Home!

Arriving at the ANC airport at 10 this morning, we found our gate at Pen Air overflowing with people awaiting several flights to Unalaska.   Yes, it's that time of year when the processors are bringing in lots of workers.   There were no empty seats and people sitting all over the floor (and what is it with those who ignore all of the crowds and go to sleep across three seats or pile all of their belongings where someone could be sitting?!)   We were on weather hold till 2:30 and were beginning to make plans in our heads for staying overnight.   Two planes left while ours was still on weather hold, which made no sense whatsoever!   Eventually our flight was announced ready for boarding and off we went, with a very bumpy ascension over the Anchorage area, soon leveling out and the rest of the ride was smooth sailing (so to speak).   After a stop at King Salmon for fuel, we came into foggy skies around Unalaska and an admonition from the co-pilot that we would try to land when we had our chance but if it didn't work, we would be going back to Anchorage.   You know how disheartening that possibility is when you have already spent 3 hours and 20 minutes in the air and you realize that there's a chance it's all for naught and you might have to spend 3 more hours in the same plane only to return to the big city for the night!   I was scared to even look out the window because it was hard to tell where we were and I was hoping the pilot could see well enough to make good decisions!   But no worries, he put the plane right down and we were  home.

The kitties were happy to see us and didn't even run and hide from us as they tend to do when we have been gone for weeks on end.   We had dinner at Amelia's and stopped by the hotel to pick up our big box of mail.   I am enjoying reading through the Christmas cards that came while we were out, and I did get a nice invitation to the Presidential Inauguration--too bad I can't go but I'll add it to my other election year keepsakes for the kids and grandkids to have someday.  :)

Back to the routine tomorrow.   Another great vacation done.

Brrrrrrrr! Back to Anchorage

Coit Tower and the neighborhood around our hotel last night.

Mt. Ranier from the airplane today.


It's snowing in Anchorage!

Up early this morning and off to the airport for our flights from San Francisco to Seattle and Seattle to Anchorage. Long day but fairly uneventful except for a little bit of turbulence coming in tonight, and then we sat on the plane for 25 more minutes because the ground crew could not get the jetway to connect with the plane properly due to the cold. Finally, we all exited out the back of the plane and walked across the snowy runway to the terminal. We are staying in the vicinity of the airport, no vehicle, so just walked a short distance to a restaurant for dinner and brought some pie back to our room for later. It was 27 degrees when we arrived and I'm sure the temp has dropped some more~

Hopefully we will be home tomorrow, weather and Pen Air permitting. :)

We love San Francisco!

Wind power all along the highway back to the city.

We drove back in from Mariposa this morning, encountering quite a bit of fog for the first hour or so, then smooth sailing the rest of the way. We pricelined another hotel (we have done great with priceline on this trip!), the Hilton in the Financial District, right next to Chinatown. They let us check in early and they even have free wireless in the room, which has been hard to find lately! We returned the rental car and walked to the cable car for a ride to Chinatown. It was such a warm day! Did not even feel like January. We had a fabulous Chinese lunch, then walked back to the hotel so I could do some work (bummer! it's vacation, isn't it??!)

Who knew that Rich had a side business in San Francisco?


Sights in Chinatown


Later, we went back out for another walk so we could soak up the last of the sunshine.


People waiting for the bus

Still later, we walked around the corner to have dinner at a cute little Italian place. The Italian-speaking staff were friendly as can be, the food was delicious and we had to try the panna cotta even though we were stuffed. Their bakery display case was full of more goodies.

We've really enjoyed our several stays in San Francisco. It's such a vibrant city with so many interesting neighborhoods, lots to do, great public transportation, cool markets and shops, nice weather...

Now we are trying to re-pack for the plane tomorrow and hoping we are not over the weight limit! I hear Unalaska's had snow and bad weather so who knows what our chances look like for arrival home on Wednesday. Tomorrow we go as far as Anchorage (hopefully) and will spend the night there. Oh yeah, we still need to priceline another room!

Winding down

Just a few more photos to catch up on the last couple of days of our trip.

We drove by on the way out of town and got a few more shots of the Palace of Fine Arts.












I liked these tiled steps going into a house nearby.































Hannah collected water for her science project when we stopped at a beach along the coast road. It wasn't working too well with shoes on, so off they came. Hope her mom doesn't get upset when she sees these!
:)









































With Rich's sister, Vesta












We took Hannah and her friend Maria out for lunch at a Mexican place.



We arrived in Mariposa yesterday afternoon to deliver Hannah back home and to visit with Rich's ex-wife Joy and family. We had a lot of fun with grandkids Hayden, (twins) Emily and Cody, and new baby Buddy along with Rich's stepkids Sara and William and William's wife Stephanie. Nana Jean filled us up with some great homemade soup and bread. Today we picked up Hannah and her friend Maria so we could hang out with them a little bit, had some lunch and did a little bit of browsing in some of the local shops before taking them back home and saying our goodbyes.

We are hoping for an early start tomorrow morning, going back to San Francisco for one more night and then flying all the way to Anchorage on Tuesday. Hopefully we will not have any big trouble getting home to Unalaska on Wednesday. Another vacation draws to a close! We always love our trips, visiting people and new places and having some relaxing time. It's always good to go home, though, and we are about ready to get back to our routine, see how our cats are doing, check the big box of mail that's waiting for us, and settle in to our regular life on our little island.

Happy Birthday, Susan!

I am not sure how it's possible that my BABY, my youngest, is 26 years old today! Happy Birthday, Susan, and we hope you have a great year ahead. I have lots of cute photos from years gone by that I will post when I get home...most of them are old (read: before digital) and have to be scanned first. I did not think about that before we left on vacation, so you will have a late retrospective in a few more days.

We love you lots and will talk with you soon.
Mom and Rich xoxoxoxox

Traveling

We left San Francisco on Thursday afternoon, took the scenic route along the coast for part of the way, enjoying the beautiful view of the ocean and beaches. Hannah has been keeping a journal for school and we also stopped to fill a bottle with ocean water to take back for microscopic examination. The drive to Kingsburg took longer than expected and we arrived at Rich's sister Vesta's just in time to wolf down big bowls of chili and buttery squares of cornbread she had ready for us. Yum! We've mostly taken it easy here, relaxing, chatting, reminiscing, playing Sorry and Life and Jenga with Hannah, looking at old photos and family keepsakes. And going out to eat, which is a given, I suppose...! :)

We helped Vesta set up her own blog, Vesta's Vista, so we will be looking forward to further adventures and lots of posts, Vesta!

Today we are hitting the road again, taking Hannah home to Mariposa and visiting some more of her family till Monday.

How far did you say it was?

The view from our hotel room this morning.


From the bus window in the Haight.


The rainforest at the Academy of Sciences.


Some of the amazing and beautiful marine life in the science academy.




Giant cockroaches, not so beautiful but maybe amazing in their survival skills.


Hannah and Jane at the Science Academy.

Part of the living roof


Cable car ride

View of the city


Tea and crumpets


Oh my gosh, we finally made it to the Palace of Fine Arts and Exploratorium!




We've had a busy day and are awaiting a pizza delivery because we are all pooped and don't want to go out again! Left the hotel this morning and walked to an IHOP for breakfast, then took a long, scenic bus ride through the city to Golden Gate Park and the California Academy of Sciences. It is billed as "the only place on the planet where you can explore an aquarium, planetarium and natural history museum under one roof." We enjoyed the many species of marine life in the aquarium and climbed to the top of the building to see the "living roof," an expanse of 2.5 acres growing plants, grasses and flowers. It's not necessarily in all of its glory in January but we could imagine how gorgeous it must be in the spring and summer. We wanted to experience the rainforest exhibit and the planetarium but the lines were exceedingly long with lots of school kids on field trips and we had several other things we wanted to do today so we decided to let those go.

Riding in a cab and then catching the historic cable car to the wharf area, we walked to Ghirardelli Square for afternoon tea at The Crown and Crumpet. Finger sandwiches, scones, crumpets, cookies and cupcakes, along with hot chocolate for Hannah and hot tea for Rich and me definitely hit the spot after walking in the cold. From there, our plan was to make it to the Exploratorium before it closed at 5 PM. Rich looked at his map and decided it was not too far to walk. An hour or more later, and many blocks under our tired feet, we had still not arrived. By then, we were in a nice residential area which contained no bus stops, trolley lines, or the presence of any taxis so we just kept walking. We could see the Exploratorium ahead but it seemed like it was still very far away. We considered writing it off and going back to the hotel but Hannah pointed us forward and off we went. We finally made it at 20 till 5 after leaving our afternoon tea at 3:30 or so. We were considering whether it was even worthwhile to pay an entrance fee and go in for a few minutes when we saw a sign stating that admission was free today! Yippee! We made the best of those 20 minutes, that's for sure! The Exploratorium is a really cool place with many hands-on activities and experiments to try. We certainly wished we had made it earlier in the day but at least we had time to walk through and do a few things.

Rich promised us we did not have to walk all the way back to the hotel--LOL. We caught the bus and on the ride back we were amazed at how far we had actually walked today. The bus dropped us off right near our hotel, thank goodness. Our pizza came while I was writing this, and Rich and Hannah are watching "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" from their beds. Tomorrow we rent a car and head down the highway to Rich's sister Vesta's home in Kingsburg.