North to Alaska Day 1

Mom & Dad - in Alaska at last!

In January, my parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary! Quite an achievement and we are happy for them and extremely grateful for them. In lieu of the usual family/town gathering, they wanted to go to Alaska to celebrate. On May 26th, we met them at the Salt Lake Airport and we were on our way. Flying in to Anchorage, we were awestruck at the multitude of mountains and lakes. The mountains are very pointed and sharp and went as far as our eyes could see. Snowcapped, they seemed to go on endlessly. Since we live right next to some beautiful mountains, I was surprised that I should be so overwhelmed at the sight of these mountains, which I presume were the Chugach Range, lying southeast of Anchorage. Dad was sitting by the window and was looking out most of the trip. He asked the steward where we were, so after that, the steward would come and update us every little while. I enjoyed visiting with Mom, watching a movie and doing a little reading.

Sandy, Mom, Dad, Janice & Sue ~ around 9:00 p.m.

We arrived in Anchorage, where Aunt Janice and Aunt Sue picked us up at the airport. Dad’s sister, Janice has lived in Alaska for over forty years now. Her whole family loved the state so much, they have all settled there and most of their children have stayed as well.  It is so beautiful, I can understand why you would want to stay.  We had dinner and visited, went outside to the backyard and visited. I was amazed because I knew we had been out for quite some time, but the sun never seemed to change positions. It still felt like 7:30 p.m. . . . yet it was 11:30 p.m.! We really enjoyed the novelty of no darkness. It simply did not get dark. And it was so easy to stay up into the wee hours without even realizing it.