Hello again from Alaska! I'm back!! Just to visit this time though. :)
I just arrived in sunny Alaska last night. In fact, it was sunnier at 10:30 pm when I landed than at 7:30 pm when I left Seattle; though that was mostly due to the amount of clouds rather than the amount of sun. This flight was only my second time flying by myself, and I was very fortunate that nothing too crazy happened. Everyone seemed to be in a very good mood at Sea-Tac - smiling, joking and even speaking in a sing-song-y voice once or twice. I wonder if they all just got a bonus or something??
The only 'mishap' (if you can even call it that) is that my flight to Portland (where I was supposed to have a 45 minute layover) was delayed twice, until eventually I was supposed to land 5 minutes after boarding for my next flight. As a result, they transferred me and a few others on to a direct flight to Fairbanks! I ended leaving an hour later and arriving 40 minutes earlier - all for the same price!
One thing that I noticed right away is that this is not the same place I left. I left snow and dark. Now it is super green and sunny. Alaska has been experiencing a heat wave (90+ degree temperatures). It is bringing me back to when we first arrived, because I really only saw 1-2 weeks of Summer before Fall started.
With the heat comes mosquitoes. When they say there are a lot of mosquitoes, there are a lot of mosquitoes. :) The bug spray works great though!
One of the things I was looking forward to most was meeting Tali, my 'niece'. Tali is adorable! And energetic. And still a puppy even though she doesn't always look like it.
The house is actually full of animals now. Tali (the dog) and Smelly (the cat) of course, but Nuna (a dog) is here visiting for a week or so, and Leo (a cat) is also visiting. So, it is a full house and I love it! We took the dogs for a walk and we each got to hold one, it's great!
Since so much has changed (weather outside and decor inside) it is so odd being back. It's like I'm in a memory, but the memory has changed. I don't always have the best memory, so it's interesting to see what I do and don't remember. For example, I looked at the light switch for the bathroom and could not consciously remember which was the light, but I just let my arm do what it wanted to do and I was correct. Same for the bedroom light, as I was walking into the room I couldn't remember where the light was, but while my brain was thinking this my arm accurately turned the light on even though it was behind the door and dark in the room. Yay for muscle memory! It's odd... I've been gone longer than I was here... but I was still here for a substantial amount of time. As weird as it feels to step back in time, it is great and I'm very happy to be here so far!!
Best part: Laura said she hasn't seen a moose in months, yet on our drive to campus today there was one grazing on grass right by the road. I think he was welcoming me back! :)
