AZDonna

Our plans are firming up for our trip east. Glenda’s dad is having two procedures next week, so we have decided the best option is to fly to Boston, rent a car and drive down the coast. That will take about 8-10 days off our trip (with all the expenses that go with those 10 days on the road — gas, food, lodging) and we can actually cover the cost of airline tickets and rental car for what we will save.

We made our reservation for October 12th, and I spent last evening reading my “Frommer’s Guide to New England”. I have highlighted the top sights I want to see and am trying to put together a routing plan so we can hit all the locations I’ve targeted. We will have to zig zag the area, but that is not really many miles at all. I have been comparing everything to locations in the state of Arizona. Boston to Portland, Maine is about the same as Tucson to Phoenix. The Norman Rockwell Museum (western Massachusetts) to Boston is a drive from Phoenix to Flagstaff. Plymouth Rock to Providence is Tucson to Casa Grande. I think we can see some great highlights in four days, and then head toward New York City and Philadelphia on day 5. We will spend three days in Washington, D.C. and then head south toward Florida. Our return flight out of Orlando is October 29th.

Mom said something that had me in a panic. She wondered if the fall colors would be gone by the third week in October. I checked my guide book, and it indicated the southern areas (Massachusetts, Connecticut, etc) are at their peak in mid to late October. Vermont and New Hampshire may have begun to fade, but nearer the coast should still be beautiful.

I’m disappointed that I won’t get to see Wendy this trip, but she reminded me that God puts us where He wants us, and certainly Glenda and I need to be here for now. We won’t enjoy our trip if we’re worrying about her father. I know how that feels. On my last sabbatical, I flew to Alaska the day after Dad’s big thoracic surgery and he was still in intensive care. It was a couple of days before he was upgraded and moved to a regular hospital room and I could relax and begin to enjoy my vacation. I don’t want Glenda to have that same kind of burden on her mind. This plan will reduce a lot of stress and also save 7000 miles on my car! That’s a huge plus in itself. Ken had some frequent flyer tickets from Southwest that he can’t use anymore (Southwest doesn’t fly to Alaska) and they gave them to me. I used one of them for this trip, so further reduced my expenses. Thank you, Ken and Robin!

Brian and Carrie are taking Nathan to California this weekend to visit Disneyland, Legoland and Sea World. He turns 3 in another week, and this is a birthday trip for him. (He also gets free admission to the theme parks until then.) I’m considering driving over to join them in Sea World. I have the time, so why not? I could stay with them and sleep in Nathan’s bed.

I’m going to bring the kids over to my house today. I haven’t seen them since I got home from Alaska because I had that cold, but I’m okay now. Carrie is trying to get ready for their trip and can make good use of the time the kids are here. I better go put things out of their reach.

The last time I was in Alaska (seven years ago), we took a drive up to Chugach State Park, parked in the parking lot and hiked up to Thunderbird Falls. It is a beautiful 1 mile trail and the falls are so pretty. However, when we got back to the parking lot, we found the car had been broken into and my purse stolen. That put a real damper on the rest of my trip because in addition to $220 in cash, I was also carrying my identification, credit cards, Social Security card, airline ticket and various personal items. It was quite a hassle canceling all my credit cards, bank account, reporting the theft, and THEN trying to get cash from my bank account (that I had cancelled and had no ID to prove I owned the account). After repurchasing my airline ticket, I was subjected to a physical search to board the plane (because again, I had no ID.)

Today Robin and I decided to drive back up to the Falls with Megan and the baby, and try to dispel the old bad memories. We packed all of our valuables into the stroller, locked the car and set the alarm and headed out up the trail. When we got back, everything was intact, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Robin put Steven in the carseat while I folded up the stroller and packed it into the back of their Yukon. We were rejoicing that now we had a good memory of Thunderbird Falls to displace the first trip and we headed out of the park. About a mile down the road, Robin asked me if I had gotten her cell phone out of the stroller. I had not, so we pulled over to make sure it was still there. It was not. We turned around and drove back to the parking lot and saw it on the ground right where it had fallen. As we got closer, we could see it had fallen out of the stroller right behind the wheel and had been run over. When Robin picked it up, we knew it had made its last call.

We have decided not to go to Thunderbird Falls again.

The rain has stopped and we can see some blue sky. Yesterday Ken went into town and he called right after he left to tell us to go look out the window toward the Alaska Mountain range. We could see about 200 miles in that direction (southwest) and could see the snow covered mountains just touching the clouds. It was beautiful. I tried to take a picture out the window but there was a power pole in the way.

On Sunday after church and lunch at the Glacier Brewhouse, we decided to drive down to Portage Glacier. Ken had a meeting in town that evening, so we only had about four hours, but the weather was nice and the road down Turnagain Arm has been upgraded in the last few years, so it was a beautiful drive. We stopped on the way to see a pretty waterfall and get a good look out across the bay. There is a brand new visitor’s center at Portage that has all kinds of wildlife depiction and information about the area, the glaciers and the changing environment. You can take a boat tour right up to the glaciers, but of course, we didn’t have time for that.

We had Steven’s birthday celebration last night. Grandma and Poppy, and all of the Browns (Ken’s sister’s family) came over for cake and ice cream. The Browns have 3 kids so with Megan and Steven that was 5. I had made a scratch cake and Robin decorated it with pictures of Steven, and the kids made a great celebration of the evening. It was hard getting everyone settled down after the festivities because the kids were so wound up.

It’s a nice day and I took a walk this morning with Steven in the stroller. He enjoyed it but his little hands were cold by the time we got home. Today we are going to go back up to Robin and Ken’s new property so I can get some good pictures. Tomorrow we thought we’d drive up to Wasilla. It’s only a short distance but a pretty drive and we might be able to see Mt. McKinley. It’s my last day before heading home, where I understand they are still seeing 100 degrees. Oh yuck!

It’s raining in Alaska. That pretty much sums up what scenery I have seen so far.

Steven turned a big one year old yesterday. He hasn’t taken his first steps yet, but I bet he will before another couple of weeks. Megan is a first grader and starting to read. She recited a 10 line poem about fall this morning to me (she has memorized it), and read Sleepy Bear to her mom and me.

We went up to Ken’s parent’s house last night. They have a beautiful mountain home with an incredible view of the bay out one side and a glacier out the other. They are surrounded by woods, and Steve has cultivated wild flowers and wild strawberries all over the property. We had homemade pizza (for Steven’s birthday dinner) and afterwards toasted marshmallows in the outdoor fireplace. Megan did a really good job of making a nice puffed centerless one to go on a tasty S’more.

It’s raining this morning, so today we are going to take in a film on the Alaska wilderness at the Imax theater. Maybe it will clear off before too much of the day is over and I will be able to see the mountains instead of just the clouds. The trees are in their fall beauty. They are mostly yellow, orange, green and gold. Robin and Ken say the mountains look like a patchwork quilt from Anchorage, but I have yet to see them because of the clouds.

I have some pictures, but forgot to bring my connection cord, so they will have to wait until I get home. Maybe I can get some of Robin’s uploaded in the meantime.

By the way, did I mention it’s raining in Alaska?