Trip to Anchorage

To keep my mind of being a little home sick, Barry had me go with him to Anchorage. I grew up going on "work vacations" with my parents. You know the ones, when one parent has to go work early in the morning to late at night in a wonderful city like Naples, Canada, or Palm Beach, while the kids and the other parent get to go sight seeing, go on day trips, and lay out on fabulous beaches the whole time. You know the kind of vacation? We always went on vacations like these when I was growing up. Barry had some training in Anchorage so I went on vacation, only this time I didn't have my mama or daddy to go on the day trips with me. Luckily, the mall was within walking distance of the hotel. It was raining off and on while we were there so that kind of put a damper on my walking to places. From the hotel we could see the ocean....

 Our first stop on Anchorage was Bed, Bath, & Beyond to spend all the wonderful gift cards we received from the wedding!! Woooohooo! Barry was a trooper! Doesn't he look so thrilled to be there?

On the trips I went on with my parents, 9 times out of 10, the trips were to a beach. So I would lay out and relax waiting on the meetings to get over. I had planned on doing the same on this trip. My thoughts were--- It's summer, I love summer, I will lay out, I will be tan, it will be fabulous! Well then I came back to reality and realized--- I am in Alaska! The pools are indoors, DUH! I am guessing because of the winters and the upkeep would be impossible. So I had to go to plan #2---Shopping. Luckily, I was able to get some back to school shopping done. Alaska is very beautiful during the summer time. Please notice in all of the following pictures, there is NO snow. #1 question people ask me is, "So is there always snow there?" #1 Answer is... The first snow each year (so we hear , we havent been here to experience this yet) is at the end of August early September and the last snow (this year) was May 5th. "The break up" is what the locals call when all the ice starts melting. I think it was sometime late April this year. #2 most asked question is... "So is it always night time there?" And  #2 answer is... June 21 was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. December 21st is the longest night of the year (22- 23 hours of darkness) . Each day after Dec 21st we gain 6 minutes of sunlight. So right now  we have daylight all the time. It gets kind of like a dusk, but def not a night and day like back in Georgia. With all of the day light and temperatures being anywhere from 50s-70s each day the flowers are beautiful. Here are some pictures of downtown Anchorage.

Anchorage was lots of fun and I am so glad I was able to tag along with Barry. I hope he and I will be able to go there again soon.