DAY 1: Reaching our Destination Well, reaching most “finals,” be it a sports tournament or a job selection process, takes some work. So, why should reaching the final frontier be any different? We stood up to this as we missed our Chicago – Anchorage flight after being re-routed on our Columbus – Chicago flight which delayed us by almost an hour. Now what? Well, after a long wait during which the airline staff issued us our new boarding passes, we were set to leave for Dallas, Texas of all places, from where we would fly to Anchorage! After close to ten hours of travel, it is tough to describe how the breath-taking views of the gorgeous Alaskan mountains from the airplane instantly rejuvenated me! Our long-awaited journey had begun to unfold right in front of our eyes.

After flying into Anchorage, things became a little bit simpler.  We drove to Peters Creek to stay the night at Dr. Jackson’s parents home.  Many of us experienced our first taste of moose and reindeer in the wonderful dinner that his parents prepared for us.  The moose was actually hunted and prepared by Dr. Jackson’s father.  The best part of the dinner was the pomegranate dark chocolate that we had for dessert.  We took some of that for the road.  Then, the boys slept outside in a tent while the girls slept in an old horse stable for the night.  We are not completely sure where Dr. Jackson ended up sleeping!  It was a very chilly night, but the four boys stuffed into a tiny tent made it warm and cozy.  The weirdest part was that it didn’t get dark the entire night.  We went to bed at 11pm and it was still bright daylight!  Oh my goodness, the birds did not sleep and were chirping all night long.