After security I was straight away welcomed into the United States! Finished watching the movie Pizza Movie, which was suppose to be my Chicago movie cause of the 'pizza'! Weird movie but also hilarious haha!
I am about halfway through this first part of my sabbatical, even though it feels like I've been away so much longer. It always does, even on day one if it's a good one :-)! And so it is also time to think about what's next but not yet!
I was seated in seat 25D, 25 lucky birthday number :-). The flight was fine. I watched a movie called 'Good luck. Have fun. Don't die.' Great movie, kind of 'Black Mirror' like. After that I had an hour or so left and started a show but was also pretty tired so I closed my eyes for a bit.
The moose at the airport and waiting for the bus
The shared restroom and shower is across from my room and the shared kitchen is next to my room so great location. I went into the kitchen to get 2 cups of tea. Didn't have tea in a few days and kind of missed it so I was happy that it was available again here and it's also free! I went out a little after to find a sportsbar that was recommended by a big sportsfan working at the ho(s)tel and it was mostly locals and pretty quiet. Very different from the last games I watched haha. But I was also used to nobody caring about our games haha. I ordered dinner there as well since it was around 5pm. And the wings were so salty that I took the extra crispy skin off (usually the best part) and I had a salad with blue cheese. And such an American style salad, two big wedges of iceberg covered in blue cheese sauce, blue cheese crumbs and bacon bits haha. I mean..why would you go healty on a salad when you can drown it in toppings right đ¤Ł. The game was first shown on about 6 of the 12 screens, then 4 and in the end only 2 haha. Even though more people watched when extra time was added. But that's it, we're out. Am kind of happy it's over haha. Paid my bill and walked back to the room!
I'm about 25minutes from downtown and it's an easy walk. Also, the sun doesn't set until about midnight but even then it doesn't get dark and so it feels safe walking around here at all hours (not that I made it after 00 any of the days haha). And so I was back in the room way before that haha. And I had my first tv since I left and so I watched some of my favorites Shark Tank, Golden Girls, Impractical Jokers, Law&Order. Happy days đ¤!
Woke up pretty early the next day and had a relaxed morning with another cup of tea :-)! It was raining and so I didn't want to get out to early. And with it being light out all day, I wasn't in much of a rush. A lot of shops and activities are open till 8 or even 11pm. I did go outside a little before noon when it was still a bit rainy but walked around in the mall downtown. There was one guy that said hi or nodded or something and I didn't reply and he miaowed at me haha, that's a first. When I walked outside it was still raining a little bit and since I passed the Historic trolley tour, I decided to get on the deluxe tour. It was a longer tour (about 1,5-2hrs) and you were able to get off the bus at the stops.
When we got back, I wanted a snack and I saw a hotdog stand, it was a big thing in Anchorage and so I tried the reindeer dog, sorry Rudolph! I also walked around downtown for a bit, loved all the decorated trashbins and murals!
Went back to the room for a bit and back out for dinner. I wanted to try another local dish and that was halibut. I found a place that had halibut taco's and since it was tuesday, taco tuesday, I decided to go there. It was also a sportsbar and Mexico was playing so Mexico, Tacos, Margerita! Fifa/Viva la Mexico!! Sat at the bar. I love how they do that in most restaurants. When you are by yourself and/or don't want to wait for a table or while you wait for a table or just because you want to sit at the bar, there is usually barseats where you sit next to strangers. And that's how I met a local girl (also how I met the two guys in Vancouver btw)! She gave me a few tips on where to go the next day but also went to two local bars with me after the match and then dropped me off back at my ho(s)tel!
Started the next day with a walk to the rental place to get a bike because I wanted to do the Tony Knowles Coastal trail (11miles/about 18km). But my first stop was Mimosa lunch as suggested by the local I met the night before! And again, took a barseat so I didn't have to wait for a table for 45minutes!
And off I went! Goal today was to see a moose! It started with a beautiful lake and also sights of mountains!
And I almost missed it, but spotted the beach access sign. It was a spot that was also suggested by the local to stop at and she also told me that it was not a beach like in Europe with nice sand but a nice beach for a walk. And so I took the bike down the path as far as I could, locked it and walked the rest of the way down to the beach. And it wasn't indeed a beach with sand, but with a lot of rocks and it was gorgeous! There weren't many people around and so I also turned off my music to enjoy the silence and peace. The further down I walked, the quieter it was. The sights of the mountains were majestic. I could have stared at them for hours and almost shed a tear. My mom told me that my grandfather had said 'the mountains protect us' when they lived in Indonesia with mountains surrounding them and also why they enjoyed Switzerland. And we saw the mountains in Indonesia when I took my mom back there. All this came back to me while I was standing there hence the feelings I felt. After a while, I walked back but kept looking back and turning around to have another look at it. And again, maybe another sign on this trip for one of the things to visit, nature/mountains in Switzerland. I've had other 'signs' for countries to go to, but not sure yet what to do with it!
I continued my trip and I told myself I didn't mind it if I didn't saw a moose or not. And the mountains stayed in sight for a while after that for me to enjoy them some more. I then began to go a bit more into a forest like area and I had bugs bumping into my face, one went into my mouth but I was able to spit it out alive haha. And "my eyes, my eyes" (to quote Phoebe from Friends), they kept going into my eyes and even after I got back to the room one eye kept hurting.
Anyways, I continued my bikeride to the end of the trail to Kincaid park. Apparently it was a good spot to see moose. I was a bit confused though and decided to go to the right side where I saw a few 'loops' you could do. It was an area that they used for wintersports in winter and I could tell, the hills were so steep. I had to go up as well, and I was dying haha hills of hell. The bike couldn't handle it and so I had to go up the steep hills with bike in hand a few times. And that was it, I was done! And I made my way back again. Went around the area another time and all of sudden saw a Moose sign. Turned out I just had to go down a bit further and across the street for the actual park haha. And so I decided to try again, but that was also a failure and I was really done after I heard screaming birds (I first thought it was kids screaming or somebody getting attacked) and saw giant mosquitos. Time to go back.
Alarm went off around 6am, but I was already up before it went off of course haha. My nights here are very short. Taxi came to pick me up around 630am because today was the day, the bear catching salmon from the river day!!
It was 2 flights, one to King Salmon (1,5hr) and then a floatplane to Brooks falls (20min). The group was divided in 2 and then 3 due to the sizes of the planes. But the good news was "everybody gets a windowseat, everybody gets an aisle". I mostly slept on the way down, well only the first flight. And once we got to, as they put it "you're in bear country now", we went to 'bear-school'. They explained how to deal with bears if you see one and to not engage, not disturb, not do anything to make them get used or curious to people. It was nice to see how much they cared and that we were just visitors on their turf. Food of any kind had to be stored before heading out, because they smell everything. And so I took everything out that I had, even the handsanitizers of which one was honey scented haha, just in case! Oh and it was pretty cold and rainy and I was, of course, looked at everywhere I went but mostly friendly smiles and faces because I was wearing a dress. One lady asked me if I was going down the work, because it looked more like work-clothes. And I was like, I do everything in a dress. Well I didn't say that, but thought it haha. And yeah it was chilly until I started walking and so I was fine :-)! And I did have long leggings with me but I didn't need to use them.
And off I went. And I already spotted my first bear in the distance with a beautiful background. It impressed me, that is Alaska, that is the wilderness, out there, and I thought of the Disney movie Brother Bear. And so walking to the viewing platforms, I was humming one of the songs from that movie (love that movie btw!!). And also because they said if you are by yourself, sing or talk, so that a bear doesn't get startled if it is close. And I remember a friend told me the same thing with boars once in Arnhem.
I started walking back and saw a few bears swimming and passing by around the same spot of the first bear I saw, that was also cool. It looked like it was all perfectly timed for me :-)! I was satisfied after that and sat in the lodge for the remainding hour or so.
The flights back were fine. I talked to one lady, she was 71 and did a 3week tour. She showed me some great photos and talked non stop haha. And I wanted to look outside for a bit because I saw beautiful mountains and I told her but she kept talking haha and so I had a few brief glances outside and took a few pictures to enjoy later. She was funny though and skipped things that were too 'peoply' which was her word for when there were too many people around.
I took an Uber back after that and went to the same sportsbar as the first night to watch the match with Switzerland and have some food. I then decided to stay a bit longer as there was Karaoke that night and people were good, holy shit! That's no Karaoke! Haha but I spoke too soon, a few weren't all that good. Most were though. And I also wanted to see a bit of the sunset to see what it looked like and so I had to stay until 2330ish. And it was very strange to see it this light outside but it being this late. Felt like I was daydrinking the whole time haha. Walked back to the room and I did see soms of the sunset and it didn't get dark after that. I fell asleep with the curtains open and the tv on đ .
Final morning, didn't sleep very long since I forgot to close the curtains and so it never got dark in the room. I tried falling asleep a few times but I gave up and took a shower. I then called with a friend from back home to catch up for a bit and packed my bag in the meantime. Checked out and walked about 20min to the busstop. It was a sunny morning, not too hot yet and a lady at the busstop complimented me on my dress haha my goodbye gift! She did say it was too cold for her to be wearing a dress haha. Might be why I got so many looks and friendly nodds while I was here, everyone else was pretty much dressed for winter.
Got to the airport and missed my post update before the flight, but finished it on board! And so I am currently already in Seattle!
Jonge jonge wat een beregoed avontuur weer, xx mama
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