I know what a midnight run is now. We finally got on that plane at 11:30 and arrived in Anchorage at 3:00 am. Three in the morning! It was the most awful plane ride ever. I won’t even write about it because it was so horrible. Well, I’ll just say that the plane had a flat tire and so there wasn’t an extra on the island of St. Paul, so they had to call the mechanic off the golf course in Anchorage and have him fly in with replacement tires for the plane. Okay, enough. Except that I froze on the airplane and had to change seats three times.

It only takes 15 minutes to get to Elmendorf at 3:30 in the morning.

Our little pop-up was still sitting in the campground. We piled in with our bags and went to sleep. I got up the next morning and washed loads of clothes. We pulled out at noon for Homer which should be a four hour drive – we got there around 8:00 pm. On the way we stopped several times – but the best stop was at the Alyeska Resort where we took the tram up to the top of the mountain! The weather was a bit cool so we ate inside. Most of the snow was melted, however it was still beautiful and they were para-gliding again. We are staying at the Ocean Shores motel. We decided against taking the pop-up since we could make better time without it. There would be so much traffic during the Fourth of July anyway. So here we are in this lovely room on the beach in Homer. We got pizza last night, had MacDonald’s this morning and then went birding – well Tom and Mary did. I just took photos of them birding.

We went to the Pratt Museum afterwards. It was just wonderful – had a live camera on Gull Island and on a bear in the State Park. Actually I believe that bear cam is on the web somewhere. The museum was one of the best I’ve ever visited. It had a great display on the Valdez oil spill. There were beautiful quilts around depicting Alaskan wildlife and history.

Later we took a cruise over Katchemark Bay to the Rookery, a lovely restaurant on the bay, and had a wonderful lunch there. Tom and Mary were birding all the way over, adding to their “life list.” Then, on the way back I got a call from my dear friend Carmen, the fifth grade teacher at Chevak. We met later at the SourDough Restaurant. Who was there but Jean, the former librarian at Chevak. Two surprises in one day! We all ended up driving up the mountainside to see the house that Jean and her husband have been building. Well, it was spectacular.
The view was unbelievable. It is three stories and all wood and windows. You see the ocean and the mountains when you look out – that’s all. Ocean and mountains! Jean said a moose lived in the neighborhood and they loved all the birds that visited regularly. We enjoyed talking so much! We returned to the Pratt and then later watched the Fourth of July parade. They had poodles dyed red, white, and blue, and all the fire trucks, a dog sled, and Napa Man from the auto parts store.

I’m really tired but we are now watching American Dreamz before we hit the sack. Early in the morning we will find an internet connection somewhere and check email, upload this blog and then head to Seward. I’m worn out but loving every minute of this. Mary is having a wonderful time and Tom has discovered birding!