F is for Ft. Abercrombie: A to Z Blogging Challenge

It's April and you know what that means: The AtoZ Blogging Challenge! For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

My theme this year is Places in my Heart, all about the places I've been and loved and that have mattered to me in a lasting sense.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too.

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F is for Ft. Abercrombie

Right after I graduated from college, I loaded up the truck and moved to Alaska. It had been on my mind since third or fourth grade when a teacher showed our class her slides from a visit she'd made. For some reason, my parents wouldn't move, so after graduation, when my then-husband and I were talking about where to go, I said, "What about Alaska?" 

We threw resumes at the state and one of his landed in Kodiak, Alaska, so that became my first Alaskan home. I eventually had three. 

Kodiak is an island in the south of the state. Neither part of the Aleutians nor part of the chain of islands known as Southeast, but it's own thing. And it's one of my favorite places on the planet. 

It's green and lush, but never hot. It rains a lot, but I don't mind that. It was my first time living by the sea, and I *loved* it. Walking beaches and forests, looking for beach glass, tide-pooling, sitting clifftop watching puffins, and regularly seeing bears, sea lions, and bald eagles . . . it was heaven on earth. And Ft. Abercrombie State Park, with its cliffs, flowers, wildlife, and sea was my favorite part. 

I've been putting all my writing money towards someday going back, taking my family with me. They've got to see this place!