Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

It has been quite a busy week since returning from WI. There are still so many last minute things to take care of before Christmas, and I’m checking them off my list slowly but surely. Yesterday I put up the Christmas tree (finally!). We have a 4′ table top tree now. We gave away the big tree a couple of years ago, as it was just too large for our home, and we really didn’t need something so big without kids here at home.  I strung some lights over the windows in the living room too. I really do like the ambient light they provide. I’m still contemplating putting some lights in the front windows, or wrapped around the porch posts, but I’ve got other things to worry about that are more pressing.

I still haven’t written out my Christmas cards, but I did finish the family newsletter two days ago. Unfortunately Steve ruined a good bunch of them when he was printing them, as he didn’t keep an eye on the printer and it sucked several sheets of paper through at a time, printing half on one sheet and half on the other. We never had a chance to take a family photo for our card, so I just used a photo I took at Pioneer Park for the front. They should be ready for pickup tomorrow. Maybe I’ll find time tomorrow night to start addressing envelopes.

Today is my birthday, and we’re going out to dinner. It’s a birthday dinner for the both of us. We usually celebrate both our days on the weekend between the two, but Steve was on night shift this weekend. We decided to go to Pike’s, as we haven’t been there in awhile. At first we were going to go to Lavelle’s, but I’m such a picky eater there is only one thing on the menu that I will eat (a chicken dish) and it’s nearly $30 just for the entree. Restaurant prices up here are so high! I think that’s ridiculous for chicken. Their steak/seafood dishes are much higher. The food IS good, but wow…

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I never finished my November Gratitude and wanted to do that now. I look forward to doing it again next year!

November 28th: Today I am thankful for a fourth successful Alaska calendar year! Thank you to all of you who purchased a calendar(s). I hope the images bring you joy throughout 2012. Thank you as well to those of you who missed the pre-order deadline, but put your name on a back up list. While I am always sorry when someone has to cancel an order, I am so very thankful for those of you wanting to give the cancellations a home. All calendars have now been accounted for. I am humbled by your overwhelming support. Thank you. ♥

November 29th: Today I am thankful to finally be off the plane and sitting on a comfortable sofa. (The plane ride was long and miserable!)

November 30th: Today I am thankful that my kids grew up so well. We never really know how our kids are going to evolve. We raise two kids the same way and they can still be as different as night and day. All we can hope for is that someday our kids will be responsible, loving, compassionate, and fairly well-balanced adults. Since mine turned out pretty nice, I guess we must have done something right.

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The flight to Madison was long, as always. Steve and I are MVP Gold Members on Alaska Airlines, which comes with some added perks. One of those perks is a free upgrade to First Class when there are seats available. Unfortunately, there are quite a few folks who are MVP Gold Members and you are upgraded as you check in. Most of the time First Class is full, so getting one of these upgrades on a long leg (like Anchorage to Chicago - which was the route I flew) is pretty much impossible.  However, the shorter Fairbanks to Anchorage leg sometimes has some First Class seats available, and I lucked out. Granted, it’s only about a 40 minute flight, but I was thankful for the extra legroom. My seatmate was a Fairbanks orthodontist who had just come back from vacationing in Hawaii the day before (another long flight) and was heading to Chicago for a seminar. We chatted the entire time, which made the short flight seem even shorter.

Although I couldn’t get a seat in First Class, I did get a seat in the emergency exit row for the Anchorage to Chicago leg. Thank goodness for extra leg room.  It was an overnight flight and I think I dozed off for about 3 hours.

It was so good to see Brandon waiting for me when I came down the escalator in Madison. I didn’t have any checked bags so we were on our way to the kids’ place quickly. The weather was beautiful! The sun was shining and temps were in the 40s. There was a bit of a wind though, so it felt a little chillier at times. I was happy there wasn’t any snow on the ground. It seems everytime I visit Madison, I either arrive to snow, or it follows me there.

It was so neat to finally meet my grand-dog Perseus. He’s such a bundle of energy and so adorable! Everyone is quite enamored of him, even though he’s still quite the devil with his chewing, and his occasional puppy pad misses. I’m so glad Raven was housebroken when we adopted her.

Look at this adorable face! He’s wearing an Ozzy Osborne t-shirt here.

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I haven’t gone through all of my photos yet, so this blog entry won’t have any. But I’m home from Wisconsin and I had the most fabulous visit with the kids.

We didn’t get to go up to Door County as the weather was quite iffy last weekend. There was rain, snow flurries, and winter storm warnings, so we felt it best not to go too far from home. Instead, we took day trips into the countryside, so I could get my barn/farm fix.

One of our drives took us to Monroe WI, where there are barn quilts everywhere. While I would have loved to have seen them all, I think we only got to see a dozen or so. However, the winding country roads were beautiful in their own right. It’s hard to believe that a city the size of Madison is only a short distance away when you’re out in the middle of dairy land. We also drove to Kettle Moraine State Forest and, even though it rained nearly the entire time, it was an enjoyable drive.

The kids and I also enjoyed hanging out and watching movies, when we weren’t taking drives. We went out to eat twice (I can’t believe how inexpensive food is down there, when compared to restaurants in AK!), and cooked at home the other nights. I got to meet the adorable Perseus - Brandon and Becky’s new puppy - and although I savored the softness of his puppy fur, I did not relish his needle sharp teeth which could appear at any moment. He’s definitely teething, as he’s chewing on just about everything. Becky refers to his kisses as shark bites because you never know if he’s going to be lovable or want to chew on you. He’s a real cutie though!

The visit went by so quickly! I wish the flights were just as quick. It’s such a long trip to and from Alaska. My back and my tailbone always hurt at the end of a travel day. Fortunately, I was able to get exit row seats on one leg both coming and going. The extra leg room helped.

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Yesterday was Steve’s birthday. He had to go into work on night shift, unfortunately. But we had the morning together and I baked him a cake. Since my birthday is next week, we’re sharing the cake. That saves on cake mix and calories. It’s a Devils Food cake with chocolate icing… not Steve’s favorite (he likes German Chocolate), but it’s all we had in the house. No one’s complaining. Cake is cake. Yum!

Yesterday was also a very special day because Steve’s third grandchild (and the first granddaughter) came into the world! Steve’s son Eric and his girlfriend Lacy are the proud parents of Regan Elizabeth. We’ve seen a few photos online, and Steve’s looking forward to meeting her in person in April when he visits. I had a great time today picking up some things to send to her. Shopping for baby girls is so much more fun than shopping for baby boys. There are so many adorable girlie things to choose from!

Happy Birthday to Steve and Happy Birth Day to Regan!

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I wanted to write about something that I experienced on the flight home on Thursday early morning.  I posted the following on my Facebook page soon after getting home:

Last night, on the final leg from Seattle to Fairbanks, there were a half dozen young men in uniform on our plane. I was already seated when they boarded the plane. They were so young… late teens or early twenties at most. I heard the flight attendant say “Are you on your way home?” and they said they were. She thanked them for their service to our country and said “Welcome home”. Two of them ended up seated behind me.

The lights were turned out on the plane, as it was a late flight. These young men were exhausted and soon fell asleep. I got up to stretch my legs, and saw them both sprawled across the three seats they shared between them. They were deep in sleep, mouths agape, snoring softly. In that moment, I felt the protectiveness of a mama come over me. They looked so much like sleeping children… innocent, vulnerable. I’m sure the fact that I was missing my kids played into the rawness of my emotions. I started to cry, and every time I looked back at them, my eyes filled with tears again.

These young men - too young - have seen things that I will never see. They have experienced things that I will never experience. They’ve probably lost friends over there. I had the urge to wrap them up in a mother’s arms and shield them from all the atrocity in this world, even though it’s too late for that.

When the plane touched down, the flight attendant went through her usual spiel welcoming us to Fairbanks. And then, as they always do on Alaska Airlines (I don’t know if the other airlines does the same), she announced to the plane that there were service members on board - some in uniform, some not - and they were going home. And again, she thanked them for their service. As always, the plane erupted with applause, and I felt my eyes get wet again.

I wish this war was over and they were all home.

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I’m going to end this blog entry for now. I’ll post again this weekend if I have time. I hope to have the photos resized by then.

Tomorrow, I’m volunteering for the annual Help-Portrait event. Along with several other members of the local photography group, I will be taking photos of families currently staying at our homeless shelter (Fairbanks Rescue Mission).  Can you even imagine being homeless in Alaska?  Here’s some more information about the event (2010):

This is our first year doing this, so we really don’t know what to expect. Hopefully next year, we’ll be better prepared to do this for a much larger group of folks.
Until next time…

As much as I’d love to write about our ENTIRE trip in one blog entry, it’s not going to happen. I took so many photos.. more than I realized! It would take me a week to write about the entire trip at one time. In fact, I’m still going through photos, editing, resizing, choosing what to share, etc.  But since I’ve finished up with the Boston photos - and our visit with my family - I thought I’d at least blog about that first part of our trip.

Steve and I arrived in Boston around 5:30pm on Thursday night. We caught a shuttle to Thrifty Car Rental to pick up the car we’d be using throughout our travels around New England. I wish I could say the process in picking up the car was a quick process, but I’d be lying. Not only was the line of customers long when we got there, but the three gentleman staffing the counter were moving like pond water (Steve’s description).  It took more than 45 minutes to pick up our car!

Luckily, our friend Gip (who also house sat for us - Thanks Gip!) loaned us his GPS, so we were able to find our way easily to our hotel, The Embassy Suites at Logan Airport. We chose that particular hotel because it would be most convenient for my brothers, who were flying in the next morning and would not have a rental car. They could utilize the free shuttle to the hotel.

We loved our stay at the Embassy Suites. All except for one thing: the parking fee for our car. They only offer valet parking and it was an extra $34/day to park our car there. Ridiculous! I did look into shortening our car rental period to avoid that fee, but it would have been MORE expensive to rent the car because we wouldn’t  have it for a full two weeks - about the same as paying the extra $34/day to park.

TIP: If you ever plan a trip to Boston, you probably won’t need a car to get around. The mass transit system is quite efficient, and very reasonable, and there are stations conveniently located all over the city. If you’re staying in a hotel, chances are they will provide free transportation to and from the airport, and possibly to the T station if there isn’t one located near the hotel. There is a train station only a short walk from the Embassy Suites Hotel.

Steve and I got to the hotel just in time for the Managers Reception (an Embassy Suites custom). Finger foods were available, as well as soft drinks. In other Embassy Suite Hotels we’ve stayed in, alcoholic drinks were also provided free of charge, but the Boston location does not do that. (Bummer)

We set the alarm for 7:30am on Friday morning, as my brothers would be touching down around 8:45am from Philly. They got a heck of a deal on RT tickets from Philly to Boston (via Southwest) - only $39/each way!  My brother Mike called when they were taxiing, and Steve and I went downstairs to partake of the free breakfast buffet.  (My brothers Mike and Steve and their wives/GF flew to Boston together. My brother Marc was already in MA with his wife Denise. They were staying at a timeshare on Cape Cod and would join us on Saturday.)

This hotel had one of the best breakfast buffets we have ever experienced. There were made to order omelets, eggs, bacon, sausage, homefries, fruit, cereal, breads and pastries, oatmeal, juices, coffee and tea, and probably more that I missed. The made to order omelets were delicious with many ingredients to choose from. A similar breakfast buffet would have easily cost upwards of $20/pp. We never left hungry, that’s for sure.

After we ate, we got the call that my brothers’ plane had landed and they were waiting for the shuttle to the hotel. I was so excited! I had butterflies of happiness in my stomach!

They arrived before the end of the breakfast buffet, so we took their bags up to our room and they grabbed a big round table in the breakfast area and ate. We sat and visited with each other for a good hour before making plans for the day. By that time, their room was ready (next door to ours!), so we moved the bags and changed into comfortable walking shoes.

The T Station was only a short walk (about 1/4 mile) from the hotel - through a playground and soccer field. The ticket kiosk was a little confusing to figure out at first, but an attendant talked us through buying a Charlie Card (re-loadable and discount fares). A swipe of the card, and you’re through the turnstile.

We took the Blue Line from the Airport Station to State Station, close to the Visitor Center for the Freedom Trail.  It was only three stops and about 10 minutes. We decided to walk the Freedom Trail starting from The State House and walking all the way to the USS Constitution (about 2.5 miles one way).

We stopped to browse some shops at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which was really neat. I’m not a shopper, so I didn’t really care about going into any of the outlet stores and shops, but I did enjoy a walk through Quincy Market. Quincy Market is all about food. It was really crowded, but anything you could possibly want to eat could be purchased there - to include desserts and candy. The sights and sounds and smells were great. As were the colors. I just wish it wasn’t so crowded.

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