So I guess I took the summer off from blogging. Whoops! This post will catch us up to today, September 1st, 2019. A lot of really fun stuff happened this summer. I’ll touch on the highlights.

For starters, Jake and I adopted a new dog! Well, sort of. This is Rosie (the small-ish dog behind Maya). She was my mother and father-in-law’s dog; we decided to take her to Alaska with us and to socialize her a bit. She is such a fun dog and we are really looking forward to bringing her out of her shell.

I got to take Minnie out this summer! We went on a trail ride and did some trailer in western dressage lessons before the VS outbreak started. Unfortunately VS cut our summer short because the barn she stays at didn’t want horses leaving the property. We had a lot of fun before then though.

Jake and I stayed at the Broadmoor as a very late anniversary/little getaway. We had a great time, during the Sunday brunch. They had such a HUGE spread of food, and it was sooooo good. We ate for two hours!

We went to Florida this summer, where we stayed on the beach and visited with family. It was a nice relaxing trip and I really appreciated being able to catch up with some of my extended family.

I went to two concerts this summer as well… two very different concerts. Both very fun in their own way. Jake and I decided to take my sister to a Train and Goo Goo Dolls concert for her birthday. Jake ended up getting sick before the show so one of my other friends came with us; we had a great time. I also really wanted to see Slipknot again. It has been several years since I saw them last. They are touring now and promoting their new album “We Are Not Your Kind” and happened to swing by Denver right before we had to head back up to Fairbanks. The energy at a Slipknot concert is unreal. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to go.

Mid August rolled around and we hit the road again to head back up to Fairbanks, AK. This time, instead of driving the entire way we decided to take the ferry from Bellingham, Washington to Hanes, Alaska. A friend of mine decided to make the trip with us. We drove to Utah the first day, and then up to Washington the second day. We spent the morning wandering around in Seattle before heading up to Bellingham. They have amazing food at the market.

After filling up on steamed buns, we drove to Bellingham and got on the boat around 3pm, quickly setting up “camp” on the upper solarium. Instead of getting a cabin, we decided to sleep on the deck of the boat to save a bit of money. I was unsure about it at first, but it turned into a really cool experience. If I were to take the ferry again I would totally camp. They had a section of astroturf and some reclining lawn chairs. What more do you need when you get to sleep under the stars?

The ferry ride was really cool. We saw some beautiful sunsets, mountains, and even a few whales! I think they were humpback whales, but I am no whale specialist. In any case, super cool!

Once we ported, it was another 12 hours until we reached Fairbanks. The next day, we went to the coffee shop and I studied a bit for Capstone. Just to make sure that the summer is not all fun and games, CSU requires that we take a continuation exam of sorts on the first day of class. It covers all of the material that we have learned so far, and passing is required for continuing on in the program. It’s not stressful at all. Not at all. (Actually though, if you do not pass the first time, you get one shot to remediate during fall break, which is what I kept reminding myself as I took the test.) The lemon shortbread cookie at the coffee shop made for a good study reward though!

We also made it to Denali National Park with the friend who road tripped with us. If she came all this way to Alaska it would be a shame not to go to the park! It was a pretty day, with some rain, and she hiked to her heart’s content. I stayed for the most part in the visitor center restaurant, again studying for Capstone. I did take a few breaks to go for two short hikes though!

All in all, it was a great summer. I worked too (in case you were wondering) and was able to get a lot of fantastic veterinary experience. I saw some interesting cases, including a dog with horner’s syndrome, and got to manage my own wound on a filly at one of the local horse rescues. Starting to feel a bit more legit, just a bit.

After having just finished the first week of my second year (with the realization that there are only 29 of them left to go), it is becoming even more apparent that this year is going to fly by at the speed of light. Hopefully it slows down just enough to write another blog post here and there. Until next time!

-Angelaaaaa

• Chihiro
• Maya
• Jake
• Rosie