Chasing the Sun

Today has been an incredible day! After feeding the cows at my aunt and uncle's house, we headed out to meet up with the Steever's for lunch at IKEA! We had a great time catching up and I was so happy to see them before my Alaskan adventure. Wished Sharla could have been there. :)

I had a few butterflies before leaving IKEA, but it really hit me when we were on the way to the airport. I don't think I've ever been as apprehensive, nervous, and almost scared as I was at that point. My hands were shaking when I checked my bags.  A few tears were shed when my family watched me go through security. I still couldn't believe that this adventure was actually happening! I'm sure I looked a nervous wreck waiting to board and even after I took my seat on the plane. (I think my face says it in this picture..a little uncertainty! :) )







After take off we had about an hour and a half of turbulence (not too severe) which meant I had to wait to go to the bathroom after too many cups of coffee! That may have had something to do with my nerves! After the first 2 hours, I began chatting with the lady next to me who was heading to Alaska for a cruise! She was originally from Nova Scotia, lived 30 years in Bethel, CT (I thought that was ironic) and currently lives in Florida. Donna also enjoys the show 2 and a Half Men which she watched on her Ipad. I enjoyed listening to her laugh while she watched it and sang with the theme song! :) She and I talked about so many things, which helped to calm me down.

I also had a window seat! So between chatting with my new friend Donna and looking at the scenery I finally started to BELIEVE that everything would be ok!

 

The pictures above are over Alaska near the end of the trip (if you look closely you can see frost on the window!).  It was quite an enjoyable trip, although there apparently was quite a bit of unexpected turbulence.  Our pilot kept us well-informed of the weather and landforms we flew over. I found out from Donna that he was an astronaut and here's a link to his biography!

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/brown-c.html

At 10:55pm central time (7:55pm Alaska standard time) we finally touched down in Anchorage, and it is incredibly beautiful!

I was so excited to actually be in Anchorage that I did not take as many pictures as I should have, but I will take many more tomorrow when my brain is functioning on more sleep!  Our family friend Jeff picked me up from the airport and I had leftover halibut for supper once we arrived at his house (his wife makes amazing food and I was hungry)!

I am so happy now to finally be here and know that everything will be spectacular! Before I ramble on too much though I think it's about time for bed.  My body thinks it's 2am! So have a great rest of your night and I will add more pictures and updates tomorrow..err later today! :)