Off to the Great White North – Thursday

Since I still have the blog account until July I figured I would do one last blog. Let’s see if I still remember how …

Thursday – We’re off!

Got up at 3:45, showered and headed to the airport around 4:30.  We arrived and had plenty of time even though it always makes me nervous to cut it that close. One of the perks of our little Wichita airport. 13 Gates. We parked in long term parking and took the shuttle over to the airport, so naturally Bruce knew the one other person on the shuttle, Scott.

I had baked, decorated and individually bagged a bunch of heart sugar cookies because I was originally going to give them to our neighbors for Valentine’s.  But since I was sick all week and never did it, I began giving them to other people around Wichita. I had wanted to add a sticker with a Bible verse, but our printer wasn’t working  So I decided to hand write stickers for the remaining cookies that said, “You are loved by God!” Ephesians 2:10 and bring them to Alaska.  It will be so fun being able to hand them out along the way. 

We had mostly uneventful flights. Wichita to Dallas to Seattle to Fairbanks. I did get stuck in the bathroom which has never happened to me before. I flicked the little switch to unlock the door but it wouldn’t budge. For a minute I thought I would be flying the rest of the way on the toilet seat. Luckily there was a girl waiting in the aisle who jumped into action when she heard me saying, “I think I’m stuck in the bathroom!” She was able to yank the door from the outside. My hero!

After arriving in Fairbanks around 3:30. we rented a car and piled in for the mile and a half drive to our lodge. We are so glad the Lette’s wanted to come on this adventure also. Most of our friends said, “WHY would you want to go to Alaska in the WINTER?” We stayed at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge.  It was perfect! A little weathered but full of homey amenities. We had a balcony off our room where we could go to see the Northern Lights if they were viewable. We set up a Northern Lights Alert call from the front desk for if they were sighted or predicted on one of the apps. We never got a call. They also had a glass domed viewing room with a movie screen, library and pool table to stay busy while you waited for the light show. Also on property were reindeer, a sledding area, a library, a restaurant, lots of fire places both indoors and outdoors, a telescope, a lounge with lots of games, a gift shop and a little ice cream shop.

We ate dinner in the restaurant on the property because we were all a little tired and didn’t feel like finding a fun restaurant in town. Bruce and I both had Halibut chowder for dinner. It was pretty good. I also ordered their special Alaskan Berry Blast martini. The waiter asked if I wanted a big or small one and then convinced me to get the big one since it was only $2 more. I guess everything’s bigger in Alaska because this looked like a small fish bowl.  It could have easily fed (drank?) the whole table. And no, I did NOT finish it.  Even with help from my friends. I did influence the ladies at the table next to us to get one also.  Am I a pusher?