My how fast the time has gone! So much has happened in the past year. Growth, loss, unexpected adventures, more growth.
Green Alaskan LLC is growing! Last fall, we officially launched Green Alaskan Rentals, a sister business to The Green Alaskan. Our accessory apartment is finally renovated, fully furnished, and presently occupied! This has been a dream of ours since before we bought our house in 2019, and we are very excited (and feel very accomplished) to have achieved this goal. We would like to eventually explore the world of AirBnB/VRBO renting, but for the time being our focus is on finding tenants looking for short term leases (2-6 months) because….
I’m pregnant again! Yep, baby number three is on its way. For those who have been following my previous birth stories, I am preparing for a home birth this time around. And surprise surprise, I’m due right at the beginning of our busy summer season. Needless to say we are trying to position our businesses to favor longer term rentals across the board (cars and apartment) to minimize the time spent cleaning and flipping between guests while we have a new baby at home. That being said…
We are bringing on two more cars to The Green Alaskan fleet! We just listed our new 2015 Kia Soul EV + on Turo, and it is live and ready to book. Also coming this summer (hopefully) will be our first hybrid, a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. It’s a 7-seater minivan with a plug-in 30 mile range battery coupled with a full size gas tank. We just brought the minivan up to Juneau, but there are two recalls Chrysler needs to repair before we can list it on Turo (one repair that is already scheduled in the coming week, and the other that Chrysler has not released a fix for yet… that’s where the hopefully comes in).
This summer is going to be happenin’, folks! (Do people still say that?)
Anyway, looking back at 2022, it was a doozy. We had lots of unexpected travel, which is always a blessing and a curse. Thankfully my children travel remarkably well for their ages, and we always try to make the most out of our trips, but… man. Early 2022, I lost my step mom. I am so grateful I was able to travel down to see her one last time in the hospital before she passed, but it was very unexpected. Her loss has affected everyone deeper than I think we even realize. Shortly after, my husband’s grandmother started having serious health issues. Fearing the worst, we made another trip down. Thankfully she is still with us. Then again, realizing how short life is and how much it can all change in an instant, and also having several aging family members, we decided to travel yet again to visit over the holidays. While this last trip was definitely on better terms, and time spent with family is priceless, it was still pretty stressful, and it’s safe to say we blew our travel budget for the next couple years out of the water. But… it was during this last trip that we bought the Kia Soul EV.
During a perilous drive where I thought for sure we would be calling a tow truck to pick us up off the side of a desert mountain in the middle of the night, we realized the car we just bought had a major issue. By the grace of God, a tiny side road appeared out of no where and routed us downhill (hello range regeneration) to the nearest town, where a very kind Subway employee at a truck stop let us plug in outside and directed us to the nearest hotel in (I kid you not) Surprise, AZ. Being on the outskirts of Phoenix, there was also a Kia dealer there that confirmed our car needed a new battery (thankfully still covered under warranty). But, it would take a few months to get the parts they needed. Done with travel we were not.
So, here we are, just a few months later, having just returned from our final trip for a long while–a road trip up the Pacific coast to bring our two new Green Alaskan additions back to Juneau. I have to say, this last one was probably the most fun we’ve had as a family in a while. We visited the Grand Canyon, spent time at a couple theme parks along the way, played on a proper warm(ish) sandy beach, saw the Redwoods… It was definitely a family road trip to remember.
And now, I’m ready to be home, nest, and prep for the coming year. On top of having a baby and growing our business, I’d really like to get a good headstart at gardening this year. Hello indoor plant starts! Hopefully this year I can grow more than a bowl of peas and a bowl of raspberries… We’ll see. No, we will see. I’m gonna do it this time.
If you’re interested in our cars or rental unit, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at jessi@greenalaskan.com! Until next time my friends. Stay wonderful!