Alaska Adventure - Day 1 - July 2, 2010

The beginning of a journey holds a special kind of magic. The waiting is over and all the possibilities are still ahead. We set out this morning for the biggest vacation we are taking together as a family. Our eventual destination is the 49th state - Alaska. This leg of the trip takes us from BWI airport to the Emerald City - Seattle.

I am very excited about this trip because we will be visiting a part of the world I've not yet explored. I am hoping to see and shoot (with my camera) lots of wildlife including bear, moose, elk, and the bonus animal - wolf. It will also be cool to make this trip with 12 other Roths - my wife, my son, my daughter, my dad, my brother, my other brother, my sisters-in-law Jennifer, 3 nieces, and 1 nephew. Talk about wildlife. But seriously, the seeds for this trip were planted by my mom years ago, so I'm sure she'll be with us, too.

The first surprise occurred as we boarded the plane. Who should be on the plane but The Traveling Roths from Mebane, NC? OK, this was not actually a surprise for Shelley or me, but it was for the kids. Not that you could tell from their reactions. I guess in their world it is a common thing to run into your cousins, aunt, and uncle anywhere you go.

We are currently 36,000 feet over the Midwest. From this altitude it sure does look flat. Any moment now my complimentary juice will arrive, so I will sign off for now...

Much Later That Same Day

As travel days go, today has not been terrible.  Even so, the last thing you want to do after a 5 hour flight is endure a 5 hour bus ride.  Especailly when it should only take 3 hours and especially when your traveling companions have had more than enough traveling.

We arrived at the hotel at 8:30 PM PDT low on steam but even lower on fuel.  We met up with 4 more Roths and found a pizza place nearby. I don't know it's actual name, so let's call it At Least It Was Close. Then it was back to the "Quality" Hotel to fight with kids until they gave up and went to sleep.

Next: [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6] [Day 7] [Day 8]