Fairbanks arrival

After several challenges with travel plans, the family arrived in fairbaks after 28 hours of travel and about three hours of sleep.

As we took our final leg of the journey, a half hour flight from anchorage to fairanks, Millie was sound asleep and I had a moment to look out the window and reflect on the view. I may not be the most seasoned traveller, so looking out of the window I was captiveted by the vistas of the last frontier.

I have driven and flown the width of the lower fortyeight several times and no amount of sprawling wilderness that I have seen in the past could prepare me for the enormous untouched land laid out below me.

After landing, I looked out at all the pine trees lining the roads and my brain started to steam up as it tried to quantify all of the thousands of acres of wilderness that we had just traversed.

Yesterday morning, we had the opportunity to go to the Tanana Farmers Market.
We bought pasteries from a Russian family and chocolates from a candy stall. We also got sticky rice with sweet beans steamed in banana leaves. This is something we frequntly buy in Chinatown. It is usually a bit dry and the earthiness of the banana leaves overpowers some of the other flavors. Usually that is still ok and we enjoy it as a fun "cheap eat". Imagine our surprise when we opened the leaves to find a perfectly moist and fresh ball of sticky rice that had a hint of sweetness and was studded with soft, perfectly cooked beans. I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy a so-called "traditional" rice tamale ever again.

After our first rehearsal yesterday, Kathleen and I got takeout to celebrate our sixth anniversary. We got to sit down as a family to enjoy our meal and bask in the glow of the occasion in this great new place.