Arrival

Our arrival and first sight of land. Is that DENALI on the Horizon?

Newark, NJ: Once we checked our baggage and headed for the terminal I looked over to H. and she was teared up, anxious and excited with anticipation of what we were about to discover together. This trip to Alaska is hers and she has waited for and dreamed of it since elementary school. One glance at her and I almost lost my own composure as I'm so happy that this day has come for her. However, I hate to fly and I can't think of a more tedious trip than flying from New York to Anchorage in coach class. Twelve hours in that little seat with all your neighbors with their own little bothersome habits while they too pass the time and suffer. There were the little girls behind us kicking the seats and having temper tantrums, yelling "MOMMY, THE BUNNIES!! THE BUNNIES!!!" and all the blue hairs on this Airbus were hacking and wheezing and making so much noise. The trip out was two legs: first to Seattle and then on to Anchorage. We left the house 5:30 a.m. EST and landed in the Last Frontier at 3:07 p.m. AST, four hours behind our body clocks. Helping us out along the way were the iPods, plenty of Alaska-based reading that we brought along, and of course the nice stewardess who gave me a bottle of J.D. for free! I was the only one who dared eat the airline food, which featured a pork and cheez melt -OOOF. Fortunately no mishaps or delays in the airline experience but soon enough the inevitable traveling hassles reared their ugly head. First at the car rental counter the girl (wearing a "Trainee" tag) took thirty minutes to complete the transaction and make two phone calls to her supervisor to reload the contract paper. I remained calm even though twelve hours of flight will try your patience. We hopped in the car and after a few circles, wrong turns and stranger-in-this-land mistakes we finally arrived at the hotel. There were three of us on the trip and the hotel folks told us they upgraded us (oh, joy) to a suite! With a jacuzzi-jet tub!! And one bed. So where is my brother supposed to sleep? H asked not quite buying into the "upgrade." (This happened as up pulled a tour bus full of the people who obvioulsy bumped us from the standard non-smoking double queen room H. booked months ago.) "Oh, it has a pull-out couch!" "And would you like another cot?" "Did I mention it has a Jacuzzi tub?" We grabbed the keys and settled in as best we could in the west-facing HOT AS DEATH room. We then find out the hard way that there is something about how the earth spins that far north that the toilets flush with less vigor and we break it on its initial use. And again, although granted it is Alaska, it was still hot in the building. No A/C or even a fan! It was 60 outside and 80 inside, so we opened the windows to let some cool air in. Time to EAT of course and get our fill of the Anchorage nightlife so we take a quick walk downtown and find ourselves at the Snow Goose & Sleeping Lady Brewery. I'd rate this place a 6.5 They didn't do anything wrong but it wasn't quite right. The food was excellent except it was put together a little weird. It tried to hard to be unique and fusionesque and instead put flavors and textures together that shouln't be best friends. Example: Bruschetta that featured black olives rather than tomatoes, and jalapeno poppers in marinara sauce stuffed with crab meat. Mighty tasty but not what you ordered or expected. A. had a fancy pizza that was covered in . . . bacon? Don't know what that was about! H had the blackened halibut tacos--so good! Me, I dove into the bourbon-grilled salmon, which was good but the Willie Nelson sauce smothering it was neither grilled or contained any hint of the Old Whiskey River it featured. We had a round or two of the made-on-premises microbrews and they were all tasty but this homebrew trend that started in Oregon ten years ago is fading, so I'd have preferred a Knob Creek on the rocks but this wasn't Kentucky. So by now we were pretty beat since our bodies felt like it was 3:30 a.m. We went back to the room, now cooler with the windows open to the city. H. realized why her camera wouldn't take any photos after dinner downtown. Her camera is broken and will not function. I found a way to jimmy a lever-like mechanical problem with the lens and got it functional. But will it take clear pictures? I wasn't sure, nor was she and we lay sad thinking she'd have no film photographs of our travels. Our sleep was disturbed the whole night by sounds barging in though the open window: freight ship horns, trains leaving the railyards blowing their immensely loud horns. When the horns were not blowing the Anchorage youth were racing their jalopy cars back and forth behind the hotel. I wish you could hear the P.O.S. cars rev their ticking valves and mal-exhaust until they caught air, over-revved, and hit the pavement again with a tire chirp with the chassis and suspension rattling itself apart over and over again. Hey, did I mention that in September in Alaska it doesn't get dark until 10:30 p.m.?! The adventure we came for begins tomorrow and can only get much better.