Nome

This is my first dispatch from up north. We made it. Nome, Alaska.

After an eventful day of goodbyes, see-you-soons, and promises that we'd fly back soon, we got to the airport Sunday evening for our 10 pm flight. All the final parcels had been shipped. We loaded up 8 bags to check-in and half a dozen carry-ons. One of the carry-ons was Madison's car seat, which would come in very handy.

It ends up being three takeoffs and landings to get to Nome. The first leg was to Anchorage on a 737-800. We didn't get to see much of the city though as we landed at 12:30 am local time. Alaska is one hour behind Pacific time zone. We slept on the lines of chairs and made a little bed on the floor for Madison. It was cold and uncomfortable in those wee hours of Monday morning. I'd like to say thanks to the late-night Starbucks in the Anchorage airport for helping to provide a crabby two-year-old with milk in her baa-baa at only 35 cents a shot.

The next leg set off at 6 am. This was in a smaller 737-200 plane. We actually didn't realize we had to land in a place called Kotzebue, just north of the Arctic Circle, first. (How many people can say they have been north of the Arctic Circle?) The airport there was a solitary strip, almost completely surrounded by water. It appeared that we were going to fly into the harbor when we came out of the fog and the runway suddenly appeared. We stayed on the plane and half an hour later, after picking up a few more passengers as some got off in Kotzebue, we were on our way to Nome, about 40 minutes away. Alaska Airlines flies this triumvirate of cities twice a day.

We touched down on schedule. We were met at the airport by the Superintendent of Schools Stan Lujan and the brand new principal of the secondary school Owen Carter. Mr. Carter then gave us an impromptu tour of Nome in the van, just so we'd know where the basics were. We then got to our apartment and were immensely pleased by how nice and how big this two-bedroom apartment is. It is nicer and bigger than our last place in Bremerton.