Arrived in the Soldotna area Friday morning at around 8:30AM local, or 12:30PM for you easterners.
4 flights, two delayed departures over an hour late, two broken airplane lavatories, 7 minutes to make connecting flights through Chicago between different concourses at opposite ends of the terminal, thousands of miles covered, over 30 hours without significant sleep, and a dead truck battery. But I love it. I waited in Anchorage 6 hours for a 20 minute Era Alaska (of TV fame, they recently renamed to Ravn) flight across the water to Kenai. That short hop in the DeHavilland Dash 8 was the best flight of the entire journey. They even had fresh baked cookies!
It was neat to depart Portland Oregon in darkness and fly towards the land of the midnight sun. The further north we flew the brighter it got with a glimmer of twilight peaking over the horizon.
Alaska is much like I remember it: cool, cloudy, and rainy. But the weather can change quickly up here and the forecast is calling for high 60's / low 70's and partly sunny for the next couple of days. That is a heat wave for this part of the state this time of year. My last trip was nearly 3 weeks long and it rained at some point every day except one.
The college dorm room I am renting turned out to be a surprise: I have a private bathroom, small refrigerator, and a microwave! All I was expecting was closet with a bed and locking door. God knows just what we need when we need it.
Enjoy the pictures as they come. I have been busy getting settled in and will upload more when time allows.
Era / Ravn Alaska Anchorage to Kenai from Ryan Christman on Vimeo.
