One of the things I had been looking forward to the most about coming to Alaska was house hunting. I love looking around houses and the fact that we would most likely be getting something bigger than our place in Elwood made it even more exciting. I was nervous that the kids may not tolerate being ferried from one house to the next and would get bored. So I had loaded up lots of toys, snacks and of course I had Tozzle at the ready on my iPhone.
But the kids weren't the disappointing part (it's always something different from what you thought could go wrong!). I was actually a bit disappointed that we only got to look at 3 houses. This was down to a number of factors but it didn't give us much options. And having said we didn't want to live in the very Southern part of Anchorage after our drive around yesterday, one of the houses was in this area.
But boy, did it deliver! It was massive. 6 bedrooms, a gorgeous view of the inlet, bright and the best part was a whole basement area that I could turn into a playzone for the kids to let off steam on those cold snowy days I'm sure are just around the corner. But it was a bit far away from the shops and other amenities. The next house was a bit older, a bit smaller, a bit darker but still fairly lovely. And it was in a great location. Lots of people have mentioned to us that it is a good neighbourhood. By the time we got to the third house, the kids were getting grumpier and so I think it was a bit tainted by our moods and we ruled it out reasonably quickly.
So we were down to the two houses. Good location, so so house versus great house, bad location. And of course, Pete liked one and I liked the other. Typical. Not sure how to make this decision. We decided to sleep on it.
Also had a lovely invite from one of Pete's colleagues who lives really near the hotel to go for dinner at their house tomorrow night. The warm Alaskan welcome continues (not that this couple is from Alaska but still, we are feeling very welcomed here).
Before we arrived we were warned about the things that are dangerous in Alaska: bears, moose, earthquakes, avalanches, volcanos. So today we thought we would tick one off the list. Earthquake. We had a 4.8 magnitude earthquake today. We were in our hotel room (3rd floor) and the whole room shook. Lydia woke up from her lunchtime nap (only briefly thankfully) and Naomi looked thoroughly confused. I felt a bit helpless as I thought I should be trying to get my family to safety but didn't really know where safe was - should I be jumping into the bath tub or finding a stairwell. Since then I've discovered that elevator shafts and doorframes are good places. So that was an experience!
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