Friday, August 6, 2004 –

I always dreamt of traveling up to Alaska. This year, it was time to make it happen. What better way than to travel not only with Jeff, but also Mom and Dad?

After reading up quite a bit for weeks about the 49th state, we drove to the airport after leaving work early on Friday. We all left at about 5:45 p.m. on a Delta flight to Minneapolis. After a brief stopover and a change of planes, we boarded the long flight across Canada to Anchorage. We finally arrived at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. I didn’t realize what a big air cargo destination is as the fifth-largest cargo airport in the world.

Upon arrival, we were beat because we landed at 4:30 a.m. eastern time. We went to the Residence Inn near the airport to get some sleep.