Beyond Timbuktu: Surprise!

My story starts with a hidden envelope. I tucked it away deep inside my carry on bag and wrote: "Naomi - DO NOT OPEN!" on the front. A few weeks ago she was rifling through my bag looking for a missing piece of her wedding dress even though I told her it was not there. She did not find what she was looking for...but came across the envelope instead. She showed it to me and I had to think fast. Seamlessly, I told her that it was a romantic letter I had written which she could only open during our honeymoon in Central Wisconsin. Perfect.

Fast forward about a week. Our nearly perfect wedding has passed and we are driving toward Green Bay's airport. We had to drop my sister Kalia off on our way to the honeymoon cabin. I pulled into the long term parking lot because the price was cheaper and we wanted to bring Kalia right to security to make sure nothing was wrong with her baggage or the flight. Due to recent gang activity, I told Naomi we should bring in our well-packed bags as well. They were on wheels so it wouldn't take much effort.

Just before entering the terminal, we paused in a shady spot. I took my 'romantic letter' out of my bag and handed it to Naomi. "Now you can open it," I said. Her whole world stopped in that moment. In a frozen tension she barely gripped the paper while her mouth opened slightly in shock. In that instant her mind pieced together many of the little oddities that had happened recently. It took her over a minute to get the printed and stapled sheet of paper out of that envelope. After about another minute of searching (while Kalia and I were trying hard to limit ourselves to smiles) she finally discovered our final destination. We were flying with Kalia to Alaska!

It took Naomi about 12 hours to recover from the shock. I still think she is a bit slow to understand that we just spent a week in Alaska. It was a beautiful week. We arrived late Tuesday night and Kalia had to work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I had made arrangements for a quiet little B&B and a dinner cruise about 3 hours South of Anchorage.

So on Wednesday after dropping Kalia off at work, we took her truck down the coast. The drive was spectacular and we stopped to pan for gold along the way. Even though it was a bit rainy, the low hanging clouds gave the constant mountains a constantly changing and peaceful appearance. After a bite to eat (some delicous rock-fish and chips while watching the Olympics) we grabbed a bottle of Coke to enjoy the rum with that I brought back from Haiti 7 years ago for my future honeymoon. We took it to this exclusive outbuilding at the B&B which contained a wood-fired sauna and a hot tub that overlooked a fast-moving creek and nothing but forest. On the other side of the B&B was a raging mountain river that soothed us to sleep that night.

We took the next day nice and slow, waking up to breakfast by the fire. The rain continued for awhile and once it stopped we were ready for some light exploration. The area was beautiful, surrounded by mountains, forests, streams, and a few scattered houses. After some time in the hot tub we got ready for the dinner cruise.

The boat picked up speed quickly as we departed from the harbor of Seward. We headed up the bay, but not too far, as we spotted a sleeping sea otter. After motoring on past more mountains and glaciers, somebody saw a whale spout. The boat turned around and headed in the supposed direction, and we saw two more spouts along with the back and fluke of a humpback whale. I was thrilled! For me, one of the main reasons for taking this cruise was to see a whale. I was hoping for killer whales, but I suppose you can't win 'em all.

We continued in the direction of Fox Island where the boat anchored and we stepped ashore for dinner. We were offered an unlimited amount of Alaskan Salmon and Prime Rib. It was delicous. I ate more meat during that meal than over the course of a week in the Netherlands.

The ride back to the harbor was relaxing (unfortunately we couldn't make it out to the Gulf of Alaska due to stormy weather), but we did manage to find a bald eagle. We picked up a few things at the gift shop and grabbed another bottle of Coke on our way to the hot tub.

After another night of deep sleep we had another slow, relaxing start by the fire as the sun came out! We packed up our things and drove to the nearby Exit Glacier. At the ranger station we saw Moose antlers and nearby there were Moose turds - it seemed we were closing in on Naomi's dream of spotting the elusive creature.

It was a perfect morning for a hike and we were able to walk right up to the massive flow of ice. Even though it looked huge, it is tiny in comparison to its former size. 100-150 years ago it stretched to fill most of the valley we drove through and now it is confined to the narrow sloped of the mountain. Just 10 years ago it was twice the size. Global warming is real in Alaska.

After returning to Anchorage, we rested well, and headed out to the artisan market on Saturday. The things they sold there were quite unique and interesting. Baleen from whales, carved walrus jaws, fossilized mammoth ivory, and the list goes on. We found a beautiful cribbage board carved out of a Moose antler that we could not pass up. Kalia picked up some stone goblets.

On Sunday we took the morning slow, and then headed down to Girdwood – a ski resort area about 30 minutes south of Anchorage. We went for a beautiful hike on a piece of the Iditarod trail which took us over a whitewater gorge in a suspended hand-pull cable car. It was quite exciting. Then we got to a waterfall and took a rest there.

After the hike we had reservations for a fancy dinner. We entered an upscale resort hotel and wound our way though the back to the gondolas. We rode up the mountain and arrived at an amazing restaurant. The view was unsurpassable – 7 glaciers was the name because we could see 7 glaciers from where we sat. Paragliders provided additional entertainment as the flew crazily down the slopes, flipping upside-down and seeming to brush the treetops with their feet. The food was excellent as well.

Monday morning we got up a little early and drove to Flat Top Mountain just outside of Anchorage. The temperatures started off quite chilly, but as we began to climb we noticed that what we thought were low-hanging clouds in the distance were actually mountains. As we reached the top the mountain the temperatures soared under the bright sunshine. We could see the Aleutian range and even Mount Denali towering in the distance. Denali was about 200 miles away but we could still see it clearly. This has not happened since Kalia has lived there for the past 4 months!

After some lunch Kalia went to work and Naomi and I took a long nap before heading to the Alaska Zoo. She had so desperately wanted to see a Moose during our time in Alaska that we could not leave without proving that they were, in fact, real creatures. We also saw some other interesting animals at the zoo, but were a little surprised about the inequity between the Bald Eagle and the Golden Eagle. One bird was given a magnificent cage with lots of space to fly around. The other was in a tiny, circus-like cage. Perhaps it was due to an injury or something, but the Golden Eagle sure seemed to be a second-class citizen at the Alaska Zoo.

That night we went to the airport and said our goodbyes. It would have been nice to stay longer! After buying a few gifts, we really began the rough trip back. We had three flights and a two-hour drive to get back to Escanaba. Needless to say, we are still recovering from a beautiful wedding and honeymoon, not to mention a crazy year. It would be nice to have more time to relax, but that has been the theme of this past year. Maybe some day things will slow down a bit.