Eagles and Ice

Since Michael has been doing most of the blogging, I figured it was probably time for me to take a turn.  For the next five weeks, I am in Valdez, Alaska for a rotation in family medicine.  Yep, Alaska.  In January.  The most common reaction the past few weeks has been “but won’t it be cold?”  It’s ironic to me because, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but NH can be cold. Case in point, one morning last week was -12°F in Lebanon.  My mom’s school was delayed because it was too cold to wait for the bus.  Anyhow, being cold in Alaska is not exactly something that gives me any pause.  The dark is, though.  This morning, it was still as dark as midnight at 7:30am.  It was a weird experience since I’m still on East Coast time and was wide awake.  It’s 9:45am now and is just on the brink of daylight.  I guess it will make for some lazy weekend mornings since I can’t see much to explore outside.  (I am sure Michael is chuckling right now as I can sleep until 10 or 11am easily – with or without sunlight.)

I have only been here a few hours but it is stunning.  My host told me that at this time of the year, the snow typically reaches the bottom of the stop signs.  NOAA has declared Valdez the snowiest place in the US with an average annual snowfall of 300in. Unfortunately, this year has been odd (global warming?) and they only have a few inches of snow.  The past few days, it has been raining.  The runway was completely covered with a few inches of ice and everyone put on their Yak-Traks before climbing out of the plane.  Feels very familiar.  I’m sitting at the dining room table looking out at the river and a looming mountain.  A bald eagle just lazily flew past.  It is positively beautiful.  I plan to start carrying my camera with me because I expect there will be many, many photographic vistas.

Tomorrow is my first day at the clinic.  It is a true full-spectrum practice doing deliveries, C-sections, and even a few appendectomies here and there.  I am excited to get a better of sense of the profession and maybe even more of a direction as to what I want to do with my life.  Hopefully the rain abates and I can learn to Nordic ski for real.  There’s a lot of backcountry skiing here, too, but right now the avalanche risk is very high.  Maybe I’ll even be able to compete with Michael (and Denali) for winter adventures.  Stay tuned as I hope to keep up with blogging and promise there will be some pictures in the future.