"Adventures" in Alaska (August 15-17)

Our “Adventure” in Alaska began with an email Sunday afternoon.  We were scheduled to leave on Monday evening for Fairbanks, Alaska.  We had everything set and we were excited.  Sunday afternoon we received an email reminding us about our flight the following day.  Included in the email were our seat assignments.  Seat 44A 44B 44C and 44D.  Receiving an email such as this the day before traveling is always a comforting thing.  It assures you that you did indeed make the reservation for the day you had planned to leave, and that you also had confirmed seats on the airplane.  We went to bed Sunday evening with this peace of mind. 

     Monday we spent the day finishing our packing, and preparing the house for any showings that might occur while we were away.  When we arrived at the airport Monday evening we were shocked to discover that somehow between Sunday evening and Monday evening, we no longer had confirmed seat assignments on the most integral part part our trip.  The leg of our flight that would take us from Minneapolis,MN to Fairbanks,AK.  The man who was working at the Traverse City airport attempted to call around to give us confirmed seat numbers, but was unable to get in touch with the proper people.  He informed us that we would need to get our seats assigned in Minneapolis.  He marked our tickets as confirmed…and yet we had no seat assignments.  We were a little concerned, but decided that there was nothing more we could do until we reached Minneapolis.  Our flight from Traverse City to Minneapolis was slightly delayed coming in due to Airforce One being present at the airport earlier in the day.  As soon as our flight landed we ran through the airport to our gate to assure that we would have time to talk with a gate attendant about our seating situation.  When we arrived at gate F7 the woman working there informed us that the flight was overbooked.  They were asking for people to give up their seats in return for a $400 travel voucher to be used at another time.  We were placed on a list of others who were hoping to get on the flight to Alaska.

        In no time at all they began boarding the flight.  We waited anxiously by the gate hoping that we would still make it to Fairbanks that evening.  After the last person boarded the plane the lady working at the gate informed us that they had 3 available seats for us.  The problem was…we needed four!  They suggested that I take the children and travel to Alaska without Jason.  They would put him up in Minneapolis and send him out first class on the same flight the following day.  This made no sense to me because Jason’s family was waiting anxiously to see him in Alaska.  We came up with a new plan.  I would stay in Minneapolis with Madeline while Jason took the three available seats with Micah and Elijah.  It wasn’t ideal, but it made the most sense.  I began pulling all of the items I had packed to help keep the boys entertained on the plane out of my bag and stuffing them into Jason’s so that he would have a way to keep the boys busy on the 5 hour and 45 minute flight to Alaska.  Just as we were finishing up swapping items they upped the voucher price for anyone willing to give up their seat to $600.  A nice woman stepped forward and gave up her seat.  We were so thankful!  We quickly climbed aboard the plane.  Our seats were all over the plane so we asked a stewardess to help us find a way to have all our children seated with us on the plane.  She worked it out.  I sat with the kids and Jason sat a few rows behind us.  When Madeline was sick of sitting with me, she went and snuggled with Daddy and fell asleep.  We were officially on our way to Alaska!

     Our flight arrived in Fairbanks at 8:45(Which to our bodies felt like 12:45).  We were met at the airport by Jason’s family as well as the company that we would be renting our RV from in Fairbanks (“Adventures” in Alaska.)   We were all exhausted and ready for some sleep.  The lady from the RV rental place drove us to our campground where we first set eyes on our RV.  The first thing that Jason and Rudy noticed was that the tires of the RV were completely bald.  A little rain and we would certainly be having an “Adventure” in Alaska.  But the Adventure continued as we climbed inside of this RV that was well past its prime.  It smelled funny and looked like it had been used by many many many other families.  As we climbed inside the drivers seat we read that it already had 130,000 miles on it.  We were very concerned about the type of “Adventure” we would encounter if we decided to take it to Anchorage and Seward.  Micah, Elijah and Madeline were exhausted and we knew we couldn’t take them running around to find a new place to stay.  They needed to sleep. We made the decision to stay in the RV for one night and deal with the situation in the morning.

      In the morning I worked on making sure we had our stuff packed up and Jason went to talk with the owner of the company about the safety of their vehicle.  The owner was shocked.  She suggested that Jason could take the RV and have the front tires changed If he wanted.  Just what everyone dreams of doing on a vacation!!  She gave Jason a really hard time,  for some she reason mellowed out a little when I joined Jason in the conversation.  She refused to refund our money because the contract says “No Refunds.”  We finally convinced her to give back half our money and our deposit and we decided to cut our losses and walk away.  She did tell us that if she is able to rent the unit out in the next few days that she will return the rest of our money, I doubt that will happen.  Rudy came with his rental car and took us to the airport and was able to get us a fantastic deal on renting a minivan for our trip.  We were ready to have some GOOD “Adventures in Alaska!” 

     We started by meeting our beautiful new niece Aliza and seeing our other beautiful Alaskan niece Adelaide.  We made sandwiches and ate lunch at Aaron and Sarah’s house and than we began our trip to Denali National Park.  In Denali National Park, we had the amazing opportunity to watch a dog sledding presentation and even got to pet some of the dogs.  We then ventured on to our cabins for the evening at the Denali Grizzly Bear Resort.  We enjoyed pizza and exploring the area.  Things are definitely looking up!