Its been two years since my daughter and I have been to Anchorage, and this time we took Shar along with us. Shar and I finished up our teacher workday on Friday, June 15th, met in Canby to drop off my truck, and finish the trip up to PDX in her Scion. Its $60 to long term park, but we would only save marginally on Ubering from one of Shar’s friend’s places.
One of the benefits of being in our summer vacation is that we do have some wiggle room on when we can depart and return, and we took advantage of that with this flight to Anchorage. For cheap flights Jetblue out of PDX is the way to go. It only has flights to Anchorage seasonally, but if you’re willing to fly out at 8:30pm and return on a true red eye landing in Portland at 4:30am, you can get three round trip tickets for just over $700. The return trip was so empty all three of us were stretched out in our own rows at one point.
Its mid spring in Anchorage right now, which means rain and clouds, but the scenery is absolutely breathtaking. On Saturday we made our way south to Whittier, where the cruise ships that say they are going to Anchorage actually stop, and had a blast even in the fog, wind and rain. A hot slice of pizza, courtesy of Margaret at Varley's Ice Cream & Pizza Parlor, helped take the chill out of our clothes. On our way back to my friend’s house we were excited to see a beluga whale, a multitude of birds struggling against the unusually strong spring winds, and a mommy and baby moose walking across a parking lot. Sadly, the infamous Alaskan bear never did make an appearance. Dinner was a smorgasbord of yummy while we watched Ready Player One at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub.
This was my first chance to have a taste of what its like to live where day and night aren’t as consistent as they are in the lower 48. We landed in Anchorage at 11:30pm and it was midnight by the time we got to my buddy’s house. Looking outside I would have said 9:00pm, but it never gets dark because sunrise is 4:30am. My buddy informed us that the sun is not far enough below the horizon for it to be considered “Legally Night”. Shar fought back with a sleep mask, but I just let the darker curtains do their job. I also snapped a couple of photos, one at 11:00pm and out the plane window at midnight, to illustrate the contrast.
Sunday we enjoyed a great sampling of native Alaskan dancing, architecture, and history at the The Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage. This is a must see if you’re in the area because it does a great job of comparing and contrasting the the Alaskan Native cultural groups that have lived in the HUGE state of Alaska for millennia. My favorite part was that the dancers also acted as docents in the reproductions of the living structures for each cultural group in the outdoor area of the Center. These young men and women confidently and proudly presented information about the buildings and their group's way of life. When we visited the Anchorage Museum at the Rusmuson Center on Monday, I saw the same themes echoed in their Native Alaskan art and artifacts exhibits. 
The weather was starting to turn towards nice on Tuesday as we went out for a nice walk towards the peak of O’Malley. We made it over a mile before it became very steep. If you don’t like great views of Anchorage and spectacular nature scenery, then this isn’t the area for you. By the time we had finished lunch at the Anchorage’s classic burger joint, the Arctic Roadrunner, the sun was completely out. We then finished off our last couple of hours in Alaska watching The Incredibles 2. I recommend the movie, definitely as good as the first. 
Security was unusual. Not only did we not have to take our shoes off, but they didn’t check some medication I had taken with me that was in an over 3 ounce bottle. We relaxed at our gate, then boarded the plan round 11:30. I’ve never had the ability to sleep on a plane, and that didn’t change just because we took off from Anchorage at midnight. Shar was able to stretch out in the row behind us, catching a few z’s. I made sure she was snuggly with one of our blankets and she used the neck pillow we had brought along as a regular pillow. we had brought. I did experiment with my neck pillow, a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law, but was neither tired or comfortable enough to sleep. I got some music and reading time done instead. 
We got back to Shar’s mom’s place in Canby by 5:30pm and was quickly asleep. We woke around noon and had breakfast Shortly thereafter my truck tires were rolling towards Coquille. By 6:00pm Mr. Mittens and Izzy greeted us by the door.
Our next trip to Anchorage might be a bit more interesting. I’m going to research getting Shar’s car on a ferry to Anchorage, and than using it as a “hotel” while we sail along with it. Sounds like a hoot!
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