Days 15-16, 7/5-6/2002; Sunrise: just before 4 am in Fairbanks, Sunset: just after 9pm in Seattle, Sunrise: about 6am in Houston.
Rain in Fairbanks, mostly sunny in Seattle, partly cloudy & HUMID in Houston.
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I didn't need it pointed out to me but our driver/guide saw fit to point it out at the end of yesterday's Denali wildlife search anyway. The tour turned the tables on the usual wildlife viewing where the animals are in cages and we humans roam freely. We were able to see the animals we saw because of the extreme way humans are restricted in Denali National Park. Human activity in the park is strictly limited so that the wildlife's will not be. I admire & applaud the Park Service for this and do not in any way resent the restrictions it imposed on me. True wild places are increasingly rare in our world and in my opinion are worth every effort to preserve.
I suppose I'm just delaying the inevitable - It's time to bring us home.
We were fortunate to have an afternoon flight from Fairbanks. It allowed us to sleep late after our very long day yesterday and have a leisurely brunch. We were instructed to leave our bags in our rooms at checkout time so they could be carried down to our shuttle bus and be there for us when we arrived at the airport. Any frequent/recent travelers see a problem coming? Yep, you guessed it, when asked, "Have your bags been with you since you packed them?" the only truthful answer was, "no they have not". So we were asked to inspect them to see if they had been tampered with, then they were swabbed and visually inspected before being put on the conveyor. At the security checkpoint our carry-ons were thoroughly scanned and hand searched and we were wanded even after passing through the metal detector. At the gate we were pulled out of the boarding line (along with many others) and wanded again while our carry-ons and shoes were examined. OK, maybe this was to be expected on the 4th of July weekend but if Princess' failure to have more security conscious arrangements in place this long after 9/11/01 caused us to be flagged for security purposes then that's just not acceptable.
We may have been held up at various places in the airport but the pilot wasted little time on the ground. He taxied out, made a quick right onto the runway and went immediately into his takeoff roll. And so we were off on our fast rewind. We had come 1500 miles by cruise ship and 500 miles by train; now in the next 3 & a half hours we would be back where we started. I thought, maybe above the clouds we would have our last chance to see Denali but it was not to be, maybe next time. Occasionally through the clouds we saw snow covered mountains, once we could see a long glacier but I have no idea which one it was. As we began our descent into Seattle I recognized the Elk Falls lumber/pulp mill and the community of Campbell River I had noted on the first night of the cruise. A few minutes later I was able to pick out the distinctive shapes of Denman and Hornby islands, then Victoria and the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympics. We could clearly identify the Hood Canal and the Navy yard adjacent to the ferry dock at Bremerton where we caught the ferry to Seattle. We flew directly over Port Orchard and as we turned to approach the runway at Sea/Tac we saw the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and Mt. Rainer.
We had a three hour wait till Mom's flight, my flight was due to leave two hours after that. We sat where we had waited for Mom's luggage two weeks earlier. Mom had to board a tram to the satellite terminal for her flight. Since we had come to expect lots of security delays she left the main terminal an hour before her flight and I went through security and down to the end of the concourse where my flight was to leave. I breezed through security, the only delay was when they noticed the impenetrable 'blob' in my camera case. When they saw it was a Film Shield® bag they just asked if that contained film, they accepted my affirmative answer and I was off. I could see the South Satellite Terminal from the end of 'my' concourse so I watched Mom's flight taxi out and begin its takeoff roll then got a little something to eat and sat to await my flight.
The flight was completely booked so we all crammed in. I was seated across the isle from an Asian looking fellow with two kids. He was all excited about going to Houston and wanted to know if I could recommend a good place for barbecue there. I didn't figure on getting much sleep and I still had my earphones from the flight up so I settled into watching "Ice Age" and actually got a few chuckles from it despite the cramped and uncomfortably warm cabin. I think I dozed off for a while after the movie and awoke to see some pink in the eastern sky. Soon we were descending into Houston and I could see some fog among the pines, I knew that meant near 100% relative humidity. As we touched down the sun came up, I claimed my baggage and found the parking shuttle. No surprise I guess at 6 in the morning to be one of only three on the shuttle which took me directly to my car. I had a bit of trouble finding my parking ticket but the wait while I looked gave the car a chance to warm up which was needed after two idle weeks. By 7am I was on the road home trying to stay awake at the wheel and wondering just how bad the jet lag would be.
Folks who know me, know that I like to get up on Saturdays and ease into the day with "Car Talk", some coffee, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" and some more coffee. I made it home this Saturday in time to listen to "Car Talk" but I didn't hear a word of the next program, I was fast asleep dreaming of glaciers and eagles and mountains and clean, cool, crisp air...
Created on ... July 24, 2002