Alaska 2020-Day10

Today started EARLY! There must have been a blood-hungry mosquito in our room last night because even my bites have bites. I should’ve started collecting carcasses at the beginning of this trip so I could have a cute little mosquito pelt coat ala Cruella DeVille. 

We pried everyone out of bed for our 5:30 boat launch to go salmon fishing. This particular activity was Mr. Bullington’s idea. I know you are shocked by that. We’d actually had quite a time booking this outing. The outfitter that we’d originally planned to go with canceled on us and we rebooked with another company who could only take us out toward the end of our trip as opposed to the beginning which meant I had to reverse our itinerary and completely rebook our entire trip 2-weeks before we left. Wheee! Happy fun times!  But actually, not that hard since not many folks are traveling these days. I didn’t really understand the game, but apparently King Salmon just finished their run upstream to do it and die and Sockeyes are set go against the flow any day now. Unfortunately, that day was not today. We fished and fished and fished and then fished. Perhaps we scared all of the fish away with our Thomas. He started out loud and strong as he is wont to do, but after a misstep followed by an unintended  polar bear plunge into the glacier fed river, he decided that fishing was the worst thing ever. Our guide Jeff, took us up river in a zippy little boat to all the fishing holes, he changed out our lures, he gave us different poles, we tried fishing on one side of the river then on the other side, NOT. ONE. FISH. But, it was a pretty morning! And we saw an eagle fly down the river and I am pretty sure I spotted a Lynx.  

Picture perfect morning! Ready to catch all the fish!

What happy, hopeful people! Optimism, be damned! 

Doppelganger: Dan Owens

Only this girl would cast with a jazz hand

Fishing: The World's Okayest Sport

Hard Core, for now. 

GoPro poised to capture the capture.....

Just the girls! And, photographic proof that I was there! 

So tired by day 10. 

It was a disappointing fishing day to say the least and a double bummer that our trip was approaching an end. I say this every year, but this trip has been my favorite and I am not ready to go home. For the last 10 days we've gotten to chill and slow down and escape from the 2020 dumpster fire.   We aren’t as sick of each other as we normally are at the end of a road trip, and that is just a Christmas miracle because we’ve had SO MUCH TOGETHERNESS these past few months. Maybe the RV is the secret to happy travels? Our flight leaves at 10:30 pm and we finished fishing around noon. That means we had some time to kill. After scrounging around for what food was left in the RV, we headed to Anchorage. It took about 2 hours to get there and ya’ll, I was able to use that travel time to pack everyone, and strip the beds, and clean out the fridge without the stress of having to vacate a hotel room or rental car. I even washed the dishes with running water while riding down the ROAD! Thank you, George Jetson!

An RV Still Life: Books, Bugspray, empty wine glass and wooden weapon crafted by a mystery Bullington. Who could it be???

Alaska is a magnificent state. She is HUGE and inhabited by the kindest, loviest people. They welcomed us and were so grateful for our business. They've been economically destroyed by the lack of a cruise industry and it was sad to see so many shuttered businesses. But, they are a sturdy people. You kinda  have to be to live in a state where the temperature can plummet to -60! And, it goes without saying that they think we are a bunch of wussies, but they didn't let it show, and I am grateful for their lack of judginess. We could all learn to be a little less judgy, amiright?   We handed over the keys to our beloved Minnie Winnie. I wish she could be my souvenir from Alaska, plus my sled dog nativity, of course. 

I'm pretty sure he's doing it wrong, but how does one slurp a slushie during these uncertain times? 

We arrived at the the airport and found the one restaurant that was open. We settled in right next to a bunch of really cussy dudes that have been out for months on a fishing boat and can only communicate in words that begin in "F", not fart, the other one.  

A $5 investment in a magazine that featured Harry Styles and my girl was HOOKED! 

Bye, Alaska! Or, as they say in Alaska, Bye, Alaska!

Finally, we started the LONG ride home. It took 5 hours, 1 layover, and 2 more hours, for us to arrive in our blessed town. Every other year I can't wait to tear through the city limits to sit on my porch and catch up with my neighbors. But this year it's different. I love my town, but she's a bit torn, she's divided, she's a little rough around the edges.  But, I'm going to focus on her history of unity and acceptance. "Be Somebody". I love that we have a history of people respectfully living with people no matter who they vote for or what they believe. Leaders making tough desisions and being respected even when you don't agree.  We are all a big afghan of experiences. You may not know me, I may not know you, but we are part of the human family. And, I'm just gonna lay this right here because some of y'all need to memorize this. Hate is Hate and Love is Love. It's not hard. I mispoke, it is hard. But, we can do hard things. And we must do hard things. We are betta in the 'retta. What if we all hunkered down and worked through this together? You in? Are you in to not judge me because I pay for a country club membership and I'm white? Are you in not to question my motives because I am black? What if you didn't judge me because I took a nice vacation that I saved for all year? What if you didn't judge me because I left my kids at home alone because I had to work to buy them food?  Are you in not to judge me because I feel safest in my home until we have a vaccine? Are you in to accept your neighbors who chat with each other on the street without a mask? Are you in to be kind to the guy without a mask who might've forgotten it at home? Can you not be ugly to me if I stay home from church because crowds scare me? Can you be nice if I just don't know who to vote for?  Y'all, We are betta. You can be a divider or a unifier.  Ask yourself, Do you divide or unify? It's your choice.
We are betta, but we need to prove it. 

The Human Family

I note the obvious differences

In the human family.

Some of us are serious,

Some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived

As true profundity,

And others claim they really live

The real reality.

The variety of our skin tones

Can confuse, bemuse, delight,

Brown and pink and beige and purple,

Tan and blue and white.

I've sailed upon the seven seas

And stopped in every land,

I've seen the wonders of the world

Not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women

Called Jane and Mary Jane,

But I've not seen any two

Who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different

Although their features jibe,

And lovers think quite different thoughts

While lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,

We weep on England's moors,

And laugh and moan in Guinea,

And thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,

Are born and die in Maine.

In minor ways we differ,

In major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences

Between each sort and type,

But we are more alike, my friends,

Than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,

Than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,

Than we are unalike.

-Maya Angelou

Alaska 2020- Day 9

We weren’t in much of a hurry to arise this morning. At the risk of sounding redundant, this is the first trip we’ve taken where I have actually felt like it was vacation. The fact that we DON'T have to repack and unpack and load and unload the car every day is the bees knees! I had to pick up a few grocery items this morning and stumbled upon this majestic market! 

I've always felt the Whitlock Kroger was missing something.....

We’d told the children that since this trip had yet to include a presidential library we were going to head to the Alaskan Annex of The William McKinley Presidential Library (not a real thing). We explained that because of his connection to Alaska (Mount McKinley, now Denali), they’d decided to set up additional exhibits in Alaska in addition to his Primary Presidential Library in Ohio. The wee-ones whole-body frowned and whined that they'd thought they were going to make it a whole trip without a presidential library. Bwha-ha-ha!  These were all lies. We think it’s fun to tell lies to our children. Although, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult with the Google. However, our real plan kept getting pushed back because of weather, so we had to keep telling more lies. In the meantime, we walked into Talkeetna to meet with the mayor. Well, we tried to meet with the mayor. He wasn’t home. He lives in a store. He is a cat. And, he’s dead. Rest in peace Stubbs the cat who served as mayor of Talkeetna for 15 years! Now, Talkeetna is really just a historic district run by a council, but the idea of a cat-mayor did perk my interest. Unfortunatly, Stubbs the Mayor-Cat passed away from natural causes after a long life of civil service. Stubbs had exhausted at least 2 of his 9 lives prior to expiring having survived an assassination attempt by an unleashed dog and taking a swim in the deep fryer at the restaurant next door! 

Cute store, no Mayor-Cat. 

I’d heard there was a new cat mayor residing at Nagley’s store but we looked high and low and couldn’t find him or her. Maybe the new cat mayor was out on official town business…..We’ll never know.  

I could live anywhere that sells Peonies out of 5 gallon buckets! 

I'd  planned on going to the little Talkeetna History museum, but, like everything, it was closed. The children bemoaned in unison, "Why, oh Why?!? We really wanted to go to another random hisory museum". 

So, I might've taken some artistic license with that last kid quote. 

Because Thomas had not yet procured a souvenir, when he spied a sidewalk artist, he decided that he would like a Caricature of himself. And he would prefer that this likeness of himself feature him holding a Corgi in one hand and a samurai sword in the other hand. Ne’re the two shall meet. 

I like the way the artist captured adult teeth in a kid head 

We wanted to grab an early dinner so that we wouldn’t be late for our evening activity. The kids were super suspicious and it didn’t help when Mr. Bullington had to go back to the RV to get his GoPro. Charlotte, the most wiley of the Bullington children, inquired why it was necessary to have a GoPro at a presidential library….So we lied again and told them that we were going night rafting (also, not a thing)….Then we walked up to the Sheldon Air Hangar. The clouds finally parted and we were ready to go Flightseeing! It’s like sightseeing, but on a flight. See what they did there.

It was so cute the way the color drained from their hopeful little faces when they set their sites on our transport for the evening. It was not a 747, but a 70-year-old puddle jumper! Whee!  Our plan was to make our way to Denali and land on Ruth Glacier. At least that was the plan. They say The Big One (Denali), is so big that it creates it’s own weather. By the time we got to the point to land on the glacier, the weather had clouded over and the visability was too poor. I was bummed because I wanted the experience, but we still got to fly really close to mountains and were able to spot lots of animals from the air. So many bears…..

I think she's got at least one more flight in her!

 

Cautiously optimistic that we won't die! 

I could probably survive, I've read Hatchet. 

No words

Ruth Glacier from above

See the Bull Moose? 11:00 from dead tree.

Dern Weather! 

Alaska 2020-Day 8

We started our day with a hike to and around Horseshoe Lake. It was such a lovely hike and we (again) felt like we were the only people on earth. Thomas shimmied up rocky hill sides and the girls skipped rocks.  I know that is super-exciting to read about! 

This would probably be an appropriate time to begin discussions on the mosquito situation. I’ve seen the Mosquito Death Squadron of 2020 and friends, it’s coming right for us and we’re all gonna die! I thought I’d seen the worst Mosquitos of my life in Glacier NP a few summers ago. But those did not swarm around your head and then try to fly off with it. Maybe that’s the downside to being some the only folks in the park. These jokers are conditioned to feast on hordes of tourists and with fewer travelers, they are blood thirsty, desperate little ne’re-do-wells. They are not deterred by campfire smoke, or pants, or long sleeves. Those jokers feasted like they were at the Golden Corral THROUGH MY PANTS and the pants and shirts of my travel companions. Except for John. “Mosquitoes don’t really bother me”, he boasted. While the rest of us were flapping and swatting our arms about our heads like we were in the throes of some sort of conniption. Insect repellent did curb their blood lust, but some of us don’t like repellent because “ew, it makes me smell like camp and I haven’t the opportunity to shower on the hour and half hour”. The range of personal hygiene in this family is staggering. After our hike, we headed our home down the highway towards Talkeetna.  What a little diamond in the rough! 

spied this thing....

This Igloo was built to be a hotel in the '70s and never opened. I totally would've slept in an igloo gas station if only given the chance.....

And, if you don't believe me about the mosquitoes....

Those are parents wearing mosquito-net bedecked bebes. 

Talkeetna was hopping with lots of Alaskans and a few tourists. We ate at the Denali Brewery while we people watched. Our RV park is one of the best yet and a very short walk to the cute downtown. This is a great place to spend our last few days.

If there is a chance to poke our head through a funny hole, we're going to do it every time like it is our job. 

Vroom!

Peonies the size of my head

Beer flight for Mr. Bullingon, wine for me!

What is this mystery contraption?

Fort Building Friends

Thomas and his pop-up Posse

 This trip has flown by, so much so that the wee ones are already discussing seat configurations for the long overnight flight home. The popular sister vote is that they don’t want to sleep next to Thomas because he “toots”. Thomas got his back up about it at dinner and loudly retorted, “I don’t even want to sit with you, I’m FINE WITH SLEEPING WITH STRANGERS!”. The lady at the table next to us blew Pepsi out her nose and others just stared. We should probably just start to wrap things up and head home.

Alaska 2020- Day 7

So, one thing we’ve learned is if you don’t like the weather in Alaska, wait 10 minutes. This strategy works for most instances except that it rained HARD all night. It would have been a blissful way to sleep in…..but.... sunlight. I was so grateful for our little road abode and not a leaky tent. 

Oh Captain, My Captain!
Today, we’d planned an 8-hour ride on a Blue Bird Bus (made in Fort Valley, Georgia! Whoot!). Denali National Park had only one road and private cars are only allowed beyond the 15 mile marker. If you want to go farther, you have to hop on a bus. The longest ride is 13 hours! Now, the only bus running this summer is to Eielson Visitor Center (8.5 hours round trip). 8 months ago, I wasn’t able to get a bus ticket because they were all sold out. There wasn’t an open RV spot in my preferred campground, now, Denali is empty. Mostly, because RVers from the bottom 48 can’t get here because Canada’s borders are closed and Cruise ships aren’t a thing (Pre-Covid, they would shuttle passengers inland on excursions) We’ve talked to several Alaskans who are actually getting to see their beautiful state without having to crawl over a million tourists. I love that journey for them.  I’d love to hear more about their lives and names and where they’re from, but social distancing makes it really hard for a social butterfly like me to meet new friends. I didn’t realize before this summer what an important part of our trips consisted of meeting random strangers from all over the globe. When before, you could strike up an interesting conversation with a Nanny from Sweden, or a housewife from Boise, or a college kid from Ohio. Now, there is just silence. From a distance. Save us Bette Midler!! While an 8-hour bus ride might sound like hell on wheels to some people (my skeptical self included), it was the most wondrous event.  We were among 24 people, masked and socially distanced, on a bus that would normally seat 80. I was even able to socially distance from my own people who I’ve been doing the opposite of social distancing with for 4+ months. Huzzah!  We all had our own window seat to gaze out over the ever-changing Alaskan landscape. Someone would holler, “BEAR!” and our driver, Mike, would slam on the brakes, throw it in reverse and we’d all grab our binoculars! To have the time to sit and watch a big grizzly munching his face off in a berry patch for half an hour was such a gift. To look upon my children’s faces staring out over the landscape and not at a screen was such a gift. I wondered what they wondered, but I didn’t ask,  as some thoughts are none of my beeswax. We washed, rinsed, repeated for “CARABOO!”, “MORE BEARS!”, and “MOOSE!”

BEAR!!!

CARIBOU!!!!

MOOSE!!!

When we’d munched our sandwiches, and pulled from the necks of our water bottles, we finally reached the halfway point, Eielson Visitor Center. Mike gave us about an hour to mill about and since the actual visitor center is closed, our option was to hike or maybe hike. And, here’s something about Mr. Bullington. If there are three options for hikes, he’s gonna insist on the most challenging one. No matter how loud the protests sound from the mouths of babes. In true Mr. Bullington fashion, we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a 1,000 foot climb in one mile, with a one mile breathless downhill chaser. The views were glorious, the complaints, resounding! But, we did it! Bullingtons can do hard things! The bus ride home featured other wildlife sightings and also naps. 8 hours in a school bus on a one-lane dirt road can take it out of a girl! And naps are rad!

KIDS!
Out of their natural environment!

Always the photo bomber!

4/5 big smiles!

Imma gonna sit my skinny a$$ down and protest walking one step further. I didn't sign up for this "Bullingtons can do hard things" ish. 

You know what muffles the whinese of little children? Taking pictures of wild flowers and pretending all is right with the world. 

We settled back into camp and I cooked reindeer sausage on the camp fire like some sort of Alaskan badass.  

Campfire Queen of Denali

Not half bad for paper plate eatin'!