While in Alaska

The Journey Begins

// May 13th, 2009 // 2009: Pre-Arrival : The Journey

Day 1 (5/13/2009)

Dallas

I’m currently in the Dallas airport on one of my four layovers. I left at 2 A.M. from Waterville, Maine this morning for a 7:45 A.M. flight. I had to stop at L.L. Bean to pick up some Deet and return my hiking boots for another size. I figured that the Deet was a necessity since at least 20 people on Twitter told me that the mosquito is Alaska’s unofficial state bird. L.L. Bean only had 30% Deet… weak! The manager told me that the 100% is potentially cancerous so I guess I can make that sacrifice.
American Airlines needs some work. Aside from waiting in an epic line, I stood in front of the counter for over a half hour while two employees frantically juggled the inquiries of at least 50 other passengers. He did a great job but why don’t they have more people working at such a peak hour? He informed me that I will have to pick up my bags in Seattle before hopping on Alaska Air to Anchorage. After seeing my boarding passes, he, like most others, had a look of awe at the number of very long layovers I had. I guess it all adds to the adventure… I didn’t pay for the tickets so I can’t complain.

My boss labeled my itinerary “Ted Sees America” for a reason:

May 13 2009
American Flight 465
Depart: Boston, Massachusetts at 7:45 am
Arrive: Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas at 10:55 am

May 13 2009
American Flight 1207
Depart: Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas at 2:00 pm
Arrive: Denver, Colorado at 3:00 pm

May 13 2009
Alaska Airlines Flight 685
Depart: Denver, Colorado at 6:35 pm
Arrive: Portland, Oregon at 8:15 pm

May 13 2009
Alaska Airlines Flight 2174, operated by HORIZON AIR
Depart: Portland, Oregon at 9:30 pm
Arrive: Seattle, Washington at 10:20 pm

May 14 2009
Alaska Airlines Flight 83
Depart: Seattle, Washington at 8:00 am
Arrive: Anchorage, Alaska at 10:39 am

May 14 2009
Alaska Airlines Flight 191
Depart: Anchorage, Alaska at 7:00 pm
Arrive: Fairbanks, Alaska at 7:55 pm

Luckily, a friend from Wheaton is letting me crash at her place tonight in Seattle. Otherwise, I’d be sleeping in the terminal. No thanks. Now, I just have to plan out what I want to do for 10 hours in Anchorage. And I didn’t make it very clear in the first post but Cory isn’t on this flight with me. He will be flying out from Philly in a few days when he finishes his finals at Swat.
I have another hour here in Dallas and then I’m off to Denver. I’ll be editing this post throughout the rest of this journey instead of making new posts, so check back occasionally.

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Day 2 (5/14/2009)

Denver & Portland

My three hour layover in Denver yesterday went by very quickly. I had a late lunch with Mark Montgomery, a private admissions counselor from Denver and fellow Twitter advocate. We had a great conversation about the growing use of social networking tools in admissions offices (and the fact that most of these institutions are not even close to fully utilizing these applications.) You can learn a bit more about Mark’s work on Twitter (@collegeadvice) and on his website greatcollegeadvice.com. From Denver, I made my way to Portland where I had a tight connection to Seattle. The plane from Portland to Seattle was tiny! No taxi necessary, I had to go outside to board it. There was an extremely loud girl next to me all hopped up on Xanax that made the flight particularly annoying, especially considering the close quarters.

Seattle

Last night, I stayed at my friend Kat’s house in Seattle. Of course, when I got there, it was raining. Typical Seattle weather! On the drive from the airport to her house, I was fortunate enough to get a glimpse of the Space Needle and Safeco Field. From there, we stopped at Dick’s, a local diner open until 2 A.M. I was amazed by the prices there. Cheeseburgers were $1.40! I also found it funny that they charged $0.05 for onions and other condiments. Why bother?

My room at Kat’s in Seattle

Anchorage

I just landed in Anchorage. I went immediately to the Alaska Air desk where they added me to the 1PM standby so I wouldn’t have another 10 hour layover (my original flight was at 7:55PM). So if I can get into Fairbanks around 2PM, one of the Coldfoot Camps employees will pick me up at the airport and bring me to the office to fill out paper work and take a drug test (odd, I know). Otherwise, if I can’t manage to get on the standby flight, I will have to do all the administrivia bright and early tomorrow. Erica, the Coldfoot employee that will be helping me out, informed me that I will most likely be flying from Fairbanks to Coldfoot so I won’t be going up the haul road. For the sake of seeing the scenery, I’m kind of disappointed that I’m not driving up the haul road. However, I’m sure that within my 3+ months up there, I will make my way up (or down) the haul road plenty of times.
I will make another update when I get to Fairbanks.

View from the window of my gate at Ted Stevens Airport

Fairbanks

I caught the 1 P.M. standby flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Erica, the Coldfoot employee, picked me up from the airport and showed me some shops and restaurants in town like Fred Meyer and Taco Bell, yes Taco Bell. Tomorrow, I will be handling the administrivia such as paperwork and drug test at 11 A.M. Then, at around 7P.M. I will be heading up to Coldfoot via plane with a few other employees. I envisioned a 7 A.M. flight into Coldfoot or something ridiculous like that but luckily I get to sleep in a little. Just to make it clear, all the times that I list from now on out are Alaskan time which is 4 hours behind the East coast. I’m setting up my flickr account and will have a few pictures up, nothing special just a few random pictures I’ve taken so far.

View from the window of my plane from Anchorage to Fairbanks

Forgot to mention, I sat next to a guy from Fairbanks on my flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks and his wife works at Camp Denali, the camp where Cory and I originally applied but got turned down. It’s a small world! Well… it really doesn’t surprise me.

Pike’s Waterfront Lodge (Fairbanks)

When I was choosing a hotel a few weeks ago, I was contemplating just booking the cheapest place around. Brett, my boss sent me a list of local Fairbanks hotels and hostels that could accommodate me for next to nothing. They are all probably great but this time, I took the suggestion of my fellow Alaskan Twitterati. They suggested Pike’s Watefront Lodge. So that’s where I stayed last night. The hotel was large but tried to take on the lodge look with traces of log-cabin-like wood throughout the architecture. To the left of the hotel was a restaurant and bar with a deck overlooking the river. To the right of the hotel was a series of little cabins that guests could rent if they didn’t want the hotel experience. My room had two queens (I had requested one king) and a large 40″ LCD which I don’t think I turned on once but hey, it looks nice. There was a balcony overlooking the river where you could hear boats at late hours of the night leaving the bar, taking drunk driving to the next level. Fortunately, the hotel offered a shuttle to and from the airport. The shuttle driver along with his girlfriend sitting in the passenger seat were young Fairbanks residents who had lived here their whole life. I really enjoyed my conversation with him. He took me to Fred Meyer, Alaskan’s choice over Wal-Mart, as well as the airport to pick up my baggage from the flight I was supposed to be on. We talked about Sarah Palin (of course) and like many other Conservative Alaskans, he loyally supported her. Hate to generalize but to confirm this sentiment, a truck in the parking lot had a bump sticker that read: I’ll Keep My Guns, Freedom, & Money… You Can Keep The “Change!”

At the airport, when I picked up my luggage, the shuttle took on a few more passengers that were on the flight that I would have been on. One gentleman, an Anchorage resident staying at Pike’s, has a daughter at Bates and a niece at Colby. Once again, it’s a small world.

View from my balcony at Pike’s

All in all, Pike’s was great and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Fairbanks. I had a solid 9 hours of much needed sleep. It’s almost 10:00 A.M. now and I have to check out in an hour. Got to get moving so I can make it to the office to take care of all the employment papers. Stay tuned!