So, here's the deal. I am from Clermont, a smallish (well, its not so small anymore) town outside of Orlando, Florida. Yes, the land of sunshine and Mickey Mouse. I had been born and raised, gone to school, worked, gone to college all within a 50 mile radius. My entire family lived in that circle too. A couple years ago, I decided it would be a great idea to join the United States Coast Guard. It took a while to get everything in order, but in January of 2011, I started my journey at bootcamp in Cape May, New Jersey. Up until that point, I had seen snow twice. I was too young to remember the first time, and the second time I was in NYC with my dad a month before I shipped out. There were a couple of snow flurries while we were there. This was the highlight of my winter experience. Anything below 60 was cold, and I was going to bootcamp right after a legendary blizzard. So began my journey with the white stuff.
In bootcamp, there was snow, oh yes. But the trucks cleared it overnight and I never really got to experience it, because well, running outside and making a snow angel would be unsmart in such a setting. One time I did sneak around to the back of the barracks building and stick my hand in it. HOLY COLD! Then I scampered away back to formation where I pretended the stuff didn't exist.
When I graduated in March, I went to sunny California. After school finished there, I was to go to my first permanent duty station, Kodiak, AK. Where is Kodiak, you ask? Well, its an island off of Alaska in the Gulf of Alaska, 150 miles or so south of Anchorage. With 7,000 people. The Walmart is the size of a Walgreen's in Orlando. In Alaska. Where it snows. And it's cold. And I had no idea what any of this meant. I had the joy of getting here the day before my 23rd birthday, September 16th. So I have to learn about this winter thing. And fast.
Let's recap. Cold. Island. Snow. Alaska. No real civilization. Yeah, this is going to be fun.
