Finally made it to NOME!



A lot has happened these past few days! We just got internet at our apartment today! It feels so good to not feel disconnected anymore. This is gonna be a long one to catch yall up.



The view from our hotel!

Let me go back to a couple days ago… We woke up in Minneapolis around 5:30am so we could get ready to get on the shuttle for the airport. We arrived at the airport, went through security, and sat down to wait on our plane. We were finally headed to Alaska, and were so excited! About ten minutes before the plane was supposed to board, they announced that our plane has some issues and needed maintenance. Our gate was changed so we trekked it all the way to another concourse across the airport. Our plane was delayed…again. haha We finally boarded the different plane and were off! We got exit row seats this time so we had more leg room which was nice. We sat beside a girl from Fairbanks so she showed us some pictures on her phone of the snow. We arrived in Anchorage 5 hours later at 12:30pm Alaska Time. 

9 1/2 ft long Halibut





Our plane to Nome was supposed to leave at 11:00am, so we had to get rescheduled on a later flight. The next flight didn’t leave until 5pm so we had plenty of time to look around. We had to leave the airport and go back in to get our new boarding passes (I don’t know why we had to do that). The lady at the Alaska Airlines counter told us that the flight at 5pm was booked so we had to get standby tickets and if someone didn’t show up then we would be allowed to fly. Wesley and I walked around the airport for a while. They had all kinds of stuffed animals of polar bears, beavers, foxes, and the world’s largest halibut too! It was really neat. We ate lunch at this place called Norton Sound something… It was ok. Well, 5pm rolled around and all 72 passengers showed up for the flight which meant me and Wesley couldn’t get on the plane. The next flight was at 6am, but it was booked too so we took standby tickets again and prayed we would get on. 

We booked the Days Inn hotel and took the shuttle in to Anchorage! We weren’t terribly upset because we got to look around Anchorage. When we got to our hotel and up to our room, there was an annoying, loud beeping noise in our room. We called the front desk and they soon sent up a maintenance man. He was a character I must say. He was obviously drunk and he said wasn’t even on the clock, but he came up to fix the noise.  Wesley said he reminded him of Otis from Andy Griffith. It turned out to be our safe batteries, and he couldn’t figure out how to change them so he took the safe apart so he could “beat it up” when he took it back downstairs. Oh me…he was funny!



Maddie with a Puffin!



Wesley fighting a grizzly bear!



Then, we went outside to Anchorage to go exploring. It looked so much different than I thought it would! There were tall buildings everywhere and it reminded me of downtown Birmingham just not as big or dirty.

We stopped in this little fur shop, and the Eskimo owner, Oleo, was something else! There was a sign that said no pictures, so I couldn’t take any. Anyway, he talked to us all about Alaska and then switched to talking to us about babies! He predicted we would have a baby boy in Alaska and that the Eskimo women would take care of him. We just laughed and he kept on and on! Wesley tried on a beaver fur hat and I must say he looked mighty fine! :) We wanted to buy it but it was $215 and we weren’t prepared to buy something like that.

This pic is for Wes!

After talking with Oleo for about 45 minutes, we continued on down the road and looked around for a little while. There were seagulls everywhere! There were plenty of opportunities for photos and we took full advantage! We stopped to eat at a Mexican place which was really weird. Then we went back to the hotel and by the time I got out of the shower Wesley was snoring away!

Our plane to Nome

We had to wake up at 3am to get ready and be down in the lobby for the shuttle at 3:50am. We got to the airport and through security without any issues. We had security down to a science at this point. Laptops out, shoes off, jackets off, liquids out, xbox out, and slide it all through! Only 63 of the 72 passengers showed up for this flight so we made it on! Oh, we were SO happy! I was scared it would be a repeat of the night before, but we kept our faith and made it on! This flight stopped in a place called Kotzebue, but we didn’t have to get off.  On the flight, the skies were so clear that we could see all the way down pretty much the whole way! We could see ice chunks in the water and snow on the mountains. 

Ice chunks in the water!

The flight was so much fun because we knew it was going to be our last one! I drank 2 cups of coffee on the flight because I wanted to have tons of energy when we got to Nome. We walked down the stairs from the plane and across the runway to get to the airport. We were so excited and relieved to finally be here! We arrived at about 9am, but our bags weren’t there. They had arrived the night before with the flight we were supposed to be on. We had to wait about 30 minutes or so for them to get all our luggage from the back, but we met up with our new boss, Colleen. She was just as excited to see us as we were to see her! She couldn't wait to show us around town. 

Our first picture in NOME!

Colleen picked us up in her 4 runner and brought us the keys to our new apartment. We met a couple nurses that were at the airport the same time as us, so that was nice. When we got our luggage, man, was it beat up! They had rips in them and had been soaked from the rain storms in Atlanta, I guess.  Colleen took us on a tour of the town and showed us pretty much everything. She helped carry our luggage into our new place which is small, but cozy and I love it! I couldn’t quit smiling because I was just so happy to be here and everything was so neat! I think it was pretty much what I expected. There are 2 paved roads I think and all the rest are dirt with colored gravel, absolutely no traffic lights and about 10 stops signs. Colleen had to go back to work, so she left us to explore the town! Although we don’t have a truck right now, everything is so close together that we just walked to everything.







World's largest gold pan!

Hanson’s is one of the grocery/general stores, and for those of you who know me, you know that I get a kick out of this! :) We ate lunch at Airport Pizza and had chicken, bacon, ranch pizza…yum! Since we didn’t really know what the weather would be like, we apparently were NOT dressed properly. Ok, ok…it’s cold! Haha We actually saw our breath while we were walking around! We went back to the apartment and I put on a hoodie and Wesley put on a jacket and we headed back out!  I think it was around 55 degrees at this time with COLD wind coming off the sea. We went to the Visitor’s center and got some info and a map. Then, we went to the post office and applied for a PO box. Mail is not delivered to houses here so we had to apply for one. I say apply because there is a waiting list. Don’t worry, when we get one, I will post it for yall. Then we went to a little gift shop and while we were in there, I met a girl named Katie who is moving on Sunday. She overheard me asking about mud boots (believe me…we need them), and said she had a pair she would be willing to just give me! BINGO! Then we went to another shop and Wesley bought him a knife since he left all his at home. We went to Hanson’s and bought some groceries…not much just enough for a few meals and it was pricey!



The beach!



After this, we went back to our apartment and unloaded a few things. Mom, you were right. We should have put our shampoo and stuff in ziplock bags. I don’t think it was the pressure that exploded them, I think it was the many times of changing planes and unloading and re-loading our bags that did it. We had lotion and conditioner everywhere! Luckily, it didn’t ruin anything but the bag. In one of our bags, however, everything looked like it had been wet. We didn’t pack any liquids in this bag, but Wesley remembered the thunderstorm and we figured it just got rained on really bad or something. Our Q-tip box exploded in there and our box of envelopes was ruined, but I laid them all out on the counter now, so they are dried out. Other than those 2 incidences, our luggage was beat up, but fine.



Posing funny in Anchorage!



There isn’t any air conditioning here…we just open windows! It’s really neat. We took a nap and after we woke up, we went to Katie’s house to pick up the boots. It turns out she had other things for sale too, so I bought some plates, bowls, and cups (from ANTHROPOLOGIE!) from her. We got 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 mugs, the boots, silverware set, and some other utensils for $30!! Awesome, huh? Then we went back to Airport Pizza because we heard they had wifi. I got a cup of coffee and checked our email briefly. Nome has this thing called Nome Announce that is kinda like Craigs List but through email so I copied and pasted a few of those in to Word so we could look at it when we got home. Housing is so tight here! All the landlords we have called don’t have anything, so we are kinda hoping we can ask the hospital if we can live here. It turns out, the hospital doesn’t own this apartment, they are just paying for it for us, so maybe that will work out for us. 

I cleaned the kitchen up and organized it with our new dishes we bought! I made chicken alfredo for dinner while we watched “Secret Life of the American Teenager”…life does go on, even in Nome! :) Wesley made some cookies for dessert (the break-apart kind) and they were delicious. At about 10:30, even though it was bright and shiny out, we went to bed. We hung a towel up over our window, so that made it dark enough to sleep.

Till next time,

Wesley and Maddie