When I left for the airport on Monday, I realized half way there that I didn't have my phone. I felt so bad because our friends, Jeff and Marilee were taking me! They graciously turned around and we went back home to get it. Can you imagine what it would be like to travel without one? How did we ever survive the olden days?
When I checked in, they told me the plane coming in was delayed and that we would be leaving late. As I calculated that in my head, I realized that would only leave me 12 minutes in Seattle to get to the flight to Anchorage. And the next best alternative was to wait for the next flight 9 hours later. NO THANKS! I knew I couldn't do that because we had a reservation at a bed and breakfast in Talkeetna to make, and I didn't want a delayed flight to change our entire plan. So I prayed that it would work out in Seattle, and so did Annette.
When I got to Seattle, the gate agent said they were holding the plane for the handful of us that needed that connection. I sprinted to the gate to catch the plane to Anchorage, which included jumping on the train to the terminal two stops away and a lot of running. When I got to the gate, there were a couple of guys there yelling at the gate agent because she said their seats were filled. The flight was full and they would have to wait. I leaned over and quietly said that I was in the same situation they were, she asked for my name, checked me in, printed the boarding pass and pointed at the gate. The moral of that story is when you're a jerk, you're not going to get what you want!
It was a long flight. The guy next to me was annoyed I showed up and took my seat by the window. I realized I forgot my laptop headphones, so all I could do was listen to music on my phone (not a terrible thing, but it was a long flight). Finding Annette and her mom at the other end made it all worth it! It was so great to see them! Annettes mom lives in Provo. She came up a couple days before I did and is leaving on Sunday. We went to Annette's house in Eagle River and then left for Talkeetna.
 |
| A pretty common sight along roads |
 |
| The view from our room at the B and B |
 |
| Waiting for pizza |
Talkeetna is a happening place in the summer, lots of tourist activities coordinated from there, including climbing Denali. In the winter it's almost a ghost town. We went to town after dropping our stuff at the B and B, we hoped we could find food. At 7:50 p.m. we walked into the only place that was open, a pizza joint. All the chairs were on the tables, they were about to close. The look on the guys face when we walked in the door was priceless! He was a little snarky at first, telling us our only option was take out and pressing us to make a decision quickly. He ended up being nice in the end, we took our pizza back to the bed and breakfast. The next day we went back into town to get pastries from the Roadhouse and stopped at Annette's favorite souvenir shop. Everything was marked down significantly, because - no people in town! I bought stuff for the whole family, I spent $45 and saved $125. 😀 After that we headed toward Fairbanks. There wasn't a whole lot of civilization between the 2 towns, maybe a gas station about every 100 miles. At one of them, we stopped to warm up the left over pizza from the night before, and the giant cinnamon rolls we got at the Roadhouse in Talkeetna. As we got closer to Fairbanks the snow started falling and the wind blew like crazy. The last 10 miles or so were nail biters, but Annette handled it like a champ. We stayed 3 days with her friend Shauna and her husband. They work in the temple together once a month. When you live far from the temple, When you live far from the temple, you spend a few consecutive day per month there. They fly down to Anchorage and stay with members so they can serve for 3 days at a time. How cool is that?! Shauna was the greatest. She fed us very well! I got the impression that Annette hadn't told her the "why" of my trip (northern lights = bucket list). She's had breast cancer too, so that opened up a whole can of worms! It was so fun to sit and talk as a group about anything and everything.
Another friend from the temple, Olga, took us all around Fairbanks to show us points of interest. There was a 1,000 mile dog race last week called Yukon Quest. Imagine running 12 dogs for 2 weeks in bitter cold. Yikes! They told us that a runner would be coming in right around 5:00, so we staked out a spot and waited ... and waited. We found out later that they had the runner go a different route to the finish because the ice on the river had cracked. So we missed that!
There was an ice sculpture competition at the fairgrounds starting up as well. We were told it opened on Thursday, but the real fun didn't start until Saturday. That's when the guys or gals would come in and carve for the competition. They set up blocks of ice in the camp sites at the fairgrounds for the artists. We saw the prep work, a maze like a corn maze, only made out of ice. They had long, icy slides in the kids area, we watched a guy start the trunk of a palm tree and another guy working on a bobsled, those were going in the kids area too. The kick back of ice shavings from the chainsaws would go right in their faces. I'm not sure why people choose to do stuff like that. The sculpture garden will be open until the ice melts, about the end of March.
Of course the real reason we were there was to try to see the northern lights. I was there 4 nights, 3 of them were overcast. The only clear night was Thursday, the day we were going to drive back to Anchorage so I could catch my flight on Friday. But it was the only clear night we had had all week! So my sweet friend Annette, used her airline miles to buy me a plane ticket for Friday morning, from Fairbanks to Anchorage, so I could catch my flight back home. She was determined to do everything she could to ensure that if the lights did come out, we would see them.
She booked us at a ski lodge away from town, where from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. you could stay warm in the lodge and drink as much hot chocolate as you liked, and check outside occasionally. The kid that worked there knew everything anyone could know about the science behind the lights, and could read the charts coming from the university in Fairbanks and NASA. He called himself an "aurora chaser." The projections were moderate, or possible but not awesome. So we sat and drank hot chocolate with a lodge full of Asians and waited for the lights that never showed themselves. At about 1:30 a.m. they all abruptly got up and left because their bus had come for them. We worked our way home about 3 a.m.
Because the skies were clear, we would have a clear view of Denali from the airplane if you were sitting on the right side. I was on the right isle, with a woman in the middle seat. The window seat wasn't there because it was the emergency exit row, so you want to give people room to get out if needed. What a concept! I've never seen that before. After the captain made the announcement about Denali, I leaned over to the woman next to me and asked her if she could snap a few photos of Denali with my phone. She said something like, "This is my first time here and I will be taking my own pictures." I was STUNNED, did she really just tell me she wasn't willing to take a few pictures for me?!? There were no words. I couldn't believe it. As we got close, I had my phone out and ready. I was debating if I would ask the people in front of me, or the people behind me to take my pictures. I certainly wasn't going to take them with her in the frame! In the end, she did take my phone and take pictures which I thanked her for. When the plane landed, I grabbed my stuff and got off as quick as I could.
I was exhausted when I finally got home. My flight in Fairbanks left at about 10 a.m. (noon our time). I walked into my house close to 1 a.m. It was a great trip! Annette was determined, we did absolutely everything we could to meet our objective, the lights. I assured her it was OK not to see them, that the lights were only one part of the trip. I had so much fun, we saw her beautiful neck of the woods, met great people along the way (except the lady on the airplane), laughed a lot and talked about everything under the sun.
Another friend from the temple, Olga, took us all around Fairbanks to show us points of interest. There was a 1,000 mile dog race last week called Yukon Quest. Imagine running 12 dogs for 2 weeks in bitter cold. Yikes! They told us that a runner would be coming in right around 5:00, so we staked out a spot and waited ... and waited. We found out later that they had the runner go a different route to the finish because the ice on the river had cracked. So we missed that!
There was an ice sculpture competition at the fairgrounds starting up as well. We were told it opened on Thursday, but the real fun didn't start until Saturday. That's when the guys or gals would come in and carve for the competition. They set up blocks of ice in the camp sites at the fairgrounds for the artists. We saw the prep work, a maze like a corn maze, only made out of ice. They had long, icy slides in the kids area, we watched a guy start the trunk of a palm tree and another guy working on a bobsled, those were going in the kids area too. The kick back of ice shavings from the chainsaws would go right in their faces. I'm not sure why people choose to do stuff like that. The sculpture garden will be open until the ice melts, about the end of March.Of course the real reason we were there was to try to see the northern lights. I was there 4 nights, 3 of them were overcast. The only clear night was Thursday, the day we were going to drive back to Anchorage so I could catch my flight on Friday. But it was the only clear night we had had all week! So my sweet friend Annette, used her airline miles to buy me a plane ticket for Friday morning, from Fairbanks to Anchorage, so I could catch my flight back home. She was determined to do everything she could to ensure that if the lights did come out, we would see them.
She booked us at a ski lodge away from town, where from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. you could stay warm in the lodge and drink as much hot chocolate as you liked, and check outside occasionally. The kid that worked there knew everything anyone could know about the science behind the lights, and could read the charts coming from the university in Fairbanks and NASA. He called himself an "aurora chaser." The projections were moderate, or possible but not awesome. So we sat and drank hot chocolate with a lodge full of Asians and waited for the lights that never showed themselves. At about 1:30 a.m. they all abruptly got up and left because their bus had come for them. We worked our way home about 3 a.m.
 |
| Sunrise over Fairbanks, taken from Shauna's deck |
 |
| Sunset in Fairbanks, taken from the road Shauna lives on |
 |
| The tallest point on Denali is over 20,000 feet, and quite a sight to see |