Just one of those days...

Or two to be precise.

It all started innocently enough. Mother and children sitting at the table trying to get numerous school projects done that miraculously all appeared a day before they were due.

Between homework and dinner we had spilt juice, dropped a plate of food, B had gotten his liquid density science project (of numerous concoctions of water with household additives) glued over the table, chairs towels floors and me. Finally we were all done and I got the kitchen and kids cleaned up.

The kids were headed off to bed. Or so I thought.

Wait, B is starving to death and cant make it through the night without a snack and proceeds to explode a couple of tangerines all over himself to the point that his white t-shirt is now orange and he has to get into the shower for the second time that night. I literally had to pick a seed off his head. I don’t want to know how it happened. I was only in the bathroom for five minutes. These things are better off remaining a mystery in my book. Getting upset wont help. I take a deep breath and clean the table AGAIN.

Then I take a quick look into the pantry trying to decide what I would make for dinner the next evening and somehow I managed to make a full bottle of Newman’s best fat free Italian salad dressing fly off the pantry shelf, hit the counter, pop its top and explode all over the kitchen.

My dog really likes Italian salad dressing I found out.

Grrr…. Oh well, (find a happy place, find a happy place) these things happen. I am just tired with all the homework and such. I need to find a happy place and take a couple of deep cleansing breaths. I clean the kitchen; get the kids into bed for the second time. How is it that the nightly drink of water is ALWAYS forgotten? Our bedtime routine never changes. Is it some unspoken law of science? Are they doomed to parch in the night if they do not get up and get one last drink before drifting off to dreamland?

I think I am about done for the night. I am beginning to get a headache. I am glad that I mopped the floor even though I contemplated doing a quick paper towel wash down and mopping the next morning. Now I wont have to worry about it in the morning. Weeeee!!!

I have decided to have a beer, sit on the couch and pout for a bit before bed. I don’t particularly like beer but it is the only liquid in the house with alcohol content. I have realized that I am now grouchy. At who I don’t know but the grouchy bug has bitten. I walked to the fridge, grab a beer, flick the bottle opener into the sink and trip over my own stinking feet (or some unseen gremlin) and drop a full Miller Genuine Draft to the floor. It explodes. I had decided to put it in the freezer while I was cleaning up salad dressing. I have shattered glass and beer all over the walls, the ceiling, the cupboards, under the stove, under the fridge and oozing under the door of the pantry.

There is no happy place at a time like this. I cannot get a cleansing breath through my clenched teeth. There was also no one to rage at either. Shad was as work, the kids were in bed, and the dog was hiding under my clean blankets on my bed. It took me over an hour to clean the kitchen again. I pouted on my bed, dirty dog blankets and all.

It will all be better in the morning…

The day started off great. Shad and I got up early. Planted the nursery plants we had bought the morning before. Finished raking and then went to the local nursery and ordered a dump truck full of beauty bark. Shad had just enough time to shower and head off to work. I sat down and started to ice my feet. My plan was to take ten minutes icing my feet, take a quick shower and get ready to take B to his play date that evening and then go buy groceries if my feet held up.

I am in the process of getting in the shower and the phone rings. It is the school. T is in the nurse’s room. It is a situation that I will not discuss here but lets just say that I ended up carrying him out of the school naked wrapped in a flower blanket halfway over my shoulder with several sets of clothes in bio hazard bags. A lot of cleaning ensued. Child, clothes, truck, blankets, mom, floors. You name it and somehow it ended up in the damage path.

There goes B’s play date. He will just have to understand. That’s OK, I will make the best of it and put T on the couch with movies and B and I can take a few wheelbarrow loads of beauty bark into the back.

This is about the time a gust of wind hits the deck and blows the chairs all to one side. I hear a crack of thunder. I look up. I start laughing my head off. Hmmmm, if we hurry…..

I told my sis later that it went something like this:
Wheelbarrow, check
Shovels and rakes, check
Beauty bark, check
Gusty wind, Thunder and Lightning, Pouring Down Rain, check

Yep, all my moons and stars are aligned.

Crazy Laughter, check.

B and I do a quick five loads and rake it out. I have to stop here and say just how amazing my soon to be ten year old is. He is now old enough and strong enough to do the “man” work for his mother. He loaded the wheelbarrow, I wheeled, we emptied, he helped rake and then wheeled back. Talk about a super helper!!!! The neighbor from down the road comes to say hi and acknowledges how bad the weather is, what bad timing it is for me, and WOW how much work I have to do… How nice of him…. It’s a good thing that I really like the guy. It is now POURING down buckets of water and I give up and tell B and the dog to head for higher ground. I put things away and slowly climb the stairs babying my poor little feet while water pours down the back of my neck and my t-shirt is clinging to me in ways that are not desirable at my age. The rain doesn’t bother me actually. It’s kind of like a second shower and after what I went through with T a few hours earlier I could use a couple more.

I walk into the house to see clear dog and kid shoe prints in mud. From the back door, all the way through the living room, down the hall and into the bathroom. Then kid tracks stop and dog tracks take a nice ramble through my room. Did I mention that I washed dog stink off my bedding this morning?

The cupboards are empty. We have been busy and planning a massive grocery trip this evening but I will not be going to the grocery store. B is still pouting about the loss of his much anticipated play date but is really trying to keep his chin up. I think I will double his allowance this week for working his hiney off in the rain just to pacify his crazy mother. Let’s see, I have three cilantro tortilla shells, half a head of cabbage, a scallion, and some margarine in the fridge. I would buy us pizza but I used my last check today and thought I had another book and did not. It may be chicken noodle soup and a toasted tortilla shell for dinner, yea right…who am I kidding? That would not cover Brody’s snack needs. I cannot take T out in the car. It’s just too dangerous for my cars upholstery at this point.

So here I sit, trying to calm myself and not get grouchy again, (feeling that headache return) contemplating what I should do. Scavenge for food? Wash bedding? Steam clean mud prints off the floor? Wash the unmentionable laundry sitting in the garage in the bio hazard bags? Take a warm shower (again) and ward off the chill that I now have? Oh wait, B has just gotten into the shower. There goes that option.

I don’t know if I can clean anything else. My feet hurt and my hands are swollen and even though I did what had to be done my body is starting to hate me for it. Shad will scold me tomorrow I am sure, its always fun to try and hide your pain so that you dont get in trouble. T is frustrated and hungry, he hurts everywhere and let’s face it, he is severely humiliated.

Cleaning can wait. His movie is about to end and I think he needs a mommy snuggle or maybe mommy needs a kid snuggle….It will all be better tomorrow.

Travel Logs are on the way!

Ahhhhhh!!!!! It has been a super crazy hectic couple of weeks. I have the last two days of my trip to post and oodles of pics to still go through but we have been helping a friend and then battling some illness and completing some pretty hefty homework situations. I hope that next week things will calm down and I will get to finish my Alaska posts. Thanks for all the great emails but feel free to post a few comments! Have to run, BYE!

Alaskan Adventure Day Three - Hitting the Road

Day Three:

I think I may have literally bolted out of bed the next morning. I have not felt that way since I was a kid. Warm clothes: backpacks, showers, Land Rover stuffed to capacity, cooler packed, left over pizza packed, laptop, camera, sunglasses check! There were a few work related errands that had to be accomplished before we could head out. We had to make a trip to the “warehouse” (Leslies other office) so that she could play bookkeeper for a bit. It turned out to be an amazing little side stop because we were able to see the incredible sight of an eagle flying circles overhead and landing on a nearby telephone pole. I took his picture (I am not sure if I should be crediting Leslie for this picture because I grabbed her camera and took pics of him and then she did the same. So I will, just in case!) and he just kept looking down at me and making weird noises. It was very cool. I have never been that close to an eagle without a fence separating us. He was dirty and scraggily and had frost all over him. Why he was there in town hanging out at the warehouse is anyone’s guess. Who knows but I am telling you that instead of looking majestic he looked like he had just crawled out from under a bridge somewhere with a bad hangover. We must have watched him for a good fifteen minutes. A quick stop at Wal-Mart to buy cookies for the store, myself some thermal underwear and five gallons of water, a final trip back to the store and we were finally on our way. WE WERE ON OUR WAY!!! Weeeeeee!!!!

It was a beautiful drive, Sunny cold and lovely. Leslie’s Land Rover has this amazing luxery option: “toasty bun warmer” it was something I had never truly appreciated until now. I would never think it silly again. We were speeding down the highway making great time and I just continue to snap away through the car window and hope for the best. Here is the deal: as much as I wanted to stop every hundred feet and take another picture the sad truth was my camera was getting really cranky in the cold. It was so bitterly cold with the wind that I would start to shiver and shake the camera within seconds. So my pics may not be the best. They may be a little blurry. They all have this amazing blue overcast and I have tried to leave them that way because it is EXACTLY what it looked like out there AND BESIDES at some point Leslie would have gotten annoyed and we would never have gotten to our destination. So I can look back on my pics with wonderful memories but the quality is defiantly lacking in most of them.

Oh I will never forget this! At one point we dropped into this little valley (maybe two or three mils long) that was shaded from all sunlight and was shrouded in the only cloud I had seen since my arrival and the coolest thing happened. The small amount of fog (from my nonstop talking) that was slightly fogging up my side of the vehicle suddenly started crystallizing and the air was SO cold on my arm (about three inches away) that I had to wrap it in a coat because it was almost painful. Ever see that movie “The Day After Tomorrow?” yea, it was like that. Small crackling noises and you could see the ice crystals form and spread. It was just plain eerie. I have a pic from right before it happened. You can see the break were we would come out of the valley and cloud at about the same time. My efforts to get the crystalized window were in vain. It went away as soon as we got out of the valley but I would sure be curious to know how far the temperature had dropped in that little space of time…

We stopped in Wasilla and had some sushi and soup for lunch. Leslie bought us some spiced rum and four bundles of firewood and some kindling. Somewhere in my head was my grandfather shaking his head making tsk tsk noises for buying bundles of wood at a grocery store. We would later come to ponder why we did not buy ten bundles but I will get to that in a bit. The drive was indescribable. Those vast mountains that moved me to tears that I saw on the plain ride over… I was actually in them. Driving though them. I remember specifically looking down out of my airplane window and wishing above all else that I could actually be IN that vast breathtaking beauty. I was suddenly looking up at the snow blowing off of the tips of them. It was an amazingly clear day. We followed the valleys as they wove themselves in and out of the ice-capped peaks. Rivers frozen over with giant cracks laced throughout. Spots of snow looked glacier blue. I was on a vigilant lookout for “THE” moose. That was the one thing that Shad told me to bring back. A picture of a moose (that I had taken) in the wild.

The trees that had been encrusted completely with ice crystals began to thaw as the sun started to break through the trees. The small winding and often windy road that appeared to loosely follow the river suddenly had a three hundred foot death drop with no guard rail. Now for the record, I trust my sisters driving. For the most part anyway. I am a control freak, so no one ever really drives good enough for me. I was of the mind that IF we were to get into an accident we had a great SUV for it. BUT, I am telling you, that side of that road (for a couple hundred feet) was enough to make you pee your pants. Leslie was on the other side of the road driving fine looking at me like I was being paranoid. I didn’t invite her to lean on over and take a look from my perspective. I didn’t want her to take her hands off the wheel and I was too busy hyperventilating. It was windy, the roads were covered in compact snow and ice and the river looked like a little ribbon at the bottom of the steep drop off and it was looming very close to my side of the window. One little snowdrift and then nothing. Endless and Endless space… Finally the trees came back and I wish I had not been a scardy cat and had taken a picture that did the situation justice. It was so cool. Nerve-racking on occasion but Leslie’s driving was adequate and no one died. It was just soooo cool. I found myself leaning forward (once the tree line came back) to see what was around each bend and looking up and out of the windows like crazy. It must have seemed very amusing to my sister. I think I took a hundred pictures through the vehicle glass before we even got halfway there.

Long Rifle Lodge was not as rugged and impressive as the name may have inspired visions of. It reminded me of a little faded yellow hotel with a restraunt and bar beside it that could have been in any little dusty back road town in America but I loved it. They had every manner of stuffed critter in there and of course Leslie and I took pictures of them all. You could look out the back windows of the lodge, or sit at your table even, and look out across the valley into the massive glacier. I will insert some links here later. We picked up our key and drove a mile back down the mountain, passed the locked gate, up a steep little snow covered hill, around a corner and into our own private winter paradise. Believe me, this is not for the faint of heart. There were no other cabins near us. Just us in the woods! We had electricity for a light and a small microwave but the outhouse was a good fifteen to twenty steps away from the cabin and in -30 degree weather with a bitter wind and no heat in the potty it was a cold trek with cold bottoms. AND I LOVED IT. The little cabin was picturesque. We didn’t exactly get to utilize the back or front deck but it had a nice bed and a few cabinets and a little freestanding fireplace and it was home for the next twenty-four hours. Leslie and I decided that taking our left over pizza with us was probably more appropriate than trying to roast weenies considering the weather. I was even able to plug in my laptop and continue to download pictures. Man that makes me sound yuppyish but it worked out so well. We got the fire going immediately and you have NEVER seen two girls strip off clothes to get thermals on and every piece of clothing in their backpacks so fast. It was actually comical. I felt like a three year old dressed by their nana to play in the snow. Arms held out from your sides by all the layers of warmth. We had a good giggle over that and the fact that wearing three pairs of pants at the same time did nothing for your booty in pictures. Those are pics you will not be seeing. Leslie threw all the gear into the cabin and immediately went into nesting mode. I helped make the bed but then I sat back and let her go. We are a lot a like in some ways and polar opposites in others. She was playing the role that I normally did in this instance. I was glad to let her have it. I just kept braving the cold for a few minutes at a time to take more pictures. You will notice that there are no little macro pics of nature this time, as is my norm. It simply was not possible. In the time it would have taken to get those pictures right in the wind I would have had frostbite even though I had on three pairs of pants, five shirts, gloves, scarves, hats and three pairs of socks. Even with all those clothes on it was still cold. AND I LOVED IT!!! It took a number of hours to warm the cabin in those kinds of conditions but we played rummy, had tea, looked at pictures and chatted and remained our goofy sisterly selves. Rum seemed to warm the body and spirit better than anything…. Many pictures of blowing visible breath and Michelin man inspired clothing moments demanded recording. We looked outrageously silly; we acted like we were twelve. Actually Leslie is so use to this weather and has done this so many times that her little REI look was pretty cute and stylish. I on the other hand took whatever clothing option I had and started piling it on. I didn’t even know that there was room in my jeans for three other pairs of pants but I did it. I was warm, it was funny, and we were having a really good time. You have never seen Medusa hair until you pull off a wool hat that you have had on your head for ten hours strait. YIKES!!! And of course Leslie miraculously whipped out a disposable camera for that exact moment.

At some point in the night we realized just how cold it was and just how inefficient our little stove was. Contrary to what you are suppose to do we ended up opening the door of the fireplace to let more heat into the cabin and slow down the wood consumption. Leslie and I started counting and deducting just how many logs we had and how many hours were left until we were leaving…. This is the point where ten bundles instead of four would have been the smarter option. At some point Leslie looked a little worried. At some point I was grateful that a previous tenant had stuffed all the little cracks in the log cabin with newsprint. We had cleaned out the garage of all manor of cardboard boxes and phone books and such and those would burn for a couple of hours. We were not going to die huddled together in the artic rated sleeping bags but we would be uncomfortable if we were not careful. It was fine. We slept very little. We had to feed the fireplace about every half an hour. Catnaps were the order of the evening. We got tired. We got rummy tired. We got giggly tired. We got silly tired. Many pictures that should never be seen were taken of funny hair and funny faces and snuggling down into the sleeping bags like little caterpillars in a crystalis poking little eyes and noses out. Most of those pictures, I pray, will never been seen by anyone but us. Well OK, I will share one...

The wind had started to blow, really blow and the sound was haunting and cool. I heard a wolf howl and it was one of the neatest and eeriest things I have ever heard. At three in the morning the aurora borealis spread a faint green bubble over the back of the mountains. No big fingers of radiating lights and wild colors but more of an impending alien abduction. I have one picture. I braved the body pounding wind and frigid temperature to take it then bolted back inside and then hunkered back down next to my faintly snoring sis trying to warm back up. Leslie was all snuggled down and finally sleeping. I listened to the little cabin creak and groan while firelight flickered on all the walls and the smell of pizza heating on tin foil on top of the fireplace tempted me out of my warm cocoon. We actually made nice little breakfast sandwiches out of a jalapeno roll, turkey and dill havarti wrapped in tin foil. I think I put them on the top of the fireplace about ten at night and at six the next morning they were crispy and heated and oozing gooey yummy havarti. They sat on top of the fireplace for almost eight hours and did not burn…. Yes, it was THAT cold.


End Of Day Three

Alaskan Adventure Day Two - The Grand Plan

Day Two:

Leslie took off early this morning for her daily five plus mile run at the gym and I thankfully slept in and took another indulgently long shower. I can not tell you the thrill of showering without a child sitting on the floor outside the door trying to tell you about the day or asking for the tenth time, "When are you going to be done?" Not that I don't enjoy talking to my children but a silent shower was so nice! Sleeping late in Alaska (this time of year) is quite easy because the sun doesn’t really come up until after nine. By the time Leslie got back I was ready to hop into the big Land Rover and head to work with her and hang out for the day. Being the Operations Manager does have its perks. We made a slight detour beforehand and went to “Gwennies” (an interesting lodge style restaurant) and had an enormous breakfast of reindeer sausage, eggs, grits and home fries and LOTS of coffee. I cannot believe that I ate reindeer. I was tempted NOT to have it. I think reindeer are adorable and kissable and huggable and eating them was not high on my agenda but then again I was not sure if I would ever have another opportunity to eat reindeer sausage. So in the end I did. It was good. Kind of like a spicy kielbasa, very rich but good. I am pretty sure that my children will be absolutely horrified that I ate a reindeer. The thought of them being a meat source, like a cow, wouldn’t sit well with them.

Off we went to Leslie’s work. I love that store. It smells so nice and has such fun things to look at. Fancy organic things that smelled lovely. Slightly out-of-my-price-range organically wonderful items, but wonderful to smell off and on for the day. I meandered through the city for short bursts of time taking pictures and finding some presents to bring back to my men. I bought the boys fosillized Walrus Tooth necklaces, fun regional snacks and goofy stuff like that. I bought Shad a hand carved wooden moose and a compass plus some other edible fun stuff. I love present shopping! We'll get to what I bought myself later.....

I made it a block the first time I wandered out the store and had to go back to the store and put on more clothes. Then later, after I warmed back up for a bit, I strolled for about three blocks and fed the parking meter for Leslie. Then I had to go back and warm up again. Do you see a pattern here? I was not being a wimp. It was like negative three that morning WITHOUT the wind-chill factor. It was becoming painfully apparent to me that my winter coat (that is more than adequate for Washington winters) was not going to cut it up here. Out on fifth and G Street I took one large breath in and out and my sunglasses fogged and froze simultaneously while the moisture in my nose crystallized. Boy is that one heck of a weird feeling! I can not even begin to tell you how weird that was and I suddenly felt nauseous and empathetic for anyone who might have a really bad cold in this weather.

The day was sunny and beautiful. All the trees were glazed over in a crystal sheath of intricate patters. There was a fine dust of glitter floating all around the city. It was not snowing, there was not a cloud in the sky but yet it was.... recycling off of the tall office buildings and blowing from the trees. Thankfully the wind was mild. I took pictures of the ice sculpture exhibit in the center of town around the outdoor ice rink. At some point I realized that my camera was getting cranky from the cold and would have to be placed inside my shirt and coat between shots to warm up. Nice little frozen block of ice next to the skin was not a completely wonderful thing but children were running and sliding across the ice in their snow pants having a grand time. Laughter was everywhere, the sun glowed through the ice on the trees and it looked like something out of a movie set. Then I realized, as I stood looking at all the splendor, that I could no longer feel my cheeks and my ears had disappeared from my body. I felt up there and could feel something lumpy but I was not entirely sure that it was my ears. I hightailed it back to the store. We goofed around in the store for a while and on returning from my later trip to the visitors center Leslie informed me that we were headed out the next morning to the Great Matanuska Ice Glacier on Alaska 1. The same highway that you can take all the way to the north pole if the weather is right. We were going north to mile marker 102.2. We would pick up keys to the small research cabin used by the nation forest service at the Long Rifle Lodge and spent the night at the base of the famous glacier. I was so excited I thought I would bust. A REAL adventure. Camping in negative thirty-degree weather was something we could actually do and not die? I needed a better coat. After that, the rest of her workday took a very long time but I was able to kill some time in search of a more appropriate winter jacket. I finally found a big fleece lined purple thing that was big enough that I could wear five other shirts underneath. Back at the Tuliqi counter we made our list of necessary supplies and our game plan. This was going to be quite an adventure for both of us. A two and a half hour drive into the wild mountains for an overnight subzero camping trip in a little bitty log cabin looking out across an amazing Alaskan glacier. No Indoor plumbing, an outhouse, a small wood stove BUT it had electricity!
I could bring my laptop! Muahahahahaha. That meant I could take pictures to my hearts content and download them onto my computer and start all over again. Whoohoo! If you want to see some other information just google Long Rifle Lodge. I spent the last couple of her work hours taking pictures of the store, us in the store, us outside the store, the things in the store, us being silly in the store…. It’s a good thing it was a slow customer day. I am afraid that I slowed down her productivity a bit. Bye the way sis, I HATE the mannequin in the back store room. Every time I went back there it scared me half to death! Nice job of reorganizing though. I guess I didn’t keep you from working completely.

On the way home Leslie drove me several blocks to the sea just as the sun slipped behind the mountains. It was beautiful. There are trails everywhere around Anchorage and instead of bikers I saw people skiing across the trails under lamplight. It was very cool. I also heard of a completely new sport called Frolf. I didn’t believe her at first. I had to look it up when I got back to her place. I guess it’s a big deal up here. Let me give you a run down. It’s like golf but you use a Frisbee disk instead and there are metal baskets at the end of each run that you need to get your disk into. The object is to be the person with the least amount of “throws” to the basket. I love the environmental factor of this game. Think of all the water that could be saved not keeping golf courses green and perfect! Ok, you golfers out there, stop throwing obscenities at me. Anyway, look up Frolf, Folf, or Disk Golf. It’s a big deal and there are some great Youtube videos out there too! Who knew, now I am going to have to find someplace to try it out. The baskets are kind of cool!

We got home that evening, packed and planned and dug out all of Tony’s warm wool socks, hats, headlamps, sleeping bags and “gear” for me to use. We cleaned the garage out of all things burnable and made a nice neat stack of gear to load out in the morning. It is amazing how much can be accomplished in so little time with no fuss, no swearing and no grouching! packing with the female gender only is SOOOO much easier! (settle down hubby dear, I am generalizing here not speaking of you in particular) We got to bed way later than we anticipated because the sisterly chat session had started and the wine was flowing and a box of photos had appeared and we were entertained until the wee hours. I got to see amazing pictures of all the places they had traveled to. What interesting “travels” they have had! Forget tours and standard “booklet” vacations. They understand the true adventurous spirit of world travel. I swear I live vicariously through my sister! Thank you Tony for the use of several pairs of your warm woolen socks, a really great REI wool hat, and the best, warmest, most wonderful, the most perfectly broken in boots ever. My toasty toes thanked you many times over the next two days. I was tempted to sneak them back in my suitcase!

End Of Day Two.

This was, by far, the most "typical" day in Alaska.... (and it was by no means dull) things were just about to get interesting.... Let the adventure begin!

Alaskan Adventure Day One - The Arrival

Day One:
Ok, the Ajak parking lot is kind of scary at 6:00 in the morning when you’re the only one there on a pretty dark lot. I punched in all of my license plate info, parked my car and the prepay electronic terminal automatically dispatched the shuttle. At least I hoped it had.OK, the Ajak parking lot is kind of scary at 6:00 in the morning "Crap its cold out here!" I thought to myself waiting patiently on the lone little warped wooden bench under the leaking and drippy canopy cover. I was secretly wishing I had not packed my warm winter coat into my suitcase to conserve carry on space. Oh Well, there is nothing like starting a little adventure by waking your senses with wet slush blowing you in the face. nothing, and I mean NOTHING was going to damper my excitement. Small adventure as this may be it was the only one on my immediate horizon and I was buzzing with anticipation. My stomach was also buzzing but from severely different reasons. Why is it that I will never learn that coffee at three in the morning on an empty stomach is NEVER a good travel idea? I will never know the answer to that, I just keep doing it over and over again. There is something about the anticipation of air flight that always seems to turn my stomach upside down. I would hate to see what would happen if I were scared of flying. I love to fly. My stomach just doesn’t seem to know that.

Traffic was pretty good this morning. It started snowing as soon as I got out of town and continued for about thirty miles. No road problems though. Normally with no traffic it takes about an hour and ten minutes to get from my house to the airport. It took two hours but in midweek work traffic with light snow it really wasn’t that bad. The express lanes were open and I always get a little thrill going into the yellow tunnels. Why this thrills me is anyone’s guess. It just does.

I have not flown for quite some time. Several years actually. The carry on security procedures have changed a little (OK, a lot) from the last time I flew. Word to the wise. Don’t decide to go barefoot. I saw some pretty nasty feet walking through the security checkpoint on the bare floor and was happy that I had on some very thick socks. I think my germaphobe gene was having a moment. Eww, is all I have to say.

Oh my goodness and I can’t forget to mention this! To the middle aged woman who decided to wear a torture device disguised as a girdle (and a toooo small one at that) on a plane ride, you utterly shocked and flabbergasted me. I love to people watch but this was something else. What she was thinking I have no idea. I was embarrassed for her through my shocked, dumb-founded, open and gaped mouth. She got irritated at several beeping passes through the security arch and must have been annoyed at the security guard for being asked to stand aside with an included pat-down because she decided to flash the WAY to tight underwires of her girdle to God and everyone. Seriously, flipped her black sweater right up to her chin and believe me it was NOT a Kodak moment. I am so glad my mother taught me better. Always wear clean undewear and never go through a security checkpoint with anything on that would embarrassed you to be seen in. OK, so she never said that second half but it sounds like good advice to me.

I am here almost three hours early, yes, a little paranoid of possible traffic accidents and delays. Plenty of prime opportunity time to people watch and make completely useless observations. And oh man, do I have a lot of them. I can see whole stories unfold in front of me by one interesting piece of clothing, a sharp look, or a stupid comment. I have such an active imagination. Just now, I remember what is what like to travel with children. It is not something you can easily forget. I wish there was something I could offer the mother that just went by me with two sets of twins in the biggest stroller ever made. I would offer to help her but she was buzzing through here at light speed with utter determination creased on her face. She gets all of my mommy points this morning for simply attempting it. I have, personally, always favored leashes. Oh stop. I don’t care what anyone says. My kids could bend themselves out of a stroller no matter how they were duct taped in. It was much easier to let them run on a short tether attached directly to me. They were happier and I just had to keep me and everyone else from getting tangled up together.

DARN, I did lose my water bottle on the way here some how. I know I left the house with it and I am pretty sure it left the car with me but now I can not find it. It was my nice fancy REI water bottle. Double drat! So I shall pause here and go in search of needed fluids to take my morning vitamins. Hydration is key for me when it comes to flying. Oh wait..... I have to watch something unfold for a moment. I love the ability to type by touch. It makes these play-by-play commentaries so much easier. Little Missy Miss in huge four inch spiked white fur boots with little leather pants and the biggest white puffy jacket you have ever seen is simultaneously trying to talk on the phone (ear to shoulder) text message on her blackberry type thing and this very yuppie man (very nice looking yuppyish man) in a long blond wool overcoat is following behind with her big pink leather bag, another trendy leather pink and black bag, a briefcase, two coffees and a scrowly look of defeat trying to get her attention. Poor man, the coffee seems to be burning his hands…. Oh look, she pauses, turns, kind of nods her head to tell him to set it down (he looks around like where? The floor?) and she flips her long blond ponytail as she dismisses him and continues to walk and talk and text… Oh man, he sets them down on the floor rubs his hands on his pants a couple of times (see I knew it was burning him) picks it all up and he is now power walking to catch back up with her with an even scrowlier look on his face. Yes, in my dictionary scrowlier is a word. (As is lambies, cowies, horsies and such.) I wonder if he is contemplating the meaning of his harried life at this moment. I wonder if he thinks his very pretty and amazingly high maintenance woman is worth it? I have a feeling he is silently wishing her four-inch high heeled fur cuffed boots would snap! OK, a hunting water I will go.
I went on a little field trip. My derriere was getting cranky and after walking though a particularly interesting gift shop called fireworks and carousing the isles of boarders books I made the decision to have a small bite to eat before boarding. They are offering a $5.00 meal on the plane if I should so choose but I decided that a real flaked salmon and cream cheese bagel with a Bloody Mary on the side at the ALASKA LODGE sounded like a much better idea. Oh quite, I don’t have any children with me and it’s only an hour until noon so that means in most of the United States that it’s past noon. (Whoever came up with the “its 5:00 somewhere” thing was not a mom on the loose without children. There was no way I was waiting for 5:00 even on east coast time. Have you guessed yet that this running commentary about almost nothing is a nice diversionary tactic to keep myself amused AND perhaps half tipsy by the time I get to the plane. Oh my, I should have decided on the Bloody Mary when I first got here….. This is GOOD!!!!! THIS IS BETTER THAN GOOD!!!! Oh yea, the salmon cream cheese and bagel aren’t bad either. The waiter just smirked at me, I wonder if I had a look of bliss on my face as I sat down my drink?

I don't remember the last time that I was free with no one and no thing to keep track of. No dinner plans or who forgot what at school that day. Although I miss Shad and wish he were here having a beer with me and eating scrumptious salmon and cream cheese bagels, my children will have to pardon me but I don’t think I am going to miss them until it gets closer to bed time. I feel so totally and utterly relaxed. I wish my hubby were here. We would be chatting or playing a hand of rummy and possibly be ordering another drink.

So a dangerously handsome little businessman has just sat down at the table across from me and keeps smiling at me and it’s making it difficult to dive into my salmon spread. When people are looking it's always better manors to eat daintily. I am sure that’s another one of my mother’s adages... Don’t worry, Shad is the only one for me and he has no fears of my EVER being tempted to stray or even flirt heavily (as long as a long legged, tight jean cowboy should walk by in a black stetson OR Mike Rowe) Just kidding, at least about the cowboy, I have a serious crush on Mike Rowe. He is such a manly man with a wicked sense of humor and the prized attribute of being able to laugh at himself AND sing opera. Le SWOON... I have to finish my bagel now, I have a half hour until my flight and think eating my bagel is going to take a little extra time between the typing and the smiling business man. I do need to get going though...
Thank you Leslie for your Alaskan Air MVP status. It was nice to board the plane early and not deal with everyone pushing you around to put their bags in the overhead bin. I even got a pillow and a blanket this time. After I LOOKED at the pillow and blanket I put them back but it was nice to have the option since they were there. I had the most amazing window seat. I sat between the engine and the wings and although it was a little noisy that was easily remedied by my noise canceling headphones. I just adore that roller coaster feeling when the plane lifts from the runway. It’s my favorite part. It just makes me feel all giddy and happy and childlike. It was overcast leaving Washington but we quickly popped out of the clouds and it was crystal clear and blue. Most of northern Washington, all of Canada and a bit of Alaska stayed blanketed in a layer of soft rolling clouds. I was able to photograph some amazing shots of the engine and wing tips, as a side note and a word of warning, for those that don’t like to fly, never sit in the window seat between the engine and the wing. You are able to see things move and flex and shake and bend that would do nothing to steady your nerves. I know enough from my plane enthusiast hubby to know that all was normal but it certainly did not SEEM normal.

About thirty minutes before we landed I had a life altering moment of clarity. Suddenly before me was the most awe inspiring vision I have ever seen. I was simply brought to tears, literally, by the mountain range that had appeared out of the dissipating clouds. I don’t know how to explain it other than to say that I felt humbled by the vision before me. The mountains were so large, so fast, so never ending that it felt as if human hands had never touched it. Pure geological wonder. Humanity had not managed to corrupt these majestic snow peaks. Have you ever run your fingers over the raised white ridges of the Himalayas on a globe? That is what it looked like. Ribbons of ice and mountain and clouds rolling in the valleys with the sun glistening off the snow capped peaks. I don’t have the words to do it justice. The pictures that I took out of the plane window cannot do it justice. There have been four times when I have been instantly moved to tears. My wedding, the birth of my children, and when I found out my sister was not going to die from malaria and now this. Nature at its most splendid is all I can say. I was in a nation geographic documentary. I expected that I could look down and see the dog sled team racing across the ice or a beluga wale jump up through a break in the flowing sea ice. I also had the rare privilege of seeing mount McKinley in the distance, towering over the already impressive mountain range. I am told that it is rare (only a few times a year) that you are able to see Mt. Mckinley since it is usually hidden under cloud cover. It was in the distance but clearly distinguishable. It will be interesting to see if I can pick it up on the picture I attempted to take.

My sister told me she and Tony feel that "awed" way each and every time they fly home. I have a new found awe of the beauty that she has surrounding her all the time. I cannot even imagine biking to the top of these peaks and kayaking the impressive glacier fed lakes the way she has. I have a better appreciation for the pictures she has taken. My very handsome and charismatic soon-to-be brother in law was kind enough to pick me up from the airport. I had to refrain and not drool on his Iphone on the dash and ask like a child to play with it. I am such a techno geek at heart. Tony deposited me to the splendid comfort of their three story condo and a nice hot shower. My sister was at work for another four hours and Tony had to return to his office so I was left alone to take a sinfully long shower, lay in the B&B comfort of my room and read. Quiet, peaceful and utterly relaxing. There is something different in relaxing with guilt (because there are a million other things you should be doing) and relaxing in true relaxed calm and peace. No never ending laundry calling your name or unwashed dishes at the end of the chapter. This was a good way to start a mini vacation. I even sat myself down and watched a little CNN, a rare privilege indeed, after I spent an hour wandering through there home looking at the amazing artifacts that they have brought home from their travels around the world. I had so many questions for Leslie when she got home!

Leslie got home and we had a joy-filled reunion after way too many months of not seeing each other. We talk or text chat every day but its just not the same as seeing her in the flesh. I think I may have hugged and squeezed her to death. Kissed the top of her cute little head and twirled her around like when she was little even. OK, so I didn’t twirl her around, kissing the top of her head repeatedly, but I wanted too. A few glasses of wine, some nice snuggly pj’s and the feeding of Miss Turtle Queen (Buster) her much adored turkey and a yummy round of snacks and it was shaping up to be a pretty nice and mellow evening. My brother in law came home and had to pack up and leave for the airport. He was flying out that same evening to the east coast. I really wish there had been more opportunity to visit with him and just all hang out together but that’s the way the turtle swims. Leslie has a fab extra firm mattress that was calling my name and since Leslie had to work in the morning we actually hit the sheets relatively early. I slept SOOOO well, spread eagle, corner to corner taking up the ENTIRE bed. I was TTT - tired, tipsy and terrific!

End of Day One.