Monday, super early flight to Anchorage through Denver. I was drunk on Dramamine (I'm noting the 'drama' in that name, and the outcome of taking it -- dramatic dizziness and uselessness for me) for all of it, when we landed in both stops I was out of it. But awake enough to note the "commercial sex trafficking, house work, and farm work" trafficking sign in a restroom, which led to a week's worth of jokes. First night in Anchorage.
Tuesday, He has a exam and a driver's license update. I wait in the hotel and for the first time realize that it's Dark at 8:45am, and I won't see sun until well after 9:30am!! Ugh! He returns, and we make a visit to Mounty Baldy for a partial climb up. We get half mile up, I'm wearing my just-purchased winter boots, he's wearing his heavy camera bag. That afternoon, we drive the 4 or so hours to Homer for a late arrival and a stop at his favorite pizza place.
Wednesday, Walked the beach, pictures of eagles, I collected a few momento rocks (pretty gray with distinct white stripes), walk along the boardwalk, visited a few places, he got eggs benedict at a Duncan Diner, stop at a winery and he tasted wines. What else did we do....? Continued his daily letter writing to the kids :)
Thursday, Thanksgiving! We get up early to catch the sunrise behind a peak we admire from our balcony windows. He identifies a place up on the hill over the water and gets his shots (great ones, I have one as my lock screen!), then we walk along a beach, then back to the hotel. Dinner is later in the day, turns out it was stupid expensive and not worth it for me. $35 for some dry turkey, it was all I can eat. That's a separate paragraph topic for below. I feel awful about the waste of money.
Friday, we leave Homer, but it's SNOWING. Gorgeous, even-layered, coating sticky snow, but hard to drive in and slowed us down. The rental Jeep Compass wasn't outfitted for this weather, but LA did great with it. We missed our planned stop in Seward for the snow, as he had to be in Anchorage Saturday morning. Overnight in Alyeska Resort, where we did a 4 mile walk in fresh but perfect snow to mail letters.
Saturday, first day of the concealed carry class, I just sit there. I do oxalate reading, puzzles, duolingo, but in the end I just sit there. And sitting is one of the most painful things on the sit bones. But I keep quiet on it, and get through it. We find Ronnie's 2 for sushi at lunch, and go there again at dinner. Off to Wasilla overnight. I got to see his old house and neighborhood! Stopped at Michael's to buy letter stickers, walked his neighborhood loop twice, and enjoyed a near full moon in the perfect silence. Overnight in Wasilla.
Sunday, second day of the class, again I get to sit. 7 hours total in the car with only a few stretches and now more pain. But again, I'm OK and just hang in there. Don't wanna complain. The pain is better though! This rest is doing something for it. Overnight in Anchorage at our best hotel yet - a suites hotel with real plates and glasses and silverware. A long walk in snow to hit 10, 000 steps too.
Monday, our last day! We did the full climb of Baldy today, 1100 ft elevation gain in just over a mile. I had moments where my heart was pounding crazy in my ears, brief moments of fear about it, but then denial kicked back in and I realize that I hear it pounding because it's so damned quiet and peaceful. The climb was tough, but never hurt the leg and hip, to my complete surprise. The top was worth the effort, and I got to slide down part of it, yay! Check out of hotel, drop off concealed carry papers, visit the bank, More sushi at Ronnies 2, the next day Anchorage shuts down dine-in, so we got lucky. Then nothing to do, until the flight out at 11:40pm. Hung around airport, wrote letters, paced to 10,000 steps, then board. We flew to Denver overnight, terribly uncomfortable for my back and hip, but Dramamine to the rescue. Delays in Denver, the home to StL around 1-2pm. Get the dog, get some Russian groceries, and home to rest. Whew!
Alaska was beautiful! I love it, I'd go back for the quiet. It's not as cold as you think it would be, but it's still cold. I guess expect the worst and be either right or pleasantly surprised. The sun up/down schedule of 10 am to 3 pm is killer, even if the summers are over-abundant in sunshine.
This was my first flight and major travel since I went to California in 2014 to see Bill and Jeff. We drove to NC for B2B in 2014, again to NC area in 2019, so the idea of traveling to Alaska had me on edge for a few weeks. The usual questions and concerns for me -- I don't have travel experience, so how to I get to the airport, buy tickets, where do I go, how this and how that. But LA took care of most all of that, I was able to just relax and learn as we go. So a Success!!
Also -- my concern about what to eat, because that's a Huge limiter for me! More on that in the Oxalates post. See next.
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