Shortly after getting home we were hit with over a foot of snow. It was absolutely beautiful around here. And then, it froze. Temperatures were below zero, which from what we hear is very rare and hasn’t happened in years. We kept the water running and the house warm. I kept waiting for school to be canceled .
. . but the principal informed me that we don’t cancel school unless the pipes freeze!
The pipes didn’t freeze, but the ferry terminal did. It was already difficult because our normal ferry, the Lituya, was under maintenance and the Inter-Island-Ferry-System was providing only one run per-day (5 days a week). Well now there was nothing . . . for days! And because of high winds floatplanes were also on hold. Jason’s trip to Juneau with the robotics team for the state competition was cancelled, which was really a bummer because those kids just started their team this year and worked so hard to qualify for state. Basketball was also cancelled.
Thankfully (I can say that now) my trip to Anchorage for a “Building Student Success” Conference was still on. The flight however, was life-threatening. We were delayed in Ketchikan about 30 minutes due to weather. I didn’t think much of it, as it was snowing pretty hard. I was taking the “milk run” to Anchorage, which stops in Sitka and then Juneau before landing in Anchorage. Sitka is only a 35 minute and is usually quick and painless. Not this time. The landing was so shaky and bumpy from the wind we landed sideways on one back wheel. Thankfully it was dark, so I couldn’t see the scary landing which is on a very small strip of land surrounded by water. I’m sure if we could have seen it, one wing had to have been touching the water.
So then as we were sitting on the ground they announced that we would be waiting for weather for another 30 minutes. The plane was shaking so bad, even on the ground, just from the wind. Finally they announced it would be longer and let us off the plane. I was sure we would be spending the night in Sitka and had made my peace with that – but we waited and had some pie – just in case the weather got better. Well, it did calm down and we rushed to get back on the plane. Although the flight was smooth I was so shaken up that my legs and hands were shaking uncontrollably. And even though the flight was smooth it was snowing so hard that the pilot had no visibility and had to do a touch-and-go landing in Juneau. Our short 20 minute flight from Sitka to Juneau ended up being over an hour after spending 40 minutes circling Juneau, waiting for visibility to land.
Junaeu to Anchorage was uneventful, although we got in 3 hours later than planned, I was thankful to be in one piece and on the ground. My co-workers, Jeannie and Beth, were with me. Jeannie grew up in Alaska and said that was the worst flight she had ever been on. Beth wasn’t phased and laughed it off.
We thought that would be the last of the chaos . . . but we were wrong. Friday night was the key-note speaker of our conference. During the first half hour of her speech (with over 1,000 people in the convention center of downtown Anchorage) there was a very loud BOOM! And dust/smoke was coming from the ceiling. Some people run out immediately. Others waited. The speaker kept going until it was too distracting and then repeated, “You can see the cracks in the ceiling?” Which is when Jeannie, Beth and I decided it was time to go. We waited around for a bit and the fire department showed up. The speaker started up again, but we decided it was time to call it a night. None of us was going to be able to comprehend anything after that so we left to the Bear Tooth Theater & Pub where we spent the rest of our evening trying to “calm our nerves.”
The next day we heard that they did cut the key-note short and evacuated the convention center, but the ceiling was not falling in. Something about hot air and the fire retardant was set off unnecessarily. The rest of the conference went well and we ended our night Sunday at the spa followed by Moose’s Tooth Pub with Jason’s family. Our flights the next morning were quick and smooth, and I was happy to be home!
Some pictures of my Anchorage Adventures:
This is Jeannie, Beth and I out Moose Hunting. . . despite our efforts, this is the only moose we saw:
Now Jason is fixin’ to head out to Anchorage for another MapTeach Science Workshop – which has been in Fairbanks all the times before. Anchorage is a lot closer, so that will be nice for him. Then I will be headed back to Anchorage for the District Test Coordinator Training at the end of February.
Traveling is definitely interesting in Southeast Alaska! It is one thing that we never really thought about before moving here. It’s fun to be able to travel with work and see all of what Alaska has to offer. There really are a lot of professional development opportunities – which we appreciate. And until recently all of my travels have gone smooth! Hopefully this trip was an exception . . . it definitely made things interesting!
We are really looking forward to our spring break at the beginning of March. We made plans to fly to Juneau and stay at a bed and breakfast for 4 days, when we will then take the ferry back to Ketchikan and Metlakatla. We will get to see the inside passage of Alaska, which will be absolutely beautiful. Let’s just hope that I am able to get on that plane!
The moose DO exist! I saw two of them!! The pictures aren't so great, but remind me to show them to you. :)
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