Alaskan Adventure

Day 3- Trick or Treat the Alaskan Way

To start our day today, Lori introduced me to the local coffee franchise, The Kaladi Brothers. The first store was opened 32 years ago and now you can find 15 stores/kiosks in south central Alaska making it second only to Seattle in the number of coffee shops per capita. Also there are tons of little privately owned coffee kiosks around Anchorage selling Kaladi Brothers coffee. They like their coffee here!

With caffeination in hand we headed to downtown Anchorage to find the Visitor Center. Here you can find every brochure in existence of what to do while in Alaska....and Liz. Liz works at the Visitor Center and is a font of information as you would imagine and quite the character. We enjoyed talking with her and getting the “scoop” on everything! Although downtown was fairly quiet when we got there it quickly became a hub of activity. We found ourselves in the middle of Trick or Treat Street. Several families dressed in all kinds of adorable costumes populated the streets of downtown and trick or treated in the stores. I scored some candy from one store by telling them that I was dressed up like an old lady but then I felt bad so I gave the candy to a little Ninja Turtle in a stroller! We had a great time people watching and shopping....of course. 

The day ended on a high note when Lori made an official offer on the house we both fell in love with yeasterday. Hopefully all will go as planned and she will close in December....the perfect time to move to Alaska!

I am so glad that I came on this short little adventure. I’m so excited for my little sister because this is truly a magical place that I think is a perfect fit for her. I’m really looking forward to using that guest room that I made sure she had!

The only bear I hope to be this close to...ever!
Carriage rides for the trick or treaters	This couple was a hoot!

Poor Rudolph!

 A sign that it was going to be a great day!

Alaskan Adventure

Day 2 - House Hunters

Today was actually our second day of house hunting with realtor Tim. Yesterday he took us around to 7 house but only 2 ended up on “to be considered” list. There is a lot of tract housing in Anchorage and with all of the mountains surrounding us, we are hoping to find a house with some type of view of something other than the next door neighbors.

We looked at 7 more houses today but didn’t begin until 10 because the sun didn’t come up until 9:13am. If I lived here I would see more sunrises than I ever had before! I’m getting to know Anchorage a little better but it is a sprawling city that covers over 1900 miles and has a population of nearly 300,000 people. This city certainly earns the award for the nicest people per square mile in my opinion. Almost everyone we have met so far were very friendly and welcoming. I kind of felt related to the restaurant owners by the time we left the restaurant where we ate lunch! It was a beautiful sunny day so maybe that is what put everyone in a good mood.

We did find a house that Lori liked above the rest and is hoping to move forward on. Now it is a waiting game until all the paperwork goes through, the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted. Hopefully tomorrow we will learn that things are progressing smoothly.  In anticipation of good news we decided to hold a pre- celebration at the 49th State Brewery in downtown Anchorage tonight. The beer was good and the elk sausage pizza delicious!

Turnagain Arm of the Gulf ( North end of Cook Inlet)

Alaskan Adventure

Day 1 - Early Bird Gets the Plane

I am not a morning person. Usually my tank doesn’t run empty until 11or 11:30pm so I am not an early riser. Last night I tried to go to bed early but anticipation of my solo adventure ahead made sleep very difficult. The positive thing about a 6:40am flight is that there is tremendously less traffic on the highways at 4:30am and shorter lines at security. However,  it might have been my imagination but it seemed like the TSA agents were a tad bit grumpier in the wee hours. Any over enthusiastic traveler who inadvertently stepped over the yellow waiting line before their turn with  the TSA agent checking ID’s and boarding passes, got a firm scolding from said agent. I made sure my tingling toes were a good 2 inches behind that magical line. I had no time for a stark white room interrogation today!

The downside of an early flight obviously, is the tossing and turning the night before caused by the worry that you’re going to oversleep! 

The clue to the destination of my adventure is given away in my title- yes I’m headed to Alaska! I’m meeting up with my little sister who is soon to become an Alaskan resident. She is relocating from Northern California  to Anchorage to begin her own great adventure. When I learned that she was going house hunting this week,  I invited myself along. Who wouldn’t fly to Alaska in order to snoop in other people’s houses? My parttime gig this year is very advantageous!

I am currently on my second and last leg of the trip from Seattle to Anchorage. Since I had a little sleep on my first leg ( and Starbucks in the Seattle airport) I felt a little more sociable  and struck up a conversation with my seat mate. He was born and raised in Alaska and was returning from a visit to Colorado relatives. Come to find out he is a commercial salmon/ crab fisherman during the summer and is out to sea months at a time. I told him that I was familiar with his work ( I eat salmon and crab- ha!). It is so interesting to visit with people with such different life experiences. Our conversation reminded me of the book I read called the Alaskan Laundry which was about a young twenty something New Yorker who moved to Alaska to work on a fishing boat. You have to be of hardy stock to be in that line of work!

Update:

Lori and I successfully rendezvoused at the Anchorage airport and made our way to a nearby hotel which is right next to a lake where the pontoon planes land. The realtor met up with us and showed us 7 houses. A good start with more to follow tomorrow. The view of the majestic snow capped mountains surrounding Anchorage from the airplane on its descent was so spectacular that I’m making sure that Lori finds a house with at least one guest room!

PEI Trek - In Search of Green Gables

Day 7 It was  the Shining Day without Misery

This morning we did a little exploring and stopped by to see where famous author Stephen King lives in Bangor, Maine. It isn’t a secret -we just googled the address and it is often posted on Facebook. We tried to be discreet and not ring the bell or walk on his lawn. I stayed away from the storm drains just in case. Actually, the house next door is for sale and is just gorgeous! If you live in Colorado and see the price, you may be tempted to pack up and move! The whole neighborhood is historic and we drove around appreciating the beautiful architecture of the houses.

Bangor is a nice and quiet city with the Penobscot river flowing through it. We enjoyed the river walk for it was a very pleasant and sunny day. After stopping in an antique store, we finally pushed on to make the final four hour leg of  trip back to Boston. Our poor brother had to navigate his way through the Boston traffic which was hectic and slightly confusing- especially with 5 people guiding him!

Tomorrow we leave bright and early to head our separate ways - Barb and Antonio back to Italy, Lori to California, and Chris, Debby and I back to Colorado. It was a fun trip with few snags and Mom didn’t have to break up any fights! Hopefully we will be back together soon!

PEI Trek -In Search of Green Gables

Day 6

Goodbye Canada...hello potato vodka!

We said goodbye to Prince Edward Island today and ultimately Canada, on our 6+ hour road trip to Bangor, Maine. After we crossed the bridge into New Brunswick, we decided to stop at a potato distillery along the way. A very nice potato-farmer -turned-distiller gave us a short tour of the place. The idea of making vodka and gin out of potatoes evolved from wondering if there were other disposal options besides burying small potatoes that they couldn’t sell. It was very interesting to learn about how their three products, vodka, gin, and moonshine were made. Did you know that gin is flavored by infusing the alcohol with essential oils from plants? We got to taste their Blue Roof products at the end of the tour but vodka and gin in the morning is a little harsh! We gained an hour when we crossed the border into Maine and 20 degrees as well! It is nice to be in summertime weather again!

We ventured into downtown Bangor this evening to find a good restaurant.Bangor is an interesting place and reminds me a lot of Denver when it began the whole transformation to make it hip  and modern. Bangor is not there yet but you can see it starting.

With any luck we will make it into Boston tomorrow, our last day before we leave the east coast.

PEI Trek- In Search of Green Gables

Day 5

Greetings from the Arctic….

Cold is the word of the day. I had to keep reminding myself that it was June 10th today as it felt a lot like a cold March day. The temperature didn’t get above 50 and the breeze made it chillier. We have been noticing all along that PEI is behind us in seasons. The apple trees as I mentioned yesterday are just now in bloom as are the tulips and lilacs. The weather today was also indicative of a cold spring day. OK...enough of the whining...I know some of you have been having the extreme opposite in weather temperature!

Today we made our way to the Red Sands Shore  to visit Victoria by the Sea. This is a very small village but we were able to find  yarn shop and a chocolate shop where they made the famous Island Chocolate. Our group is always up for shopping especially when it is chilly outside!

We also found another lighthouse and a great view of the Confederation Bridge. The red sand cliffs are a beautiful sight and the rolling green hills and red fields never get old. We eventually made our way back to Charlottetown and stopped at the COWS Creamery. COWS is a popular ice cream store on the island and across Canada. Their ice cream and cheese is made with the milk from those happy, grazing cows who are lucky enough to live on Prince Edward Island. I didn’t order any ice cream since I was freezing but I did enjoy all of their punny t-shirts. They have all kinds - “Anne of Green Stables”, “Deadmool”, “Grazemooatomy”, etc.

After visiting a few shops in downtown Charlottetown and finding some lunch we decided to go back to the B&B and warm up and play some cards. Dummy Rummy is our family card game which involves many hands and is not for the weak of heart since it brings out the competitor in all of us! Since we were just guests and wanted to keep our rooms for the night we toned it down a few notches with Chris as the ultimate winner.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to PEI and begin our journey back to Boston.

PEI Trek - In Search of Green Gables

Day 4 - We found Green Gables!

I don’t know why I don’t book B&B’s more often. It was so great to walk downstairs and have breakfast all laid out for me! We had a big table for all 7 of us and were able to visit over coffee and not feel rushed.

After breakfast we headed out to the town of Cavendish for the highlight, the reason we traveled hundreds of miles….we found Green Gables! Actually, the farmhouse that was the inspiration for the famous Lucy Maud Montgomery’s novel, Anne of Green Gables was a farmhouse built in the mid-1800’s and owned by her cousins. Lucy actually lived nearby with her grandparents who raised her. Her books were so well known and popular world wide that it prompted Prince Edward Island to restore and preserve the farmhouse in 1937 and the property is now a National Park. While we were there we also noticed tourists from China, Australia, England, and France. What a testament to the appeal and talent of the author!

We were able to walk through the areas that inspired “Lovers Lane” and the “Haunted Wood” and saw the remains of the house where Montgomery grew up and the cherry tree was still there that she saw from her bedroom window and was consequently included in the Anne of Green Gables novel.  It is now 100 years old and was in full bloom today!

The weather cooperated today and it was in the 60’s and partly sunny. Mom kept up with us and enjoyed the flora and fauna as we strolled around the grounds. All of us take turns to keep an eye out but she is amazingly self sufficient.

After we were fairly sure that we had experienced about everything Green Gables, we explored the northern part of the island and found a lighthouse and of course some seashells. This is very beautiful country. There are green rolling hills and the dirt is a deep red color. About 50% of the land is cultivated, growing mostly potatoes and grains. Less than 40% of the residents live in towns so that makes PEI the most rural province in Canada. Even the cows are happy here. I have never seen so many cows laying down and just chilling out! There is so much green grass I think they just need to take some breaks! Besides agriculture and tourism the other major industry here is fishing. At dinner tonight our waitress was telling us about going out with her father at 3 am and helping him check his 300 lobster traps. What a lot of hard work! It makes me understand why lobster is so expensive in the States!

PEI Trek - The search for Green Gables

Day 3 - A view from the back

Today has been a long travel day. We awoke to a little sunshine and slightly warmer day in Bar Harbor. After breakfast, the real life Jenga game began as my brother and brother-in-law stuffed all of our luggage back into the Suburban. Once accomplished we commenced on our 6+ hour journey to Canada. The scenery only changes for the lead dogs but Lori and I have designated ourselves to the back of the car anyway primarily because our yoga expertise enables us to get in and out at rest stops better than any of the other occupants in the vehicle.

My view	Jenga
My seat partner Lori	Close it quick!

After many forests and winding roads later we finally made it to the border and entered the Canadian province of New Brunswick. We had a late lunch in Saint Johns which was our halfway point. It is a fairly large city that really grew when 10,000 Loyalists immigrated there in 1783 after they lost the American Revolutionary War. I didn’t think the city was that great I guess since I’m happy with the war’s outcome.  Note: The one and only time I’m glad the “Patriots” won!

Barb, Antonio and friends in Saint John

Fortunately, we arrived at the Confederation Bridge before dark. This is the 8 mile bridge that connects New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. It wasn’t as scary to me as the bridges in the Florida Keys because there are big concrete barriers as side rails. Unfortunately, there are signs at the beginning to remind people not to text and drive...over an 8 mile bridge...duh!

My first impressions of Prince Edward Island is that it is a lot bigger than I thought it would be and Charlottetown is a good sized city. The University of Prince Edward Island is in Charlottetown. It is the only university in the province and has about 4,000 students. We are staying in a Bed and Breakfast near Hillsborough Bay. I am looking forward to exploring tomorrow and have a feeling we will find Green Gables

PEI Trek - In Search of Green Gables

Day 2

Up and at it this morning to go to work...well not my work but Barb, Antonio, and Chris’ work. Seica is the company that my brother-in-law and sister created 32 years ago in Italy. Now they have additional  offices in Germany, Mexico, China, France, and the United States which is the one we visited this morning. I struggle to understand exactly what they do but basically they create machines to test the circuit boards in other machines. A very cool product that they created that I do understand is the Smart Bench. It is a bench that provides Wi-Fi that you can connect your device to and listen to music. Every city should have some! After the tour and a little espresso, we packed into the Suburban to head out. Any guesses as to who got to ride in the back back? Lori and I are having flashbacks of our old station wagon trips but this time we have seatbelts!

We headed north out of Massachusetts, through a small portion of New Hampshire and into Maine, the Pine Tree State. And yes it is..there are many pine trees and just trees in general! It is hard for this Coloradoan to get used to not seeing anything along the highway except trees. I find myself looking at the navigation on my phone just to “see” beyond the trees. We took a side trip into Kennebunkport, Maine, the location of George Bush’s summer home. We didn’t get to see his house but we did find some seashells on the seashore. It was a gray and cool day- not quite the beach season here yet but also not crowded at all.

We decided to have lunch in Freeport, home of L.L. Bean. My father in law gave me this tip as he visited this flagship store many years ago. Of course it was fitting to dine at Linda Bean’s Maine Kitchen and Topside Tavern. We looked around the huge L.L. Bean complex after lunch but it would have taken all day to shop in all the buildings!

We continued on down the highway until we reached Bar Harbor which is more woodsy than I expected but is right next to Arcadia National Park so it makes sense. Our hotel is right on the beach but it was only in the mid-50’s today and windy so not too conducive to a stroll by the seaside. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little warmer as we continue on our Green Gables Trek.

Seica

Kennebunkport, Maine

Bar Harbor

Lobster x 2 for Antonio!

PEI Trek- In Search of Green Gables

Day 1: I began this blog of our adventure in the car during rush hour traffic in Boston. Poor planning on our part had Debby, mom and I arriving at 4:30pm with Lori following right after. Our driver, aka brother Chris, met us at baggage claim which was very convenient. Of course that placed us smack dab on the highway with most of the population of Massachusetts.

Up until then,  our trip had been seamless. My most favorite niece Erin became my favorite when she picked me up and hauled me out to DIA. As soon as I walked into the airport I walked right into Debby and mom! We couldn’t have planned it better!

Here is my traveling tip: always travel with a 91 year old! We secured a wheelchair for her to transport her to the gate and the benefit of being her entourage is front of the security line, first on board the plane and then first off!

After we finally arrived in Haverille, we met up with Barb and Antonio. This is the location of their Seica office in the United States. We then headed over to David and Jane’s home for dinner. David is an engineer for Seica. This is a lovely home built in 1897 and they have been restoring it for over 20 years. It is beautiful inside and the backyard is just as gorgeous. They served us a wonderful dinner and we all felt right at home there, staying probably longer than we should have. Their friends Maureen and John also added to the fun.

Not a bad first day of vacation!

Our hosts: John, Maureen, David, Jane

Mocha 

PEI Trek - In Search of Green Gables

A little background knowledge:

Anne of Green Gables was the first in a book series  by Lucy Maud Montgomery and written in 1908. Many people, especially girls, read this series during their childhood - it’s popularity is right up there with Little Women and Little House on the Prairie. Somehow I got through my formative years without getting to know Anne Shirley, the main character of the books. However, my older sisters have always wanted to see Prince Edward Island, a Canadian province where the fictional stories take place. So when we found out that Barb and husband had a work function outside of Boston, along with my brother who works with them, it just made sense that me and two other sisters haul our mother out to meet them and start a quest to Green Gables.

To prepare, I thought any librarian worth her salt should at least read the first book. I also am in the middle of the second book and completed the new Netflix series, Anne with an E. I have since been told by Green Gable purists that the more accurate TV series was the PBS series. I stand corrected and will have to seek that one out.

Lori made these pendants for us to wear in our trek!