|
|
June 9
June 10 June 11 June 12 June 13 June 14 June 15 June 16 June 17 June 18 |
Saturday June 9, 2007
After spending the night at the Comfort Inn near Sea-Tac Airport (Seattle) and a good breakfast, Mom and I repacked our bags, checked out, and caught the shuttle for the airport, leaving the hotel about 9 am. Good thing we were really early for our flight, as I had looked at an older schedule. Instead of leaving at 11:17, our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:45!! We got that all straightened out, then sat and waited for the wheelchair. And waited. And waited. Finally asked one of the managers how much longer it would take. Seems the clerk had left out one step in requesting the wheelchair... So, he completed the process and the chair soon arrived. With a most delightful, cheerful chair pusher. (Mom is in a wheelchair because she fell in March and broke bones in her pelvis. She's healing slowly, which is normal for her age (nearly 80).) He got us comfortably through security and to the gate just as they started boarding. We had bulkhead seats, which have a lot of leg room. I may have to remember to request them more often. It was a nice flight to Anchorage, despite the rain as we left Seattle. Very smooth. As we neared Anchorage, we could look out the windows at the snow covered mountains and islands that surround Anchorage. Really nice. Glaciers were readily apparent - they were the smooth places in the snow. And the ones that calved into the sea were apparent, also. Very nice approach to Anchorage. We got our bags and Mom's walker and met the Princess Lines representatives, who escorted us to the van which would take us to the hotel. Delightful driver. Full of stories of old Alaska. He took us the long way, through an area called Earthquake Park and told us how the shoreline had changed in that area. Quite a quake! To the hotel (Captain Cook), where we got our room assignment and left the suitcases with the bellmen. Very nice room - of course, this is a 5 star hotel, so I expected it to be nice. We're on the 14th floor with a nice view of the mountains and rooftops of Anchorage. Settled in a bit, then went in search of a small lunch, as it was now 2:30 local time. Mom had a muffin and water and I had a nice spinach salad and hot tea at a place called the Whale's Tale. It's one of four restaurants in the hotel and specializes in coffees, pastries, sandwiches, salads, etc. Nice atmosphere. Then we ambled around the shops downstairs. There are several. Most of the items were very overpriced, but we still bought some souvenirs... And we stopped by the Outfitters desk to make arrangements for a short tour tomorrow. It's called the 26 Glaciers Cruise. And we got train tickets down to Whittier, where we'll catch the cruise. It's on a large catamaran and the cruise includes a meal. By then, Mom was running out of steam, so we returned to the room and she laid down for a while. I walked over to the local mall (about 5 blocks away) to see if I could find her some hearing aid batteries, as she had forgotten to pack any spares. The mall included a Radio Shack, so that took care of that! Downtown Anchorage is very nice and very walkable. There's several small parks along the way between the hotel and the mall. One had some huge angel wing begonias as a border - large red and orange blossoms - close to three inches in diameter and very full. They also had a series of painted and decorated salmon statues around town. Wish I had remembered to carry my camera along... Back to the room. Then we went back downstairs for dinner at Fletcher's, another of the hotel's restaurants. This one was like an English pub with Italian food. We split a giant prawn cocktail and a nice 8" pizza - Crunchy Spinach! Spinach, caramelized onions, bacon, sun dried tomatoes, and three different cheeses. Just perfect. Mom had water with hers, I had an Alaskan Amber beer (tap). Why do tap beers taste so much better than canned or bottled? Then back to the room to crash for the night. We had to pull the drapes - sunset (of sorts) wasn't until after 11 pm. Heaven knows when sunrise is. The sky never really got dark all night (according to Mom - I didn't wake up to find out). Supposedly, there's about 17 hours and 35 minutes of sunlight per day. |