Alaska - Thursday

So our much anticipated trip to Alaska finally came around.  We have been waiting, (mostly impatiently) for the last 6 months for my oldest brothers wedding.  On Thursday June 16 we got up at 3:30am so we could drive to the airport and fly out.  

My awesome sister Julie came down on Wednesday night with her kids so she could stay the week to watch my kids.  Mary drove up from St. George to go with us. So Jared, Mary and I got to the Salt Lake Airport around 5:00am.  We parked the car and took the shuttle.  We got through security and sat around waiting for our plane.  I haven't been on a plane in nine years, so that in and of itself was a special kind of treat!!  We flew out around 7:15 and landed in Seattle just in time for breakfast.  

They have some of the greatest food in the Seattle airport.  They also have a Starbucks and Hudson News down almost every terminal.  But we had a yummy breakfast of eggs, sausage, and biscuits while we waited for our next plane from Seattle to Ketchikan.

At 10:00 they started boarding our plane and since we were flying standby we were a little nervous but we got lucky and they got us seated just fine.

We were on the plane with a bunch of rowdy men playing poker.  They were all part of some company out of California that were going to Alaska to fish.  There were 60 of them total.  But I just kicked back and read my book.  Now I'm not much of a reader but luckily MaKady is so I borrowed her books. (thank goodness for my teenage daughter and her wonderful collection of books).

We landed in Ketchikan just before noon (Ketchikan time - they are two hours behind Utah).  It was like coming home.  Weird, because we haven't been there in nine years when my brother first moved there, but it was so strangely familiar if that makes sense.  It felt like Christmas morning to me.

In Ketchikan the airport is across the harbor from the city.  So you have to take a ferry across the harbor.  It leaves every 1/2 hour.  Of course we missed it by just a few minutes so we had to wait 1/2 hour until it came back across.  That seemed like forever.  

Finally it was our turn and we boarded the ferry and very slowly (well maybe it just seemed slow to me) we crossed the harbor.  My brothers Shane (haven't seen him since Thanksgiving when they came to Utah for a visit) my almost sister in law Dawn, and my brother Henry (who lives in Ohio and I haven't seen him for a year and a half) where all waiting for us on the other side.  Woohoo!!!!  I wanted to just jump off and swim at that point, but I managed to control myself and wait for them to almost stop the ferry before I jumped off and ran up the ramp to greet them.  

This is the ferry, on the city side of the harbor.  We were on the airport side waiting.

The airport from the city side of the harbor.

After we hugged and all that we still had 4 hours until my parents were going to be there so we went were all people in Alaska go - to Walmart!!  HaHaHa!!  I love it.  But it's different from our Walmart.  They have winter clothes year round, and tons of fishing gear, stuff you would see at a sporting goods store like giant fishing poles and crab pots.  They do have like 4 rows of food but mostly soda pop and chips.  So they don' do their grocery shopping there, they go to Safeway.

For lunch we ate at a little seaside burger stand.  Oh it was soooo good.  I loved my hamburger and my sweet hubby even let me eat a few of his onion rings.

After lunch and shopping we went to Shane and Dawn's house to unload our stuff and relax for a little while, then back to the dock to wait for the ferry.

Let me just say that it's just as bad waiting on the city side of the harbor for the ferry as it is waiting on the airport side.  I was just so dang excited to see everyone.  Then all of a sudden the ferry was there and my parents, Tabi and the boys and Tori were coming up the ramp.  We had all (well not all of the family, but those that were able to come) had finally made it.  Whew!!!  What a fun first day in Alaska.