Well here we sit at the Raleigh Airport, waiting for our first flight in a series of 3 today to get to Anchorage. First we go to Atlanta, then Salt Lake City then Anchorage. We will arrive in Anchorage @ 12:04 am. tomorrow. Part of this is due to the 4 hr time difference and a 3.5 hr layover in Salt Lake City. We plan to make use of the Delta Crown room in Salt Lake, as we have recently gotten new AMEX Platinum cards that give us access to the lounges on their partner airlines. This will make our long layover much easier to bear. After the whirlwind of the last 2 weeks, it seems strange to be heading out. For those who have not gotten a note from me in the last couple weeks, my dad was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer last week, and we have been trying to deal with the ramifications of that. He has been given about a year to live. We have been planning this trip for almost a year, and he definitely wanted us to go. I made him promise not to die before I got back. He always enjoys the travel stories I write, so I’m going to see Alaska for him. We are packed pretty heavy for this trip. We all brought pack boots (winter boots with felt liners), wool socks, special wicking long underwear, hiking boots, down coats, down vests, gloves, mittens, face masks, etc. etc.etc. We are expecting cold weather in Anchorage, and very cold weather in Fairbanks. Our planned itinerary has us staying in Anchorage till Monday, and then we fly to Fairbanks. While in Anchorage we plan to participate in the start of the Iditarod dog sled race. Also while we are in Anchorage the Fur Rhondy is going on, which is an outdoor festival of all manner of events. Well it’s boarding time so more later.
Well we are now in Utah pleasantly ensconced in the Delta Crown Club. They have free drinks and a nice little snaky buffet. The flight into Salt Lake is amazing; the snow-covered mountains are as high as the plane is flying. The flight however was 100% full and like 4 hrs in a cattle truck. We only have 5 hrs left to fly to get to Anchorage and that plane is 100% full. Looks like time to sleep a few hrs. This Crown Club is really nice. All kinds of overstuffed furniture, nooks to work in, and all manner of places to just sit and decompress. Access to these clubs definitely improves the quality of travel. Well time is approaching and we’re headed back to the gate for 5 more hours of delightful air travel. As expected the plane was 100% full, and I once again felt like I was riding in a cattle truck with movies. We got a little snack of cheese and crackers, and the customary plastic cup of drink. One thing interesting, they have increased the size of the little cups of drink they give you, reason unknown. We arrived in Anchorage sometime after midnight, claimed our luggage, and headed out for the rental car. Anchorage airport is interesting in that they built a nice new terminal, but ONLY Alaska Air gets to use the new terminal—all others use the old one. We had to ride a shuttle bus to get to the rental car desks. The shuttle bus driver dropped us off and said you can either go down these stairs here or the stairs back there. (us with copious amounts of luggage) We headed down stairs to be greeted by ice floes on the sidewalk that would have Greensboro personal injury lawyers setting up booths. We got our Chevy Trailblazer from Alamo, which appeared to be one of the last ones left in the parking lot. The car was covered by about an eighth of an inch of dirt. We headed out following some relatively uncomplicated directions, and found our Comfort Inn on the banks of the Ship Creek. The location is great in that it is 1 block down the street from the Iditarod ceremonial start. We prepared to check in at the Comfort Inn and oops they only had 1 room. (they were however very apologetic) We only made the reservations 6 months ago, and checked on them a couple of days ago. But we all are good friends, had our jammies, and the room had 2 queens, we were exhausted, and so we said we’d work it out tomorrow and crashed. (only to be awakened 45 minutes later by a wrong number) With all our stuff the room looked like a tourist had exploded in it by morning. More later.
Wes