The wedding is over, and by the time I rise in the morning most of the relatives have left for home.  Joe and Al and I have flights late afternoon, so we head off to Lawrence, KS to see where Jeff will be living and going to school in August.  Not before a crazy packing/repacking fiasco in the hotel room that has Joe convinced he will never get married and his parents wondering why they did the same.  We finally get through it, have our afternoon checking out the cool little college town and making it to the airport with minutes to spare for the rental car return.

By this time my travel anxiety (I hate deadlines, and try to avoid them in my own life as much as possible) is in high gear.  Apparently I’ve been a grouch since I got up in the morning, which explains why I want a divorce by the time we get settled on the plane.  Everything Al does is irritating me, including breathing.  Some of that is justified, but some is just that I’m totally exhausted and still have nine hours of travel ahead of me.

We made it to Minneapolis/St. Paul without much ado, and had a quick visit with my brother, Don, his daughters Claire, Sarah and Leigha, as well as his new daughter-in-law Angela and granddaughter Katherine – 18 months old and beyond cute.  She already knows what a camera is and is not shy about posing.  What a dolly.

Back onto the plane for 5.5 hours to Fairbanks.  The Beatles song “Back in the USA” crossed my mind several times.  The classic line “man, I had a dreadful flight” pretty much says it all.  Despite the fact that we had a middle seat, I just could not get comfortable.  I took two Benadryl hoping to drop off and wake up in Fairbanks, but it was not to be.  I laid across the seats with my head smashed up against the armrest on the aisle seat with my feet over Al’s legs, but I was struck with an acute case of restless legs.  I finally did fall asleep for a little while only to find myself awakening in a terrified state – the mild turbulence had turned into a wing-shaking, toy-plane-tumbling thrill ride.  I grabbed Al’s arm, deciding I really did love him after all, and although he assured me everything was ok any effect the Benadryl originally had was adrenalized out of my system.

Three more hours of squirming in my seat.  A toddler went nuts and screamed for at least an hour – this doesn’t bother me, really, it was just par for the course for a brutal flight.  Somehow, as is always the case, the flight did end.  I think perhaps that must be hell – an eternal airplane flight.  By the time we deplane and wait for our luggage – all two hundred pounds of it, I am nearly psychotic, the bird sized mosquitoes landing on our faces as we wait for the shuttle (it’s 1:30 a.m. – dusk in Alaska) just about push me over the edge.

I don’t remember much else that night.  I slept, and although it was of some assistance, the next day still found me wanting to fall asleep standing up.  However, our adventure started with a long conciliatory chat with my husband as we set up a game plan how to get through the rest of the trip with each other’s best interests in mind.  We started off going to the ice museum, where we watched a movie about the ice competitions in February, watched an award winning sculptor demonstrate his trade and marvelled at the various ice art encased in freezers.   Cheesy but interesting.

We walked around downtown Fairbanks.  You know, Alaska is huge but the towns are small.  “Downtown” hardly seems like a word that can be used to describe a town there – it implies a hub of commerce.  Not really.  Nevertheless, we found a Glow Putt Indoor Miniature Golf place and had a blast golfing under black light posters and with glow in the dark golf balls.  It’s a-whole-nother game under those circumstances.  It is a little known fact that Al and I have miniature golfed our way around the United States.  I golfed 59, he 39.  Ended our time in “downtown” with a delightful lunch at Soapy Smith’s, where you not only eat but are regaled with family history by the owner of the restaurant, whose father was governor when Alaska became the 49th state in 1959.

We ended the day moving to our second hotel in Fairbanks where we officially begin our Princess Tour – I do laundry, get to bed early by merely closing the blinds – if you look out the window and want to go to bed at midnight, your mind is saying “I don’t think so, dear, it’s only 6 o’clock, too early for bed.”  Such a strange phenomenon, the effect that light has on our brains.  Can’t imagine winter here AT ALL.

Too tired to tell you about today, but suffice to say I am thus far  pleased with the organization of the Princess line.  My only complaint would be that the food has been superb which does not bode well for my plans to be in great shape for my upcoming college reunion the end of July.   I’m trying not to go overboard but with salmon burgers and miner’s stew and free cookies every time you turn around, it’s hard to just say I’m going to stick to my normal diet…