Adrienne and I spent the entire day preparing for my departure to Alaska today and despite having an abundance of time and working pretty hard all day at getting everything done, we finally got off to the airport at around 9:00 for a 10:20 flight – the drive to the airport is a good hour alone.  Needless to say, in typical Jake Harr fashion, I arrived at the ticket counter at 10:00 and the woman said, “I’m not sure I can get you on this flight Mr. Harr.”  She said, “you have maybe 10 minutes to get through security and board the plane.”  So off I ran, through the entire airport, security – where I got stopped because I had a laptop in my backpack – had to go back through security.  Meanwhile, a man on the shuttle train between terminals appeared to be masturbating and a woman saw him and asked another man, “is that man doing what I think he’s doing?”  Then off to the gate  – which was 15 gates away from where I started.  I arrived at the gate, which was desolate, to two employees saying, you must be Mr. Harr? at which time I threw my hands, full of bags, up to the sides like wings and said, in a panting voice, “I made it, Alaska here I come!”  The rest of the flight was long, sweaty, and uncomfortably confining, smashed between two grown men.

Beautiful sunset over the mountains on our way to the airport.

When I arrived in Anchorage, the airport was quiet and empty, the time was 1:30 Am and I was hungry but nothing was open.  I ended up getting in touch with my dear friend Jason from high school and he came and picked me up 10 min later.  I was a bit delirious and confused and had him drop me back off at the airport 2 hours before I really needed to be back.  During which time 6:00 finally rolled around and they delayed the flight till 7:00, then at 7 till 8:0, then at 8 till, 9:00 and finally at 9 they said they had canceled the flight and rescheduled it for 5:00 in the afternoon.

The view as you fly into Anchorage, just outside the city, Immense snow capped peaks…but 68 degrees and sunny in the city. Beautiful!

Needless to say, I did not stick around in the airport all day, I hopped on the bus for $2 and headed downtown.  I hung out in a nice local cafe for the morning and tried to come up with a plan.  I headed next door and struck up a great conversation with the worker at a graphic art shop that made beautiful hand silk screened tee shirts, clothing, and accessories.  After sharing a truncated version of each of our life stories, she recommended renting a bicycle and riding the coastal trail.  After I paid for the bike, Jason called me back and decided to meet me on his bike and we proceeded to cycle around Anchorage all afternoon, eventually landing ourselves at Taco King for a well needed meal.  Here are some photos of these adventures.

Jason and I at Taco King before I devoured this fried ice cream.

Now, I’m back at the airport for my 5:00 flight, which has had it’s final delay posted with a confirmed departure time of 6:15.  While sitting here, everyone is agitated due to the situation and cracking jokes about PenAir, the airline we are all flying.  A man next to me said, “PenAir, in typical Alaskan fashion, just sit around and do nothing.”  And his friend said, “you’re not supposed to hibernate in the summer though.”  Meanwhile I just received this text message from Jason that says, “I went to Alaska and all I got was this lousy suntan.”  What a trip.