We woke up early and were greeted by brand new sunrise versions of our beautiful view from our Southerly facing room:
Not hard to take!
I had realized a few days earlier ( so much for my months of planning and endless itinerary writing!) that our ride to the airport would be a bit longer than other rides we’d taken this trip: the mileage door to door was 222 and change, and according to Google maps would take us 4 hours and 19 minutes. ::deep breath:: OK!
Lots of GOOD news: A nice clear morning which was a little overcast, so easy viewing …. got to see all that fabulous scenery all over again …. and, we left in plenty of time to get to the airport. I did set the GPS … even though there aren’t very many turns and it’s pretty difficult to screw up the ride, but here’s the odd thing: At one of the FEW turns, Tallulah (my GPS) was as _silent as the grave!__ The sign at the intersection was quite clear in the direction we should choose …
(Don’t get confused, Alaskan locals, we were actually at the intersection of Route 1 North / South and Route 9) We _were_ on the road to Anchorage, but … confused as to why we weren’t directed to make this turn? Thank God I’m intelligent, and chose correctly!
While I drove toward Anchorage (and my passengers snoozed 😉 ), I ruminated about this trip. Honestly, attempting to visit all of the 50 states has been challenging, fun, a great cocktail party conversation starter, and overall incredible. I continue because I yearn to accomplish the task, and feel very confident that I will do so. Despite the “)%&)_#$*)@!” heat wave, I very much enjoyed seeing Seattle … loved seeing Mike again (and meeting Darlene), and ABSOLUTELY ADORED finally meeting Katy (& Scott). But visiting Alaska, in my very humble opinion, was a life altering experience. A switch somewhere deep inside me flipped “on” in Alaska. People curious about my 50 States Quest often ask, “What’s your favorite state?” I have high praise for Hawaii, with its own brand of jaw-dropping scenery, and which contained a lot of friend-generated unique experiences (Thank you, BBD!), but I feel like Alaska has permanently moved into the #1 position. I will visit Nevada & Arizona in August, and (someday) Kentucky, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Montana ……. but I cannot imagine anywhere topping the majesty, the scenery, the wildlife, the sheer size, the very AIR of Alaska. It blows my mind that I’ve only now seen a small portion of the 49th State. I will certainly make the time to finish seeing all 50 of the Nifty United States, but I will hope that a return to Alaska will someday be possible.
A couple of random & odd (who, ME???) left over photos … At breakfast on the morning of our Kenai Fjords National Park Tours cruise, this was the artwork hanging on the wall of the restaurant:
LOL _NOT_ exactly what you want to see just before boarding any kind of water vessel. (Oh, THAT’S why I had extra anxiety before the cruise!)
And … here’s the ONLY MOOSE we saw in person in Alaska:
Yeah. Taxidermy at the Anchorage Airport. LOL ( All good … just another reason to return! 🙂 )
It was a long, long travel day that began in Homer, AK at 6:45 AM (Alaska Daylight Time) on Friday, and ended in Newark, NJ at 6:30 AM (Eastern Daylight TIme) on Saturday, but it was an unforgettable vacation!
I often share posts on social media from a site called the Power of Positivity, and I shared the following recently, because it resonated so deeply with me:
Agreed! Thanks for reading — and, for traveling with us, too — friends! 🙂