Alaska Lesson #1

Donna told us that our plane was having mechanical difficulties and was stuck in Shaktoolik and that someone from the school in Unalakleet was on the way to pick us up.  She also had a cargo plane that would be able to take our ActionPackers and suitcases on it if we wanted them to.  We sent the three action packers of food on to St. Michael where it would be taken to the school and put in the large refrigerator.  We sent my small blue suitcase on too because I didn’t need anything from it that night.  She told us that check in time was 10am the next morning.

It was 4pm in Unalakleet when we were picked up by Lisa, and taken to the five-plex where the dormitory is.  We moved into the basement of the building and settled on two of the eight bunkbeds that are in the dorm.  Around 5pm we started thinking about dinner and realized that we had sent the cheese and summer sausage that was going to be our dinner in St. Michael on the plane so we didn’t have anything with us to eat. 

Lesson 1:  In Alaska always pack a bag with a change of clothes, minimal toiletries, microwaveable cup and spoon, and non-perishable snack that doesn’t need to be heated.

We decided to walk around town to see if we could find one of the stores or restaurants (they do have them in Unalakleet).  We found an espresso shop and she directed us to Peace on Earth, a pizza place.  We arrived when they were in the middle of unpacking the shipment of supplies that had flown in that day.  We ordered a small Media pizza, which had chicken, peppers, onions, and cheese on it.  We ate most of it and saved two pieces for breakfast before our flight.  

We walked back to the five-plex and two our dorm around 6:30pm.  When we got there we just looked at each other and decided it was bedtime.  We put on pajamas and got into our beds.  I read my Kindle and we just relaxed until about 7:50pm when we turned off the light and went to sleep.  Keep in mind there was still about four hours of light left outside and everyone else was still enjoying their "afternoon".  We slept until about 7am the next morning.  We took our time taking showers and getting ready.  When we looked out the window we saw that a huge storm had blown in during the night.  The grass outside the window was blowing almost flat and the rain was blowing sideways.  

I was thinking: What if our flight is cancelled again?  If it's not, this will be a very interesting flight!  By 9:30am the storm had subsided enough so we were able to get our bags to the airport (with the help of Lisa and her truck) without them getting too wet.  We unloaded and then waited for Donna to arrive until 10am.  At 10:10am our plane landed and let off its passengers and its load of cargo for Unalakleet and our bags were loaded.  Ellen and I each took a cat to hold on our laps and boarded the small plane.  There were three other passengers already on board. 

We loaded on, held the cat carriers on our laps (there wasn't room under the seats), and prepared for take off.