Alaska Day 1 (Saturday June 12)

 

Days 1: E-ville to Anchorage (June 12)

Weather Report: Same in E-ville and Anchorage: little wind, temps in the mid 60s, and very clear. Hmmm….2000 air miles apart from south to north.

Quote of the Day: It's a Covid world after all

 

Sing along with THB (loudly, to drown out THB's croak of a singing voice) to the tune of It's A Small World:

 

It's a world of laughter
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware
It's a Covid world after all

 

Department of Medicine: In the last few months THB has abandoned his Necrotizing Myositis drug (Imuran) and gone to plan C, infusions of Rituxan, done in May. The jury is out, still no word on effectiveness. In meantime, THB is almost off prednisone and has signed up with the NIH to join a study for those with this illness. That means a trip to Johns Hopkins (Baltimore) in August for tests and meeting Dr M, the leader of the study. Even better, Dr D (THB's rheumy) has been consulting with Dr M for an informed second opinion. It is possible that the cause was not statins, it is genetic. They have found a few people that have the same antibodies as THB that have never been on statins.

 

Department of Accounting: 

THB and DB finally caught something strange on our AMEX bill: a number of exactly $14 charges from Amazon Prime Shipping Club on the monthly statements. Turns out it is a "thing" as a search on the internet and calls to both Amazon and AMEX verified they were not generated by Amazon and now AMEX is researching it for us. The monthly charge for being an Amazon Prime member is $14.22, just close enough and easy to miss if your AMEX charges run to multiple pages on the statements. One solution: cancel you AMEX cards and have new ones issued (unlinked to the old numbers). That will be easier to do when we are back in E-Ville.

 

proof we have made it to AK

And: This is state #50 for both THB and DB. And, this is the 5^th or 6^th time we have attempted a trip here. Phew, done!

 

Department of Climatology: In case you haven't heard about or read it yet, there's an excellent dystopian novel out on climate change, Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson. Barely a novel, it is mostly what will happen soon (next 20 years) to the planet and how countries adapt to implementing huge changes to abate the tsunami to come. The science seems right, the level of cooperation on reducing carbon and implementing mitigating impacts on civilization as we know it seems pretty far-fetched (yet necessary) to THB. Not for everyone, yet it is well written and great if you an optimist. One are where there is no real hope: reducing the impact on the oceans, and not addressed in the book (THB's guess: there is no plausible scientific silver bullet, let alone an imaginary one, for this problem). 

 

Department of the Realities of Travel in a Covid World:

·      THB managed to crack the screen of his travel pc by packing it in an over-stuffed carry-on, bulky with mid-calf boots for the days we are traveling in muddy conditions, and then attempting to put in a too-narrow overhead bin. It is unclear if THB will be able to post if his computer acts up!

·      THB’s Rick Steve bag is missing a part that makes the back-pack straps stay in the correct position. The bag is at least 30 years old (maybe 40) and this is the first thing that has gone wrong with it, even with heavy usage. Its twin is back in E-ville.

 

Sandy on her and THB's workout bench

Department of Animal Control: Sandy is getting to spend a week with a dog sitter (C picks her up, along with several other dogs, to spend time with C’s grandma in Stockton), then a week with LB and one with KB. Will she recognize DB when we return?

 

It is relatively empty at Oakland airport, the small plane is full

Fly out of Oakland, LB is our uber driver (and in exchange we provide Arizmendi). There is practically nobody in the airport at 9am. Great day for flying: no wind, clear skies! Does it matter if we are TSA pre-check? Nope…

 

Downtown Oakland

The loft in E-ville and the construction of Sherwin-Williams apt buildings

Mt Rainier 

Downtown Seattle

Olympic Peninsula (no, not the one in Japan coming up in July)

Transfer in Seattle: it’s bustling here! Another easy flight, to Anchorage. Meet the Uncruise guy outside baggage claim. Is there another couple or not? Yep, after about 30 minutes, our greeter leaves us at the end of the terminal to go find them, they’ve also been waiting at baggage claim. Turns out they were on our flight also. Since we were in First Class, we got off before them or otherwise we would be the ones calling to find out where our greeter was.

 

Meet the group at the “downtown” Hilton; there are 13 of us traveling to Denali together for the week. We are the only two on the Uncruise vessel departing out of Sitka, the rest are on a larger vessel leaving out of Juneau (will we cross paths somewhere on the Northwest Passage/Glacier Bay route?).

Pics of Alaska, arriving in Anchorage: 

 

We come up with a solution for packing our Alaskan sneakers: buy a tote bag and leave the boots under thebus while visiting Talkeetna and Denali NP.

Arriving at the Anchorage Hilton, we meet Brady, the tour leader, and two of the other couples right inside door. After a briefing, we check in and arrive at the 7pm meet-and-greet for the entire group. One glass of wine for DB and an Alaskan amber ale for THB (included). The bar guy doesn't know the difference between red and white and there are plenty of crackers to go with the industry standard cubes of jack and cheddar: thirteen, one per person. Hmmmm...when they tell you who they are, do you believe them?

The group looks like us: 6 old couples and one guy on his own. Some do look younger than us. Several are still working, most are retirees with a great urge to travel. More gossip later when  THB gets some real knowledge. 

DB gets another glass of white from the hotel bar, $3, and brings it up to the roome dine en suite with leftover cheese and rolls we brought from E-ville and an airlines cookie

And, THB's computer crashes, so it is not clear if there will be any posts for a while; this one is coming from the two free machines somewhere near the lobby of our hotel for the night.