Hello from Madrid! I’ve been away for the last month or so – traveling with my parents and then Luis and I went to the beach for 3 days because I wasn’t ready to go back to reality. I’m still not ready so I am taking today (sunday) nice and easy – cleaned the house, went to the gym and going to a friend’s pool later – and tomorrow will ease back into working. It’s still August which means it is very much still summer and definitely still almost 100* here in Madrid. I am determined to get back to blogging, even just in short bursts, so let’s start with what I’ve been up to for the last few weeks.
My parents booked a once-in-a-lifetime trip & cruise to Alaska a few months ago and I threw in a “I want to go with you”, and my Mom, being MY Mom, said “come with us!”. So I did, and it was an incredible trip! Alaska was never on my radar for a place to visit, but it was beautiful and totally worth the 5 flights that it took to get there. Admittedly I was nervous about leaving Madrid since we just opened a new Mazál location, but knowing that I was leaving lit a fire under our a$$e$ to get our ducks in a row and open before I left. Also distance and sunshine and cool air are great for giving some perspective and distance from work stress that feels big and important when I am here, so it was great to get away.
I flew Madrid — Miami — Philadelphia and like usual, slept almost the whole way on the flights thanks to my good friend Dramamine. I woke up for meals because plane food, especially when it’s cheesy pasta, is one of the pleasures of life. My parents picked me up and when I got home, I slept so well in my big comfy bed and Teddy was thrilled to have me there. The feeling was mutual.
I only left the house that whole first day. I just did what I love doing – sitting in the kitchen with my Mom. We did go out and renew my license which had been expired for over a year, but luckily it was a simple process and I feel relieved I won’t need to take the driving exam again. Phew – ain’t no way I can parallel park these days!
The next day we headed out to begin our adventure! One train to the airport, three flights to Chicago, Seattle, and finally Fairbanks and at 11:00pm, we landed to dusky daylight in Alaska!
We headed to the hotel with a hotel shuttle driver who told us she didn’t know why tourists came to Fairbanks and then headed out immediately the next morning without stopping to see Fairbanks. The next day, we found out why – haha. She did suggest that we check out their local Walmart!
Despite total exhaustion from the long day, we were up early for the hotel breakfast.
Very few things will keep this family away from free buffet breakfast. With our ponchos and warm clothes, we headed to the Fairbanks visitor center where we learned a bit about Alaska, dog mushing, and salmon.
It was rainy, but we walked through “town” and realized there really wasn’t too much to see so we had lunch — very $$ salmon chowder and then some crepes from a crepe place in town. Both were decent, neither were amazing.
Without much to do, we headed back to the visitor center to read a bit more, watch the featured films and then walked the 30ish minutes back to the hotel, but stopped at the famous Walmart on the way back. We took showers and then watched tv in the big, plush, comfy hotel beds. It was a great rainy day plan if I do say so myself.
The next morning we were up bright and early (seriously, besides the rain, it didn’t get dark! It was just very gloomy) and were off to Denali National Park, which ended up being my favorite part of the trip.
