Chad has been working in Seward, Alaska for fifty-six years
(or three weeks, I no longer remember) and the kids and I are flying to
Anchorage tomorrow morning so we can be together for the next two weeks. I hope
you join us for our Alaska adventure—I plan on having a bear encounter like
this one: (click here to watch the magic), I also plan on realizing my dream to
be the Iditarod Champion of the World. That dream is about four days old, but
it’s a dream all the same. And we will finally get to visit the town of Kenai, where
Chad lived as a teenager.
This afternoon, my sister Leah drove us to our hotel in SeaTac.
We have to be at the airport at 4:00 AM tomorrow, and a hotel next to the
airport is the easiest way to do that when I don’t have my favorite traveling
buddy with me. It was evident that the lack of Chad throws me off my game when
we couldn't find the Sheraton where I made reservations.
“It should be right here,” I said as we passed the Ramada.
“Maybe it’s up ahead,” Leah said and we drove a couple more
blocks.
When it was clearly not up ahead, we headed back in the
direction of the Ramada, which, according to my map, was right next to the Sheraton.
I told everyone to help me look for a Sheraton. Nobody saw one.
That’s because it’s not there. I made reservations at the
Ramada.
I hope that wasn’t a harbinger of things to come in terms of
my aptitude for smooth traveling.
After hugging Leah goodbye, and asking her not to kill
herself (or anyone else) on her way back to Olympia, the kids and I checked in
to our room. They went out on their traditional hotel exploration and when they
returned, we ordered pizza and watched War of the Worlds while we ate.
We went down to the pool and the kids swam until the number
of strangers swimming with them exceeded their level of comfort. I
only heard a couple complaints about swimming in the “cloudy plutonium water”
and “nuclear waste.” Otherwise, they had a lot of fun. On the way back to the
room, Ali told me the following story:
She said, “I was hanging out in the pool and Ashley said, ‘Hey
Ali, eat my Band-Aid,’ and then she shoved a soggy, wet, wadded-up Band-Aid in
my mouth and I screamed and fell backwards. As I was floating there,
traumatized, Jackson said, ‘and to top it off…. Toe Delight!’ and stuck his
toes in my mouth. So I screamed and drowned.”
Now that they've showered and washed off the nuclear waste,
we are in bed watching TV, counting the hours until we see Chad.
Alaska Fact #1:
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is a famous 1,000 mile race
from Anchorage to Nome. The record was set in 2011 by John Quniaq Baker in a
time of 8 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds, soon to be beat by me.
The Niemeyers (minus one)
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