We are here! What an adventure!

We left the house Saturday morning at about 6:30. Mom and Soraya took us to the airport. We arrived 2 hours early like Willie likes. Had coffee and banana bread $14.00. The trip from Albuquerque on Southwest Airlines was uneventful - thankfully!

Got to Seattle Airport, found our luggage and I easily convinced Willie that we needed to use one of those little luggage wagons! Best $4.00 ever spent! Checked in at Alaska Air found our traveling companion, Maxine.  There were two little ones on the plane and they both got wound up into a screaming fit - at the same time. Every one on the flight was miserable! Other than that the flight to Juneau was uneventful!

The Juneau Airport isn't very big so it was easy to find our luggage and then to the next airplane ride on Excursions Airlines. We had to weigh each piece of luggage which I thought was a little weird - even my purse!  Then I remembered them asking me how much each of use weighed when we booked the flight.  Our flight out wasn't due for about an hour so we walked down the road a ways to Donna's Restaurant where we met Insane Mary our hostess, waitress, cashier and entertainment!   The food was excellent and Mary entertained us most of the time we were eating. She LOVES Juneau and gets a silly twinkle in her eye when she talks about it.

My questions were about why everything was being weighed was answered when our 15 year old looking pilot appeared! He was probably really about 25 but either way, he was very young! They said the plane could only carry 5 people - I laughed thinking how big that might be - then we walked across the airstrip to this teeny tiny plane that looked like it could seat 2 maybe!!  I climbed in first because there was only one way in. Then Maxine sat next to me, the pilot got in and then Willie.  We all strapped our seat belts on and he started the engine.  the first crank was a cough and a sputter and I gotta admit I got a little scared! The engine finally cranked over and we started rumbling down the runway. there is no FAA tower there so the pilot just looked both ways and started down the runway! The lift off was smooth and we rumbled down the road until like magic we were airborn then the flight was just AWESOME! I took so many pictures the water and mountains were just amazing and breathtaking.  The mountain in front of us was to big so we went around until we saw the next landing strip. It was a dirt patch between two rows of trees! YIKES! But the landing was smooth and when the pilot parked the plane he kind of slid in so he was ready for take off next time.

We're packed!

Can't think of anything else we need to take. We have every medicine you can imagine. Every kind of cord you can imagine - from 2 extension cords to camera to computer and back, cell phones, cameras chargers - sheesh just about a whole suitcase for cords! :-)

All kinds of snacks - from pistachios to Skittles.

All kinds of hand cleaners - from wipes to sanitizers.

All kinds of clothes - from big jackets and rain gear to flip flops and sunscreen! Who knows what kind of weather in Juneau in June!

• Still have to make the list for the dog sitter and pack her bags. 
• Still have to meet with the house sitter and give him the key. 
• Print our boarding passes and weigh the bags one more time.
• Lunch with family tomorrow and dinner with friends tomorrow evening.

Then off we go!

6 days to blast off!

Willie is out of town until this evening. I've been starting to buy things for the trip. Shopped at Walmart for new under things and toiletries. Today is Walgreen's for meds and snacks.

Thinking of all the things to do before we leave. I think its under control. Glad I have backup here so I don't have to worry a whole lot.

Our first day will be a long one so I need to pack nutritious snacks. We leave our house at 7AM and arrive at our final destination at about 9PM PST so that's about 11 hours of travel time!

It's already so hot here I am looking forward to the coolness! BUT we will return in the middle of JULY! What were we thinking??!

First ever blog

Ok I'm going to start this blog as a journal of our trip to Alaska!

Maps and Questions

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Excursion+Inlet,+AK&hl=en&ll=57.806725,-135.076904&spn=2.13947,7.13562&sll=58.757162,-134.932709&sspn=0.260337,0.891953&oq=excursion,+AK&t=h&hnear=Excursion+Inlet,+Haines,+Alaska&z=8

Totally confused about where we are going.  I love to read maps.  I need to see the whole picture.  So I looked up Excursion Inlet, Alaska and found this lovely map. After looking at it closely I see that we aren't really very close to what I assumed was the Pacific Ocean. We are in the Gulf of Alaska which quickly turns into the Pacific Ocean! But our little Inlet isn't so close.  2 weeks!!!

Today was a rough one and really makes me look forward to a break from some of the stuff going on around here.

We bought our boots and rain gear. They have rain boots for us there so I can take mine back to Walmart. Doesn't rain enough at my house to warrant rain boots!

Willie started looking for shirts to wear. Looking at Weather.com shows the temperatures are steady at 40 - 50 degrees. That is the low is 40 the high is 50! History shows June and July's temps averaging lows at 47-50 and highs 62 - 64, so gotta pack layers. I found a long sleeve shirt at Walmart of $3 - I love clearance prices!

Knowing we aren't near any Walmarts or Walgreens I'm trying to pack things we MIGHT need but hope not! Like Aspirin, Benadryl, Pepto, bandages, etc. Do I need a hat? A sunhat or a cap? Sunglasses?

Ok that's it for today! Have lots to do to get ready so I can relax while I'm gone!

Learning to Blog

Well this is my first entry into this blog - I'm not sure what Blog means.

Ahhh...

Answers.com says this - I asked the question, "What is a blog" they answered "A website that displays in chronological order the postings by one or more individuals and usually has links to comments on specific postings."


So now I know what it and so I shall!

Stay tuned!

Now I need to figure out how to share my Chronological-ness.