Surprise Visit By The Kids

Posted On May 11, 2023

Our two older kids, Tanya and Jeffery, came up for a surprise visit in December. That was a great surprise as we had been missing them. We had not seen them since we escaped communist Washington almost a year before. Technically it was not a surprise visit as the wife and the kids had secretly planned it as a surprise for me for Christmas. The kids had met us for dinner at Marysville Washington just before we went into Canada back in March so that was the last in-person visit. We missed them terribly over all the holidays, birthdays, summer, and weekends so this was a much-needed visit for all of us.

We picked them up at the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage Alaska and as luck would have it, it was the beginning of an unusually cold snap for December, even for Alaska. The surprise visit had been planned several months before and they did come as prepared as they could for the weather. A possible record-breaking snowfall was also forecasted for the week so we were optimistic that the weatherman was wrong so we could go see everything.

It was a four-hour flight for them so we went to the Moose’s Tooth in Anchorage so we could have our favorite pizza for lunch. Jeffery had been there before, but our oldest daughter Tanya had not so she was in for a treat. They also specialize in handcrafted microbrews with many available year-round so that’s always a special treat to go with the great pizza! They loved the food, I’m sure it tasted extra great after all the airplane snacks.

They arrived just in time for the “Colony Day” parade and Christmas celebrations in Palmer so that was our next stop. It was a crowded ride as we brought Jessica’s German Shepard Kimber with us, so it was the five of us and a dog in the pickup. Kimber always saw herself as a lap dog, so she enjoyed the trip. Palmer is only about 45 minutes out of Anchorage, so luckily that was a short trip. We arrived in Palmer about a half hour before the light parade started so it was perfect timing. The kids were used to temperatures being in the 40’s or warmer and they were instantly introduced to a balmy Alaska 4 degrees with the windchill making it about -10 outside.  That had come as prepared for the cold as they could, but a slow acclimatization would have been way better, I’m sure.

The parade was good with some well put together floats and all the small shops were open, so it was fun. The coffee shop was especially busy as the kids and everyone else were looking for something to warm them up. The town was decorated for Christmas as most places are up here starting in October when the long hours or darkness and snow start. Most places here still say “Merry Christmas”, so you rarely hear that “Happy Holidays” garbage unless you go to one of the major chain stores that forbid employees from wishing anyone a “Merry Christmas”. Even some of the local radio stations start playing Christmas music 24/7 to help cheer everyone up.

We left after the parade so everyone could warm up in the truck. We stopped by a couple grocery stores afterwards to get groceries for Tanya and Jeffery so they would have food at the Air BNB they would be staying at. We got them extra food and snacks to keep on hand as they would probably be snowed in if the predicted snowstorm did hit. The main roads are usually plowed quickly, but that is not the case for the sideroads.

The Air BNB was in Meadow Lakes and was a nice cabin with inside plumbing. The winter rates were reasonable and additionally it had a kitchen so that they could cook meals. We had bought a house, but it was still dependent on removing the people from the house before the sale was finalized so we were still staying in the camp trailer at that time. We were hoping to be in the house in early December, but evicting tenants in the Alaska winter is a difficult process. In hindsight it is a good thing that it didn’t happen as there was more than a week’s worth of cleanup to do before it would become remotely inhabitable, not anywhere livable by most people’s standards including ours, so it was actually a good thing. It would have been great if we could have all stayed in the same house during their visit, but we will next time.

Unfortunately, the weatherman was correct, and we broke a 30-year record by having 50” of snow dumped on us. This closed virtually all the roads, businesses, and trapped many people in their houses until the roads and driveways got plowed. I volunteered to run a tractor to keep road access for us and the people around us in hopes that we wouldn’t be completely trapped and unable to visit the kids. The snow was falling too fast to keep up effectively so I did the best I could. The tractor ran out of diesel and a power outage had closed the gas station so we went to bed and prayed that we wouldn’t be snowed in and not be able to visit the kids who were so close but felt so far away with these conditions. God must have been listening as we only had 20” of fresh snow in the morning so we were able to use four-wheel drive to get out without too much difficulty.

We went to Willow and showed Tanya and Jeffery the house we were buying so they would know where it was at even though we couldn’t go inside as the people were still there for the final week or two of the eviction. Jeffery had to take a dive into the fresh snow as they had never been in a record snowfall like this ever. It made for some amazing scenery and unfortunately, they became part of the 70% of the visitors who never got to see Mt McKinley because of the clouds. The northern lights also came out a few times while they were here, but the clouds stopped them from experiencing those too. Hopefully they’ll get to see them next time.

The huge snowfall virtually shut down south central Alaska so all the schools and many businesses were closed. Many secondary roads remained closed for several days and even leaving your driveway in those areas was impossible. Some businesses were open with minimal staffing, so we spent the day looking around at the small stores that were open and spent a few hours at the Extreme Fun Center in Wasilla. They were open with below minimum staff so that meant no Go Kart races this time.  Everything else was fun though and there weren’t any crowds to fight so we had every place to ourselves for the most part. The snow did put a damper on our plans to show the kids around, but it did give us a great chance to just relax and visit.

I bought a prime rib so we could have our traditional Christmas dinner, albeit a few days early even though nobody complained about that. It was a whole strip, so we had a big fat juicy Rib Steaks for dinner that night while the rest of the strip marinated in a dry rub for a couple of days. The whole strip had to be eaten that week as we didn’t have any freezer space, so it was the biggest rib steak dinner we ever had, and everyone got to gorge themselves on nice, tasty, seared cow flesh. Just another tasty reason why none of us are vegans. Beef is expensive to import to Alaska, so the local beef is cheaper and tastes way better than all but the most premium cuts in other states.

We had an early Christmas dinner a couple days later and ate the rest of the prime rib after it was slowly cooked to perfection. The Air BNB cabin had enough room for all of us to eat and relax while continuing the tradition of watching A Charlie Brown Christmas and some other shows like we used to before we moved. I had mailed Tanya and Jeffery’s presents off to them a couple weeks before so there were no early presents this time. The cold snap continued and the temperatures were hovering around -20 so all of us were quite content just sitting around in a warm cabin and having fun. Tanya walked outside with wet hair and got to experience frozen hair for the first time ever. They also got to experience an Alaska earthquake, heard wolves howling, and saw several moose so that helped make up for some of weather shortcomings. Of course, the temperatures warmed back up to normal, and we didn’t get much measurable snow until February, so Murphy’s Law is still in effect. Much of that heavy snowfall did not melt away in May instead of early April as usual.

We went to Anchorage early on the day they had to fly out so that we could visit the gift stores and hit up the 49^th State Brewery for Jessica’s now 2^nd favorite pretzels ever. Her favorite ones are in Leavenworth Washington, but these ones are a few thousand miles closer and they are a close second. There are many fur stores that sell furs and handmade items, so we stopped at a few of those too. People all around the state go into Anchorage to get their Christmas shopping done so all the stores were open, and we meandered around the main tourist section of town. I had to have a family picture taken of us with Santa Claus at the 5^th Avenue Mall while we were there. Malls are still alive and well here as it is usually cold and snowy outside so indoor shopping is way nicer.  We only had time to hit one of the malls so the others will have to wait.

We had gourmet hamburgers for lunch before dropping the kids off at the airport. Many smaller restaurants make their own food fresh here as buying premade food items is expensive so overall the non-chain restaurants are cheaper and the food is tastier. It was sad dropping the kids off at the airport knowing that it would be a long time before we could see them again, but it was a great visit that we wouldn’t trade for anything. Being a few thousand miles apart makes it difficult for all of us. We are already looking forward to seeing them again.