Root Canal in Anchorage

Yes, the title of this post is correct. I'm in Anchorage and have just survived my first root canal. Not as bad as the term implies, in my opinion! The whole situation evolved quickly and before I knew it, I was booking a reservation on the "milk run" to Anchorage. In plain language, that means you hop from small town (Wrangell) to next small town (Petersburg) to bigger town (Juneau) before you actually get to your destination. The whole trip took 6 hours. It IS 800 miles away from Ketchikan, but next time I think I'd do what many people do and take a direct flight to Seattle, get off the plane (which you can't do on the milk run) and then get back on and fly direct to Anchorage.

I'm staying at Elmendorf Air Force base which is great - the galley is stupendous - it looks like a deluxe ski lodge restaurant. I snapped the bear photo above as I was getting off the plane - apparently they roam through the airport. Just kidding! It's a stuffed one - maybe you can tell by the glazed look - and part of a cool diorama in the airport lobby (only in AK!).

The other exciting part of this unexpected trip is seeing an old friend from PA whom I haven't seen in over 15 years. We met for dinner Wednesday night and then she was my tour guide as I attempted to buy jeans, books, and unusual cooking gadgets I can't get in Ketchikan.

The root canal went well - I won't get into a long tired description but I will say that the view from the office window of Mt. Susitna (aka The Sleeping Lady) and of a distant and fogged in Mt. McKinley was incredible. The mountains here are much different from Ketchikan. There are more snow-covered and much rockier. The Ketchikan ones are all covered with trees which means, I think, the snow melts faster.

Tomorrow, it's back to the island (but only two stops this time - Juneau and Sitka). I've loved being here in the "big" city - Anchorage is easy to get around and great - but I'm also ready to hike up and down hills (very flat in town here) and get back to my island life.

Plus, now that it's finally warm, I need to get my plants for the deck garden I plan to start. More later!

Sun Again

No, I'm not bored with the sun. I'm just thrilled to see it, again. And the forecast for this week is more and more sun. Yesterday it was really warm - and I realize it's been in the 80's in the NE - but here it reached past 70 on the thermometer outside the kitchen window which was not in the sun.

I'm on the home-stretch for Blogbook 2009 and it feels great to have created something and followed it through to the end. I continue to get emails from enthusiastic librarians which make me feel very happy.

After I'm done writing this morning, I plan to take out my bike and go for a nice long pedal along the water. Maybe I'll even see some of those whales others have seen spouting...

WLA Conference in Spokane

I just came back from three nights in Spokane for the Washington Library Association’s Annual Conference. I went there to promote Blogbook 2009, my international online teen summer reading project. I plan to publish my teen novel, Loulane Lambert’s Lists for Life, on its own blog beginning June 1. The book is written as a journal, so I’ll post entries each day until the entire novel is on the blog. See my website for more info.

But, I also came to Spokane to get off the island and have a bit of a getaway. I chose this conference because it was relatively close by, looked interesting (a number of famous authors were speaking) and also because I could get there easily. Spokane is only an hour plane flight from Seattle and the hotel shuttle picks up at the airport.

I was stunned by Spokane. It is a beautiful, tidy, accessible city located near several rivers. There is a mini-Niagara Falls right in town! (See video.) Numerous footbridges cross the river, and there are an amazing assortment of walking/biking paths all along the river as well as through town. Name-brand stores such as Macy’s and Nordstrom’s were next to well-stocked bookstores and even the local library! I want to move there! Check out the video of the falls below!

The conference was also interesting, and I was able to connect with quite a few librarians. Most were receptive, but I occasionally felt like I was a fish oil hawker trying to get people interested in my product. I had ironed on a Blogbook 2009 placard to the back of a pink t-shirt which I occasionally displayed (when I didn’t have it covered up by a sweater) as I walked through exhibits and attended sessions. I had printed out Blogbook 2009 information on business cards which I kept secreted in my plastic nametag pocket. At the appropriate time (I hoped…) I would take one out and talk about Blogbook 2009. One highlight at the closing banquet was a kind library director actually asking me for cards so that he could help spread the word.

Snowshoeing in April

No, this is not a delayed April Fool's joke.

In the town of Ketchikan, the snow is mostly gone, and I think it will get to the high forties, low fifties today because the sun is out. But this morning, my friend, Jan (and of course her terrific dog, Lenny - that's him playing in the snow!) went up north a bit where the snow is very slowly melting.

Jan had an extra pair of snowshoes, so I tried them out. The area where we were hiking had deep drifts, and it would have been impossible to hike there without snowshoes. We would have sunk right down in. Which is exactly what I did when I got out of the truck and tried to climb over a drift to find a flat area to put on the snowshoes. I sunk in almost up to my thighs!

Hiking

We hiked the Climbers Loop at Mission Trail Regional Park. It was one of the most strenuous hikes I've ever done - and that said after climbing up and down Ketchikan's hills for the past 9 months... Many paths were strewn with large rocks that made hiking even more challenging. Still, the views from the hills were worth it.

What does a Ketchikaner do on vacation?

Here's the proof of my newly acquired bad habits. Not one but two (and nested inside each were even more bags...) shopping bags.

But who can blame me (us) when the clothes choices are a bit limited on our island home??

San Diego

We've now been back from CA for over a week. We've seen snow storms and rain storms here. Yesterday we had a mini-blizzard. On the positive side, much of the snow is gone and I've even seen clumps of crocuses waving their purple and white heads in town near the cruise ship docks.

San Diego seems like a far off paradise... The San Diego Zoo was GREAT. It has to be the best zoo I've ever seen. And that includes the ones in DC and London. But we also discovered some amazing hiking trails at Torrey Pines State Park, where, at the end of the trail, I even got a chance to put my feet in the freezing cold Pacific!