Alaska 2011

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Day 1, Wednesday – July 6, 2011

Introduction: Alaska or Bust

This is a two-week trip to Alaska with Bob and Jane Curtis. Jane is my sister and Bob is my bother-in-law. We will be visiting Donna Arline. Donna and I went to HS and College together. Donna, in a very real way, is my fourth sister. On Saturday we will be picking up a motor home and going south (Homer, Whitter, Seward, Hope, etc.) and then back to Anchorage. Then we will probably go east to Valdez, but who knows. We have the motor home for 9 days. I will just go wherever Bob, Jane and Donna want to go. We take the motor home back on the 18th and fly home on the 20th. Donna picked us up at 10:30 Anchorage time. The flight was very smooth and is about 5 ½ hours long.
About 20 years ago, Juanita and I made a to trip to Alaska. I have some wonderful memories of the trip. My philosophy, as I get older, is “Carpe Diem” or as the kids say: “just do it” – it may be the last day of your life. Someday I will be right and I will not be coming this way again or have these opportunities again. Also, if you take the time to read this blog, remember - I will not sacrifice a good story on the altar of absolute truth.
In the afternoon we took a ride around Anchorage and stopped at Ship Creek. The fish were not running. We also went out to Ellendorf Air Base (Hickman Field) and Fort Richardson. The military presence in Anchorage is amazing. We also stopped at Costco to start provisioning for the trip. Donna cooked a great supper of pork w/ apples, rice and salad. We hit the sack early. The difference in time between MN/WI and Anchorage is only 3 hours and for some reason, as you get older, even a 5 ½ hours flight takes a little something out of you. We all thought we might have some trouble sleeping with the daylight until 11 PM, but with the windows open and temps in the high 50s, we slept like a pile of rocks.

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Photos

Alaska or Bust
Alaska or bust