New Adventures and a New Friend

After many years of trying to plan a trip to Alaska, Lonnie and I finally took the plunge and booked a flight.

In January there was this scary feeling that everything was ending. I was starting to look for an apartment and Lonnie was (still is) thinking of moving to Sacramento in May (and if not May, possibly some time this year). And so there we were sitting in our Saturday afternoon spot, The Red Door, and thinking about the future and our fears and doubts and it just came to us, like the Aurora Borealis on the darkest of Alaskan nights, dancing, and taunting us, we need to go to Alaska.
And so we booked the flights, found hotels, and planned the adventure.

My phone had decided it wouldn't work the day of our departure. No phone calls at all and without wifi, no messages went out. I walked down the stairs of my apartment building on the verge of tears because of the stress of not having a phone to know when they would be there and exhaustion from staying up too late packing. Dan took us the airport in a mess of the most horrific traffic. While I was in the backseat completely losing my mind, Lonnie silently passed me saltwater taffy to calm my nerves. The only thing that actually made me feel better was listening to Dan smack his taffy loudly and Lonnie's face turn red as she cursed herself for passing it to him. And we laughed together. Slowly traffic began to move and we made it to the airport. Running and rushing, my clown shoes making it hard to walk quickly and turning heads the entire time.

And our flight was delayed. So we sat.

Bought these gems second hand off eBay. Though they look so silly on my feet, they kept the toes all toasty during the cold nights of hunting the northern lights.

We arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska in the early morning hours of the 25th. Woke up, got our rental car and started our vacation. 

First Alaskan sunrise.

First stop was the Morris Thompson Visitors Center. We learned lots and then sought coffee to plan the days. This is the moment Lonnie learned that she had a very limited amount of roaming data on her phone and we had just used it all up. That meaning no more iMessages for her, no more checking email, no more looking anything up, unless we were on wifi (I can't remember if she could make calls or not). So, down one phone again.          

                                                                                                  

                               

Outside the visitor center is this community antler arch. People donated these antlers to make this arch. It was beautiful and the sky behind it was pretty amazing.

Planning session at the local coffee shop. 

We were told at the visitors center about Creamer's Dairy with beautiful open fields. It was absolutely perfect. There were people cross country skiing in the lanes and so much yellow snow. It felt like Alaska.

Really thankful for those warm, waterproof boots. Even though they made me feel slightly like a cartoon character.

 Then, we hit the mall. I wish I had taken a picture. It was so so tiny. I'm pretty sure I can list the stores, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Kay Jewelers, Payless, Hot Topic, and a couple of local boutique type stores. Oh, and a hat store.

As we were walking the loop, I spotted one of the Park Rangers we had briefly talked to at the visitors center and the rest is history. Lonnie, got his attention and we chatted him up, he filled us in on the local scene and before we knew it we were climbing in his car on the way to a tap room called HooDoo. It was really fun and we bonded over beer.  

Park ranger Eric with Lonnie and myself.

 This was our first experience in a dry cabin. Meaning there is no running water inside and there is an outhouse down from the cabin. 

Eric. 

You can kind of see in the background next to the refrigerator that there is a green jug, that is his water source inside the cabin. Under the sink there is a bucket that catches any water that goes down the drain. Pretty crazy. Andrew (another friend that you'll meet later) told me that 40% of University of Alaska Fairbanks students live in dry cabins. 

So, this was our first day in Alaska. It was cold but absolutely beautiful. The roads were a little icy but Lonnie was such a champ. We met a new friend, felt like we were locals, and learned that Alaskans actually wear regular clothes.