Alaska

I arrived safely in Alaska today. My 50th state to visit, and the weather was pretty good. I stopped in Anchorage and flew on to Fairbanks.

In Fairbanks I had a nice dinner with Dick and Becky Wenger. We drove about 30 minutes into the wilderness and ate at an old roadhouse. My salmon was from Copper River and very very good. I went to bed at 11:00p and the sun was still streaming in the window but the drapes wouldn’t shut all the way. I found a paper clip in my briefcase and clipped them together but the light still came in from above and below the drapes. I woke up at 3:00a and looked out. It was still very light outside. I got up at 5:00a and went for a walk to get some exercise, in the neighborhood around the hotel. The temperature was about 60 degrees and sunny of course. It’s all residential around the hotel. I walked down to some river about the size of the Colorado River and was introduced to Alaska mosquitoes… the state bird obviously. A number of the houses had airplanes parked in the driveway. Where do they take off? On the way back someone’s dog (it looked like a wolf with big blue eyes) decided I didn’t belong there and so I got more exercise than expected. I got back to the hotel just as two busloads of seniors left to go on a tour. I hope there’s some eggs left in the buffet.