North, to Alaska!

Doug has been going up to Anchorage, Alaska once a month for work for the last few months. He finally talked me into going. I just got back at 7am and I am tired from a sleepless night on the airplane and really wanting to go back. I had a fabulous time. I got there late Thursday night. You should have seen Doug's face when he saw me. It kind of felt like we were sneaking off together, meeting him in a place so unfamiliar. We woke up pretty early on Friday because even though I was there, he still had to work. I hung out in his office during the morning just reading a book. We then headed to lunch at Boston's, a fun pizza place. He still needed to work, so being the good husband he is, he dropped me off at the, get this, 5 story mall! Come on girls, a 5 story mall with no kids, I didn't know where to start. I was there for several hours, and had so much fun just looking around. There were so many interesting things. Doug eventually tore me away from there so we could go out on the town. We ended up going to the Alaska State Fair. Now, I know what you are thinking...the fair? But we had fun. I think the thing was that we were together so it didn't really matter what we did. We saw some huge pumpkins, cabbage, old tractors, ate some funnel cakes and some yummy miniature donuts. Although it did rain on us it didn't last very long. There is one thing I can say about Alaska. It is NOT cheap. Holy cow, I didn't really buy much of anything because everything was just so dang expensive. Did I mention that they had fur stores all over the place? I should've gone and tried some on. Saturday was kind of an up and down day. I had done everything I needed to do to get my Temple recommend renewed the night before I left, dragging all my kids with me, so we could go through the temple while I was there. We got up, got ready, headed for the temple, got out of the car, took a few pictures, got inside, and had to turn around and leave. Doug didn't realize that HIS recommend was expired. Don't give him too hard of a time, he felt absolutely terrible. Especially when I started to cry. I was just disappointed. I could feel how bad he felt and his entire domineer changed. But, lesson learned, and we moved on. We decided to just go change and go for a drive. Now, there really isn't anything special about Anchorage itself. But once you head out of town, it is breathtaking. The mountains are spectacular and the water was perfectly still with their reflections. I took so many pictures that they started to all look the same. We were feeling a little adventurous so we headed to "Alpine Flights." Which gives helicopter tours. We shrugged our shoulders and said "why not?" When are we ever going to have a chance like this again? We hopped into the helicopter, put our head gear on (which I loved, no really I did!) and took off. I can't even describe how magnificent it was. Doug and I were both gitty. I mean, we saw things that we didn't really know about and things that we had only seen on the Discovery Channel. The pictures I took really don't do it justice. We were just trying to take it all in. There was so much to see. I will try to describe the pictures I download. At one point, our pilot, Keith, landed on this ridge of one of the mountains so we could get out, look around, and of course take pictures. It was one of the coolest things Doug and I have ever done. I highly recommend doing it, it is so choice!! (any Ferris Bueller fans?)

When we got done with that we got something to eat at this rundown little restaurant with the best french dip sandwiches I have ever had. Then we just got in the car and drove, and drove, and drove. We got out of the car and walked around a little checking out a few sights. We drove a little more and ended up in the town of Seward. Cute little town with a lot of people. We walked around the little shops, had some Gelato and headed back to Anchorage. What a day!

Sunday was very layed back. We found out what time church started and where but when we got there, there was not one single car in the parking lot, not one. We found out where there was another building with a meeting at the same time, so we booked it over there. We got inside and HELLO SINGLES WARD! Yeah, we felt a little silly. But we were there and didn't want to go searching for a different place again, so we just stayed. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We just hung out together. We didn't even have that much to say, which doesn't mean anything bad, we didn't have to talk, we just existed, together. AAHHHH!

I had a remarkable time!