We Arrived in Alaska

Here is one of the very first photos of Alaska when we crossed the border and yes, it was taken through the plane window.  Ira and I couldn't imagine the number of mountains everywhere and the mountains didn't stop!  We could see a huge number of receding glaciers as we flew overhead and were very surprised that so many mountains still retain snow.  We are in Kansas anymore!

Our flights were fine, as fine as flights can be for me anyway.  We even had movies available on our leg from Chicago to Anchorage.   That was helpful in occupying time.  I told myself that I was NOT to watch my watch or else I would get crazy thinking we'd never get there.  Well, it worked actually.  I never looked at my watch until Ira and I were looking out of the window at these mountains and the pilot said we'd be touching down soon.  That caused us both to check the time and we only have 45 minutes left of our 6.5 hour flight from Chicago.   So that wasn't bad.

When we got to the car rental to pick up our "reserved" car, it wasn't there.  We were supposed to get a little Corolla.   So, the only car they had was a Town and Country mini-van!  With most of the bells and whistles - and they couldn't (or didn't) charge us extra because our car wasn't available that we had reserved.  Oh gee, golly, darn!  Lucky us.

Our hotel is fine and we could walk to our restaurant selection.  We were exhausted as we were up at 2 AM, and we were starving.  The flight fed us breakfast, but with 4 hours time change, when we got to Alaska it was 1:30 PM (Alaska time) and we hadn't had lunch.   They offered a lot of snacks all day on the flight, but we didn't want to each junk because we assumed there would be a light lunch before we landed.  Oh well.  So, we were starving and wanted to eat ASAP after getting to the hotel.  So we ate at Glacier Brew House, which was about 6 city blocks away and we wanted to walk too.  We both had a spectacular meal.  Wild Alaskan Salmon caught that day!!!  Salmon is one of our favorites anyway, but having it that fresh, it was such a pleasure.  And, we HAD to have their Bread Pudding with a Yukon Jack, butter sauce.  Mmmmmmm.

We have retired early as we are here in Alaska at 6:30 PM, but to us, it's actually 10:30 PM.  Such time changes kind of messes with the system.

The weather was clearing out when we flew in.  When we were in Vermont, it was raining in Anchorage.  When we arrived, the rain stopped and the clouds began to lift.  Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful!!  Rain comes later in the week.  No matter, we are going to enjoy every day.

We have had a wonderful day.

Let's see, tomorrow - maybe biking on the Coastal Bike Trail, hiking Flattop Mountain and going to the Alaskan Cultural Center.  We'll just see.

Cindy and Ira