Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shocked the political word Friday by announcing that she will step down at the end of the month and transfer power to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.

Palin made the announcement from her home in Wasilla, flanked by her husband, Todd, and family and state commissioners.

"I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path," Palin said after the announcement, according to a press release from her office. "Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional 'Lame Duck' status in this particular climate would just be another dose of 'politics as usual,' something I campaigned against and will always oppose."

The announcement came on the same week that one of her top public health officials says she was forced out of office because Palin felt she wasn't in step on social issues