Currently, it's mid-afternoon here, and I am sitting out in the hallway, with our door and Cort and Holly's door open just a crack, while Garrett naps, and the other kids watch a movie. I figured I'd get a jump start on my blog and write it in two pieces today. Mom chose to go on the wilderness tour, they are still currently on it as I write this in the hall way. I told her, I'm hoping she doesn't get car sick on it, and if she did, I hope she seems a Moose to make it worth it. I'll report back on how that went when I finish the blog later tonight. I say 2:1 odds on at least tossing her cookies once.
Everyone left so early, I had gotten up to go to Cort's room so his kids could keep sleeping, and I eventually fell back asleep too. When I woke up, Gwen was right in my face, staring at me, and she says 'Why are you sleeping in here, Aunt Corinne?' It was pretty funny. We got the kids up, got them breakfast. I haven't changed a diaper in awhile, and narrowly missed getting peed on. Thanks for that one, Garrett. We took the kids out to the visitors center in Denali. They had some neat things to look at. Some mittens you could try on made out of different animals furs, and a giant magnetic puzzle of a moose that the kids enjoyed.
We decided we wanted to do at least one trail, so we followed one away from the visitors center. There was a sign there, indicating bears often roam the area. I said 'hey guys, go stand by that sign and look scared of the bears'. I turned around to notice my kids were seriously scared of the bears. Gwen was happy to oblige with a picture though.
We walked a trail. Asa said if you come across a Moose, you are supposed to run. (Of course only AFTER you take a picture). If you run across a bear, he said to wave your arms, yell and walk away. Apparently, he didn't listen very well when my mom was giving him the moose and bear survival skills, because after the trip I read 'talk calmly- do NOT yell'. Good thing we never actually saw one. Although, all the kids were scared to death. Hayden just kept saying 'there's bears in here, I want to go home, why would we walk here? THERE'S BEARS!' Poor kid. Everytime a bird flew by all the kids would duck and look like they were about to have an accident in their pants. They were seriously terrified, but on my end it was just hilarious.
After we walked around for a little, we took the shuttle into the town. It's not really much of a town. It's a couple of hotels, restaurants, and shops. It's REALLY expensive though. To give you an idea, there's a subway. You know the $5 footlong? Here it's a $9 footlong. We got the kids ice cream, we had some fudge and Asa got some coffee. I think we are now Garretts favorite relatives since we loaded him up on ice cream and fudge before lunch. We tried to limit gift shops, because you know how kids are, being grabby and all. But, Peyton wanted to check some stuff out, so I took him in. Mom said she was looking for some really unique moose stuff, because, well, there's moose stuff everywhere here, so you can't possibly buy it all. I got a pasta/salad serving moose antlers. I deemed that unique enough to make it one of my purchases.
After that we came back to the hotel for lunch, and naps. When we got in the bus to come back the guy was shocked to see four kids. His exact words, I kid you not, 'I see more moose around here than kids'. Of course he does. Because, as we previously discussed, moose apparently push carts around at walmart here.
That brings me to sitting out in the hallway. There is a laundry room here, and it's FREE! We all know how much I enjoy that. But I'm so glad to see a washer and a dryer, since we've been wearing the same hoodies for a few days now without being washed. By the end of the trip, I may be grateful I have no sense of smell. We'll all be wearing dirty, sweaty clothes. We haven't seen anyone in the hotel all morning, and while I was in the laundry room, a guy came in. I was wearing my BGSU sweatshirt, (or Big Sue as Ben would affectionately call it) and the guy was like 'Did you go to Bowling Green?' He was from Toledo. Of course I can find the one guy in all of Denali, possibly Alaska, who would know what that sweatshirt was, but I still can't find a moose to take a picture of.
The nice part about the hotels is they put all of us together. Housekeeping is coming around, and we've been going in between moms room, Cort and Hollys room, and our room. When she got to Clint's room, I told her he isn't in there, she could go ahead. When she got to the room after all of ours she said 'are you related to the people here to? I laughed and said no. She said, 'there is a lot of you traveling together'. Yes, there is indeed.
So here I am quite a few hours later. Everyone didn't get back from the wilderness tour until about 6. It was over around 4, I think, because we saw some people from our bus come back. Peyton had made friends with a little girl, and she was talking to me about all the things she saw. She went on about bear, and caribou, and a coyote. I said 'did you see any moose?' And of course, she said 'no, it's the only thing we didn't see'. I spent the next couple hours entertaining the kids with paper airplane flights off the bridge in our hotel building, red light green light, mother may I, and go fish. We did have a moment where I thought the Hayden Gwen alliance was done. Gwen was on the balcony dancing around, singing, and having a great time. I look over, and Hayden (on the other end of the balcony) is staring at her, hands over his ears, screaming at her to stop. Luckily, this was our only incident today. We did later joke with Cort and Holly that the people at the oceaneers club on the ship are going to tell us we can never bring Hayden and Gwen back together again.
When everyone else got back (they were much later because they went out to the visitors center after the tour), they reported back that they had also not seen a moose. Lots of bears, but no moose. Mom is pretty convinced that dad's moose repellent rubbed off on to her. I'm convinced dad's up in heaven saying 'screw you guys for finally trying to find a moose on my insurance money', and is now calling in favors to make sure we don't see one. I mean, now that I see how 'hard' my kids are looking, I have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps I was just as much of a help as they are. Oh, and I was wrong, mom didn't toss her cookies. But apparently, she was pretty close. She found it worth it even though she didn't see a moose.
All of us (sans Clint and Jess) went to eat at the lodge. We had a various array of dishes, and all kind of shared. I ate halibut, which I was really proud of myself for, since I hate the thought of fish. I couldn't bring myself to eat the salmon though. Mom sat at dinner and said how nice it was that we were all eating together and went on about how wonderful it was. Welp, guess we know next vacation we don't have to bring Clint and Jess to make mom happy.
However, while we were eating Clint and Jess were taking the shuttle from the visitors center back to to the hotel. And, guess what they saw AND got a picture of? A Moose! It was just hanging out on the side of the road eating off some bushes. They didn't stop the shuttle, and they still got some decent pictures. I contend I still deserve the dollar for finding the first moose. Dad would have given me one, picture or not. Then, I can frame it. Along with my almost moose picture.
After dinner, Mom and the older kids went over to get some ice cream. You know, because Garrett especially needed it, after his fudge and ice cream earlier in the day. Then she took all the younger kids for a sleepover. Peyton, Calib, Asa, Cort, Holly and I went on a hike up a mountain, while Jessica and Clint laid in bed (lazy people those two). The hike was pretty steep, but the views at the top were pretty awesome. Eventually, Cort, Holly, and Calib went up ahead and we headed back.
We climbed down a really steep hill to be able to walk along the river. Asa took Peyton down the hill, and came up with quite a unique safety measure to ensure prime safety. They had their hoodies tied together around their waists, then Asa tied them together, a la kid leash. It actually worked pretty well, until he couldn't get the knot undone. I did take my shoes off to put my feet in the river, and the water was super cold. All my Florida friends- think about the gulf in the winter. Then think of that as a hot tub, because compared to this water, winter water in Florida is super hot. I had some awesome pictures, but I won't get to post them until we get back to civilization in Anchorage tomorrow. Then I'll add them to my last couple blogs too.
I would like to take a moment to tell you about our rock competition, organized by our good friend Justin back in Florida. Justin collected rocks from places he traveled to as a kid, and has requested a rock from Alaska. He has two conditions: 1. It must be a cool rock 2. You must risk your life for said rock. Thanks a whole lot, Justin. I have now had to fear for my families lives, and I have about 15 rocks I have to pack. My baggage was already at the top of the weight limit for the airline, so I hope you're prepared to reimburse me for the overweight baggage fee.
Now, I'll leave you with a nerdy Cort story. Because who doesn't enjoy one of those?
While walking in the hall Cort pops out of his room to proudly show off his deodorant. He's all 'hey, look what I have'. Great, Cort, I'm glad you won't stink on the bus tomorrow. Then he clarifies 'look what KIND it is'. He bought Denali deodorant to bring on the trip. I took his picture, made fun of him, and his reply was something to the effect of 'you're going to post this on your blog aren't you'. Indeed, Cortlund, Indeed
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Up Next: Headed back to the booming metropolis of Anchorage. (Yea for internet where I can post some more pictures!
Wat?
ReplyDeleteI never said to risk you LIFE! I just said it needed to be earned. You crazies!