On the Way 6/7/14

Danny here. With my fingers crossed, I'll say that this has been my easiest and thus best airport travel experience ever.  We had no trouble getting the bike boxes in our friend Lindsay's car, no issues checking said boxes, and no trouble getting a taxi or the driver finding Tam's friend Sarah's house.  This travel experience has been so good, in fact, that I saw the sun rise in the west, not an everyday occurance.  On our longest flight, from San Francisco to Anchorage, we had adjacent window and middle seats in the exit row!  Extra legroom!  Tam read for a little bit then went to sleep, but I've never been much of a plane sleeper so I stayed up to read and watch the clouds below.  I was on the right side of the plane, meaning I was watching the fluffy white sea stretch to the eastern horizon.  Even facing away from the sun, the colors were incredible after we took off, a light blue on the horizon darkening progressively above to orange, red, then a dark gray.  The show initially faded as the sun set, but I noticed a gradual lightening as we flew north.  Finally I saw the reflection of the sun on the jet; it had risen once again in the west!  By the time we descended in Anchorage, the sunset was giving its full show, complete with alpenglow on the snowy peaks and a whole range of hues on the western horizon.  I felt welcomed immediately to Alaska, choosing to ignore the fact that the sun is so low on the horizon for the whole night at this latitude that the sunset and subsequent sunrise are, together, hours long.  After a few hours of sleep, we headed back to the airport and were greeted by a fantastic sunrise.  I like this place!  We are now waiting to depart from Anchorage.  On to Fairbanks, then Deadhorse!

In Anchorage, we picked up a few packages some friends had mailed.  Many thanks to Otto and Rebekah for their generous gift of medications, and for Tam's mom for managing to get her prescription sunglasses here on time.