Stopping in "AK" in our way to AK

Well there's all sorts of updates and travel that I clearly have not caught up on and probably never will. 

The short of it is that we had a great month in Cleveland, and a quick drive to get back to Rapid City since we were eager to get our things unpacked. We had found a great little house in a nice neighborhood that we moved all our things into in August, then promptly walked out the door to head east. So we got back and spent the last three weeks trying to get settled, make some progress on design/estimates/scheduling for construction of our house, and Ryan seeking work opportunities. 

As if to say "Welcome to South Dakota", Mother Nature sent a big blizzard to the Black Hills a week ago, that put a little bit of a damper on all of the latter. Three days without power, more for some, 2 1/2 feet of heavy wet snow, high winds, branches and trees down everywhere, and now flooding with the subsequent melt and additional rain in recent days. It's quite a mess that has seen an impressive cleanup effort.  For us it was primarily a chance to spend a great weekend with family, sitting by the fireplace, cooking on the camp stove, drinking hot cocoa, playing board games and generally enjoying the simple life of being snowed in without power! 

Though admittedly a bit reluctant to leave on our planned vacation, we are On the Road Again [cue Willie Nelson]! 

We left home Wednesday; had a nice fall hike partway through our trip somewhere in beautiful Montana:

Then yesterday we were back on the road, looking at the map to decide where to rest our head, when my wandering eyes spotted "Roslyn, WA" just a few miles off the interstate and ...💡.... Northern Exposure!! 

Yes. That's it!

We stayed in the quirky little beautiful mountain town of "Cicely, AK" and enjoyed seeing several of the filming locations for the equally quirky but beloved tv series. We ate dinner at The Brick:

Spotted the famous mural as seen in the tv intro, and ate at the namesake cafe for breakfast:

Peeked in at Chris's DJ station KBHR:

And were tickled to find that Dr. Joe(l) Fleischman's name was still painted on his office window, which is now a gift shop for Northern Exposure memorabilia and other kitsch. 

Unfortunately we didn't spot any moose traipsing through town...but funny how a good quality tv program can suck you into a relationship with it's characters enough that it's enjoyable to see the places they were created and the settings for the good stories they told.

On to the true Alaska...