Alaska

To get there was a bit of a flight experience. There were no flights direct from Edmonton to Anchorage and the cheapest indirect had me flying half way across the continent in the other direction to Minneapolis to head west again and each Anchorage. That meant an inflight time of 9 hours instead of only 2.5 if I could have flown direct.  But that meant that I was actually able to meet up with Mom in Minneapolis to fly the next segment with her (and on to return we both left Alaska on the same flight before heading out separate ways in Minneapolis).

We landed just after midnight but the Budget Car Rental was still open and the sky was quite bright so we picked up our Jeep SUV and I drove the 45 minutes to Uncle Ed's property in Wasilla. We were a bit shocked with the dirty condition that we found his trailer in but headed to bed as soon as we could make them up with fresh sheets.

The next day began our intensive cleanout of the trailer and the yard. I was truly amazed and the amount of bags we hauled away to goodwill with clothes and other articles; and even more amazed at the full "tip" container where garbage went along with even more that we burned. Thank you to Susan and Janelle who dropped by to help in the cleaning efforts.  Mom was also kept busy with her executor chores (and chores they turned out to be) with me acting as her chauffeur and sounding board. 6 days later it looks like everything that needed to be done in Alaska for the estate was done and remaining activities  can be done by phone and email from her home in Cape Breton.  The process will drag on for at least 4 months (required by probate in the USA), and of course is waiting on the real estate agent being able to successfully sell the property.

We did take on overnight away to drive the 3 hours to coastal tourist and fishing village of Seward where we overnighted in a hotel right on the water and followed it up with a 9 hour cruise with Kenai Fjord Tours from Seward out along Resolution Peninsula and along the coast up to the foot of the Northwestern Glacier. Along the way we saw humpback whales, orcas, fin whales, sea lions, and a variety of birds along the gorgeous rugged snow capped mountains of the Alaskan coastline.

see the photos : Whales, glaciers, Alaska!