The 22 hour day

Monday morning we awake at 2:30 to make our 5:15 flight. Between the hotel beds and the excitement for the upcoming journey, we got little sleep.  After an uneventful check-in and boarding, we found ourselves on the red-eye to Chicago.  We had some anxiety about the flight from Chicago to Anchorage because we were unable to check-in either online or in Philly due to an inability for American Airlines to communicate with Alaska Airlines.  But with a sigh of relief, we were able to get our boarding passes at the gate 15 minutes before boarding time.

The flight to Anchorage was completely packed. How many of these people, we wondered, are heading towards a cruise ship?  Up until the last hour and half the scenery was pretty boring - just miles and miles of agriculture and little ponds with some scattered snow coverage. Then we started to hit the foothills. The Canadian Rockies? I assume so. My Canadian geography is rocky at best (see what I did there?).

About an hour from Anchorage the mountains turned snowy and huge!  Breath-taking scenery took over - snow capped peaks, teal blue frozen lakes, seemingly tiny icebergs floating in rivers, snow melt waterfalls, and distant peaks.  Finally at 1pm (5pm Eastern time) we landed in Anchorage.  Amazingly as we arrived, we were able to see Mt McKinley in the distance.  We were told how fortunate we were to see this. Well it certainly was spectacular. Anchorage itself is an interesting mix of 1950's city and mountain town, with spectacular mountain ranges surrounding it everywhere you look.

Princess met us at baggage claim and swept us off to The Hotel Captain Cook. Unfortunately our rooms wouldn't be ready for another hour.  *Sigh* Not surprisingly, we were beginning to fade. Mom was the first to succumb. "I must have a decent meal NOW".  Happily prior research on TripAdvisor helped us find a wonderful wine bar close to the hotel, "Crush". So the first crisis was adverted with a light meal of empanadas and meatballs. Tea instead of wine was the wiser choice. Walking back to the hotel refreshed we checked in.

The next to fall was Joe. Puttering around in a fog Catherine suggested he take a nap and she and Alise went for a walk. Alise bird watched by the harbor and Catherine sat and took in the view of the mountains. Returning to the hotel to find Joe refreshed we went for a drink and snack on the 20th floor.

If we could make it to 10:30 Anchorage time we'd be up for 24 hours...  Too bad, this time Alise hit the wall. Sitting at the bar she was too tired to respond to the fellow hitting on her...   Oh, well, we all hit the sack at 8:30 Alaska time and dreamed of adventures in Denali.