We knew that we were going to spend time on campus. Trevor had sessions through the Inside Out program. During those times, it was my plan to visit sites with Katrina and the boys that would probably not be on official tours. We still took a couple of planned tours with Trevor of main campus and the upper dorms. I was surprised to find that most of the lower dorms are now closed and many of the rooms in the other dorms remain unoccupied. We were given vouchers to have lunch in the main campus dining hall (Wood 49).
Some of the sites we visited unofficially included the family housing where Janelle, Alex, and I lived and the two story family apartment where we lived after Katrina was born. We also visited St. Mark's house and chapel; however, we discovered that not only was the community much reduced from our time there, but the university is planning to demolish the houses on that row and will not provide an alternative site. I was later quite surprised to find that my boss, the chief of the campus police, was still working. He even gave Katrina, the boys, and I a tour of the station and one of the patrol vehicles. It is amazing how much more advanced the equipment is now.
On the second day, we visited North Pole and the Christmas Store there. They had an open ice sculpture area and reindeer park as well. We then visited my favorite store in the world: The Comic Shop. I was pleased that not only was it still open, but it had expanded quite a bit. We then had lunch at the world's northernmost Denny's which Rowen particularly liked because "they have everything here!" We later spent a couple of hours in the UAF museum, which is also greatly expanded--including a room that turns the natural energies of the earth, wind, and celestial bodies that are otherwise imperceptible into a light and sound show. After having dinner at Bei Jing Hot Pots, we finally went to the fairgrounds to visit the world ice sculpting competition. Forty degree temperatures had taken a toll on some of the figures and one of the ice slides, but it was still impressive nonetheless.
We went swimming at least once every day. The last couple of times were my favorite as we had the pool mostly to ourselves and were able to play Marco Polo (often with Rowen holding on my shoulders) for over an hour each time. I believe that we would have spent almost our entire trip in the pool if it had been up to Connor.
We greatly preferred the Hampton Inn in Fairbanks over the Marriott SpringHill Suites on University Lake in Anchorage. The staff was a great deal friendlier, the pool was nicer, and room was not nearly as narrow in the former. It may have helped that the Hampton overbooked and thus didn't have our original reservation, but instead upgraded us to two king suites.
The drive up was extremely long and occasionally harrowing. It didn't help that most of the drive took place after the sun had set, nor that we had to travel through a snow storm in the pass (where we played "Whose Lane Is It Anyway?"). Thankfully, the return drive was considerably more pleasant in the sense that we had the opportunity to enjoy the amazing views that the drive provides. The only downside was that Rowen got quite carsick just as we entered Anchorage. All of us were having issues with the sun and the glare on the roads beaming into the vehicle at that time.
I'm quite glad that we made the trip. All of the kids picked up a couple of mementos from the journey. We even got Janelle a "Moma Bear" shirt from the campus bookstore. Better still was the building of more good memories in a place that is still dear to my heart.