The Long Way Around

Had a wonderful trip to Anchorage. Flew in Wednesday night and my friend, Sarah, picked me up at 10:35 pm. I had to be up and to the first AACP session, at the Sheraton, by 8 am. It was directly into bed, Cody had changed the sheets for me since he had been sleeping in my bed. Randy had piled boxes between my bookshelves and in front of my closets, so I just had access to my bed and dresser.

The AACP session were very informative and I walked away overloaded with new knowledge and a binder full of resources. Tununak's principal, Randy Heinrichs, was in my group as was Kristin Garot, from my Leadership Master's classes. Other than Randy, I, and Kelli (Klawock School), everyone was from Juneau and knew each other. I even think Kelli taught in Juneau before becoming the principal at Klawock. The entire team had dinner together, Thursday night, at the Glacier Brewhouse. It was a relaxed, fun evening. Friday Randy was working, so I ate my left over salad for dinner. Saturday we were done by noon. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some shopping (Natural Pantry, Fred Meyers, and Andy's Hardware). Randy had to work that night, so the kids and I took Sarah to dinner and the play with us. For the kids birthday (Renee on the 11th and Cody on the 25th) dinners, I took them to Sullivan's Steakhouse. Poor Renee--she had been sick all day, but did not want to miss out on the fun. It wasn't until later in the night that she was able to eat her dinner. We then walked over to the PAC to watch Les Miserables. I really enjoyed the play. I taught the book with my 9th grade honors, when I was given one. I'd shown the 1978 version with Anthony Perkins and the 1998 version with Liam Neeson and the horribly, weeping Claire Danes. I had purchased the 10th Anniversary Dream Cast and watched it. It completely got me hooked on "The Master of the House" song. This was the first time I saw it with a live cast and it was great.

Sunday I finished my shopping and packed by Rubber Made extra tough tubs and zip tied them closed.

Monday, I did not wake until 4:45. Cody had taken all my luggage and loaded it into Randy's truck the night before, so I threw my cloths on and we drove to the airport as the snow covered Anchorage. I arrived at 5:30 am and, when I went to check my luggage, I was told it was to late to check baggage. Alaska Air will not accept baggage an hour before the plane leaves. I had to reschedule for the same flight on Tuesday. I did not know it at the time, but this was fortuitous. It was snowing in Bethel and no flights left Bethel all day Monday. If I had flown out Monday, I would have had to rent a hotel room until Tuesday.

I woke up at 3 am on Tuesday, got ready, and was at the airport 2 1/2 hours before departure. I checked all my bags, went through security, bought breakfast, and walked three gates down to wait for my plane. Cody called to see if I had my car keys and, sure enough, they were in my coat pocket. He and Randy, who were almost home, had to turn around and come back for them. I walked down to security and waited for Cody to show up. When he did get there, I had one of the security managers walk them out to him.

I got on the plane and we took off sort of on schedule. I fell asleep at some point and woke up to discover we were landing in Nome. For a moment there I thought I might have boarded the wrong plane and almost panicked. Then the soldier, who is stationed in Bethel (Didn't realized the hospital in Bethel is staffed by military and they are stationed there.), told me AA couldn't land in Bethel because of the dense fog. They didn't have enough fuel to turn around and return to Anchorage, so they flew to Nome. I can now say I've been to Nome, even it it was just the airport. We sat on the tarmac for two plus hours. Then they had everyone de-board and go into the terminal for all of about 15-20 minutes. We then went back through security and re-boarded the plane. We were given a 2000 mile redeemable certificate to mail in, for our delay. Then we sat on the tarmac for another hour. We finally took off around noon and landed in Bethel 45 minutes later.

By the time I got a Yute van to pick me and my tubs up, I did not arrive at Yute until 1:45. They informed me that they had switched to their winter hours that day. Because of the fog, the 8:45 flight didn't leave until noon and the 1 pm flight left at 2 pm. It was full, so I was not going to get out of Bethel until the 4 pm flight. I hadn't eating since 4:30 am, so I went up stairs and had a hamburger. I finally got home at 5:30 pm. I was so tired! I checked in with the school, unpacked, ate a small dinner, and was in bed by 8 pm. I immediately fell into a deep sleep and slept until my alarm went off at 6 am.