Tuesday, July 11th - From the City of Brotherly Love to The Last Frontier

I've finally managed to sort through the hundreds of photographs I took while Diane (Dee) was in town visiting. What a terrific time we had exploring Alaska! I am so grateful for the time we had together, and for the opportunity to show her the wonders of the state I have come to love so much.

I think the best way to present the photos taken over the past week would be to recount the entire adventure with more details. My last entry gave you the highlights, so bear with me if some of the information is repeated here. There are a lot of photos, so I think I'm going to split this entry into several parts to save my dial up readers from long download times.

GETTING TO FAIRBANKS:

Diane boarded a Delta flight out of Philadelphia on June 29th at 4:30pm. She's a nervous flier and has never flown alone - let alone clear across the US and through Canada to get to the Last Frontier. The flight is a long one, and after flying it myself more than a few times, I don't wish the experience on anyone. If you've flown lately, you already know that airlines are making the seats smaller and smaller, and placing them closer and closer together. They've also eliminated all of the 'amenities' (if you call a bag of peanuts and a can of soda an amenity), to include pillows and headsets. You can only carry one bag now (and a personal bag), so you also take your chances with lost luggage. If you're a normal size adult, sitting between two other normal (or slightly oversize) adults, you have no choice but to welcome their body parts into your space. It is a horrendous experience for all but First Class passengers, and to get to AK from the Lower 48, you pay dearly for this torture ($700+/pp on average).

Her plane taxied out to the runway on time and was preparing for takeoff when a passenger became ill. An ambulance was called to remove the passenger, and the plane lost it's 'place' on the tarmac for takeoff. Then the weather worsened, which slowed down flights in and out of Philadelphia. By the time Dee took off, it was 2.5 hours later. By that time we knew she was going to miss her connecting flight out of Salt Lake City, since she only had a 25 minute layover there.

When she arrived in SLC, she went through the nightmare of working with a reservation agent to find another flight to Fairbanks. Since most of the airlines in the US seem to forget that Fairbanks is indeed a US city, we only have a handful of flights a day which come in and go out. According to my research there were at least 4 different flights leaving SLC for FAI that evening. What I failed to realize is that those 4 flights were only one aircraft. We both learned that several airlines buy 'blocks' of tickets on an aircraft. Northwest, Delta, Alaska Airlines, and American Airlines owned the seats on the Delta aircraft scheduled to leave that evening. And it was overbooked by at least 6 passengers.

Dee was shuttled to a hotel for the evening and issued STANDBY tickets for an 8:06am flight that would get her into Fairbanks at 2:30pm. She was also issued STANDBY tickets for two other flights due to arrive in Fairbanks at various other times during the day/evening. All of these flights were overbooked by a minimum of 5 passengers - all the way up to 14! (Something really needs to be done about this problem of overbooking a flight!) She never got a seat. Around dinnertime, they finally gave up on finding her a flight out of SLC and sent her to another hotel to spend the night. (We had checked every single airline, with every single connecting airport - Seattle, Anchorage, etc - and all flights were overbooked for the July 4th holiday weekend)

If you saw the movie "THE TERMINAL" with Tom Hanks, you understand the frustration and anxiety Dee was experiencing. The only good thing going for her was that the second hotel was a nice one (The Radisson) with an open bar for guests. By this time, she certainly needed a couple of drinks. It's too bad she didn't get to sightsee in Salt Lake City. It's a great little city with a lot to see, but she was tied to the airport waiting for the miracle of an open seat on a flight.

Finally, we were assured that Dee would be on the flight leaving SLC (July 1st) at 11:15am en route to Fairbanks. She wouldn't arrive until 9pm. However, there was a scheduled layover in Anchorage at 2:30pm. And it just so happens that my reworked itinerary (I had to make a lot of changes when her arrival was delayed 2 days), had us staying just south of Anchorage that evening. She worked it so she could get off the plane in Anchorage without forfeiting her return ticket from Fairbanks to Philadelphia. As soon as she got on the plane (8am Alaska Time), I started the 350 mile drive to Anchorage. (I'm so glad I have my new Caliber; it gets terrific gas mileage)

It just so happens that Steve left the night before for a camping/fishing trip about 2 hours north of Anchorage, so I made a pit stop at the campground to use the restroom and get a big hug and kiss. It was great seeing him, even if it was only for 10 minutes. Sedona was happy to see me too, but very disappointed when I didn't stay. It was Steve's first camping trip (with the camper) without me, and it made me smile when he told me that it just wasn't the same.

I made great time getting to the Anchorage airport and pulled up outside baggage claim at about 3:10pm. I saw Dee immediately, and she recognized my car by the "Pray for Our Troops" magnet that I told her would be stuck on the right side in plain view. We managed to squeeze off a hug before hitting the highway and heading south to our first stop of the night - Bird Ridge Motel, between Anchorage and Girdwood.

Adventures in the Anchorage Area:

The drive to the Bird Ridge Motel in Bird Creek (south of Anchorage) was fairly quick and uneventful. There's only one highway out of Anchorage that leads to the Kenai Peninsula, and it's a very scenic drive. ( Read more... )

Sightseeing in Seward:

Leaving Anchorage behind, Diane and I put a CD in the player and enjoyed some music as we made our way 126 miles down the Seward Highway. After you pass the turnoff to Portage Glacier and Whittier, the highway curves and skirts around the end of Turnagain Arm and starts back toward the west, on the south side of the Arm. This area of relatively flat, marshy land, provides some amazing views in all directions of the mountains, glaciers, and Turnagain Arm. The highway then turns back to the south onto the Kenai Peninsula. ( Read more... )

Wasilla Gold Mines:

I made reservations at the Best Western Lake Lucille in Wasilla. Dee and I joked that the hotels were getting better as the trip went on. This Best Western was indeed luxurious after our experiences in Bird Creek and Seward. Our room overlooked the lake, with sliding glass doors to a back deck. There was a July 4th company picnic going on and we could see people tossing frisbees, picnicking, and playing games. It was a little overcast when we arrived, and a bit chilly too. ( Read more... )

Fairbanks Fun:

Spending the night in Wasilla was a good decision. We were well rested and ready to make the final drive back to Fairbanks.

The landscape changes as you leave Anchorage behind. The tall mountains on the horizon become smaller and smaller, and soon you find yourself driving on relatively flat terrain (or slightly rolling hills). And then the Alaska Range appears on the horizon, and grows larger as you get closer. This is one of my favorite stretches of road on the Parks Highway.
( Read more... )