Leaving In The Morning For Fairbanks, A Few Pictures From Anchorage

Yep, I spent most of the time we had in Anchorage, sick in our hotel room.  This afternoon I had enough energy to get to REI, so that I could get a pair of boots that will hold up to the Alaska cold, fit my feet well, and still give me enough feedback that the lack of feeling in my right foot and ankle, won't lead to lots of falls because I don't know where my foot is.  Even when I just needed shoes to fit, I have never liked shoe shopping.  Luckily, the employees at the Anchorage REI are just as awesome as the employees at Oregon REI stores.

I won't usually use blurry pictures on the blog, but I didn't realize both pictures I took were blurry until we were back at the hotel, and it was too late to get another.  This is the least blurry, and you still get to see that REI employees everywhere bike to work, even when it is below freezing.  The wheel on these bikes are amazing, with better tread than most motorcycles.  This REI store has showers for the employees, so they can bike to work, and then take a shower, before starting their shift, awesome!


 
After dinner tonight, which was spaghetti for Scott, and ice cream for me, (my stomach is still touchy) we had the waitress take some pictures of us in the "living room" area of the hotel.  Not all of them turned out well. (I know, this is a trend with the pictures in this post.)  The waitress was wonderful, but she hadn't used an iPhone to take pictures before.  Still, as you can see, this is a pretty unique lobby/living room. for a hotel.

Yep, bears, that used to be real living bears, (before someone practiced the art of taxidermy) and made a great display piece, that is almost impossible to have a good picture take in front of, because there is literally no way to turn off all the lights that you see reflected so clearly in this second shot. 

 

 

 

 

The manager was willing to turn the lobby/living room lights off , for the 2-3 minutes it would have taken to get a shot of just the bears, and then with us in front if them, but after spending more than 10 minutes looking, and calling the General Manager to be sure, he informed us that the lights in the lobby/living room, had no on/off switch, other than the circuit breaker.  We all agreed that taking a quarter of the first floor, including the lobby, office and kitchen for the restaurant offline, just to get a decent photo, was not reasonable!

 

While I still had the energy, we headed outside to do some comparison of function that Steve, my physical therapist in Oregon, encouraged me to do as soon as possible, so I could see how my body handled walking in cold and snowy.  Since there were 3 inches of snow that had fallen during the 3 hours since our shopping trip, it was a good time to start gathering that data. No real surprised in what we found, but it was good to know that even without feeling in my right foot and ankle, I was relatively safe, walking in snowy weather. On my own, I only came close to slipping once or twice. With a walker that is appropriate for Alaskan weather, I shouldn't have any problems at all.  

 

 

Appropriate for Alaska is going to be the key issue.  It only took 15-20 steps, before it became clear that my walker is not up for the rigors of winter, never mind an Alaskan one.  I alternated between slipping  and needing to plant my feet and stop the walker, and jarring stops, as the wheels got stuck on the packed snow. I had to have Scott carry the walker back to the lobby, because it was obvious that it was not going to work.  With Scott as my "walker," we were able to do about 20 minutes of walking, in the snow, in my Dansko boots, which I have been wearing for several months in Portland, after my physical therapist told me I needed new shoes. (I didn't try the walk in my new boots, because what I was evaluating was the difference between the feedback, on the parts I *can* feel on my right leg, and see if there are differences I will need to compensate for, as I learn to get around in Fairbanks.  Without a car or truck. I will definitely need the new boots, (which are rated to -40 degrees Fahrenheit) in Fairbanks. Taking the bus back and forth to school in temps well below 0, will give me a workout, and require making sure I have the right boots and clothing to protect me! I ,miss my kids a lot, and I don't think that is likely to change, but I am blessed that I already have the right partner to help me make it through all these transitions, and to hold me close when I am homesick for my kids! I am blessed with great kids, and a great husband!

 

 

 

There is still a lot of adjusting that I know is coming, and finding a walker that will work in harsh Alaskan winters, is going to be vital.  We got a good lead on which kind of walker to look for, from another guest at the hotel, who recently has a new walker, that he said works better than any mobility walker he has ever tried.  I will be working on tracking down whether our insurance will pay for one, or if we will have to come up with a creative way to pay for it.  It is pretty obvious, that I like the bicycle wheels in the first picture, my walker is going to have to have big tires, a better center of gravity and the ability to stop when I need it to!  More on that as I learn more.....