Alaska - Installment #2

So here we are at the airport; It's 7:00pm, we're all checked in and killing time before the dreaded moment when Kallen and I walk through the security checkpoint, and leave Kevin behind. The good ol' Portland airport has a nice little play structure for kiddos awaiting arrivals or departures, and that's where we parked ourselves for the next hour or so.

Then it was time to go. We said our goodbyes, gave our hugs and kisses, and went on our way! Being that it was now 8:30 or so, I put Kallen's PJ's on, set him in the stroller, and walked from gate to gate until it was our time to board the plane!

I had gotten some wonderful advice from my friend Laura who told me not to board with the usual "early boarding for people traveling with kids", but instead to wait until that last possible moment to board. If you board early, you end up waiting another 20-30 minutes for everyone else to arrive, before the plane actually begins to move. The 3 1/2 hour flight turns into 4, etc, etc.

We boarded the plane, waved goodbye to daddy, and settled in to our seats. It was merely 2 minutes or so before we began to taxi down the runway, and we were off to Alaska.

Let me backtrack, just a minute. I've never flown with kids before, so I don't really know the ends and outs of family travel. I didn't buy a seat for Kallen because I figured he would sleep on my lap the whole flight, and it wouldn't be worth spending the extra miles. The thing I didn't realize was that the airlines try to accomodate families by blocking out seats when the flights arn't full. Sure enough, they had done that for us. We ended up with two seats, and plenty of room to move around.

The engine noise at take-off, put Kallen right to sleep, and he didn't wake up until the plane touched the ground. Thank you Lord!

We're now in Anchorage, and begin looking for a place to crash for our 7 hour layover...yes, 7 hours...but remember how much I saved on the flight, and it is 12:00 am, so it's bedtime!!! Well, this nice lady, pointed me in the direction of the "nursery". Okay, we'll check it out. Let me tell you how wonderful the Anchorage airport is. They have a nursery room, for parents traveling with kids, that had a crib, two leather couches, toys, and even a private bathroom! Thank you again Lord. I let Kallen play for a few minutes, laid him down in the crib, found my place on the couch, and went to sleep. Sleep isn't really the right word, since the announcer kept coming over the loud speaker telling us all that the local time in Anchorage was 1:00 am, 1:30 am, 2:00 am , ect., ect.. Kallen slept through the noise, but it was just enough to keep me alert!


We woke up, went to our gate, boarded the plane for Fairbanks, and once again we were off!