Daddy’s Trips to Sitka and Barrow

August 9th, 2017
Today we are having a slow morning as we recover from our last couple of travel days. I’m on my third cup of coffee and it is really nice to listen to my children playing contentedly downstairs. We are back in Anchorage after spending the last two and a half days on the road around Alaska. Our travel this week was unexpected and spontaneous because we were expecting a visit from Tim and Kaley. Tim called on Saturday evening however and cancelled on us so we had some unexpected freedom in our schedule. One of my favorite things about being married to Chris is her willingness to be spontaneous with me and so we quickly planned a trip to Sitka in Southeast Alaska and a trip to Barrow in Arctic Alaska. 
We attended church on Sunday at Eagle River Covenant Church and enjoyed it very much. It was Jadon’s first chance to participate in Communion in a regular church type setting and he was very excited. Afterwards we returned home and planned out some details for our trip. We caught the evening flight down to JNU and on to Sitka, arriving at around 11:30 pm in Sitka. I had found a last minute room at the crew hotel at a pretty good discount. Everyone was quick to sleep on Sunday night.
When we woke up on Sunday we had a breakfast of bagels and bananas in the hotel room and then headed out to the local grocery for donuts and coffee. We took our donuts and coffee down to Sitka National Historical Park and walked around the totem pole loop. We had to walk semi-quickly in order to make it back to our kayak appointment at 10:15 with Sitka Ocean Adventures. The kayaking was the highlight of the trip. Our guide was wonderful with the children and we got to see all kinds of wonderful ocean things: Sea-Lions having breakfast, Sea Otters, Star fish, and an old WWII fort complete with some old bunkers. I love watching the wonder on the children’s faces when they came face to face with a 1,000 lb sea lion just feet from their kayak! Another highlight for us all was watching flight 62 roll down runway 11 from the vantage point of the water right next to the runway. It’s not often the kids can be that close to the jet when it is moving that fast! After the kayak and a quick lunch at Subway we toured the Russian Bishop’s house, walked the downtown, and climbed up Castle Hill. All together it was a fantastic day. 
After making it back to Anchorage we had a short night at our condo here and then were back at it the next morning early, to catch the 7:40 am departure up to Deadhorse and Barrow. We caught the last four seats on the airplane and with me in the cockpit jumpseat we all just squeaked on! After waiting for Barrow weather to get better in Deadhorse we finally arrived in Barrow around 11:30 am to 45 degrees and misty clouds. It didn’t take long for everyone to get pretty chilly. We walked the town and found the beach and the Arctic Ocean, had our lunch in a playground next to the beach, and then found the famous Top of the World Whale Bone Arch to take a picture under. The kids really enjoyed the native heritage center and learning all about native whaling and life in the arctic. After stopping by the Post Office to send a couple of post cards we walked back to the local pizza joint “Arctic Pizza” (which was surprisingly good) and then walked back over the airport just in time to catch the 7 pm jet back to Anchorage. Pretty amazing to think that Sitka and Barrow are almost 1,000 miles apart and we did them both in two days! I’m thankful for my family that loves to adventure with me and for all of the things they are learning along the way. Now I’m off to find my fourth cup of coffee 😉 

Greg Ireland

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