Well, sports fans, after two years of Isaac traveling north on his own, the entire szyfam clan made it to Alaska last night to catch a bit of the northern wind and see the excitement around Anchorage in the week leading up to the Iditarod (The Last Great Race).
Monday, we picked up Lily early from her school in Salem, and then we raced up to Portland to attend the open house for their new elementary in Sellwood neighborhood. You'll see photos of that. Then we took the 9:25 direct flight from Portland to Anchorage, and all slept in to catch up from the late night of transit.
I worked downtown today at the office, while Elissa and the kids explored the finer points of the downtown, including the Imaginarium (which is much like our A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village in Salem), and the frozen pond rink next to the performing arts center downtown. Also, a carnival down by the waterfront that was apparently deserted (even Alaskans don't like to ride ferris wheels when it's 4 degrees Fahrenheit outside).
We had dinner at the Glacier Brew House with our friend Cory and then headed back to the hotel to warm up and turn in. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. One fish two fish frozen fish blue fish.
Click the picture above to view the album of photos from today-
Wednesday: Isaac worked. Kids and Elissa spent most of the day getting lost in Anchorage. At day's end, with kids tired, Mom bought a durable city map and took the kids to a movie. Enough site-seeing! Sushi for dinner with Isaac was a real treat. Sushi in Alaska is FRESH.
Thursday: Cruised the city with new map in hand. Had breakfast at the Captain Cook Hotel. They offered the kids reindeer sausage, but the smart children declined, knowing that would surely put them on Santa's naughty list. Isaac took the family to the Moose's Tooth Pizza. It was the best pizza and beer we've had in a long time. The kids loved the pesto pizza with kalamata olives and artichoke. Mmmm. After that we drove to Girdwood, a lovely ski resort about an hour south of Anchorage. Hot air balloons were just lifting off over the ski lifts and frozen inlet. Amazing. From Girdwood it was back to Anchorage for dinner with some nice friends of Isaac's. We had a lovely dinner and it was nice to hang with the locals!
Friday: The kids and I drove over to the museum, but when we got in we were informed that the generators were out so it was closed. It was -15 with windchill, so we dashed in a little boutique across the street where Lily found a great little outfit for the Musher's Banquet. Isaac and Lily were honored to attend the Musher's Banquet, which is the big gathering the night before the Iditarod start. All the mushers and their families, as well as race sponsors, gather together and the mushers are given their race numbers. The better you did last year, the better your positioning to get a good number. Lily and Isaac were seated at the table with the GCI executives and David Monson-the husband of Susan Butcher. Susan was the second woman to win the Iditarod, and went on to win it 3 more times in her career. She died of leukemia last year, and many of the Iditarod ceremonies this year were dedicated in her honor. Her young daughter rode the first sled out of the starting line to the cheers of thousands the following morning. Being in Alaska this year, you realize just how much Susan will be missed up there.
Saturday: Race day! We woke up to snow blanketing the streets of Anchorage and 1200-1500 barking dogs. Really incredible. Isaac's friend Jim scored us some all-access passes so we could go right up to the dogs and mushers and see how they were preparing. Everything was fenced off for the safety of the mushers/animals. We felt very lucky and special. We were right there by the dogs as they yelped and jumped, excited to get going! There were trailers packed with dogs and gear, and thousands of people dressed in every type of dead animal you can imagine trying to stay warm. I myself was wishing I had brought my flask. Hot cocoa is cold in 30 seconds out there- at least alcohol doesn't freeze.
After the race started, we headed up north a couple of hours to a lake where Isaac's friends PJ and Jeff live. They live on a tiny island (3 houses on it,) and we had a great dinner with friends. On the way back across the lake (yes, you drive ON the lake,) we spun out and wrecked our rental Chevy Malibu (no great loss....sorry Chevy fans.) So we missed our plane and had to stay at PJ's for the night.
Sunday: Isaac headed up 75 miles north of the lake on a snowmobile with about 100 other GCI folks and telecom execs to see the mushers come through during the night up the frozen lake. The kids and I borrowed PJ's car and headed back to Anchorage. Found out we couldn't fly home until Tuesday! Well....more fun for us!
Monday/Tueday: Spend both of these days lounging a bit. Saw a movie, ordered room service, shopped, swam at the pool downstairs. Not a bad life. Who wants to live in a 4 star hotel with Elissa for the rest of their life? Any takers?
In summary, we had a great, COLD, exciting trip. Saw 3 bald eagles, 1500 sled dogs, 14 moose, and lots of ice! Pretty fun. I'd do it again anytime.
--Elissa
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Silly Cousins
We got to keep Christa and Mike's boys, Spencer (6) and Hayden (3) for the weekend. Silliness ensued. We made up 4 beds in the living room and heard giggling out there until 11pm. The next day we did breakfast out, the children's museum, errands AND Costco with the 4 kids! Exhausting but fun!
We're moving!
Yep, back to Portland for the Szymanczyk family. Salem has been a great town for the past 4 years, and we've made some great new friends here and had amazing times with Grandma and Grandpa, but the city beckons us home.
We are buying a great little house in SE Portland in the Sellwood neighborhood, and move in toward the end of April. Here is a shot of Lily dancing in the new house during the home inspection. We're buying it from a fantastic family that is picking up and moving back to Maine to be near family. The whole process has been lovely, and we feel very lucky to say the least. Come May, we welcome you all to come by for a visit. Stay an hour, stay a week! We'll be ready.
Dinner/Breakfast with the Hixson Family
Headed to our friends' house for a great dinner recently, and had so much fun we stayed the night and had breakfast too! Fun, fun! The kids thought it was a real hoot. Here are some of the gang after breakfast. A little dancing, as well as a little musical fun. That's Telicia and Isaac on violin and Todd on guitar. What you can't see is the moms rockin' out.
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