Week 57 - USA, Alaska, and Home to Ohio

Sunday we mostly relaxed, but since it was a clear, beautiful day we took an afternoon drive. We had decided not to go all the way to Denali National Park. I'm sure it would be amazing, but it's a three-hour drive and then you have to get on one of their buses which get pretty crowded. We were told that we weren't that likely to see animals anyway and that the best view of the mountain was from further south. So today we just drove a little way north towards the view spot, past Talkeetna, but turned off on a gravel road to explore a little. We did get a good view of the mountain, though the top was covered in clouds, and the scenery was pretty. 

We had a packed lunch, but couldn't find any picnic tables, so we went to a historic roadhouse that supposedly still serves food, but it was closed. We picnicked on the logs in their parking lot while four-wheelers roared by. It's nice countryside, but it made us miss the quiet of New Zealand.

However lackluster Sunday's drive was, Monday really made up for it. We took a glacier tour and rode in the back of a pickup truck down a dirt road and across several streams.

Next, we took a boat ride around the glacier and icebergs.

We got to get out and walk around an island and have hot chocolate.

J and the kids got to examine rocks.

Then we were ready for the ride back.

We met a really nice young couple who love to travel and are beginning to contemplate parenthood. They were interested in how traveling with kids works and we were happy to share. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful place with good company. 

Tuesday was our pack and organize day. Even though we weren't leaving until Thursday, we knew we wouldn't have time on Wednesday. C did zoom violin and algebra, S did math and reading, and everyone packed.

Wednesday was our last day of worldschool and we made it memorable. The one thing the kids really wanted to do was take a dog cart ride. Obviously, sled dogs are a big thing around here. In fact, the starting point for the Iditarod is in Willow. In the summer the teams train with wheeled carts and some kennels offer tours and rides. I found one that offered a tour and a ride combined with a fishing trip. I knew the boys wanted to go fishing. They loved fishing in Ireland, but the deep sea trips in Hawaii and Fiji were really expensive and serious. I didn't want to end up being the only rookies on the boat and annoying everyone. This was a private river fishing trip and sounded just right for us. And it was a great day. It rained again and dropped to about 50 degrees. I think we only had two sunny days in the whole two weeks we were in Alaska. The locals say it's not usually this wet in the fall, everyone has been commenting on how unusual it has been. Therefore, it wasn't the most comfortable of days, but we learned a lot and had fun. The tour of the kennel was really interesting. We learned all about training sled dogs and how the Iditarod works. We got to meet the dogs, then we got all set up for our ride.

After the ride, the dogs got to cool off in their pools, because the weather was a little hot for them!

Meanwhile, we learned more about the race and got to see the racing sled.

We got a snack, and more time to love on the dogs.

It was a little hard to get the kids out of there. They kept saying the dogs didn't want them to leave! Good thing they were excited about the fishing trip. We got all set up with waders which really would have kept us dry, but we were already pretty wet from the dog sled ride, so while we didn't get any wetter, we did get colder because the waders kept the wet layers close to our skin. I really should have packed a change of clothes. The kids had so much fun they didn't mind being wet and cold a bit, and J and I were able to focus on their enjoyment rather than our discomfort. We rafted down Willow Creek to the Susitna river, fishing along the way. The trip included a packed lunch, plus I had extra snacks. It was beautiful and peaceful back there, and even though I don't fish I enjoyed the scenery. The guide was great at showing the kids what to do. It was fly fishing and therefore very different from the ocean fishing they did in Ireland. It was catch and release, so no fish to clean which was fine by me. The kids each caught several rainbow trout and C caught an Arctic grayling. We saw a bald eagle and a kingfisher, plus merganser ducks.

We headed back wet, cold, and happy. Then the day got complicated. We went home and changed, finished packing, mostly wet, muddy laundry, and arranged with our host to haul our bags from the cabin to the car in his four-wheeler. Then, hungry for something hot, we tried going out to dinner. The restaurant was busy and after a couple hours, knowing our host was waiting for us, J took us back to the cabin, loaded the car, then went back to pick up the food as takeout. We finally got to eat, finished our last cleaning chores, and fell into bed exhausted at about 11:00. We don't usually attempt a big trip on our last day before a travel day, but it was the only day both sled dogs and fishing were available and it was definitely worth it.

J and I were up at 4:00 Thursday morning, only to find our flight was delayed an hour. So the kids got an extra hour of sleep and we got a slightly more relaxed morning. Still, we were off by 6:30. We drove to Anchorage, dealt with all the airport stuff, were slightly delayed again, and were finally in the air around 11:00. C forgot to take his multi-tool out of his bag again, and this time he wasn't allowed to keep it. Natural consequences. I took a chance on yogurt because it's not exactly a liquid and that got taken away too. Oh well. It was about a six-hour flight, but I had other stuff packed for lunch. I miss the meals on the Asian and African airlines. Both United and American were pretty long flights but you only get free cookies or really expensive tiny snacks. The pilot was nice though and invited the kids to check out the cockpit.

We made it to O'Hare just in time to sprint to the next gate and board, but since we left from O'Hare on our way to Iceland last August Jay took a picture to commemorate the moment we circumnavigated the globe.

The flight to Dayton was quick and getting out of the airport was easy. The taxi was waiting and we were home by midnight. Our farm sitters were still there trying to pack and clean, and the house was a wreck. They pretty much took off before I realized how bad it was. I had to clean the bathroom so we could shower and get ready for bed, almost all the sheets were piled in the laundry room with cat pee on them. I made a bed for us and found a dirty fork between the wall and the mattress, and J got out sleeping bags for the kids. It was 2:30 before we finally made it to bed 

Friday was tough. I was up by 7:00 despite the late night, I had to clean the stovetop and make coffee, and the car battery was dead so we had to eat what we could find, or what we had brought.  J made pancakes for the kids, but they slept late and the pancakes got cold so I had to clean the microwave to heat them up. We couldn't walk on the floor without shoes because it was covered in filth. It was by far our worst arrival at a house ever, and I so wanted to just get back on a plane to anywhere else. It just feels so violating to see your home in such a state. The house sitters came back to get some of their stuff. They actually had quite a bit still scattered around. They were going to just pick it up and go, but I said they had a responsibility to help clean. They're nice kids, and they did help, but I had to direct them completely. I guess they just didn't know how to maintain a house or how to get it back under control once it got out of hand. I made them clean the fridge and gather up their belongings and trash — they literally had just stashed their empty drink cans under chairs and stuff like that. J got the car going and went to the grocery, We worked together and cleaned up the kitchen to the point that it was at least usable. I ended up feeling ok about the situation; they weren't trying to take advantage of us, they just really couldn't handle it. By the end of the day, after working non-stop, things were much improved, and J made a delicious dinner.

Saturday, I woke up around 4:00 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I continued doing laundry and working in the kitchen. I got the kids’ clothes organized so I can be more productive without being constantly needed to find something. It's going to take months to get back on track, but we're making headway. The place still smells like cat pee. I think we need to tear out the carpet, but we were going to do that eventually anyway. Again J and I both worked non-stop all day, 6 to 8. Upstairs is ok, and I'm making headway in the kitchen and with the laundry. The dishes in the cupboards were mostly dirty so I went through and washed everything. The barn is terrible. Apparently, the goats were out of their pens pooping all over everything and they never cleaned it up. So next week they're going to help with that. So, I can't honestly say it's good to be home. The kids are happy and that makes me happy, but I'm not a fan of cleaning 12 hours a day and still living in a mess. Obviously, we won't be doing exactly this again. We do want to travel more, and we don't necessarily want to sell the farm, but it doesn't seem like the two can work together as well as we thought. Still, it was an amazing trip and I'm not sorry we did it.

I'm not sure what day it was, but one of the first things the kids did, by choice, was to get back to splitting wood.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the blog. I may continue to post occasionally as we adjust back to life on the farm, but probably not every week.