Day 1 and Day 2 Alaska trip

Day 1: Thurs, May 20,2010

We left Tallassee at 10:10 am. I think it is going to be a scavenger hunt each time we try to find anything in our luggage. We ended up carrying three checked bags and two carry on bags plus my heavy purse. I can hardly believe we are on our way since we started planning this trip in October.

We got to Stacey's at noon and Bobby was waiting for us. He drove us to the Birmingham airport. We did curbside check in and for some reason it would not print out the Atlanta section of our flight. We had to go to the Delta counter for help. They finally got that section printed but next came security check. As soon as our red carry on bag (all our meds) got scanned, we were pulled out of the line. I went over the the security guard and was asked "Anything in here that would stick me?" I explained that my husband was diabetic and his insulin needles were in the bag. Linwood then was led over by a woman guard. She had our new tube of toothpaste in her hand. It was too large so in the trash it went. What a way to start our trip. The flight left b'ham 35 minutes late but we were still okay for time. We entered at Concourse C in Atlanta. Two different people told us that Alaska Air was in Concourse D. We started walking and when we got there we found out we should be at Concourse B. This time we took the train to the concourse. That flight to Seattle left 25 minutes late. It was rough at times so we had to come down to 34000 feet high. The view looking down was beautiful. One time when I looked down

I realized we were flying over the Rocky Mountains. WOW !!!!!!!

We got to Seattle at 10:30 our time. We were very hungry at that time but were limited in choices. The last leg of our travel day was long. We arrived at Fairbanks at 5:30 a.m. our time and 2:30 local time. It was still light enough to see everything. We got to our room at 3:30. After asking for a wake up call for 10:30 we quickly went to sleep.

Day 2: Friday, May 2

Our Fairbanks Lodge is owned by the Princess Line. It is on the Chena River and very beautiful. Of course I got in a picture of the river and one of Linwood in his "Admiral pose." We took an all afternoon stern wheeler riverboat ride down the Chena river. During the winter, the river freezes at least 3 ft deep. Planes land on it, dog sleds ride on it and snow mobiles run

on it. We saw a float plane take off on the water and land on the water. At one time everyone on the river had planes, since there were no highways up here.

We went to an authentic Alaskan native village. It was the Athabaskan tribe. One part was as 'before white man' and the second part was' 'after white man'. We saw lots of animal skins and learned all the things they did with the parts of the animal.

Food for the Day:

lunch: fish (halibut) and chips
snack: on the riverboat - smoked salmon dip Thomas I did this one for you.
dinner: reindeer lasagna

It is not too late now but we are exhausted.