The Last Frontier

Background photo courtesy Brandon Morrison

Brandon and I traveled for nearly 24 hours to get to Anchorage, Alaska. When we left our house for work & school on Friday morning, we knew we were in for a long day set to arrive in AK at  2:30 am local time. We had no idea how long it was going to be.

14 hours earlier: I slipped on the last step of a staircase at work and broke my ankle. At 5 pm, there weren't any doctors at Univ. Health Services. Instead I saw a nurse, had my ankle ice compressed and wrapped, and I was sent home with an appointment for Friday morning.

I'll omit the irritating details of the Dr. visit, and cut to the important parts: X-rays showed that I fractured the bottom of my tibia. Because there wasn't enough time to get me to an orthopedist before my flight, my ankle was splinted, I was given strict instructions not to put any weight on it, and I went on my not so merry way worried about my upcoming travel and my ability to ever do Virabhadrasana I & II properly again.

Traveling on crutches is a pain. I'm so thankful that I've had Brandon to help get me from point A to point B. Here's where I'll make that announcement that I'm sure everyone makes when suddenly injured for the first time and then thrust out into the world: Handicap facilities are more than just a larger bathroom stall.

Having a wheelchair in the airport was a huge help. I can't imagine navigating three airports we traveled through each way on crutches alone. Boarding first was also a perk. Unfortunately I didn't get any seat upgrades, and we were at the very back of the plane on at least two flights.

Speaking of flights, our flight out of South Bend on Friday evening was delayed. We  left about an hour late and arrived in Detroit 10 minutes after our connecting flight departed. Since there were no other flights available to get us to Anchorage that evening, we were stuck in Detroit. Fun Fact: Did you know that if your connection troubles are weather related, Delta does not put you in a hotel for the night?

We left Detroit at 8:50 am on Saturday. I sat beside a guy from the Four Tops (yeah, I didn't know who they were either…"Sugar pie, honey bunch…you know that I love you…") on the flight from Detroit to Seattle. He kept me entertained as he flirted with stewardesses and successfully secured free drinks for himself. I've blocked the rest of the travel experience out…

We stayed in Anchorage for one night. The hotel was nice, but there weren't any handicap accessible rooms available. Until this very incident, I hadn't noticed that all bathrooms don't have bars screwed into the wall. I also hadn't given a lot of thought to how useful those bars are when you only have use of one leg. Practicing ballet moves probably wasn't a good idea given the new-found weakling condition of my ankles.

We spent two nights at Alyeska Ski Resort (It was nice off-season. I'd stay there again), ate take-out pizza on more than one occasion, and had a crappy restaurant experience at Southside Bistro on our way back to the airport.

I wasn't looking forward to this trip, and several turns of event made it a less than desirable. The scenery was beautiful, and I'd definitely do parts of it again, but it will never be my first choice of destination to drop $3000. Brandon and I have discussed that we'd skip Anchorage the second time. We'd drive south to Seward and Homer and/or drive north from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle. The latter sounds more exciting to me, but the driver in me would have a hard time not doing both.

Now I have decisions to make. Orthopedist visit on Friday morning. Will the funeral be Thursday? Friday? Is there any way possible that I can make it back to TN? If the world is going to end on Saturday, should I waste time worrying about whether or not I should travel to DC on Tuesday? Ugh. If I considered myself a grown-up, I'd say being a grown-up sucks.