Wrapping up a great weekend...

Saturday evening found us at  Alaska Seafood Grill once again.  The host ladies had reserved the place for all of us to go to for dinner.  It seemed to start off slowly, but as all of the participants got the hang of ordering and finding seating the energy and noise level grew.  I had the Black and Bleu Burger.  Pat decided to get Clam Strips as I ate as they had looked so good at lunch.  I saw many different dishes passing by and did not hear a single complaint.  When Pat and I headed back to the hotel, the front room was cleaned up with chairs already up on the tables... but the room we were in was still ticking, so I doubt the employees would be leaving anytime soon!!!  The pictures below were just random shots at dinner.

Sunday morning was a bittersweet time.  We had packed up our stuff the night before and got the car packed before the church service.  We even had time to check out so we were ready to hit the road back to Anchorage at any time after we had said our goodbyes.  I took some quick pictures of our room at the Harbor 360 Hotel just before we checked out. We had a view of the harbor from our window.  I waited until Sunday and there was so much mist and fog, you could not see much, so no pictures.  Trust me... it was lovely!

We finished our breakfast and went to the Otter Room to spend some time in soft, comfy chairs.  We were soon joined by the ladies from Shephard of the Hills Lutheran Church.  In the Orca Room, the rest of the women were meeting to "attend" the host church streaming service at Faith Lutheran Church.  Pat and I decided to stay and enjoy the Shephard of the Hills streaming service.  The picture below is from their website.

We said our goodbyes and hugs after the church services ended.  Rachael, from Faith Lutheran, had stopped us before we left,  She knew that Pat and I had planned to do some shopping on Monday and volunteered to pick us up and take us to the prime shopping areas.  We accepted her kind offer and made plans to see her in the morning.

Then we hit the road and drove back to Anchorage.  Luckily the fog/mist had disappeared so we were able to enjoy the mountains.  It was raining the entire drive, so no pictures.  We checked into Hyatt Place, midtown.  Eventually one of our ladies from Fairbanks joined.  Kari had flown from Fairbanks to Anchorage and gotten a car for the drive to Seward.  She spent the night with us and joined us for shopping on Monday until she had to return her car and go to the airport.

Monday morning we awakened, dressed, and grabbed breakfast... then we waited outside and Rachael arrived with her daughter exactly at 9:30 AM.  She drove us to the shopping center that housed her favorite Target.  This was the main store we wanted to visit.  But there was a Kohl's nearby so we stopped there first and were there when they opened at 10AM. As soon as we were inside we began to wander until each person was basically on their own.  I was the first one done, so I checked out and found a seat in a wheelchair by the front door.  I had a bit of a mishap there, but not enough to deter our plans... although we did need to make an extra stop at a Costco so I could get my glasses straightened out so I could drive home the next day.

Next was Target.  Again, we wandered and looked until we were lone shoppers.  There was much more purchased here.  I found a scarf for winter, a comfy sweater that will be worn on those really cold days. I got a Blu-Ray movie for $8.50 and a very nice, metal water bottle with a straw.  It was just so nice to be in a store that was not Walmart, not Costco, and not Fred Meyers... the only decent stores in Fairbanks.

Lunch was at Olive Garden.  There is not one in Fairbanks and I thoroughly enjoyed the unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks. We got back to the Hyatt with plenty of time for Kari to catch her plane, so Racheal could get her daughter to ballet, and for Pat and I to kick our feet up and relax.  All-in-all, it was a perfect day!

Sadly the next day Pat and I had to pack up the car and make the 7-hour drive back to Fairbanks.  We enjoyed our time together.  We enjoyed our time at the retreat. We enjoyed our shopping.  Now we can settle in for a long, cold, dark winter.  It snowed today (Oct 22) so we will not see the ground again until May!

2022 WELS Women's Retreat - October 15, 2022

We started the evening before with check-in and some fine food offerings in the Orca room at the Harbor 360 Hotel.  All the women traveling a distance gathered together for a Devotional and a Meet & Greet.  The Orca room was next to the Otter room, with soft, comfy chairs.  You could tell which room you were in by the displays.

The ladies arrived little by little.  There were squeals of delight as old friends were reunited and introductions... sometimes with hugs... of new faces.  There was a lovely devotion followed by a beautiful spread of snacks with water, soda, or wine.  There was a mixer game, lots of talking, and excitement about the Saturday Retreat.

Saturday morning started early with breakfast in the hotel.  It was surprisingly good.  I had little cheese omelets and bacon.  There were breakfast pastries, waffles for the toaster, fruit, yogurt, hot and cold cereals, and even freshly made pancakes that came off a small conveyor belt after pushing a button.

We headed over to the Gateway Hotel Conference Center.  Again, squeals of delight as other new faces appeared.

After the morning Devotional, and some instructions for the day's events our speaker for the day began.  Karen Fischer is a counselor at a mental health institute and for now, she is dealing with teenagers. She had come to her profession, as many of us do, by a road that she had not expected to be on.  Today she was going to give us guidelines on how we can be more Resilient women in today's world as well as how to help others cope with stress and loss.

Karen shared her information with us in three sessions. Between the first and second sessions, the Host Church sold raffle tickets that could be put in bags next to each of the 33 gift baskets that were being offered to raise seed money for the next retreat in 2023.  We not only got to stretch our legs but put our raffle stubs in for the baskets that we wanted to win.

Each table was beautifully decorated.  There were small gift bags and a bottle of hand lotion for each lady attending the retreat.

The ladies who put this event together really worked hard putting this retreat together.  They found an excellent speaker who informed and educated us.  They had a well-planned schedule with plenty of activities and downtime if we wanted it.  They had 33 gift baskets to raffle off and a whole slew of local gift certificates for museums, tourist sights, and tours for the silent auctions.  Take a look at all of the baskets lining the walls.

After lunch and to ease everyone back into an activity we were provided with adult coloring book pages with many different Bible verses on them.  There were colored gel pens and colored pencils to fill in the colors.  I will have to finish mine at home, but they even gave us picture frames so we could frame our art once we finish it.  I don't know about the others but it took me back to my days with crayons and coloring books as a kid.

A Beautiful drive to Seward 10-14-2022

 We slept well save for a couple of coughing interludes from me with a 2-week-long cold that will just not give up.  But we were both awake by 6:45 AM.  Neither of us moved very fast.  Patty finally showered and headed to the lobby for breakfast.  I had mandarin oranges and Belvita Biscuits in the room.  We were on the Seward Highway by 9:30 AM.  There were low-lying clouds in the sky but we could see the sun glistening off the snow-capped mountainsides where the sun poked through.

The road to Seward winds along the base of the mountains make our vehicle feel more like a Matchbox toy.  Patty mentioned that her daughter always remarked when in this area that no person should have a doubt in the world that this was the creation of God.  And I agree!

We were still in the car when these were taken.  And the pictures do not do them justice. We were stopped for construction here.  It is basically a 2 lane road with the occasional passing lanes.  Generally, the driver's side was on a dug-out side of the mountain.  These areas were being fortified or cleaned up before winter!

We saw the rear end of several vehicles at various stops until the last one.  There we were the first car. It was also the only stop where needed a pilot cat... or truck in this case.  The young lady with the sign walked to our car to tell us that it would be about 15 minutes to wait.  Then we chatted until the pilot truck appeared.  It was quite a long and meandering repair, so I understand why we needed to be guided!

We pulled over one more time to stretch our legs and get water.  I took these lovely snapshots while there.  The next stop was Seward!!

The last picture shows the kind of highway we were traveling on.  So far, no bad or dangerous conditions.  Prayers that they continue to be good until we get home next week.

Once in Seward, we found the hotel.  It was easy.  Finding lunch was harder.  We are here after the prime season is over.  Many places are already closed for the season.  The first one we tried was not only not open but padlocked from the inside.

We finally went to the Alaskan Seafood Grill.  Very low-key, but the food... WOW!!  They claim it is fresh and I do not doubt that.  I had clam strips, Patty had breaded oysters and we split a basket of fries.  Needless to say, the appetizers at the reception tonight.

I had a strawberry milkshake.  Great way to start a fun weekend!

We are now in the Harbor 360 Hotel with the Retreat starting this evening.  I will publish this part of our day and pick it up with the retreat activities.

This is the view from our room...

I am tired.  More tired than I had planned.  Not sure if the cold is playing a part or if its just the first long trip in over three years.  But I would not trade my time with Patty or this trip to a different part of my new home state for anything!!!!!

Heading to Anchorage - 10-13-2022

It has been a long time since I posted a travel blog.  Since moving to Alaska, I have only left the Borough of Fairbanks to go to North Pole, AK.  This weekend I will be in Seward, AK for a WELS Women's Retreat with50+ other Alaskan ladies.  Many of the ladies are flying into Anchorage and then renting a car.  I decided to take Miss Gaddy the Caddy for a carbon-cleansing drive and make it a road trip.  I have along with me my friend, Patty Belcher, to keep me company.  She normally travels with her daughter... but the daughter is out of town, so I offered her a ride.  Many thought we were crazy as the nasty winter weather can happen at any time but we threw caution to the kind and headed out early this morning to drive as far as Anchorage where we will spend the night before traveling on to Seward.

I took a few pictures as we were driving.  The sun came out finally and the mountain views were lovely.  But my pictures did not turn out from inside the car.  You will just have to believe that in the first one we could clearly see Denali.  In the second one... it was just pretty.  I did not want to stop and get better pics.  Perhaps on our way home.

As you can see, the road is clear and dry

Trust me, Denali was sitting at the end of the road!!!

We stopped in Healy, AK to take a potty break and get gas.  No pictures, just two old ladies stretching their legs.

The top picture is Miss Gaddy, the Caddy waiting for Patty to get us registered.  We were tired and hungry!  The bottom picture is the other side of the Hyatt Plaza.

We went to dinner at the Moose"s Tooth Pub and Pizzaria.  It was highly recommended by many and it was close.  We did not have Pizza tonight.  We will be back either Sunday or Monday.  Instead, we had Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches.  While a true Philadelphian would never recognize them as a cheesesteak, the flavor was wonderful and it really hit the spot.

The top picture is some of the decorations in the area we ate our food.  The second is my sandwich.  The third is their entrance.  We got there early so got seated right away.  We left to mobs of folks waiting their turn to get inside.

Back at the Hyatt, I threw this together.  Patty is in her jammies and once I post this, I will be doing my jammies, too and calling it a good day.

The path not taken... #1

 The snow is finally gone.  There was a little mound of snow in front of the front door as little as two weeks ago.  The grass is beginning to pop out and turn green.  The birch trees turned green with leaves a couple of weeks ago, too.  They go from bare to green overnight on one particular day.  It is greening up day.  Kate told me the day it would happen.  The trees turned green for them one day before they popped here.

Mother's Day weekend, I had asked Rob and Kate to take me on a tour of the houses. These were the homes that they had looked at during the house search for my new home.  We had talked about it before COVID interfered.  Last summer we were mostly in lockdown.  We did not get together much at all during the summer and when we did it was quick in and out visits.

Rob and Kate were in town for several events.  I had hoped to spend Mother's Day doing the drive around, but Kate thought it better to tack it on at the end of their long day, so that is what we did.  Rob did not have a chance to make a plan for which houses to look at, but we managed to hit some of the ones that we had liked and that we considered seriously, so I was happy.  I am still hoping that we can make another trip or two to see others.  These were all in and around the center of Fairbanks and out to the area where I did end up living.

The first home we drove to was the split foyer house that they had put a bid on.  This is the one that they backed out of the contract once the Inspection was complete.  I had my camera with me, but the new owners were sitting outside in the driveway and I did not even attempt to take pictures.

This is one of several 2-story houses that they checked out.  Rob had started the search trying to find a single-story home so I would not have to deal with steps.  We will see a couple of these in the other photos.  

This house that they finally bought is going to be the house that they move into when enough time passes (they have a timeline in mind) or when health issues might dictate a move earlier.  So the house had to be large enough to accommodate my craft and fabric stash as well as my Happy embroidery machine.  In addition, it had to be suited for all three of us to be under the same roof without being in each other's way.  The house above was one of the first 2-story homes they investigated.  It did not make the cut!!

This is the only house that was actually located in downtown Fairbanks. This house was the biggest one by square feet.  It was also the most interesting.  Rob liked it because it had solar panels so the cost to run the house would have been less.  The house was big enough that we could have lived in it... all of us... and would never have crossed paths for days.  This house had nooks and crannies, stairs, and odd rooms in different places.  The lower floor that you see in the stone was a section of the house that could have been an office and a storefront.  It was accessed by going through the garage from the main house.  The master bedroom was on the top floor.  It was huge.  There was a small kitchen-like area, a glassed-in porch where there would be lots of room for sewing machines and light to make sewing easy.  There were a couple of other bedrooms.  The kitchen had been redone and the living room had lots and lots of places to have books.  I think this house had started as something smaller and over the years had additions added.  It was unique and I thought it would have been an interesting place to live.  It did not sell until after we had settled on the current house, so it was always on my list.

A view at the other side.  It was a corner lot but there was no yard for the dogs.  And the steps would have been difficult for Winston.  The dogs could have gotten lost in this house easily.

The light-colored house is one side of a duplex that the Realtor thought we might like.  It was on one of the sloughs so it was considered waterfront.  The unit they looked at was on the other side of the trees.  There was a fenced-in yard but I could see the dogs getting into trouble all of the time because of the water.

Rob moved up past the trees.  The street dead-ended right beyond the duplex.  The garage on the left would have been mine and the entrance to the house was on the side inside the fence.  It had enough bedrooms, but all of the sewing stuff would have been in the living area.  It would have driven Kate crazy and there would have been no room for Happy or my quilt frame!

This is another duplex that was on our list.  The entire inside had been redecorated and it was lovely.  There was a loft.  The great room could have held sewing and maybe the quilt frame, but not Happy.  We have no idea why there was a dividing beam on the roof.  The yard would have worked for the dogs.  But there was just something that did not suit us, so we kept looking.  I think this may have been the last one where we concentrated on single-story homes.

There are still some other ones that I want to see.  An A-frame that I liked but Rob thought it was too remote as well as others.  So there should be another drive around later during the summer.  But based on what I saw, I think that this house that I am now in was the perfect fit!!!