We Made It!

It has been an adventure to get here! If you were following us on Facebook, then you know that we dropped off the planet around July 4th. We left Columbus, Ohio on July 2nd. We flew to Chicago which is a prettier airport than what I remember. Then we took a too small for the trip plane to Fairbanks, Alaska.

We had a long layover in Fairbanks and were unable to sleep at the airport as planned. (not my plan) We hopped in a taxi and headed to the Extended Stay near the hotel. Its located next to a Fred Meyer, large grocery chain for Alaska. Toby ran to the store and got us some food for the night. They had a bag lunch of a sub sandwich, cookies, chips and soda for $6. We passed out and slept till about 2am. (jet lag sucks!)

We finally left the hotel at 4am, just in case there were issues. We went through security with no problems. There was one little problem with my bag. I guess I look like a drug smuggler or terrorists, but I was stopped in Columbus and Fairbanks. I had secondary searches of my luggage.

We waited for our flights, it was a long wait. The plane was scheduled to fly  from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay to Barrow and onward to Anchorage. The layover in Prudhoe was very long because of the weather. The pilots got the go ahead to fly to Barrow. The flight was full of clouds. When we got to Barrow we were unable to land. It was thick! (I'll add a pic soon! or you can check my facebook pics.) The pilot flew back to Fairbanks!

We joined the others that were in a similar situation. They rebooked us on the next flight that was leaving the next day. The evening flight to Barrow was cancelled due to weather. We returned to the same hotel, same room and almost same food. :) This time we ate pasta and I bought a bag of apples for the plane.

So you might be thinking about our luggage at this point. We were able to leave it at the airport because we had so much. We checked our luggage in the next day. And once again our luggage was searched. They had to break the locks on our ammo cases because we couldn't find the keys. No big issue! They broke Emily's make up case and spilled some liquids. We received a claim paper for it.

Going through airport security was easier this time. Georgia was a pro and Em didn't have to go through the full body scan because only one parent was with her. We spent time talking with other people headed to Barrow. They had us all over the airplane. People were very nice and helped put Abi with me and Georgia with Toby. I could see Em from my seat. She was sitting with some older women and chatting away. When we arrived in Prudhoe the seats were changed and we had to move. Georgia sat with me and Em and Abi sat by themselves. Toby  was stuck in a row of men.

It was cloudy! I was so worried like others on the plane that we were not going to land. In fact, we didn't land the first time. It was too cloudy again. The pilot pulled up and circled around and tried from the other direction. We landed and everyone cheered! I didn't get the video of it because I was in the aisle seat.

We arrived in Barrow, Alaska on the 4th of July! We are doing good and I will write more and update soon. We have no phone service, no cable, no tv right now. And we love it!!