Alaska was my first permanent assignment as a 2LT in the Army. I can't say that I loved it, but I was in Fairbanks. The winters were so cold and dark. The summers were incredible, though. It was so weird coming out of a dark bar at 2:00 a.m. and it being light outside! I did enjoy fishing, playing softball and running in the Midnight Sun Run 10k in the summer. I absolutely hated running PT when it was -20 degrees outside. I hated going to the field when it was that cold living in tents, packing in and out all bio, trying to get water to finally boil to get the CRats to cook and trying to ensure our vehicles' engines didn't seize up in the winter. Wearing our Vapor Barrier Mickey Mouse boots and our thick mitten. We went one winter where the high temperature for the day did not get above -50 degrees for 2 weeks straight! We used to call Anchorage the Banana Belt as it was always much warmer there, plus it was a much better location with an actual city. It was very expensive to fly back to the lower 48 states from there. I did not find the Fairbanks area to be especially pretty. But head down South and it was incredible. Denali National park was filled with animals and majesty. To see the moose, grizzly bears, caribou, eagles, etc. was magnificent. The reason I adore, the area, though is I met my spouse of 27 years there, so it was completely worth it!
