From Alaska To Ohio

We planned the trip in secret, hoping to surprise my family by just showing up in Ohio.

Our flight left Anchorage at 1:30 in the morning, but we weren’t sure if there would be extra hoops to jump through due to Covid, so we headed up the road to the airport at 4:30 pm on Saturday. Snow began to fall as Andy loaded the double stroller down with luggage and four car seats to check in, and we hurried to the shuttle station to catch a ride to the airport.

Masks were required for ages two and up, but thankfully the children thought it was fun to wear masks – at first.

After three flights, two short layovers, and a four hour time difference, we arrived in Columbus Ohio.

It felt a little as though we had come out of the Alaskan bush as we gazed wide eyed at the city. “It’s huge! Look at all the restaurants and four lane highways! Look how cheap the gas is!”

After we got in our rental van, I googled Columbus population. It turns out that Columbus has more people than the entire state of Alaska. And Alaska is over two times bigger than Texas!

It was a two hour drive to the place where most of my family lives, but we stopped once on the way to drop by my sister’s place. She and her husband are not very dramatic people, but we did astonish them a bit when we drove in their lane honking our horn. 

When we got to my parents place, we parked on the road and snuck closer to the house in the dark. Gabe knocked on the door, and we surprised them so good! It was so fun to see the reactions as we made the rounds and surprised each family group. 

By then it was after 8 pm, over 24 hours since we had started out from our cabin in Alaska, so we called it a night. 

It has been such a lovely visit so far, with my family sweetly changing their schedules to accommodate us, and we are soaking in the family time and fall weather here in Ohio.