Johnny Sandusky, 11, recounts his recent Alaskan Adventure.
I recently got back from vacation, and you know something? I am STILL tired from it! I feel as though I haven't slept in two thousand WEEKS! LOL
We went to Alaska (we meaning my mama and daddy, and also my sister, Ronee', and myself!) for two weeks, and we had a BLAST! We flew to California from Nashville (San Francisco; and no, in case you are wondering, there were NO earthquakes there--THANK GOODNESS!--), and in SanFran, we spent the night, and then we boarded our ship the next morning; and we soon set sail for Alaska. It was a very long trip, and I am afraid that I did not do very well on the trip. I got very nauseated, and it seemed I made a lot of that trip by rail--that was, until mama gave me some anti-nausea medication to help settle my tummy. I then was okay; but I still felt kinda' puny for a while. The weather was okay for parts of the trip; and it was also rainy on other parts; and it seemed for a while that we would NEVER get to Alaska; it was a VERY LONNNNNNNNNNNG trip!
But we DID make it to Alaska; and I was never so happy to see land again; after looking at water for days, it kinda' gets to you after a while! We sailed into a town called Sitka; and it was there where we met some friends of mama's, Jenna and Michael, whom we were staying with while we were in Anchorage. But the trip started out badly because daddy started having trouble breathing, and he ended up having to go to the hospital; and he ended up having to get admitted. I was not happy about THAT! I figured that our trip was history, and I felt bad for daddy! He was in the hospital for two days, and if THAT were not bad enough, our boat sprung a leak (or something; I really don't know what happened; but we DID end up having to stay at Michael and Jenna's place for two extra days!), and it looked like our Alaskan Adventure was going to be a great big goose egg! Things were NOT going our way!!
While we were in Anchorage, mama stayed at the hospital with daddy (we were too young to go; kids under the age of 13 couldn't visit), and Michael and Jenna tried their best to entertain us. That wasn't easy because Jenna is in a wheelchair, and she can't move her one arm. I thought she had a stroke like my sister, Ronee', did a few years back, but it turned out that Jenna was hurt in a car wreck, and she hurt her arm, leg, and her hip. She also broke her jaw; and she was in the hospital for MONTHS, it seemed like. But then Jenna got better, and she came home from the hospital only a few weeks before we got to Alaska. (Which was a good thing for her--and for US--; otherwise we may have never met her!!)
Jenna and Michael were very nice; and while we were in Anchorage, they took us to the zoo, took us to see a movie about the Northern Lights (that was cool!), took us to the mall, and took us to an Inuit festival (that was interesting, too; I had my first moose burgers there!), and they also took us to the Heritage Museum, where Ronee' got herself an Inuit doll for her doll collection and some other stuff.
After we left Anchorage (we cried when we had to say goodbye to Jenna and Michael), we went back on the boat, which was now fixed; and we continued on with our cruise. We went to Denali National Park, and we saw glaciers and animals like seals, walruses, LOTS of bears and wolves, and LOTS and LOTS of eagles! You never saw so many EAGLES in your life; I swear we saw ALL the eagles in the United States! We also saw lots of geese, swans, and owls! We also saw moose, caribou (they look like HUGE reindeer!), reindeer (and regular) deer, and many small animals like rabbits, weasels, and fox.
We got some more stuff on our cruise; and we also saw the Northern Lights. (I forgot to mention that.) They were really cool; and they were REALLY bright! I could hear maman, daddy, and Ronee' ooohing and ahhhing over the lights, and I was just sitting there, trying to figure out how they got up there and what caused them to light up. I thought someone had a great big flashlight in the sky, and that was how they lit up the Northern Lights. (Ronee' said that was the stupidest thing she ever heard, and she whacked me one with her stick; and I popped her one in the mouth; and mama had to seperate us for a while after that!) But other than Ronee' calling me stupid, the lights were cool! At least she didn't stick ice down my back; I may have wanted to kill her!! NOT really, but you know how aggravating sisters can be, especially sisters like RONEE'.....
As I said before, we were in Alaska for two weeks, and we really had fun; but it was COLD up there! While it was in the 60's to 70's in Tennessee, it was in the 40's where we were in Alaska, and I about froze my little white butt off! BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! But it wasn't as bad as where Jenna Aurora Whitson was from...where Jenna was born it was in the TEENS!! That is TOOOO cold, if you ask me!! I would turn into a popsicle QUICK!! BRRRRR!!! It was also kind of cool seeing snow; there was a lot of snow, even though it was spring; but it wouldn't be long before the snow would be gone; we just happened to leave before that happened!
I hope someday we get to go BACK to Alaska; Alaska was a lot of fun, and it sure is BIG!! WAY bigger than Tennessee, possibly even bigger than TEXAS! I bet Alaska makes Texas look like RHODE ISLAND in terms of size; Alaska is GIGUNDO BIG!!
Alaska is GIGUNDO BIG! You can say that again!! And when we got back, I felt like I hadn't slept in two thousand weeks either (there was just too much to see!)
Wonderful story, Karen. You made me feel like I was there again. Thanks.
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