irv, with a little time off for some fun down in Beaufort, SC.

July
Steve sold his beloved FJ1200 and we finished loading up what was left of our possessions into Irv, and moved out of the house.  Home for a couple of days was a Charleston RV park.

 

August
Let the adventure begin - we left Charleston for Alaska.  Along the three-week trip there was road trouble, fun with family and friends, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Cascades National Park, a 2 1/2 day ferry trip, and finally settling in Juneau.   Hard to pick a favorite photo from this month!

 

September
Classes started for me and we had fun exploring Juneau.  A highlight was hiking the West Glacier trail.

October
I went to Kodiak for a fisheries meeting and we hiked the Perserverance Trail - our favorite trail to date.

 

November
We did some remodeling in Irv and we explored the now-frozen Mendenhall Lake.

December
Snow, snow, snow!  We got a lot of snow early in the month, enough to make it pretty for Mom's visit.

Wow, a record year in so many ways.  We managed to travel through or to 19 states between our visits to Arizona and Pennsylvania, and the move from South Carolina to Alaska.  We whittled down from a three bedroom house with a garage and a yard to a 30 foot RV with a stuffed-to-the-gills storage locker.  It's been a crazy, fun year...and 2013 will hopefully be just as fun!

Happy New Year to all!
Much love, Steve and Kari