Getting closer!

In less than 2 weeks I will be beginning my journey to Alaska.  I have purchased my flight and shipped out $300 worth of boxes (eek).  I packed some clothing and a ton of food.  Since there is only a tiny store, I needed to ship out non-perishables such as Ramen noodles, mac 'n cheese, and pasta.  I went to Denunzio's and bought 3 jars of spaghetti sauce, surrounded them in bubble wrap and shipped that, too!  I will be flying to Anchorage with a layover in Denver and then spending the night in Anchorage.  The next day I will fly to my village: St. Michael.  This should be quite the task because I will need to have on all of my winter gear for when I land.  I am just going to be on a tiny regional airplane that I am sure will be pretty cold.  I am really hoping that the weather is above freezing when I arrive.  Luckily I have experienced 0 degree weather and even weather below 0, but anything colder than -10 is going to be tough on me.  I know that it will get as cold as -40 but hopefully not too often.  I have some fleece lined tights to wear underneath my pants and today my sister is making me some hand warmers.  While it will be cold, I do think that I am prepared for it and will be OK.    Here is a map showing where I will be living.  I will be quite close to Russia!

Today in church my pastor told everyone about my trip and explained a bit about what I will be doing.  Afterwards, I was talking to a man who was a commercial fisherman in the Kodiak Islands.  He said that these islands are quite warm and don't ever freeze.  He said that one of the islands is actually a rainforest!  I will have a few days off for "spring" break in March so I think I would like to visit there.  I doubt I will be going back to Alaska so this will be my one opportunity to go everywhere I want.

As my trip gets closer and I begin packing, I am seeing that it might be tricky to fit everything into my suitcase.  On my flight from Anchorage to St. Michael, there is a 50 lb weight limit on luggage.  That seems like a lot but I know that I will get to that limit quite quickly (especially once I pack my frozen food in dry ice).

I am definitely in need of book recommendations.  The past few books I have read have been a bit boring and I know that I will have a lot of reading to do.  I loved the Hunger Games and Divergent series.  I am definitely into suspense and thriller type novels so if you know of a good book, let me know!