From the Big to the Small

  With mixed emotions I departed from the beautiful land of Alaska.  Well I tried to anyway Wednesday night.  Basically no matter where one turns, the views were spectacular.  I loved getting to feel the need to harvest and preserve for the winter.  God truly does provide a plethora of natural foods, if only we are willing to spend the hours picking and canning or freezing.  The results of the hard work are quite delicious and when they are done in a community they bring joy and laughter.  You just never quite know when a batch of salmon, blueberry jam will turn out wrong, but it just doesn't matter because it is a moment to laugh about and a reason to eat even more!  I loved getting to live briefly in the world which Kara has adapted to so well and it will make relating to her letters so much easier.  It is great to see her love for the land, culture, and the people after such a short time (because we are all realizing that 1 year isn't all that long).  So thanks to Kara for serving as my guide into this life and to Lauren and Jenni for letting me crash in the apartments and interrupt the day to day life.

How do you like my Jet Blue plane?

  So anyway, back to my delayed departure.  I was supposed to be on a flight from Anchorage on Jet Blue airlines.  My flight was scheduled to leave at 1:30am (on a side note, the anchorage airport is about the only one that I have seen so busy after 10:00pm.  There were flights leaving as late as 3:00am and as early as 5:00am.  It basically never shut down.)  Unfortunately one of the flight attendants became ill on the flight up, and thus was unable to make the return trip.  Around midnight we found out our flight was cancelled and thus we should go back to the ticket counter and talk to the representatives over there.  So all the passengers from my flight made there way back out to stand in line.  Little did I know that my spot in line would consume the next 4 hours of my life (when I would have much preferred to be asleep).  I must admit, I did secretly enjoy chatting with the people around me.  We were all exhausted (hoping to be sleeping on our flight).  The airline was buying each individual tickets on other airlines and were averaging 15+ minutes per person.  I was located about half way through the line.  As each person would get their tickets we would ask what type of ticket they got and when they would actually be arriving at their destination.  Personally I wasn't too sad that my flight had gotten cancelled because I had a 7 hour layover in Long Beach California (later I found out I would have been able to meet up with my uncle, though at the time this possibility was uncertain).  I was able to talk to the people around me and tell them about my future plans to head to Africa.  Around 4:00am I finally was able to go talk to someone.  The man offered a ticket and I said sure (his reaction was, "Really, you are fine with my first suggestion."  It turned out that I would only be getting in a few hours later than planned and I would have a stop in Portland, my old stomping ground.  The down side was that I would not be leaving the Anchorage airport until noon.  There is something quite strange about going to sleep on a bench with just one or two people around and then waking up to have the gate bustling with business.  The best part was that in Portland, I had a 3 hour layover and was able to convince my brother Aaron and roommate Laura to come hang out with me for a bit.  They even brought me dinner! The bad part, my flight was delayed by a couple hours.  I am very grateful that my friends Elle and Molly were willing to come pick me up, despite the crazy delays and changes of plans.  Oh did I mention my new tickets were on Alaskan airlines and I was flying first class!  I was happy to make it to San Francisco and let the new adventures unfold.