Saturday, June 5th
Well 24 hours after leaving the house in Rainbow City, Alabama, Lady Elaine and I have arrived. We are in Alaska folks! Together again!
We arrived at 6:55 a.m. (Alaska time) and went straight to getting familiar with our new town.
Throughout the day, Lady Elaine surprised us with frequent, involuntary, exhaustion induced, melt downs. She has the kind of cry that if spoken would say, I DON’T KNOW WHY I AM CRYINNNNGGGG” but actually means “ I NEED MOORRRE SLEEEEP, bUHAhahaheheh.” Poor kid. She has been an excellent traveler. Her mother, however…well I was a different kind of traveler. The not good kind. The kind of traveler who was teetering on the edge walking right out of my very own skin because her nerves were shot to h-e-double-l and back. I was the kind of traveler who spent the first half of the trip snapping Lady Elaine’s head off for the slightest of infractions. Hey, the truth isn’t always pretty people. BUT, I am proud to say that during the latter segment of our 24 hour day of weather delays, missed connections, customer service line standing, bag misdirection, trip rerouting, layover sitting, miles and miles walking, loading and unloading, taking off and landing times 3, and patience and kindness praying, I treated Lady Elaine with the gentle care she deserves. And she did deserve it. Throughout the incredibly long ordeal, she had the kind of attitude I prayed for in spite of only getting approximately 3 hours of off and on sleep over the course of 24 hours. She made the most of the time spent waiting in the airports by approaching any child she could find and making immediate friendships. Some of which she hopes will lead to future visits to nearby Alaskan Villages. Lady Elaine enjoyed the human conveyer belts to the fullest and couldn’t pass up frequent opportunities to ride on the luggage cart.
She finally conked out around 4:00 p.m. Alaska time in the backseat on a rocky road, in the way that only an exhausted kid with no neck cramping history can. Chuck transferred her to the bed without incident. Wake-up time remains a mystery. Will she sleep through the night until a decent Alaskan morning hour? Will she wake at a decent Alabama morning hour? Will she wake when Chuck comes back in this camper and slams the door? If so, will I kill him with whatever blunt object I kind find? Yes, I will. Let’s hope she wakes at a decent Alaskan hour, shall we?
I like this town. So far, so good. Chuck insists that because of overcast conditions, that I’ve seen nothing yet. Most of the glorious mountains that surround us are completely obscured by thick, low clouds.
Things I’ve seen so far:
A moose!
Moose poop (Did you know it looks like pecans?)
Trees with leaves that have been taken over by miniature worms that kill the leaves. From a distance and at first glance it looked like eucalyptus trees.
A really nice house I would like to live in.
A glimpse at the beautiful snow capped mountains and other mountains that roll with green.
The Donnelly Dome
Mosquitoes pressed hard against the glass at the Anchorage airport that appeared to be lusting after all the fresh blood beyond the glass.
Also, I’ve made two new friends! Chuck met Jeff and Courtney Durham long before we arrived. Chuck and Jeff work together and Courtney is the local realtor. They have helped us tremendously and life in Alaska would be far more difficult without their guidance. Oh, and a bonus is that they come with two sweet boys and thankfully Lady Elaine has transitioned well into simulated Star Wars battles.
Lady Elaine was happy to see her Daddy and told him so throughout the day. It had been too long for all of us.
My Friend update:
On Thursday night, my Friend arrived safely though very nervous. Chuck picked him up a few minutes after he arrived in Anchorage and swears he didn’t come back to his natural happy state of being until Lady Elaine and I arrived. I think it’s true. I might have even seen a little glimmer in his eye when we pulled up.
A glimpse at the beautiful snow capped mountains and other mountains that roll with green.
The Donnelly Dome
Mosquitoes pressed hard against the glass at the Anchorage airport that appeared to be lusting after all the fresh blood beyond the glass.
Also, I’ve made two new friends! Chuck met Jeff and Courtney Durham long before we arrived. Chuck and Jeff work together and Courtney is the local realtor. They have helped us tremendously and life in Alaska would be far more difficult without their guidance. Oh, and a bonus is that they come with two sweet boys and thankfully Lady Elaine has transitioned well into simulated Star Wars battles.
Lady Elaine was happy to see her Daddy and told him so throughout the day. It had been too long for all of us.
My Friend update:
On Thursday night, my Friend arrived safely though very nervous. Chuck picked him up a few minutes after he arrived in Anchorage and swears he didn’t come back to his natural happy state of being until Lady Elaine and I arrived. I think it’s true. I might have even seen a little glimmer in his eye when we pulled up.
O'kay this is not funny. You tease us with upcoming gorgeous photography of Alaska and the first AND ONLY I might add photo we get is MOOSE POOP!!!
ReplyDeleteSorry about that. There were two more beautiful photos at the top of this blog. So wonderful to see all the smiling happy faces. Ahhh it must be love.
ReplyDeleteYAAAY!
ReplyDeleteWelcome!
ReplyDeleteGlad you made it in one piece!! Great landing time (beats our middle of the night landing LOL). We came very close to landing in the same town as you with this transfer!! But at least we are under 2 hours down the road ;-)
ReplyDeleteAwwwwww, YAY. So happy you've made it safely! The picture of you two smiling young ladies made my day. I hope I'm not prying, but I'm SO curious: What's Delta Junction like? Are there some houses? (The pics I saw posted are beautiful, but I've seen no houses or...restruants?) Are there school districts? I'm just so interested.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I keep visualizing My Friend as a lab, and I'm probably wrong, lol.
Hey everybody and thanks! That just like me isn't it Mom? Post a picture of poop. What is wrong with me?
ReplyDeleteMissy, what town are you in again? Katie, My Friend is a labradoodle. You were close. I plan to post again hopefully real soon so maybe I will answer some of your questions then. Of course you are not prying! I am putting out there and I am just glad people care! There are houses but they are very sparsely placed....for the most part. We have a school but we aren't big enough for school districts. Just the one school...except divided into elem., middle, and high. There are a few restaurants but very few. No chains.
Well what in hellz bellz are you gonna do without a dang applebee's?? Just kiddin I'm just kiddin. I'm very relieved ya'll are finally up there safe and happy. I was praying a lot that God would calm your minds and hearts and keep ya'll safe. I tracked your flights with this website called flightaware.com (it lets you see where the plane is on the map and watch it move) until I called Chuck to find out what connecting flight ya'll got rerouted to (he didn't know the flight numbers on the 2 OTHER planes you ended up having to take) because I was trying to control the planes from here behind my computer. With my mind. Quite frankly, it was exhausting. Buuuuuut I'm pretty sure yours was worse. Sorry it was so stressful, sister. You need to get yourself some fancy spa treatments.
ReplyDeleteP.S. That moose poop looks like a giant spilled a big cup 'o chocolate dippin' dots in the woods. Sorry, Ma... but seriously. Ice cream sounds good right now, doesn't it? MMmmmmm.
Oh sister, Applebees will be sorely missed. I still have pangs of regret that I let that Fiesta Lime Chicken you left at Mom's go bad in the refrigerator (seriously).
ReplyDeleteI can understand the flight mind control idea. I think next time you fly I will put that burden on myself. Thanks for sharing...and trying to mind control our plane....Oh and for not being a terrorist.
Ooohhh dippin' dots. Great. Thanks A lot sister. No dippin' dots within 600 miles of here.
Sorry... Moose?.. Poop? No? Not the same? So, no?
ReplyDeleteWell go on down to the store an git chee some neeyopolitan ahce cream. I said that like Pappy. Did you notice?