Happy Birthday, Bonnie, from "Still Stranded."

Today was my middle daughter Bonnie's birthday. Hope you had a great day, Bon! I am on a new computer and totally forgot to transfer any photos so I could upload a few to commemorate the occasion. :( But you know we love you lots and wish we could have been there to celebrate with you.

Above is a small slice of the scene at the Anchorage airport today. When we got up this morning, we called Alaska Air to check on flights. Lo and behold, we were told that we could get on a flight at 3 PM but to get to the airport early because it was going to be a madhouse. It was a sunny day with a lot of snow on the ground, clear skies, no sign of ashfall. We were feeling giddy that we were actually leaving! After returning our rental car, we walked into the terminal only to discover that the volcano had erupted again and all flights to Seattle were cancelled. You. have. got. to. be. kidding. me. We hauled our luggage over to the AK Air counter to have the information confirmed. For some odd reason, they were still sending planes to Honolulu. Now I do not get this at all. If it is unsafe to take off, it's unsafe to take off, right? We had a split second thought about changing our trip to Hawaii.

Ran into a few people from Unalaska, one of whom stated that the volcano was erupting as they flew past. How exciting would that be?! Apparently at least one flight got in, maybe more. I called Lauren, the general manager at the station, discussing when our point of no return would be. She's trying to get to ANC tomorrow and all the way to Portland to attend the same conference I am supposed to attend. Unfortunately, since Rich and I changed our flight to today, we lost our confirmed seats for tomorrow. I called AK Air back and the first confirmed seats we could get will be on the aforementioned "milk run" through Juneau on Wednesday--the day my conference begins. We were told to call back tomorrow as other flights may be added. So far our luck has not been the best on this front, has it? If we don't get out by Wednesday, I think we will just try to go home. The way things have been going, that could take another week, no?

We have become pros at priceline on this trip. While still at the airport, we pricelined a room and got the same hotel again, but this time for only $60. Nice! We then reserved another rental car, went to pick it up, and finally got to eat some lunch (after no breakfast) at Ray's Place, a Vietnamese restaurant that was recommended by my friend Shelly. Great suggestion--thanks, Shelly! We loved it.

From there, back to Michael's crafty store to buy a bunch of photo mats and frames for Rich's photo business. They were having a 40%-50% off sale. Sweet! Plus bubble wrap and tape and then to Office Max to purchase a couple of boxes to ship everything back to Unalaska since it is way too much to carry with us. Hopefully we can get the stuff home without any breakage.

Dinner tonight at Mexico in Alaska, and some delicious flan, which you know I have to try no matter how full I am.

We will get up tomorrow and do it all again. I think I am going to add a little poll to the sidebar on the blog and you can vote on what you think the most likely outcome will be. :)

Welcome, Lori and Unalaska Newbie--thanks for following! Hopefully there will come a day when the topic will not be "stranded in Anchorage."