Day 1 Atlanta-Anchorage

Day 1        Wednesday    June 20, 2001

Atlanta - Anchorage

Finally the day arrived.  After months of planning and anticipation, we were on our way.  In celebration of our 25^th wedding anniversary, we decided to take a trip to Alaska.  Our 7.5-hour flight to Anchorage was actually quite unique; this was the ‘longest’ day of the year as it was the summer solstice.   We took off around 9:00 PM from Atlanta.  The sun did not set in Atlanta until around 9:20 PM, it was dusk.  Well for the next seven hours of our life, it was dusk.  It’s as if we were chasing the sun.  In a way, we were.  Not only were we going west, we were also going north.  These two things combined for a very unique flight. 

Through the flight the captain would from time to time mention various tidbits of information regarding our flight.  For instance, we were flying at about 490 mph, we were 31000 feet above the earth and the plane’s engines were consuming just over three gallons of fuel for each mile that we traveled.  While listening to these tidbits of information, I couldn’t help but think what would the gold prospectors from the 1898 Alaskan gold rush think about all of this?

We landed in Anchorage just after midnight.  The sun had set at 11:40 PM that night.  Even though, it was still fairly light outside.  In just a few hours, the sun would rise again.

After getting our bags, we got a taxi and headed to the Holiday Inn Downtown.  Our taxi driver surprised us a bit.  Even though he lived in Anchorage for the last 26 years, he was originally from Hawaii!  He came for a two-week vacation and never left.

The taxi dropped us off at the Holiday Inn on 4^th Street.  We were exhausted as it was 5:00AM to our body clock.  However, it was great to be in Alaska!

Day 2 - Anchorage