Day 1: A Moment I've Been Waiting For

Can you believe I'm back in Alaska for another Adventure of a Lifetime? I can't even believe I'm back in Alaska as I sit in Alaska (by a fireplace, with a cup of coffee at 6:30am) typing this! Pinch me. 

While some of you would think "What could she possibly have left to do in Alaska again?" As you may recall our tour guide telling us last year, "You could live a hundred lifetimes here and not see everything there is to see." 

My friend Kristin, who I'm traveling with this year, and her husband picked me up at 2:30am on Saturday morning, and so our adventure began. We took off from O'Hare around 6:30am, a little late, but better than never (as the airline stated, we have to "cool down the plane" - we're pretty sure they meant "de-ice the plane" as that's what they were doing, and it was quite chilly in Chicago yesterday morning, proving less of a need for cooling anything down).  We landed early in Seattle, but as traveling goes, were stuck on the runway, certain we'd miss our connecting flight to Anchorage.  As luck would have it, our connection was delayed and we made it with a few minutes to spare.  I was supposed to have a window seat, well planned after knowing the view from the plane as you begin to descend on Alaska is absolutely breathtaking. Unfortunately, someone was in my seat and I felt too bad to ask her to move, plus any other time I travel I prefer an aisle seat anyway...so I just sat down and strained to see what I could. I did ask her to take a picture for me since she had a clearer view, which she kindly did. 

Within an hour of being on the ground in Alaska, Kristin and I were all checked in and headed down to the Fur Rondy in downtown Anchorage. This was something we were able to see some of last year, but not experience much of. For those unfamiliar, the Fur Rondy (aka the Fur Rendevous) is a Winter Carnival/Festival that takes place in Anchorage for about 10 days, consisting of all kinds of fun events, including the Running of the Reindeer, which we did participate in last year. Yes, there is a full carnival - think Ferris wheel, funnel cakes...all the things we love about our summer carnivals and fairs in the summer in Illinois...in the middle of winter. We had seen there were dog sled rides until 5pm. And sure enough, there were!  For $15 we got our very first opportunity, after so many years of teaching Iditarod in our classrooms (Kristin has actually taught Iditarod longer than me!), to ride on a dog sled! It was short, and every bit sweet! I'll take it! One of the dogs on the team was a two-year-old pup that had just come from the kennel of one of the Jr. Iditarod mushers (Jr. Iditarod started yesterday).  So, in our first few moments in Alaska, a moment I've been waiting so very long for came to be. The mountains in the background made it that much better. 

We then headed a few blocks over and were able to catch the start of the Fur Rondy Outhouse Races.  You read that accurately - they design and race outhouses (aka, port-o-potties; aka outdoor toilets) down the street. The effort in designing and staging said outhouses was impressive. I think what stood out more than the hysterical race overall, was that there were several teams comprised of active-duty military members and families. Anchorage is home to JBER (Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson), a combined U.S. Air Force and Army base. It's great to see them get out and participate in fun activities as such. Our Uber driver back to our hotel later was also active duty military stationed at JBER and driving Uber to make extra money on weekends. We were sure to thank him for his service, and he kindly also thanked us for ours as teachers. 

Following the first heat of the outhouse races, we were getting chilled and very hungry as we hadn't eaten much all day while traveling due to our flight times. So we made our way through a couple of shops and ended up at 49th State Brewing - my very favorite restaurant from last year. I could not wait to indulge in some halibut and the seafood chowder - and both were SO delicious! 

The Fur Rondy Fireworks were set to start at 7:30pm, so we waited about an hour after dinner and were able to catch the fireworks from the top deck (yes, outside) at 49th State. Fur Rondy Fireworks are quite a big deal here, as in the summer when the rest of us are celebrating the Fourth of July, here in Alaska, the 49th state, it doesn't get all the way dark at that time of year. So the sun goes down, but it's more like dusk than dark all night. So they do fireworks, but they aren't quite as clear and visible as we know them to be in July. But at this time of year, they can have a great fireworks show! Before the fireworks, though, we caught the sunset from the top deck. It was as breathtaking as I know an Alaskan sunset to be. 49th State has one of the best outdoor spaces, located right on the Cook Inlet, so to be able to catch a sunset and fireworks from there...well, I couldn't think of a better end to day 1. Amazing how being in the same location can be filled with so many new Moments and Memories... 

More to come...