Anchorage

July 10-12 we went to Anchorage for Doug's pharmacy exams.  He did AWESOME on them and is now a REAL pharmacist.  It is a gorgeous drive to Anchorage through mountains and along rivers and lakes.  The water is a beautiful turquoise color from the silt as it runs off of the glaciers.  I wish I could find a picture because it is almost unreal.  Something I found very interesting along the way was that in Alaska, it is illegal to have a line of 5 cars behind you.  You have to pull off and let them pass.  We paid $5.05 for gas on the way there.  Yikes!  This is the best picture I could find on Doug's camera.  He needs a better zoom lens to make the pictures of the wildlife worth posting, but the landscapes turn out pretty well.

We stayed at the Millennium Hotel.  It is on a float plane lake and close to the airport, so the kids had a great time watching the planes.  Their lobby is amazing with a stuffed polar bear and bison and hundreds of Alaskan animals on the walls.  There is a fantastic fireplace and it is the home of the iditarod.  

We got to bed fairly late and I was tired after driving.  I slept in one bed with Brenden, Nolan slept on the floor, Ethan had a portable crib, and Doug had the other bed.  We were trying to give him a good night's sleep before his big law tests the next morning - he took the Idaho and the Alaska Law.  He set the alarm and we all fell asleep.  Around 7:00 a.m., Doug had to get ready for his test.  Ethan woke up and Doug laid him down on the bed and asked me to switch beds to be with Ethan so he did not fall off the bed.  I fell back asleep and Doug headed out the door.  About an hour later I was thinking how nice it was that all of the kids were still asleep.  I took a look around the room and saw Nolan's little pile on the floor, Brenden's bundle in his bed, and of course Ethan was next to me.  A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.  Seeing as how I was not fully dressed and Ethan was asleep beside me, I chose not to answer it.  There was another knock.  Then the door opened and a man said, "Hotel management."  I covered myself with the sheet and asked if I could help him.  He said there was a little boy wandering the halls and he said this was his room.  I said, "No, all of my kids are here, sorry."  He said, "Are you sure?"  I told him I was.  He said he was going to close the door so I could dress and take a look around.  He also told me the little boy said his name was Ron.  I told him I did not have any children named Ron, but that I would look.  I got up and got dressed and went over to where Nolan was sleeping.  There was his blanket and his puppy he sleeps with along with all of his covers, but there was no Nolan.  I ran to open the door and there was a desk clerk holding my Nolan.  The man looked me up and down as if I was an unfit mother and asked it this was my child.  I reached out my arms for Nolan and said, "Noley, what are you doing?  Come here..."  He told me, "No!  I don't want to go in there with you."  So now, of course, these nice hotel people are thinking I am some sort of late-sleeping, hung-over, maniac of a mother (for those of you who do not know me well, I am none of those things, okay, maybe late sleeping).  The man told me the authorities had been contacted and would be coming to speak with me.  I guess Nolan had been wandering the lobby and halls in his pajamas and bare feet for an hour.  I had not heard him leave.  At that point I panicked and started thinking of all of the things that COULD have happened to him.  He could have left the building, he could have been kidnapped, and far worse.  Finally, he came to me and gave me a hug.  The man walked away and the woman continued to stand there looking very judgemental.  She said she was glad we were reunited and to lock the door in the future.  Finally, just as she was walking away, Nolan admitted he had gone to find Daddy.  Whew, I didn't look like I beat my child!  The cops were called off, but the next morning when Doug left, I was wide awake to lock the door behind him.

On the way home, we saw eagles, mountain goats, and moose.  The boys also enjoyed seeing the Alaskan Railroad train.  It was a lovely drive.  I am so glad I don't live in Anchorage.  I can easily compare it to downtown Salt Lake.  I guess in the end, I am a small town girl.

Well, that is part of my update.  I better work harder to get caught up.  Doug and his dad and brother are going halibut fishing in the morning and have to leave at 4:00 a.m., so everyone is in bed and I better get to bed so I don't wake up Doug when I go to bed.  He hates that and can never fall back asleep.  I will try to continue the update tomorrow.