But in reality, our Seward Highway excursion started on Saturday night when Holly rented a car at the last minute (and at exorbitant rates). I wasn’t involved in the process, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get frustrated when we couldn’t get it to start the first time we tried to use it. It was a terrible, terrible vehicle.

Anyway, on Sunday morning, we had one final meal (and coffee) at Snow City Cafe, before heading south out of Anchorage on the Seward Highway. We weren’t going the whole 127 miles to Seward, just the first 50 to the Portage Glacier. Nevertheless, the scenery is pretty great. The huge Chugach State Park on your left, Cook Inlet/Turnagin Arm on your right with the Kenai Peninsula across the water. It makes for a very pretty drive. Even with the severe cloud cover and rain that graced us.

At one of the early scenic viewing spots, I used the iPhone Photosynth app to take this panoramic photo. It did a pretty good job of stitching the photos together, but you’ll have to click on the photo to expand it to get the best view.

Just a few miles further, we saw a pack/herd/flock/whatever of Dall Sheep chillin’ on the hillside.

Seriously, the views are awesome.

We made it to the Portage Glacier, which is accessible by a 1-hour cruise on Lake Portage. Reportedly, the cloud cover made the glacier bluer than a sunny day.

I must have taken fifty different pictures of that glacier, but none appear to be especially more interesting than any other, so we’ll move on. Of some interest is this other glacier barely visible in the center of the below photo connected to the Portage Glacier about where this photo was taken in the 70s.

At the other end of the lake, icebergs from the glacier collect. Holly was much more interested in the icebergs than the glacier–and only partially because it was 15 degrees colder out by the glacier.

Just a bit away from the glacier is the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center where we saw lots of cool wildlife. In order of appearance below: Brown Bears, Wood Bison, Moose, Musk Ox, Black Bear, Elk, and Porcupine.

My favorite animal–fittingly on July 4th!–was the Bald Eagle. Just a cool animal.

On our way back towards Anchorage, Holly had wanted to take the Alyeska Aerial Tram to the top of Mt. Alyeska where you can–on a clear day–take in the panorama. But we wouldn’t have been able to see anything, so we stopped in for lunch at The Bake Shop in Alyeska for excellent sandwiches (and a root beer from Ft. Worth?).

We made one more scenic stop on the return leg–at Bird Creek.

No complaints about the scenery, but we were both exhausted from all our walking, our late nights, the driving–and someone ran a marathon. So we were ready to head home.

We arrived Thursday night around 8 p.m. (11 p.m. Dallas time). By the time we got to the hotel, checked-in, and were ready for a meal, it was almost 10 p.m. But you could hardly tell by looking outside since it was absolute daylight outside.

We had dinner at Simon & Seafort’s Saloon & Grill, which overlooks the water to the west and north of Anchorage. The sun was still far from setting at 11 p.m.

The food was excellent as was the service. We discovered that our server was a leukemia survivor who has stood at the base of the hill at mile 25 of the marathon for a decade and whom Holly was going to be looking for on Saturday. Holly was happy to have met her.

After that great meal, we walked back to the hotel at midnight. Along the way, we saw many fellows of questionable character, but because it’s broad daylight, you feel safer than you would in a normal city where it’s dark at midnight. It’s odd.

We got a late start to Friday with breakfast at the highly recommended, seriously full Snow City Cafe. Again, the food was great (snow crab cake eggs benedict!) as was the coffee. While waiting for our table, we walked down to the waterfront. Supposedly you can see Mt. McKinley in the distance, but I have no real idea.

There was a park along the waterfront with this baby beluga for kids to climb on. Not really relevant except that I recalled Layla used to sing a “Baby Beluga” song when she was little (see the 3:20 mark here). I don’t really remember it, but maybe it was this Raffi song?

After the great breakfast, we wandered around the compact downtown. A lot of touristy shops that don’t interest me much. But we did find some interesting things. Like totems in front of city hall or the courthouse, some building.

Holly and I were both surprised by the abundance of pretty flowers around.

The reindeer sausage stand in front of the federal courthouse was great.

Glacier Brewhouse came highly recommended, but I didn’t care for any of their five local brews that I sampled.

We had the LLS Team In Training dinner Friday night, which was fine. Amazing to see the 565 T-N-T runners in one room.  And because we are talking about Holly, we had to visit Walmart that evening for some last minute race items she needed.

Saturday was mostly spent running and watching others run. We did spend an hour downtown (getting another Snow City Cafe coffee, etc.) before the LLS T-N-T Victory Dinner.

After dinner, we went down to Ship Creek where Holly understood that the Salmon would be so plentiful that they would be stacked up ten deep in the water. But we saw nothing but clear water.

We spent Sunday out on the Seward Highway, but we were back in Anchorage just before our flight home. We stopped into Humpy’s Alaskan Alehouse, where Man v. Food’s Adam Richman actually conquered the Kodiak Arrest Challenge.

Nothing looked that good on the menu, so I had only another local brew by Midnight Sun, which was better than anything I had a Glacier Brewhouse (Holly disliked the super dive bar atmosphere.)

As the final exclamation point to our trip, Holly failed to get a snowglobe through TSA, which caused much teeth gnashing. But we made it home–at 5:50 a.m. Friday morning–with Holly leaving for a Speed/Gibson Lady and six kid cruise at 8:30 a.m. I went to bed.

Even though the race started at 8 a.m., she had to be ready to go and in the hotel lobby at 6 a.m., which isn’t as bad as it sounds since it was 9 a.m. Dallas-time. (Of course, we had been up until after 2 a.m. Dallas-time, so it cuts both ways.) Against all running advice, she had on brand new (fancy) shorts, LLS tank uniform, and long sleeve undershirt. Holly is not one for taking the advice of others. Anyway, I saw her off.

As for the 26.2 mile course, here’s the route. Notice how miles 7 thru 17 is in the green area? Most of that is a gravel road through the forest just short of the Chugach Mountains. And then there’s a couple of terrible miles on a tow path.

But the weather cooperated, giving Holly a beautiful day in the low 60s with the slightest breeze. Locals were complaining about the heat, but Holly was very happy for it. Nobody from her training group in Dallas was running today, so she joined up with Robert, a Dallas guy that she had run with once and for whom this was his second race.

Robert’s wife Joan and I went to see them at the second spectator area at Mile 13. It was a bit of a hike out into the woods but far more direct than running 13 miles to there.

We were very excited to see them come around the gravel bend at 10:37 a.m.–halfway in 2 hours and 33 minutes. Not bad. Holly was looking and feeling pretty good.

I restocked her with some energy beans and refilled her gatorade bottles while she grabbed an orange before they got back to it.

Joan and I headed to the spectator spot at Mile 21, which took us less than 15 minutes by car. It took Holly and Robert a bit longer. Holly arrived, alone, around 12:10 p.m., still looking great.

She stopped for just a minute to say that she had separated from Robert at Mile 18, and then she was off again.

Robert came by 6 minutes later. Joan and I headed to the Finish Line, which was West Side High School, but you could still clearly see the mountains to the east of town.

There was an announcer at the Finish who didn’t really know what was going on. He would try to read finisher’s numbers to identify their name and hometown, which went fine. But on at least two occasions he mentioned that the marathon was seven–7!–miles. The first time I wasn’t sure what he said. The second time he said it as a guy finished the marathon–making this his 100th consecutive month of running at least one marathon. The announcer: “One hundreds months times 7 miles–I’ll let you do the math, but it’s a lot!” The number’s even bigger if you know how long a marathon actually is.

So that entertained me. Meanwhile, Holly was being differently entertained by the last mile, which is tough since it’s almost all uphill, including a series of switchbacks. The switchbacks give you the false impression that you’ve reached the top only to find more upward slope.

But she made it,  officially in 5 hours, 32 minutes, and 50 seconds.

And she got a finisher’s t-shirt and this sweet medal.

Robert finished about 30 minutes later.

Big congratulations to Holly for accomplishing this big task. Very proud of her. When Holly texted Layla to let her know that she had finished, Layla responded: “Did you win?” Not quite.

Two final notes. First, at some point, she stopped along the route and took this one photo of a creek.

Second, despite having just finished a marathon an hour earlier, when we got back to the hotel, she took a shower and was ready to go back out into Anchorage. I was ready for a serious nap.

We did the usual stuff–steak dinners at the Leona Steakhouse, lunch at Pecan Grove, a trip to Buc-ee’s and Walmart–along with our first stop at the somewhat recently opened Leona Drug Store, which houses a soda fountain.

But the weekend was really about being out in the elements on ATVs. All of the mothers made them promise to be careful, and Speed assured his mother that all ATVs are meant to be ridden two at a time. Wrong on both counts.

But this weekend won’t be remembered for the good food or ridiculously awesome convenience stores. It will be remembered first for Noah crushing the mule against a tree within the first 45 minutes of use.

Second, for Ryan splitting his forehead open with the Mauser bolt-action rifle scope (hence, the need to trek to Walmart for bandages, etc.).  A little competition for Madysen.

Amazingly, the last 24 hours went accident free. And the boys claim to have had an awesome time, injuries notwithstanding. I hope Speed enjoyed it because I doubt I’ll say yes to future similar request.

Up first was Layla for the home opener against Utah State on September 4. On the way up, I got my first speeding ticket in five years and Layla played with my iPhone camera.

Her monkey pillow

Once in Norman, we grabbed drinks at Classic 50′s and pizza at Mazzio’s.

She loves it when I take pictures mid-bite

As for the game, it should have been a laugher, but it didn’t go as well as hoped. But OU hung on for a 35-28 victory and left me worried.

Pregame hoopla

After the too-close victory

The following weekend brought a very big game against #17 Florida State. Speed had put in a special request for this game, and then we learned that the Boz and Billy Sims would be signing autographs before the game.

Boz pulls his cycle right up on the sidewalk

A guy calls for "Brian" to turn around for a picture; dude, he doesn't answer to "Brian"

Still cool after all these years

Boz and Sims--greatness

The Pride plays on Campus Corner

And then we ran into Jamelle Holieway; what a day

And they played a game to, though it was only in doubt for a little bit. After a 7-7 start, OU was up comfortably 34-7 at half and breezed to a 47-17 win. That was fun to watch.

Sooners Win!

Students celebrate

The final non-conference home game was last Saturday against the Air Force Academy. Madysen went along for this game but is no great fan of me taking pictures. In honor of the Academy, OU had several special touches in the pregame and halftime festivities–a fighter plane flyover pregame, a bomber flyover at half, a Stoops video intro for the Academy, allowing the Academy to enter the field last, etc. It was special.

For the second time in three weeks, OU played poorly. They held on for a 27-24 win, which will have to do for now.

The Schooner with Boomer and Sooner

So the next two weeks are big–the first away game at Cincinnati and the Red River game against Texas here in town. But most worrisome at our house is that Emma hasn’t been to a game yet. She cannot wait, but she’ll have to.

They played okay but failed to get a win with three ties and one loss. In order of play, a 0-0 tie against HC United Red, a 2-1 loss to Vardar, a 1-1 tie against Tredyffrin-Easttown Youth SA Charge (whom they lost to back  at WAGS), and a 1-1 tie against Chicago Fire Juniors Red. Madysen scored the goal against Vardar on a PK after she was taken down in the box. So, the tournament was just okay.

As for the other stuff, the girls enjoyed it all, but it absolutely wore me out. The first night we stayed on Fort Lauderdale beach at the Lago Mar resort. Maybe the girls were still tired from their crazy drive from Erick on Christmas Eve or the early flight to Florida, but they didn’t seem that interested in the beach or the ocean at first.

But after a great dinner at Kelly’s Landing, Layla and Emma ran up and down the beach in the moonlight and ventured out into the water. I had to yank them off the beach.

Not us on the beach

Our moonlit nit

For the next three nights, we stayed inland at the team hotel. Neither Madysen nor Emma and Layla could figure out how to work a simple ice machine.

Push down on the handle? Pretty sophisticated engineering

We also spent a lot of time seeing various family members–grandparents, aunts and uncles, and several cousins. The little girls hadn’t seen most of them in several years, which must explain why Emma was so quiet when we saw them. But back in the car, she would hardly shut up. For old times’ sake, we walked by the Riptide (which made Madysen shudder of memories of this past summer’s trip) and had some way-too-big sundaes from Jaxson’s Ice Cream  Parlor.

Represents size of actual sundaes

After the tournament was over, we headed down to Miami Beach for one last night. We stayed on Mid Beach, but we drove by South Beach and through the Art Deco District. The girls thought it was somewhat interesting. We spent an afternoon on the beach. It was a bit chilly, but Layla and Emma really got into the water this time.

The first tentative steps into the Atlantic

Waves approaching

The ocean is awesome

Waves attack!

So, all in all, a good trip, though very exhausting for me. Despite seeing the beach, seeing family, and eating great foods, my most significant memory is of Budget car rental. I got suckered into renting from them by a low price, and it was a big, big mistake. Over two hours standing in line to get keys to a car that I had already paid for, then a paperwork snafu that didn’t even have my registration, and then a terrible, ugly car. Of course, upon returning the vehicle, the whole episode was replayed in reverse when they tried to charge me an additional $1000 for the rental. Stay classy, Budget.

Sweet, sweet ride

Well, I’m here to tell you that the 2009 iteration isn’t coming. We have had quite a bit going on around here, and I just haven’t felt up to the whole production. Didn’t want you all to think that you’d been cut from the list. Maybe you have, but it’s immaterial this year.

Don’t know whether this is a temporary hiatus, whether we’ll start mailing it in like so many of you do with a cookie cutter photo card (I’m looking at many of you, but especially Number Three and Kirkland), or whether we’ll come back stronger than ever next year. I’m betting on none of the above.

Heck, the last two days were almost been more than I can handle as Holly and the kids spent 22 hours making the >5 hour trip back from Erick because of the snowstorm that hit north Texas. They pulled in at 8 a.m. Christmas morning. Never thought I’d see the day that my kids would wander right be the presents on Christmas morning to go take a nap. It. Happened.

Poor neglected tree

As I post this–at 4 a.m.–Madysen, Emma, Layla, and I are on our way to board a flight for Ft. Lauderdale, FL for a soccer tournament for the rest of this year. We’ll see grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins from my family. Hopefully I’ll abide.

Merry Christmas to you all.

The closest thing you'll get to a Christmas picture of the kids

The next Saturday they played big sister FC Dallas 93, losing 3-0. Madysen had to miss the game for a PSAT review course.

And then this Columbus Day weekend, she and I were supposed to be in the D.C./Baltimore area for the WAGS Tournament. Aside from all the games, we were going to spend an afternoon in Philadelphia and a day and a half in my favorite place, Washington D.C. But I had to cancel because of an illness, so she had to go with the team with a couple of parents looking after her. A shame.

She’s on a flight back as we speak, but she sounded like she had a good time and was relatively happy with her play even though they struggled getting results. On Saturday, they lost to Crofton Athletic Council Wolves (rolls off the tongue, eh?), out of Maryland, 3-0. On Sunday, they came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie 2-2 against Stony Brook SC Revolution (New York). And on Monday, they lost to Tredyffring-Easttonw Youth SA Charge (another easy one, Pennsylvania) 1-0. She did manage to see a bit of D.C.–wish I could have been there.

It was nice to spend Saturday afternoon and a bit of Sunday morning with my Grandma and Uncle Jeff. But then, the team headed out for the 800-mile trip to Blairsville, GA. We made it in decent time–and having forgot only one pill serving for Granddad–and Blairsville looked very similar to the last time I had been there, in the mid 90s.

Dad was concerned about how much I might reveal about the next three days spent packing up various items in the house and getting it on the market, but there is far too much to share in this space. So a short recap will have to do: we made 6–count them, 6–trips to Home Depot for various supplies, ate at a variety of buffets around town, and found lots of interesting pictures and documents in every nook and crany.

And we got it all (candidly, only what Grandma specifically told us to get–we left lots behind) in a 10-foot Budget truck, which Dad and Granddad drove back to south Florida. It was a necessary task, and we made the best of it. Goodbye Blairsville.

The house

Looking out on the front of the property from the porch

The infamous barn

After some discussion, we left most everything in the garage behind

Including some pretty impressive spiderwebs

The living room

Great grandma Kate's piano--fate uncertain

Emerging from a forced walk of the entire 5 acres

The stones (now overgrown) denoting the land as Pop's Lot

The old tire swing is no more

Only one of the many Blairsville buffets we sampled--I don't recall any steak on the buffet

Our favorite place in Blairsville

Interested?

The old guys take one final look before we leave the house for good

Only 800 miles to go?--looks like fun