A day at the Zoo and Aquarium

We had some great weather last week. Highs in the mid 70's with a breeze most of the time. We headed up to Seattle on Thursday for a day trip to see some animals. Ellie had been to the Indianapolis Zoo when we were on vacation last Memorial Day but I doubt she remembered. This time, Campbell got to go too. Ellie had a great time. Campbell was a little more interested in getting a nap in. All in all, everybody had a good time enjoying some sunshine. The Seattle Zoo is not particularly big but it's easy to get around in and has a lot of natural (like) habitat. There is a lot of open space with grass and picnicking is encouraged. Had we known this, we could have skipped the burgers and fries at the food court. But Ellie got a monkey sippy cup out of it so I think she was happy. If you're in the area, the Zoo is just 4-5 miles north of downtown. It's an excellent side trip with kids and they have a cool carousel (sadly, it was out of action while we were there.)

Campbell is a lot like Ellie was as a baby... Just happy to be here. She's content to be around us and likes to just check out the scenery. She's usually only fussy when she's hungry or tired. Even though nap and sleep schedules have been totally messed up the past 3 weeks due to the move and being in hotels, she's been a pretty happy camper. Today, we went over to see some relatives of mine on my mom's side of the family. Campbell didn't have any problem being held by my Aunt Sandy within minutes of arriving. Actually, I think Sandy said something along the lines of "I'll hold her" but it was really more of a command. :) It was ok by me. Ellie saw the swing set in the backyard and was itching to go outside. My cousin Sarah has a daughter (Kennedy) who will be three in July and My cousin Lisa has two kids (Mason and Madison who are 5 and 4 respectively. It was great to see Ellie around kids her own age for the first time since we left Fairbanks. She still asks me where Cody, Jacob and Livie are. Today, while we were driving around, she had my phone and was "talking" to those three.

We found a house in University Place just west of Tacoma on the peninsula. The area is very quiet and we're only about a mile off the Sound. There are walking and bike trails all around us. Hopefully, I can burn off some of this hibernation weight I've been carrying. Of course, most of it was with me before we moved to Alaska, so I can't blame it on cold weather. The house is supposed to be ready by Thursday or Friday. Depending on route, Jennifer will be 15-30 minutes from Ft. Lewis and 20-25 minutes to downtown Tacoma to catch the train up to UW for school. I-5 is a freaking disaster. Traffic in this area is just insanely bad. It can take an hour to go 15 miles and that's normal during rush hour. Just too many people without any alternate routes.

We are so ready to be in a house after three plus weeks in hotels. The girls have been super troopers but it's time for some more space. Remember when you were a kid and you thought eating out for lunch and dinner every day would be cool? Well, by the third week of restaurants for lunch and/or dinner, it's not so cool anymore. I'd kill for a home made grilled cheese sandwich right about now.

A few more pictures of the trip out

Here are some more memorable shots of Alaska and Canada. One last shot of Denali as we stopped along the Richardson Highway for some great shots at a pull off. Ross was dying to get a good view of it and we had been socked in with clouds on Sunday. We actually drove 10 miles west down the Parks Highway on Monday morning for some pictures before heading back to east. About an hour outside of Fairbanks, we took a slew of pictures from this vantage point. This is one big mountain. By contrast, Mt. Rainier dominates the Seattle skyline and it's only just over 14,400 feet. Mt. McKinley is over 20,000. I read on Wikipedia that Denali has a larger bulk and rise than even Everest. Partly that's due to Everest being on the Tibetan Plateau where everything is already 10-15,000 feet above sea level. Just so you know, people in Alaska don't call it Mt. McKinley. Denali means "the high one" in Athabascan. In 1897 the Mountain was officially named Mount McKinley, after U.S. president William McKinley. As the decades progressed Indian-rights activists began increasingly to view this renaming as colonial and disrespectful. When Denali National Park and Preserve was established by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, December 2, 1980, the Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain back to "Denali." However, the U.S. Board of Geographic Names maintains "McKinley". Alaskans tend to use "Denali" and rely on context to distinguish between the park and the mountain. There have been several campaigns to officially switch the federally recognized name of the mountain back to "Denali". However, the name "McKinley" is well-known and has support as well. The name "McKinley" also allows visitors to differentiate between the mountain and Denali National Park, in which the mountain is located.

The Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, Canada was a trip. People from all over the world have stolen, borrowed or bought road signs to put up here along the highway. There have to be thousands of them. The town just finished rehanging them this spring. Some of the wooden poles needed replacing due to weather. It was amazing how many European (particularly German) signs there were. And Texas was represented well. Thankfully, we did not see any Aggie signs. Those jokers have embarrassed Texas enough over the past few years. I really wish I had thought this through a little more. With some luck, Ross could have brought us a sign to hang. Oh well, there's always next time. Heh. I'd like to find a giant Longhorn to put in there. That'd be memorable, right? Watson Lake is also where we discovered that Chinese food is available in the strangest places. The town sports a population of just over 1,500. There were three gas stations and two Chinese food restaurants. Go figure.


Our last full day on the road was spent working our way toward Whistler and then down to Vancouver. It was a truly beautiful and remarkable drive. From Prince George, you wind through some scenic farm country and then into the Fraser River valley until you run into the Fitzsimmons Range of which Whistler Mountain is part. Whistler is a mix of cool and kitsch. The skiing there is supposed to be awesome but the town itself is a tourist trap. We had an excellent meal there so it wasn't all bad. On the way out of town we caught a great sunset and then wound our way down the Sea to Sky Highway to Vancouver. I regret that we didn't stay downtown. We ended up in a suburb about 25 miles east. As with most things in Canada, by 8:00 pm there was not much to do around our hotel. Since we had eaten in Whistler, we were content to find the hotel and sack out for the night.

2,400 miles is a really long way to drive

I mean REALLY long. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad my friend Ross came up to do it with me. We had a blast and I'm glad I had someone else in the car with me. I would have been going a little stir crazy by about the middle of the third day. We had some unreal conversations. Some philosophical; How do we deal with immigration or should kids have to take music lessons until they leave the house. Some not so much; How many Nilla Wafers can you stuff in your mouth at one time? (he won with 12) And my personal favorite, How many midgets could you fight at the same time? We saw an amazing amount of wild life.

I'll post more pics later but here's a basic list:
6 Moose
7 Black Bears
10+ Mountain Sheep (The bighorn kind)
50+ Bison
10+ Caribou
10+ Elk
20+ Deer
1 Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle was flying right at us while we driving. He sort of dive bombed us and then pulled up and over to the right. It was so fast and sudden that we didn't get a chance for pictures.

Seeing all the bears was kind of funny. On the drive up to Alaska, Jennifer and I only saw one. I told Ross that seeing a bear was going to be sketchy. Then, on the afternoon of the second day, we saw two within 5-10 minutes of each other. A few hours later, we saw our third. The seventh one was just 60-70 miles north of Vancouver on the drive out down from Whistler on day 4. By that time, we were just kind of "Eh, another bear." Thank goodness for good camera lenses. This pic was taken from about 30 feet away as we stayed in the car for safety sake.

Definitely the coolest thing I saw were the bison herds. I had never seen a bison in person. When we drove through Wyoming and Montana in 2004, I was hoping to see one of the private herds that roam around there. In 2006, I drove up Richardson Highway from Glenallen back to Fairbanks but never saw the heard that lives near Delta Junction.

We first saw a group of three but there might have been more in the trees. A few miles down the road, there was a larger group of 10-12. The biggest pack we saw was around 15-18 about 20 miles away from the second group. There were probably more in the tree line. Bison were the least skittish animals that we saw. They just stood there and ate the grass. They hardly paid any attention to the cars and trucks that were (sometimes) flying right by them. We slowed down because we wanted to take pictures and we also didn't want any horns or hooves impaled on the front of the Dadmobile. The only other animals that even approached the non-chalant manner of the bison were the bighorn sheep. Those little daredevils would stand right on the side of the road and eat the small flora that was growing. They would stand there while traffic buzzed by but tended to move away when we slowed to take pics. Not sure why, but they were not phased by fast moving traffic, just the slow moving ones.

A couple of things about the stops we made along the way:

Whitehorse: A pretty town set along the Yukon river. But get there early if you ever go. EVERYTHING except McDonald's and KFC shuts down at 9:00. We got seated at a restaurant and then got told that they were closing when we left. Our waitress all but kicked us out shortly after our food came. Matter of fact, she left before we did and she peeled out as she did.

Liard Hot Springs: About halfway between Whitehorse and Ft. Nelson. It's well worth the stop. It was 70 degrees outside and when we got out of the water, we were both a bit chilly. The water is amazing.

Ft. Nelson: There is NOTHING to do there. It's an oil patch town with a few hotels, some gas stations and not much else. It's kind of a necessary stop unless you want to try one of the roadside motels either before or after it but that's a total crap shoot. Not to mention that lot of them look permanently closed.

Prince George: It's a lot bigger than I remembered it being in 2004. We stayed at the Treasure Cove. The restaurant next door (called Publik) had great food and was showing the Spurs/Suns game.

Vancouver Area: We took a detour and drove down through Whistler instead of the farther eastern route. It was well worth it. The mountains are beautiful and the drive is breathtaking. Just remember to follow the road signs regarding speed. We did and our breaks still smelled burnt after the final switchback descent into the valley where the Whistler and Blackcombe ski areas are. BTW, they're still skiing up there this time of the year. Our waiter told us that they will ski until at least mid June. They stop for a few months and then start back up again in September or October. I really hope we can get up there this winter. It's a pretty town and I can only imagine what it looks like with snow all over. Vancouver is hosting the Winter Olympics in 2010 and Whistler will handle the skiing events. We ended up staying a little bit to the east of Vancouver and I regret not staying downtown. Like most Canadian cities, it was clean and full of people, even at nearly 9:00 pm when we drove through.

Well, I'll post some more pictures once I sort through them. But I really want to thank my buddy Ross for making this a memorable and fun trip.

It's official: Alaska really is a 3rd world country

Things are different up here. I've come to expect AND accept that. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Alaska is the farthest north redneck state in the country. But our hotel experience as we prepare to depart has been funny and sad all at the same time.

There's a brand new hotel out by the airport called the Alpine Lodge. For the first three weeks that they're open (starting on May 1st), they're offering a $59 special on regular rooms. The other comparable places in town are all over $100 a night this time of the year. When I called to reserve a room, I was told that they had some family and business suites that had separate bedrooms from the living/work areas. The family suites were all booked but they had a business suite. Cool beans. We'd take that and have a place to put Campbell at night without having her and Ellie in the same room. The rate was a little different ($75 vs. $59) but I'll take more room for just $16 any time. And then I checked in.

On the door as I arrived was a printed out sign saying something like "Please be patient. We are still preparing the hotel." No biggie. As long as we have our room, I'm good. I check in and walk to the room. When I go in there are two queen beds, just like I expected. And other than that, there is not much else in the way of furniture. The TV is sitting on a small table. There is no nightstand, dresser, desk or alarm clock. Other than a small kitchenette and a bathroom, there's nothing else. When I got back to the desk, I'm told that the business suites are not ready yet. And wont be until 5/11 at the earliest. Well, we'll have to make do.

Linda, my mother-in-law, came up to help Jennifer while I'm on the road. She gets a room across the hall from us and we decide that Campbell will sleep in there at night. Linda is a saint. She's been a tremendous help with the girls. Between Jennifer and I, we were able to sit at the house with the movers while Jennifer continued to out process. Starting last night, I got on the clean up and painting that needed to be done. Without Linda here, we'd be screwed trying to get the house ready for clearing.

So tonight, I walk out to the car to get my backpack. When I come back in, my room key wont work. I go back to the front desk and they re-key the card. No dice. We try a third. Nada. Well crap. Jennifer and Ellie are asleep in the room. I really don't want to knock on the door and wake them up. Our options seem limited. We're on the first floor and our window is open so I'm all for cutting the screen and going in SWAT style. Jim at the front desk starts making phone calls. After an hour, he finds out from the maintenance guy that there is an airplane like black box that he can use to reset the door. With a walkie talkie connecting him to the front desk where the other night clerk relays info over the phone from the maintenance guy, he gets it open.

So, here I sit, at 11:30, 1.) hoping that this is our Murphy's Law moment for the trip out and 2.) starting to count the hours til I can leave this 3rd world country and rejoin civilization.

For the record, as of right now, I'm under 80 hours. That's 4800 minutes or 288,000 seconds for those scoring at home.

Something odd about the Army

Well, there's a lot that's odd about it. But for whatever reason, there are several guys who are married to Army Docs/Nurses who stay home too. I know of 4 others who are here right now. I'm not sure why but Army Medicine seems to attract that combo.

Our pediatrician's husband stays home with their three kids. I've been told they don't have a TV. I'm not real keen on letting kids watch too much TV but there are times when it's a life saver. And in the fall, I need it to get my college football fix. Jennifer knows that, on Saturdays, from early September until late November, I will be planted in front of the TV, with the remote blazing across 4-5 channels, watching as much college football as I can. I've been fortunate the past three years. I only missed two Texas games on TV. One was against North Texas in 2004, the other was against Sam Houston State in 2006. In other words, I really didn't miss anything. But I'm not giving up my TV. Let me rephrase that... Ellie wont let me give up "her" TV.