Spokane, winter

It looks as though winter is here. We've had our sticking snow, though it's not really deep yet. It was enough to make the roads bad for a day or two and to remind drivers to slow down and exercise caution. My challenge now is to keep the bird feeders filled.

My new furnace is working well, not constantly running to try to keep up and the house is very comfortable.

The congestion and cough are still with me, almost two months later. I am really tired of it, but I'm at least recovered enough to be able to get some sleep at night.

Fortunately, the worst of it was over when I started my trip to Spokane, Washington, to see my two granddaughters. They live with their dad, stepmother and three little siblings, and I haven't seen them in a number of years.

The trip was very nice to Seattle. My seatmate was an old friend from Toastmasters. We caught up on the news, then napped until we reached Seattle. From there, things went downhill.

We got an announcement the 7 and 8 a.m. flights would be delayed due to fog in Spokane. (I was booked on the 9 a.m. flight.) Both the earlier flights took off a little late and our flight boarded and took off just 10 minutes late. We reached Spokane and saw nothing below us but white clouds. We circled an hour then returned to Seattle. I was able to get a seat on a 12:30 p.m. flight, but we were told almost as soon as we were seated we would not take off until Spokane's weather cleared. We could leave the plane, taking all our carry on items with us, or we could stay onboard. I opted to remain on the plane. I had my tablet with me, we had WiFi access and I had plenty to do.  I phoned my Spokane family and told them to go home, I'd call when I got in or had more information on what was happening. Finally, we left Seattle about 2:40 p.m. We circled Spokane again, for an hour or more, and at last the pilot spotted a hole in the clouds. Everyone on the plane applauded when we touched down. I heard an airport employee say all remaining flights that day had been cancelled. So my 10 a.m. arrival became 4:30 p.m., but I was there.

The rest of the long weekend was fabulous. I reconnected with my granddaughters, now almost 13 and 14. I met their little sister, almost 6, and two brothers, 1 and nearly 4. It's a beautiful family. They welcomed me and made me very comfortable.

I had a wonderful time taking the kids shopping and watching them choose clothes, enjoying their delight in their choices. We went to Red Robin for lunch - none of them had ever been there. I like to eat out at places we don't have in Fairbanks, and I wanted a good hamburger. Red Robin has some of the best! My choice was a guacamole burger with bacon. Certainly not the healthiest thing, but when I'm on vacation I don't look for healthy :)

The next day we visited Riverfront Park, site if the 1974 Expo. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and a little cool. We walked a bit and rode a little train around the park. The engineer pointed out areas of interest and added a little history.



Our train


















Then we visited the historic carousel, which the kids rode. Their smiles were great - they were really enjoying it.

These are some of the other things I saw at Riverfront Park:



I loved the brilliant red of this tree. Most everything was still green.





Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Riverfront Park

On the way home to Loon Lake, we stopped at Dairy Queen, another first for the kids and another special treat for me.

The weekend was over all too soon, and I had to come back home. I had a great time and plan to repeat the trip sometime in the not-too-distant future. The flight back was uneventful and it hadn't snowed yet, so I was able to finish up the last of the end-of-summer/fall stuff.

Now that winter's here, I've started going back online into the genealogy archives, trying to track down some elusive ancestors. Looking forward to some pretty photo ops and an easy winter. Stay well.



Denali on the train

At the end of my week off in September, my friend Mae and I took our annual trip to Denali on the Alaska Railroad. I love the ride - four hours of beautiful scenery, eating in the dining car, relaxing in the comfortable seats and reading the Nook. I've decided that I prefer the park in September over May. In May, the leaves aren't fully out yet and it looks too much like winter. In September, the colors are all out - vivid reds, brilliant golds and the dark green of the spruce trees all make a gorgeous palette.

For the first 12 or more years, Mae and I were among the very lucky park visitors who get to see the mountain - Mt. McKinley. Bus drivers in the park say only 25% get to see it, so we felt very fortunate to see this enormous snow-covered peak so often. However, I think the law of averages has finally caught up to us. This year made the third year in a row it's been shrouded in clouds and not visible to us.

This year we only saw two squirrels - no moose, no caribou, no bears, no Dall sheep. But the colors and the scenery were awesome. We did see two moose cows, one with twins and one with one calf; two pairs of swans and a large flock of sandhill cranes flying out as the train made its way back to Fairbanks.

Here are a few of my favorites:



A low-lying fog bank moves in from Savage Canyon below Mt. Margaret's fall colors.





Even the weeds are pretty!



Savage River from the park road.



Healy Canyon & Nenana River from the train.

Two days after we got back I developed bronchitis that hung on for almost three weeks. Am finally feeling much better, able to get some sleep and only coughing a little.

I will be heading to Spokane, Washington, soon to visit my two granddaughters, who live with their dad. I haven't seen them in many years and am really looking forward to seeing them. Then, maybe, I'll stay home for a while and forget packing, trudging through airports and strange beds.

I went to the store early this morning. The sunrise was gorgeous; there was a cute little dog walking his human; Jimmy Buffet was on the CD player and there was no line at the store. Life is good. Happy October everyone.