Alaska - the first few days.

It's about a 12 hour trip to get to Alaska. This includes 2 planes rides with a small 30 minute wait inbetween them. Once I got to Anchorage at 2pm (Alaska time) there was then another 3 hour drive to get to Kenai (pronouced Ken-eye). I guess that's a rough trip...couldn't image it being much worse...but it gets worse. Since I was the first one to land that afternoon, I waited around the airport for other guests to land. It wasn't until about 7pm that we were ready to venture out to the Kenai farms. 1 van, 8 teens (and adults), an 8 hour experience. About 30 minutes into the trip we stopped dead in a line of traffice. Turns out, there was a head on collision with a boat and a car? Never quite got the actually story, it didn't seem to matter after your told it will be another 4 hours before all is cleared up. That's 4 hours on the side of a road, staring the ocean with snow covered mountains in the back. Gas station was about a 15min walk down the road, and of course I needed to use the restroom, so we killed some time but going on a stroll. Didn't quite kill enough time as we sat in the van for a total of 5 hours. Mind you it's now about 1am Alaska time, I've been awake and traveling since 5am (New York time) and therefore have bee awake for almost 24 hours! We finally arrived to Kenai and the Ionia farms at 5:30am. Delirious, in pain from a messed up stomach, I was not a happy camper.

Day 2
I woke up around 7:30am (only 2 hours after falling asleep) to enjoy some breakfast and meet the members of Ionia. That didn't go over well so I went back to sleep till 12:30. Things were going alright here. My biggest issue is the outhouse experience. No matter how much I tried, it wasn't working for me. Ahhh! Even the 2 hours of dance feastival we had that night didn't help me go. Although that was plenty fun. Amazing how without TV or electronics (aside from this computer) families can still learn to create their own fun.

Day 3
Major liver energy running crazy!!

The fact I still haven't been able to use the outhouses have taken a major effect on me. This has never happened to me in all my life! Could be the fact that these Ionia's don't see privacy to be of major importance in living. Well, to each his own. My body seems to find privacy necessary for some actions. To top it off, today was the day of our 1st big hike! 1 mile up, 1 mile down. Stay tune for the photos of Marisa mudsliding in the rain, up and down cliffs. I must also thank the sponsors that made this trip possible. My Merrill waterproof hiking sneaker, Paragon Sports rain slicker, and Aldo's green army hat. Without these belonging, I could not have made it alive. To say the least, it was probably the most amazing thing I've ever since. I compare it to the Sound of Music Scene when they are climbing straight over tops of mountatins. I guess that was realistic. And I want to thank my new patient Ionian friend who stay with me ever step of the way, for if it wasn't for him I would have fallen on my a** much more. And after it was all say and done...I felt AMAZING! Greatest adrenline rush that could exist, which has given me the energy to still be awake to post these blogs.

Cheers to fun in the mud!