My daughter, Audrey, and I have made our return from Alaska! We left for Anchorage early on June 20th, it was Audrey's first taxi ride and she was very excited! The flight to Anchorage was a long one, but we enjoyed the cheese and cracker platter and watching the mountains pass underneath us as we neared our destination.
Anchorage was a blast, especially with the adrenalin of our first leg of the trip. Seeing my friends was special, and running in the marathon was a good time. I am so proud of my friend, Marcus, who made the commitment to train and run the marathon, too. Anchorage is a strange city, that doesn't seem to have too much of a layout plan, and I found navigating it not too difficult, just often wondering why things were placed the way they are? Overall, Anchorage was a special place with great friendships.
A flight to Juneau for the night before Haines was another chance for a geography lesson of Southeast Alaska. Seeing my dad for one evening then off on the ferry to Haines was a strange transition, but Audrey loved the boat ride up the inside passage. At this point, it is worth mentioning that every day has been sunny and at least in the mid-70's, which is NOT at all typical. Our first night in Haines even included thunder and lightening...we should have just stayed in the Midwest! My mom's home is nice, and she has worked very hard on making it that way. Haines is a small town, where seemingly everyone knows everyone. We found plenty to do, between cleaning fish to making fires to art projects with Attle, we were always on the move. One thing I really appreciated was the "break time" each day for about an hour, where we all just took a rest before moving into the afternoon activities! We departed Haines three days later, ready to return to Juneau for the final leg of the trip.
Juneau was a strange experience. I haven't been back for over seven years, and it is always different to experience your hometown after living somewhere else for a long time. I went for a walk, expecting to need a couple hours to visit all of my childhood memories, yet pretty much covered the entire area in about 45 minutes! Seeing the streets that I roamed with so many memories attached, while at the same time showing them to my own child for the first time was a special treat. Audrey loved her time with Zadie, visiting the Mendenahll Glacier and the DIPAC fish hatchery. There is something true about not being able to really "go home" once you've left. While everything was pretty much the same, there was a feeling of having moved on, which was strange for me. Juneau will always be my hometown, though.
Returning back to Illinois was uneventful, although Audrey loved ordering the crackers and cheese platter again on the plane. It was odd returning home at 2am and then waking up at 7 to Violet. I am still a bit jet-lagged as I type this blog. There will be pictures, soon, of course. A special trip this has been, being able to spend time with my daughter, while also seeing my best friends and my parents. I am very aware at how lucky I am to have this opportunity, and feel that full advantage was taken. When we return to Alaska is unknown, but this trip will not soon be forgotten.
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